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Comment by matwood | Hacker News Reader

Back when you could buy $100 or $200 gift cards for 20% off, I used them regularly.

It always feels like there is something missing in these stories. Are mistakes made by Apple (or other big cos?) sure. But they don't want to shut people off. Something was done either accidentally or on purpose that likely triggered some internal fraud warning.

I think the biggest problem is getting caught in the low level call center support when the problem needs to be up-leveled to someone who can help. This is something companies should improve on, but I'm sure the volume makes it challenging.

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The problem is that more and more companies are a literal "privilege" (private law) and that there is no court of appeals.

There should be. Let Apple do their fraud detection, and 90%+ of the fraudulent accounts will do nothing further, but for the ones accidentally caught there should be some method, something that is too detailed for scammers to do but possible for a "real person" to do.

I already find same cases on reddit and google. And only one case was resolved. And just after the user started a public campaign. I really spent about 12-15 hours for phone calls..

One thing I think you're hearing from multiple people here is that you should stop banging your head against standard customer support --- or at least, if you're starting with customer support, do nothing but escalate your call, don't try to talk a CS person into unflagging your account. They can't unflag your account, so you're probably wasting time trying.

I was transferred to a higher level (that's what they said, but I think it was still the usual customer service). And I don't know how to escalate the problem to another level. Maybe a public posting would help in some way

Honestly, try emailing tcook@apple.com. https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/su28nf/i_sent_an_ema...

thanks a lot! done!

You can detail as much as you know about your situation in a letter to the consumer protection agency/person of whatever country your main account is in, and copy it to Apple's legal counsel.

It's unlikely to do much, but it may get in front of the right person or may light a fire under someone's ass.

good idea, thanks!

Losing 2k is just the top of the iceberg. I can't log into the AppStore on my new device and therefore use all my existing purchases and purchases. I can't even update apps. Not on any device. This is much "more expensive" than 2k.

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