I do not like apple apologizing every other day. It`s not going to help them increase their brand value. Once in a while is good but not every week. It was a small error. They rectified it, that should be it. No real need for another 30 day extension. I know those who get it will be happy but no one would have buzzed if no such freebie was awarded. They pleased the one percent of their potential customers but for the rest of the potential buyers mobileme is sounding more and more like a mess with troubles showing up everyday.
That amount translates to roughly $240 U.S. Dollars.
You wouldn't be so casual about it if you were unable to use $240 of your monthly income for a few weeks now would you?
Many people use their credit cards to make all purchases, and then pay their cards at the end of the month.
That's how we do it. And, it gets us our airline miles for travel.
So, we make purchases using the airline miles credit card. And, when we get paid, we pay the full balance of the card. This of course means that our spending budget has all been sent to the card to pay off the purchases of the previous month.
So, if suddenly the spending allowance on our card is reduced, then we've lost spending power. Our money has been paid to the credit card company to provide the spending allowance. Apple steps in, and pulls $240 of our spending power away from us. And, we find that we are sitting around unable to make necessary purchases while we wait for Apple to give us our $240 back.
That sounds like a pretty big mess up to me. And, it is definitely worthy of an apology. And, by that, I mean more than just a 30 day extension to a service that has so far proven to be problematic.
If you mess with our credit cards, you take away spending power. You take gas money from our families, you take food money from our families, you take away buying power.
$240 in a monthly budget can be quite significant. Probably even more for most people than for myself.
I would demand a bit more than a freebie if Apple took away $240 from my families budget for any amount of time without my express permission.
Sure, for those who only use their cards to make purchases they cannot afford, or for those who do not frequently utilize their cards, this may not be an issue (because it would be cancelled and no interest would be incurred).
But, if you utilize your cards for your monthly budget, and pay that card every month. Then Apple just stole several days of access to your money. For whatever number of days, your family was without part of it's necessary operating and living budget.
You take away access to my money for any number of days, and you will be compensating me more than just a month of access to a service I don't need to survive.
Picture getting to the checkout counter at the local grocery store. You have $300 or $400 worth of groceries (not unusual for a small family). And, the clerk informs you that your card will not accept the total of your purchase. So, your family goes without restocking food while you wait for Apple to return access to your money.
That's not an unreal situation for many. Many credit cards have limits of $1000 or $2000. Some have limits of $5000. Some have much higher limits.
If your families monthly budget is $5000 for groceries, bills, gas, and misc. expenses (not unusual at all in my area), and suddenly you lose access to $240 of your available money, there is a problem.
Perhaps the family didn't even use a dedicated credit card. Perhaps they used a Visa Check card that pulls from their account (many people do this as an alternative to using credit cards).
Think about it. Say a modest home payment of $1200 to $1500 a month. $400 to feed yourself, your spouse, your kids, etc. (and that's eating lightly these days - in our area, minimum food is actually about $800 a month due to costs of shipping food to our area). $500 for the monthly payment to pay for the car you use to get to work (since we have absolutely no mass transit in my area). $425 (or $800 or more if both spouses work) a month just for gas to get to work (since we have no mass transit - and gas prices are high). Say $100 a month for automobile insurance so you can legally drive your car (or cars) to work. Averages of $100 a month for Electricity (we actually cannot pay less than $100 a month even if we turned off power to the house - we have a minimum monthly payment just to have the electricity available - we can pay more though if we go over the budgeted allowance). Then, about another $100 a month for most in our area to heat the house. Then say $50 a month just to have a telephone. Expenses for kids (diapers, clothing, activities, school costs, etc.) which can be hundreds of dollars. Due to high costs in our area, the average cost is more than $500 a month per child on things just to meet the kids needs (and that's actually very conservative - the local child welfare figures find that it costs more than $1000 a month to meet only the basic needs of a school age child in our area). Add medical supplies (depending on the family and insurance benefits perhaps $400 to $3000 a month) - I know many who endure more than $3000 a month in medical needs.
And, suddenly Apple comes in and takes $240 of money from you. $240 you did not plan for. $240 you didn't expect to be missing. $240 not in your budget for the month.
Sure, you can probably budget in $240 if you are making purchases like these from Apple. But, if you know that you have 3 months to try before you buy, then that $240 is not in this months budget.
You're standing at the checkout counter, and discovering that because of an invalid charge / hold on your card, you're family is $240 short on food money for this month.
I may not blink at $240. But, I can tell you that I am probably in the minority in my area at the moment.
The expenses listed above are typical of most in this state. And, those are on the low side. These are rates you would pay if you live in heavily populated areas. If you live outside of the densely populated areas, you could expect almost all of those rates to double.
And, if you don't have a great paying job (of which there are few in this state), then you'll notice $240 that you didn't plan to be missing from this months available cash flow.
I say Apple screwed up pretty big.
