A: When it is an "older" version but still has $50 on it.

I have a gift card that admittedly has been in my wallet for a while. I figured I'd finally pop for an iPod and chose the 30gb refurb from the Apple Store for $179. Tried to check out and found my card doesn't have a pin number on it so I can't use it to make an online purchase.

After 6 phone calls and 2 online chats, my only recourse is to go into an Apple Store and do a card exchange or buy something there. I am lucky in that there are 3 Apple Stores in my area but by the time I go to one of them and come back home to make the purchase, the refurb may be gone.

I find it extremely hard to believe they can't
1. assign a temporary PIN that the system will accept or
2. do the card swap for me now over the phone. They have already verified that the card is valid and has the $50 on it.

Grrrrrrrr.......
DM

The old cards were sold to be in store only. You got exactly what you, or someone else, paid for when they bought the card. A gift card good in Apple stores only. Only recently have the cards been able to be used on the web. Also, the cards have a clause in the fine print that says they can't be used to buy other gift cards....I wouldn't be surprised if you run into trouble at the store trying to swap it with a new one.

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C(-)ris
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Thanks for that heads-up C(-)ris.

Based on your warning I just spoke with a very nice guy named David at one of the Apple stores near me (fortunate to have 4 within 45 min.) and he assured me he can and will do the swap for me.

Of course I can't go there until later in the day so all I can do is hope the refurb is still there when I can actually purchase it.

DM



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2007 10:53AM by dmann.

There was a story somewhere recently where a person found out they could only use a certain number of Apple Store Gift Cards at a single time -- as I recall, the person (maybe a HS kid or college student) got a handful of gift cards that he/she was going to put towards a new Mac but couldn't because Apple Store (in-store or online) policy only allows I think three cards to be used on a single purchase.

Clearly the policy needs modification.

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