Friend Got Screwed by Apple Online!

My friend is in desperate help. She ordered the New MacBook Pro Jan 31st. She does not have much money so her parents said they will pay half. She did the payment on her Check card and her Credit Card(Really her parents but she gets one in her name). Coming to find out they just charged her Checking account for the full amount! She had just enough in her account to cover her half of the laptop and the rest was SUPPOSED to go on her parents credit card. Basically, now her account is in a NEGATIVE balance.

She contacted Apple, and they basically said. O We are so sorry, there is Absolutely nothing we can do for now. Figure it out yourself. She said how about if she just returns it, they told her she would have to pay for the return shipping herself. Her parents are home in TX and she lives here MN for College.

Is there anyone she can report this to? BBB Maybe?

Thanks anyone for any feedback.

It's been over a month. What does she expect Apple to do. She made the mistake, not them. Besides, its not a big deal. Just get the money off of the credit card and deposit it into the bank to fill the void.

yea its far too late to do anything now

as for being "screwed over" think thats a little bit harsh really

To those two previous posters: Apple doesn't charge you until they ship the product, I would assume that it was shipped maybe a week ago (it's a MBP), therefore that's when the charges went through and she discovered that they screwed up.

Now, I don't really know how to solve this, but it might help to contact the bank instead and explain the situtation to them. I've found that when the seller makes trouble it helps to contact the credit-card company or the bank. She could also call Apple again and not let go until they do something about it. I'm sure they can credit half the amount back into her account and charge it to her parents' credit card (seriously, how complicated can it be to transfer money to one account and charge a credit card). She shouldn't back out no matter what they tell her.

I am surprised that the bank let a charge that would take her that far in the red be processed. Call the bank first and explain the situation, I am not sure what they can do since it is already processed though. Then have her call her parents and see if they can do a wire transfer of funds or fedex a check. These are the ways most likely to rectify the situation in short order.

Whether it is Apple or your friends fault, it is an unfortunate incident. Since the goods have been received though it is going to be very difficult to get Apple to credit the charge back and then redo the charges. If you want to try and do this though do not bother talking to whomever answers the line, insist to talk to a manager. A regular tier 1 operator would not have the ability to charge back in any case. Explain that you have called multiple times without satisfactory results and that it is time critical that it be resolved. Apple will have probably sent an email detailing the charges, and to what card it is being charged to (***last 4), use this information in your favor to show Apple that their stance is not reasonable.

Good luck.

a check card would get declined if there was not sufficient funds in the checking account. check cards (debit cards) do not work like credit cards.

I would hardly say that Apple "screwed" her over. Even if a mistake was made on Apple's behalf, it was because of the one she made first...

She does not have much money

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If you cannot afford something, then you shouldn't buy it. Plain and simple.

i thought apple was only able to accept one source for payment anyway?

from http://www.apple.com/support/store/shop/payments.html

Can I use more than one form of payment per order?
The Apple Store is able to process one form of payment per order. For instance, if you choose to pay with your Apple Credit Account, the balance of your credit line must cover the entire amount due for the order. It would not be possible to cover any difference with another credit card or money order.

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@scooter

I think you hit the point, but how did this friend manage to order with two sources? The person responsible is the apple store retailer who sold you this, you might want to transfer the moeny to the account as quickly as possible from the credit card or ask the bank to arrest the account for a need amoutn of time (so that the interests don't fall into the bottomless).

i think that your friend might be making up a bit of a story. no where on the apple site when buying a computer does it let you have the option of paying with two different forms of payment. even when you call and talk to a representative you can not do that.

also, like stated above, the bank would have declined her check card if she did not have the money to cover it.

last but not least:
SHE DID NOT GET SCREWED BY APPLE ONLINE!!!

this is clearly her own fault
sorry
-chris

Yeah, it sounds like a case of someone making things more complicated than they need to be. Simply pay with the credit card, and then get the half from the parents to pay off that portion of the balance at the end of the payment cycle. Where I come from, trying to pay for 1 item with 2 cards is a sign that you are really, really overextended money-wise, and to be honest I've never seen or heard of it being done.

I'm sorry, I don't see how this is Apple's fault.

have the parnets move $$$ from the account to the daugter's so she is at 0 agian, no big deal. (unless her parnets don't have the half, and could only charge, in which case, it might be a little worse) and it comes down to....... if you don't have the money don't spend it, which is hard when you have a card that will give it to you, even if you don't have the cash

and actually i think there are few online retailers who accepts more than one payment type/source during checkout.

one of them is dell

Well guys, thanks for some of the feedback. 1st off, yes you can have multiple payments on a online purchase. 2nd shes not the one who screwed up, the online systems never processed the transaction as 2 charges as it was suppose to.

Anyways, I borrowed her some money to help her out until her parents can send her a money order. She contacted Apple again and said she will basically just wants to return it because nothing is worth her going negative. She has never went negative before on her account. Apple says she has to pay the shipping gee to send it back. After a few minutes of finally getting them to believe that she had done nothing wrong, they are willing to issue her account a $100 to make up the insufficient funds and shipping charges. She wanted this thing so bad that I had to borrow her the money until her parents pay me back.

She got what she wanted, Apple did what they can do but still should not of happend in the first place.

Again, thanks for the feedback everyone.

1st off, yes you can have multiple payments on a online purchase.
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Maybe, but still there is no real reason to use two cards for one order, unless you want something like this to happen.

iMac2K6 said:

Well guys, thanks for some of the feedback. 1st off, yes you can have multiple payments on a online purchase. 2nd shes not the one who screwed up, the online systems never processed the transaction as 2 charges as it was suppose to.

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I am sorry, but your friend appears to be fabricating the incident. While some outlets may allow dual payments on a single item, you CANNOT have multiple payments with Apple online purchases, as it clearly states this from the link given earlier:

Can I use more than one form of payment per order?
The Apple Store is able to process one form of payment per order. For instance, if you choose to pay with your Apple Credit Account, the balance of your credit line must cover the entire amount due for the order. It would not be possible to cover any difference with another credit card or money order.

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http://www.apple.com/support/store/shop/payments.html

If Apple's store front software will not allow more than one payment method for an item, which it CLEARLY will not, there is no way your friend could have keyed the extra information in for that payment method. This is why the system "never processed the transaction as two charges, because it cannot do that......

Reading between the lines, it sounds more like she is regretting her purchase, or is aiming for a borrow of money (which has worked) because she cannot afford it.

I sincerely hope that it is you who does not "get screwed" over by her taking advantage of your good nature, and you get your money back since you have been kind enough to borrow it for her as she wanted the powerbook "so bad" as you say.

You said "she got what she wanted" and she certainly has. If it was me, I would be worried after reading Apple's statment above, and would be waiting for the excuses of why her parents money order has not reached her.

If you think about it, you did not need to borrow any money for her, since the simple solution would have been for her to transfer funds from her parents credit card which she is in posession of, since the amount she was allowed towards the Powerbook is still on the credit card. It is obvious she is being dishonest about the whole scenario.

Good luck in getting your money back.

Kyomii said:

I am sorry, but your friend appears to be fabricating the incident. While some outlets may allow dual payments on a single item, you CANNOT have multiple payments with Apple online purchases, as it clearly states this from the link given earlier:



http://www.apple.com/support/store/shop/payments.html

If Apple's store front software will not allow more than one payment method for an item, which it CLEARLY will not, there is no way your friend could have keyed the extra information in for that payment method. This is why the system "never processed the transaction as two charges, because it cannot do that......

Reading between the lines, it sounds more like she is regretting her purchase, or is aiming for a borrow of money (which has worked) because she cannot afford it.

I sincerely hope that it is you who does not "get screwed" over by her taking advantage of your good nature, and you get your money back since you have been kind enough to borrow it for her as she wanted the powerbook "so bad" as you say.

You said "she got what she wanted" and she certainly has. If it was me, I would be worried after reading Apple's statment above, and would be waiting for the excuses of why her parents money order has not reached her.

If you think about it, you did not need to borrow any money for her, since the simple solution would have been for her to transfer funds from her parents credit card which she is in posession of, since the amount she was allowed towards the Powerbook is still on the credit card. It is obvious she is being dishonest about the whole scenario.

Good luck in getting your money back.

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Thanks for the hope of me not getting screwed over. I spoke with her parents and they are going to send a money order to me to pay me back.

Just want to clarify using the 2 different credit cards method. If you go to Apple.com, select a item, add to cart, check out now and then your Apple ID info. on teh next screen it gives your info etc......

Next to "Change method of payment" It also gives the option "Pay with 2 credit cards"

Well, i was bored and decided to look into things because i remembered i had the opportunity to pay with two cards.

Apple.com said:

Multiple Payment Tenders
You may use multiple payment tenders on anything sold by Apple (except another Apple Gift Card, an iTunes Gift Certificate or software download such as QuickTime). Split payment orders can be made no matter which ordering method you use (Internet or phone). You can pay with two credit cards by indicating the amount to place on your primary card. The remaining balance will be allocated automatically to the second card. You may also use up to four Apple Gift Cards or up to four Apple Gift Cards with a credit card. A purchase can also be split between Apple Credit and another credit card or between Apple Credit and up to four Apple Gift Cards.

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http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/salespolicies.html#Payment Methods

Great find iWonder! That spells it out pretty clear. Someone messed up somewhere.

FWIW, a good informative thread. I imagine a lot of people use the dual payment method, though I haven't myself (a bit leery of getting double charged). Just for example, I have 2 debit cards each with a daily limit of $1000, and a credit card with about $1500 free on it (no limit). Technically, right now I could not simply charge say a MacBook on any one of my cards. About the most I can charge straight up is an iMac or iBook.

However, in the past I've been able to charge more than the $1000 limit on debit cards by having the retailer call the number on the back of the card. The person at the bank will check the balance in the account, make the transaction and provide an approval number (after verifying my identity). I have only done this a couple of times as I rarely buy anything that costs over $1000 (I rarely use the credit card for anything at all). Another thing that can be done is to not use ACH (immediate auto-deduct) but use the older method of making a charge copy and signing it. This method is not limited by the daily allowance, however it does take a few days to process and a lot of places no longer have the equipment to do this. This only works in person of course.

If your friend has printed documentation that she authorized only a partial charge to her bank card, lets say she authorized $1000 to her card and $1000 to another card, then she can call the bank and have the amount that apple charged removed from her card. She will have to provide this proof when she fills out a dispute form, but the bank should then reverse the charge immediately and put her account back in order. If what you say is correct, she did not authorize $2000 on her debit card, only $1000, so the onus is on Apple to correct the situation since they made an unauthorized charge.