Apple Clarifies That Missed Apple Card Payments Don't Affect Apple ID

[MacRumors]

Designer Dustin Curtis yesterday shared a story about an unusual series of events that led to him missing an Apple Card payment and Apple then opting to freeze his Apple ID, leading to fears that missing an Apple Card payment could cause Apple to lock an Apple ID.

In a statement provided today to 9to5Mac, Apple said that's not the case and clarified what had happened in Curtis' specific situation.

We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience we may have caused for this customer. The issue in question involved a restriction on the customer's Apple ID that disabled App Store and iTunes purchases and subscription services, excluding iCloud. Apple provided an instant credit for the purchase of a new MacBook Pro, and as part of that agreement, the customer was to return their current unit to us. No matter what payment method was used, the ability to transact on the associated Apple ID was disabled because Apple could not collect funds. This is entirely unrelated to Apple Card.

Apple Card and the Apple ID are not linked in a way that would allow the Apple ID to be disabled in the event of a missed payment, and there was a trade-in issue that led to Curtis' problem. He purchased an M1 Mac and at that time, opted to trade-in an older Mac, getting an instant discount.

Curtis says that Apple did not send him the trade-in box for his older Mac and he forgot about it, so he essentially got the trade-in discount without providing the Mac back to Apple. He overlooked several emails from Apple and investigated only when his Apple ID became locked.

The Apple Card was involved because Curtis made the purchase with an Apple Card, but when Apple went to charge Curtis for the full amount of the M1 Mac, it could not get payment, leading to the Apple ID freeze.

Apple will freeze an Apple ID for a trade-in that goes south. In this case, Curtis received a discount on his M1 Mac without sending in his older Mac, and because Apple was unable to collect the full payment for the M1 Mac, the Apple ID was restricted until Curtis paid in full.

Customers who have an Apple Card and miss a payment do not need to worry about having their Apple IDs frozen in the same manner.

Article Link: Apple Clarifies That Missed Apple Card Payments Don't Affect Apple ID

 

[ignatius345]

I don't think Apple did anything wrong at all here, but it's kind of scary to realize how much power Apple has over you. If anything happened to my Apple ID I'd be pretty f***ed.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Translation = Negligent customer and not Apple's fault.

 

[mkldev]

Translation = Negligent customer and not Apple's fault.

Depends on whether the failure to receive the shipping box was Apple's fault or the carrier's fault, e.g. whether Apple failed to detect a delivery exception, whether Apple failed to request the delivery, etc. It could be at least partially Apple's fault, but not necessarily.

 

[BWhaler]

Sounds like Curtis owes Apple an apology. And I’d bet anything they sent the box. Apple is run by one of the best operations leaders that has ever existed.

 

[ignatius345]

Translation = Negligent customer and not Apple's fault.

Yeah but it makes you think. Someone at Apple could flip a switch (or there could be a glitch or a hack) and all your stuff would be broken. I guess the moral is, keep local backups of everything.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Yeah but it makes you think. Someone at Apple could flip a switch (or there could be a glitch or a hack) and all your stuff would be broken. I guess the moral is, keep local backups of everything.

I agree with you. We are at the mercy of technology with Apple ID and the like. The same can be said of any other such service. I believe that that is why security is so critical with your Apple ID.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Depends on whether the failure to receive the shipping box was Apple's fault or the carrier's fault, e.g. whether Apple failed to detect a delivery exception, whether Apple failed to request the delivery, etc. It could be at least partially Apple's fault, but not necessarily.

Even if the box never showed, Curtis could have and should have still taken action. According to the article, he neglected to do anything at all until he got slapped in the face with a big wake up sign.

 

[Syk]

Who forgets to to send in a trade in item or not follow up on why the return box hasn't shown up?
Then ignores the emails from Apple

 

[farewelwilliams]

as usual, twitter overreacts and spreads false information for their 15 minutes of fame.

 

[unobtainium]

Dustin Curtis sounds like kind of a mess.

 

[gaximus]

I really wish there was a iCloud at home option. Store all my iCloud data on a local NAS and in the actual cloud. This would solve the problem of having a backup, and not using all my bandwidth to upload and download all my pictures (Currently I take a picture and it saves to my iCloud, then gets re-downloaded on my all my other devices.)

 

[Freida]

Sure, he "forgot" and he "overlooked" the emails. Classic sign of "lets see if it goes unnoticed" approach.

I'm sure he overlooked emails but he didn't overlook his ID blocked

 

[Will Tisdale 🎗]

Curtis says that Apple did not send him the trade-in box for his older Mac and he forgot about it, so he essentially got the trade-in discount without providing the Mac back to Apple. He overlooked several emails from Apple and investigated only when his Apple ID became locked.

Sounds like complete fabricated nonsense to me.

How do you ‘forget’ about a trade in?
How do you ‘overlook’ several emails from Apple reminding you of your obligation to send the item that you’ve very conveniently forgotten about?

I dunno about anyone else, but there’s a very strong smell of bs emanating from his little tale. Sounds like fairly standard attention seeking to me.

 

[Bluetoot-]

Dustin Curtis sounds like kind of a mess.

I thought I was bad. I mean I still am; I guess it's comforting to have others as unorganized as you.

 

[cmaier]

I don't think Apple did anything wrong at all here, but it's kind of scary to realize how much power Apple has over you. If anything happened to my Apple ID I'd be pretty f***ed.

I felt the same way about my Google account, which is why I moved off of gmail a couple years back. I’d rather be with services that have real customer service people that you can actually reach, even if that means I need to pay an annual fee.

 

[HiVolt]

But why does a missed return allow Apple to lock your Apple ID. Apple ID isn't your wallet or payment method.

Companies deal with non collected funds in many other ways.

 

[nfl46]

I hope Curtis enjoyed his 5 minutes of fame. Now, he should apologize to Apple.

 

[LeeW]

Curtis says that Apple did not send him the trade-in box for his older Mac and he forgot about it

Maybe.

He overlooked several emails from Apple

Not buying it.

and investigated only when his Apple ID became locked.

Realised he was caught.

 

[code-m]

I really wish there was a iCloud at home option. Store all my iCloud data on a local NAS and in the actual cloud. This would solve the problem of having a backup, and not using all my bandwidth to upload and download all my pictures (Currently I take a picture and it saves to my iCloud, then gets re-downloaded on my all my other devices.)

Something already exists it’s called backup on your Mac. It can be done either wireless or wired and if done frequently takes little time and effort.

I don’t use iCloud Photo backup, it can be turned off. If you are concerned make an effort and look through iCloud and save locally or to another service, it’s not like Apple is hoarding your data and not providing and option. Sheesh.

 

[joelypolly]

But why does a missed return allow Apple to lock your Apple ID. Apple ID isn't your wallet or payment method.

Companies deal with non collected funds in many other ways.

When I stop paying rent and ignore my landlords emails I going act surprised when I get kicked out...

The missed returned probably triggered an overdraft on the account causing the cloud services to go unpaid

 

[cmaier]

But why does a missed return allow Apple to lock your Apple ID. Apple ID isn't your wallet or payment method.

Companies deal with non collected funds in many other ways.

Did you read the article? A missed return does NOT lock your Apple ID.

 

[code-m]

I hope Curtis enjoyed his 5 minutes of fame. Now, he should apologize to Apple.

What I find strange is rather than reach out to Apple to figure out what was going on this Twitter user basically made an ASSumption about Apple and the situation at hand. SMH

 

[Abazigal]

as usual, twitter overreacts and spreads false information for their 15 minutes of fame.

With DHH leading the charge, no less. He’s certainly mastering the art of stoking outrage on social media.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I really wish there was a iCloud at home option. Store all my iCloud data on a local NAS and in the actual cloud. This would solve the problem of having a backup, and not using all my bandwidth to upload and download all my pictures (Currently I take a picture and it saves to my iCloud, then gets re-downloaded on my all my other devices.)

You can download your entire iCloud account at any time. You first have to make a request at AppleID.Apple.com After 7 - 10 days (usually less) Apple will zip your iCloud account files in their proper folders and make everything available for download.