Bad Apple: You Can't Use All Your Gift Cards
Lest you think I'm some kind of Apple fanboy, I assure you I keep a professional level of journalistic scepticism at all times, even when it deals with one of my favourite companies.
Which is why I bring you a bit of bad Apple customer service.
It seems Apple has got it into their heads that people shouldn't be able to use their own money to buy Apple products by not allowing customers to use "too many" gift cards:
I have 7 gift cards totaling $1250. Apple refuses to sell me a computer despite having $1250 upfront.As soon as I found I could not enter more than half my gift cards on the Apple website, I used their online chat facility. That didn't work out so I rang Apple and was passed from Sales to Customer Service and told "no" all the way. I have filed a complaint against them with the Better Business Bureau.
Officially, Apple limits the number of gift cards you can use via a notice in their store FAQ:
Can I use multiple gift cards when making a purchase?Yes. You can use up to six cards when making a purchase at a retail Apple Store and up to four cards at the online Apple Store.
A policy that I think is absolutely ridiculous.
A gift card is money you've already given to the company, in good trust, so that company should not be able to restrict its use within its stores in any way.
I honestly can't think of a single good reason for this gift card policy that doesn't harm customers and the customer service image Apple has tried to cultivate much more than any benefits the policy may have.
Apple stores: you're on notice.
Apple Still Won't Sell You A Computer Because You've Got Too Many Gift Cards [Consumerist]
Den Den Boy
Posted to In the World, Miscellany on 12 March 2008
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: Apple, Apple Store, customer service, gift cards
One way or another, Microsoft will try to sell you a phone.
so, why not use the six most expensive cards, pay for the difference, and get your computer (or whatever)? sure, i know it's the principle of the thing, but still -- use the cards you can and get on with your life.
I imagine Apple's line will be that it is to protect against consumer fraud. However, the real reason is that these days companies make a rather large sum of money off of unclaimed gift cards. This is simply a hurdle they've put up to increase the number of unclaimed cards. This is especially ridiculous for a company like Apple, which sells high-priced products and sells low-denomination cards.
Admittedly, I have been slowly turning into an Apple whore since my first iPod about six years ago. I normally don't hear about them pulling any shenanigans with their loyal customer base, but this is ridiculous. Keep us posted on the results of the BBB complaint.
Even with the above-mentioned desire for "breakage" of gift cards, I can't imagine that the benefit of that outweighs having another person having an Apple computer in their hands as far as the long term.
I'm sure that there are some consumer fraud concerns (since I can speak from experience that a number of credit card thieves will use them to buy gift cards at stores to use later).
However, I have a feeling that the likely culprit is more a matter of programming of their point-of-sale devices and internet shopping service. I know some Apple stores have those hand held checkouts which probably caused a trade-off in terms of flexibility of transactions. And the website could just be poorly coded to not allow enough flexibility.
The bigger issue is whether this limitation on usage was noted at time of purchase as opposed to after-the-fact.
Personally, I'd just go to the store and use the smaller gift cards to purchase larger gift cards in an attempt to get the cards to the amounts in both number and value that'll work for the transaction.