alymaly

UPD:

I got a call today from Apple Retail Executive Relations department. They made manual review of my account and restore it. Problem solved.

Thanks everybody for your advice and support. I'm sure our discussion helped to get the problem noticed.

Thank you so much for your response. Yes, the situation is becoming clearer now.

It seems to me that it is completely random in nature. The main reason I heard from tech support was that the cards were of different denominations. That is, I took only cards of 100 dollars would be all right. I just talked to a colleague, about which I wrote, she used the same denomination cards to buy a phone (she did not do it on purpose, but it just happened that all the cards were $ 100)

In fact, my foresight not to put my eggs in one basket allowed me to travel and deal with this problem after more than a month. It's a very important practice that many people don't think about until they are faced with this kind of problem.

> If gift cards are suspicious and cannot be reliably secured, then why are they even sold?

I just imagined for a minute - what if someone asks for a birthday present with cards and his friends bring him a pack. It's a GIFT and it's named GIFT card

I'm not a new customer, it's not a new account. With a verified phone number. I used to add my personal credit cards in the beginning (then gave that up). I don't see any good reason to mark my account as fraudulent. Even if the automation does it, a manual check should see that everything is fine

Yes, I try to use a third-party service. But here's where I made another mistake - using authorization through Apple - that created a huge problem on several occasions, because it's impossible to authorize in the app at all.

Yeah, I also think if I try to go to court, all my devices will turn into a pumpkin.

good idea, thanks!

thanks a lot! done!

My colleague recently bought a phone and also activated gift cards. There were about 10-12 of them (it was an iPhone 13 Pro) and there were no problems at all.

I did what I was comfortable with and I didn't think it would cause any problem at all....

Yes, I created a new account to continue using the free services. But I still can't update any of the apps on my phone and iPad

And it really disappointed me to have spent the last few years advising all my friends and colleagues to switch to a Macbook for work

Right now, I don't have the opportunity to go to court. But I really hope that our communication will get their attention.

Thank you all for your comments and answers! This is very inspiring!

I don't like using credit cards and other cards if it can be avoided. Yes, I am a bit paranoid about it. But that's no reason to ban my account.

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.

I didn't activate them all at once. It was over a month ago, and I think I took my time for two days. I activated a couple and then went on to do the work.

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

When I ask what I have violated, they suggest reading the legal page. I've already read it a thousand times. There's nothing in there that I could have broken.

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..

Yes, $2k. They were $50-100 face value

I bought them at retail, at a nominal retail price. not all at once of course, I buy them from time to time just in case. this is the case when my laptop broke down and it came.

They told me by phone follow reason of block: "you redeemed several gift cards too quickly and they all had different face value".

I have all cards with receipts. They are all physical

In description I wrote - activated about 2000. The reasons why I use gift cards I also described in the post

You may have multiplied account - It doesn't go against Apple's rules. Because not all applications are available in all regions and if you come to Europe, you will find many local applications especially for transport (parking) and banks.

A little over a month ago I encountered a very serious problem from Apple. I’m posting it only now, as I have just returned after a long trip.

I can no longer fully use my account - download apps I bought, update them, use my balance, renew subscriptions. And all of this affects all my Apple devices - two iPhones, two iPads, a Macbook Pro and an Apple Watch.

As I was told by one of the 30 operators I managed to talk to on the phone after spending about 12 hours of my time on it, the reason was that "you redeemed several gift cards too quickly and they all had different face value".

I've been an Apple products user for a bit over 10 years now and have used a variety of devices and gadgets. And in the last 3 years my whole team of 20 people almost completely switched to Apple devices and ecosystem. And up until that point I thought it was a mutually beneficial and friendly relationship.

I've been travelling a lot in the last 10 years and living and working in different countries. For this reason, I have multiple Apple ID accounts in different countries. Since not all the apps, especially banking, food delivery and cab apps, are available in all Apple Stores (according to Apple you can have up to 5 accounts). And I usually use gift certificates, because it helps me not to think about which card is used and when it expires. And it seems that I've been using them since my first introduction to Apple products 10 years ago.

In early July 2022, right on my birthday, my Macbook pro 15 2019 was suddenly showing no signs of life. While it was being repaired, I decided to consider upgrading my working computer. After choosing the needed configuration, I redeemed my supply of gift cards to my account. I still have receipts for almost all of the cards, as well as the cards themselves.

A few days later, I was about to place an order for a new working laptop, when I found out that I was getting an error "Your account has been disabled in the App Store and iTunes" when trying to purchase something. After that, long calls and conversations with technical support began, and it did not lead to any solution. As a result, I was left without a new laptop, and most importantly - all the digital content that I bought on my iPhone, iPad, Macbook Pro - I can no longer use and update it. And that are dozens of subscriptions, Final Cut licences, Logic Pro, and a lot of other software. Tech support gave me only one solution - create a new account and buy everything again. And this is not one hundred, and not even one thousand dollars.

As I see it, the tech support is unwilling to solve my problem or help solving it in any way. Phrases like "yes I understand you" will in no way compensate for my lost time I spent over the phone with them nor earn the money that I spent buying apps that Apple has taken away on its own whim due to some very questionable reasons.