alt Hacker News> 1) Why would redeeming a bad gift card result in a complete shut-down of the account?
Because they assume you stole the gift card and are therefore a criminal. As to why they're making the assumption that you are the criminal, not the actual criminal who successfully redeemed the gift card first, you've got me. Since either situation is possible.
> 2) Why is it seemingly impossible to get any support now unless you drum up a ton of press?
I'm as infuriated as you are.
> 3) Should companies be restricted from growing too large where they can’t support their customers?
Size has nothing to do with it. Plenty of small companies ignore their customers too. So I don't think this is the right solution.
> In my personal and professional experience, banks are the only companies that seem to actually know how to handle these issues appropriately when it comes to fraud or access.
There are plenty of horror stories with banks too. I'm not sure they're that much better at all.
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>.As to why they're making the assumption that you are the criminal, not the actual criminal who successfully redeemed the gift card first, you've got me. Since either situation is possible.
Why the fuck couldn't it just be that you forgot and tried to redeem twice?
Just reject the card and be done with it, no action required.
"No Way To Fix This" Claims Only Digital Ecosystem Where Catastrophic Lockout Regularly Happens
Still, with Point 1) I wonder what exactly was happening. To think straight away "suspected fraud/criminal activity" for merely entering a voucher code a second time?
As a sane person I would expect a mere popup saying "Voucher code was already redeemed. try another one" Nothing more.
The ONLY other thing I can currently think of why Apple straight away went to "criminal" would be that the brick and mortar store failed to activate the card when they sold it.
You know, someone shoplifts such a card thinking they got it made. Even though you'd think everybody should know that the code you scratch of that card is only active after the clerk at the register did his thing.
If Apple then receives this voucher code that they must have in their databases but it has a big "not activated flag" next to it, THEN I could start to believe why they would lock down the account that tried to redeem, it.
And even then it seems iffy. Because how should I as the consumer know if the clerk did everything right with the activation?