Trouble redeeming iTunes gift card

iMikeT · Jan 4, 2013

I don't know where else to post this but hopefully someone might be able to help me here or one of the mods can move this thread to the proper forum.

So I received an iTunes gift card this past holiday season and I'm having trouble redeeming it. The error message I received said something about it not being activated properly.

Anyway, I have called Apple and I jumped through a bunch of hoops just to talk to someone about this situation and they weren't able to help me out with giving me the credit that the card is valued at. They went ahead and gave me instructions about what I can do for the meantime before getting back to them but I have no hope on my end at this point.

What I wanted to ask is this, has anyone on here or know of someone who had trouble redeeming an iTunes gift card being left high and dry in the end?

charlituna · Jan 4, 2013

iMikeT said:
I don't know where else to post this but hopefully someone might be able to help me here or one of the mods can move this thread to the proper forum.

So I received an iTunes gift card this past holiday season and I'm having trouble redeeming it. The error message I received said something about it not being activated properly.

That error means that the card wasn't properly rung up by the vendor. The only way to fix it is by said vendor or at least with proof they took money for the card.

Sucks to be an innocent victim but they have likely had folks try to jack credit by swiping cards off racks etc. so they aren't going to just give you credit cause you have a card. No company would

Pharmscott · Jan 4, 2013

iMikeT said:
They went ahead and gave me instructions about what I can do for the meantime before getting back to them but I have no hope on my end at this point.

What were the instructions? What is the "get back to them" part? I'm curious.

macs4nw · Jan 5, 2013

iMikeT said:
I don't know where else to post this but hopefully someone might be able to help me here or one of the mods can move this thread to the proper forum.

So I received an iTunes gift card this past holiday season and I'm having trouble redeeming it. The error message I received said something about it not being activated properly.

Anyway, I have called Apple and I jumped through a bunch of hoops just to talk to someone about this situation and they weren't able to help me out with giving me the credit that the card is valued at. They went ahead and gave me instructions about what I can do for the meantime before getting back to them but I have no hope on my end at this point.

What I wanted to ask is this, has anyone on here or know of someone who had trouble redeeming an iTunes gift card being left high and dry in the end?

Without knowing who gave you the card as a gift, is it possible to mention to him/her that you were not able to use it, or would that be too embarrassing? If they still had the purchase receipt, that would be your only possible recourse, though the vendor could say, "we activated it, and you must have used it", and unless APPLE keeps track of those online gift card redemptions, proving that it wasn't redeemed, it would unfortunately be the end of the line for you.

iMikeT · Jan 5, 2013

I got the gift card through a gift exchange that involved a lot of people. Some people I knew previously and some were new to me. So tracking who it came from won't be easy as I don't have all the participant's contact info. I all ready sent an email to the person that invited me in the hopes that it gets somewhere but I doubt it will.

Yeah, Apple told me that I would need to get the gift card back to the vendor so they can activate it on their end. The problem here is the fact that I don't know where the gift card was purchased....

I asked the iTunes Customer Service person what I could do if I can't find where the gift card was purchased and they did tell me that I could send a photo of both sides of the gift card and they would handle it from there by looking into it. I don't know what action they would take at that point.

charlituna said:
That error means that the card wasn't properly rung up by the vendor. The only way to fix it is by said vendor or at least with proof they took money for the card.

Sucks to be an innocent victim but they have likely had folks try to jack credit by swiping cards off racks etc. so they aren't going to just give you credit cause you have a card. No company would

Pharmscott said:
What were the instructions? What is the "get back to them" part? I'm curious.

macs4nw said:
Without knowing who gave you the card as a gift, is it possible to mention to him/her that you were not able to use it, or would that be too embarrassing? If they still had the purchase receipt, that would be your only possible recourse, though the vendor could say, "we activated it, and you must have used it", and unless APPLE keeps track of those online gift card redemptions, proving that it wasn't redeemed, it would unfortunately be the end of the line for you.

charlituna · Jan 6, 2013

iMikeT said:
I got the gift card through a gift exchange that involved a lot of people. Some people I knew previously and some were new to me. So tracking who it came from won't be easy as I don't have all the participant's contact info. I all ready sent an email to the person that invited me in the hopes that it gets somewhere but I doubt it will.

Then unfortunately you may simply be screwed since, as I said before, Apple is not likely to to just activate it because you have it in your possession.

As for what action they will take. Companies like Apple tend to send gift cards to stores in batches which means the card would be one of a run of cards. They can look for cards in their system that had nearby numbers and try to contact the store those came from to have them search for your number. With luck they will find it and have the information to activate the card for you.

Send them the information and wait is all you can do.

Fishrrman · Jan 6, 2013

"I got the gift card through a gift exchange that involved a lot of people. Some people I knew previously and some were new to me. So tracking who it came from won't be easy as I don't have all the participant's contact info. I all ready sent an email to the person that invited me in the hopes that it gets somewhere but I doubt it will."

If that's the case (if Apple won't help), and if it proves all-but-impossible to get back to the original vendor that sold the card and you cannot get the problem corrected with them, I'm going to guess that the card will ultimately "be worth what you paid for it"...

Which is to say, you can hang it on the wall as a souvenir, and that's about it...

gnasher729 · Jan 6, 2013

Fishrrman said:
"I got the gift card through a gift exchange that involved a lot of people. Some people I knew previously and some were new to me. So tracking who it came from won't be easy as I don't have all the participant's contact info. I all ready sent an email to the person that invited me in the hopes that it gets somewhere but I doubt it will."

If that's the case (if Apple won't help), and if it proves all-but-impossible to get back to the original vendor that sold the card and you cannot get the problem corrected with them, I'm going to guess that the card will ultimately "be worth what you paid for it"...

Which is to say, you can hang it on the wall as a souvenir, and that's about it...

Just saying... In many shops it is quite easy to take gift cards away - they are obviously not worth anything because they were not activated. And if you have lets say a Christmas party where everyone is supposed to bring a present for $10, some cheapskate could bring a $10 Apple gift card that wasn't activated.

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Trouble redeeming iTunes gift card

iMikeT

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charlituna

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Pharmscott

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macs4nw

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iMikeT

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charlituna

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Fishrrman

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gnasher729

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