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PSA about Apple Account Balance
June 16, 2023 at
08:37 AM
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For a while now I used to purchase Apple devices using my Apple account balance that I slowed accumulated over time using Apple/Itunes gift cards that were at sale at various places (Target, Chase UR, etc).
But today when I tried to purchase a Macbook air 15-inch from Apple.com, the site said that my payment could not be authorized. Called Apple support and they mentioned that this has been happening for a while now (purchases with Apple account balances) and that they would transfer me to the security review team. After a total of 1 hour and 3 transfers, they asked me to wait for 24 hours while they try to sort out this issue and I should place the order then.
What's really scary is that they did not seem to be concerned about me not being able to access my funds at all. The reason I loaded my gift cards onto my Apple account was because of all the problems we noticed with Apple Gift Cards being wiped clean after a while (especially ones that were purchased at Target). But now it seems like there is no safety for Apple gift cards whether they are loaded onto the account or not.
Take my experience as a PSA - the hoops that we need to jump through and the overall risk is not worth the small savings on gift card deals.
But today when I tried to purchase a Macbook air 15-inch from Apple.com, the site said that my payment could not be authorized. Called Apple support and they mentioned that this has been happening for a while now (purchases with Apple account balances) and that they would transfer me to the security review team. After a total of 1 hour and 3 transfers, they asked me to wait for 24 hours while they try to sort out this issue and I should place the order then.
What's really scary is that they did not seem to be concerned about me not being able to access my funds at all. The reason I loaded my gift cards onto my Apple account was because of all the problems we noticed with Apple Gift Cards being wiped clean after a while (especially ones that were purchased at Target). But now it seems like there is no safety for Apple gift cards whether they are loaded onto the account or not.
Take my experience as a PSA - the hoops that we need to jump through and the overall risk is not worth the small savings on gift card deals.
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'm The CaptainIt's my Money Now."Anyways this happened to me about a year ago. I tried to buy a Mac with my account balance. I bought the gift cards, loaded them to my account and then tried to make a purchase that was denied at checkout.
Lots of hold time and transfers. They manually took money from my balance away and reissued the cards to me. Told me not to add to my balance but rather just use the cards at checkout. Unfortunately that doesn't solve your concern about your cards getting robbed.
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I had this scenario happen too, but I did not make a purchase within 24 hours as the email stated. I actually ended up waiting until weeks later and the purchase (more than $900) went through without an issue.
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Yeah i could have done that but mil/edu discount is not the same in store
If you show a student ID, they give the edu discount. I got $100 off that MacBook purchase showing my student ID.
Yeah might be different for edu, but mil is 5% in-store and 10% online. I was doing mil discount.
I cant recall if edu is just 5% online now, maybe that is why. Assumming your macbook was $2k
FYI as far as I know, you can only have $2000 saved to your Apple Account Balance.
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Balance