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Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

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Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#81

Post by MobiusHorizons »

Mistletoe wrote: post #16
srmatto wrote: post #10

This fiasco stirs up a lot of different topics for me, none of which seem like they are likely to be resolved anytime soon. First, with so much importance placed on an Apple/iCloud account in our current era it's not good that they can be shutdown so trivially. Someone can be shut out from using Messages, Apple Wallet, Digital Identification (depending on where they live) and all their subscriptions and media purchas…

I’m realizing maybe I should just use Amazon or iCloud AND Google Photos for backing up my images. My whole life is in Google Photos. I could lose it from something stupid and never even have a person to contact about that.

At least do a google takeout backup. I believe there are ways to import that into software like immich (a self hosted alternative)

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#82

Post by rsync »

lxgr wrote: post #63
sneak wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The real problem is that companies do not offer any accessible, powerful, and intelligent customer support. No, the real problem is that we have no reasonable alternatives when companies misbehave. There is no meaningful way to exist in society today without an Apple or Google account, and that's actually insane. It's doubly insane for people who aren't citizens of the United States (although the CCP addressed this…

> There is no meaningful way to exist in society today without an Apple or Google account As is the case for many other infrastructure companies, such as your local electricity network operator (or even supplier depending on market liberalization). We also didn't solve that problem by ensuring everyone's right to run a generator in their backyard or heat their city apartment with a coal oven. If tech companies have b…

I have neither a Google nor an Apple account.

Well, to be fair, I do create an ephemeral Apple ID every time I get a new phone… But I immediately log out of iCloud after downloading the two or three apps that I use. I have no idea what my Apple ID or password is… I would have to go look them up.

Further, if I lost said Apple ID, I would lose nothing of value.

I believe, as you say, I exist meaningfully in society.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#83

Post by BobAliceInATree »

bombcar wrote: post #69
Mistletoe wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m realizing maybe I should just use Amazon or iCloud AND Google Photos for backing up my images. My whole life is in Google Photos. I could lose it from something stupid and never even have a person to contact about that.

Shutterfly will upload all your photos and store them for free if you buy a few magnets on sale now and then. Works from iPhone well enough and it's my "third backup."

Shutterfly will also continually spam you despite clicking the unsubscribe button multiple times.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#84

Post by [deleted] »

dylan604 wrote: post #72
Workaccount2 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real real problem are shameless shitheads that will abuse anything to any length the run scams or malware distributions. " Yes support tech, please understand my child just died of cancer and my wife in a car accident last week and the only pictures I have of them are on my bitcoin4free@gmail.com account! " Google probably also bans thousands of accounts a day. And suddenly every single one of them needs a full h…

I know you're just trying to pull something out of thin air that sounds plausible, but...this would be simple to prove with a request for valid death certificates, marriage license, and a birth certificate to prove you were married, the child is yours, and that both are in fact deceased. Oh, and of course, you'll have to prove who you are as well.

[deleted]

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#85

Post by dfxm12 »

dylan604 wrote: post #67
ndriscoll wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've made it clear that you don't own your cloud library, so the only reasonable answer is to never pay for something with DRM you cannot remove (including things that require an online account for functionality you consider important), and treat services like Steam as a temporary convenience to download known good files that you then fix to remove any DRM. If you only treat these services as a download tool, thei…

I'm not an avid gamer, so maybe this is a naive question, but how do you know these things before you buy the game?

This is 90% of the reason I don't bother buying modern computer games. For me, I assume games require phoning home and use some kind of DRM unless it is otherwise advertised.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#86

Post by sosborn »

ryandrake wrote: post #56
estimator7292 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banks frequently completely freeze accounts for no discernable reason and with zero communication, support, or recourse. You're just lucky that it hasn't happened to you. That does not mean it doesn't happen to anyone.

What I want to know is why does it always have to go straight from 0 to 100? There's seemingly no concept of proportion. For most online services, your account can be in one of two states: Totally good and "banned for life". There's no warning, no investigative period, no concept of scale (was the fraud $10 or $10,000?), no way to serve your time and come back if you actually were bad. It's just instant, silent BAN H…

At the scale these companies operate and the number of actual scammers they block because of their 0 - 100 policies, I can see how they got there. I bet all of us have had the luck (?) of out card being blocked because someone out there was able to get a hold of the credentials. Collateral damage like this, as devastating as it is to the individual, is probably a drop in the bucket for the company.

I'm not excusing this. What happened here shouldn't happen, and there should be quick resolutions and explanations available to the aggrieved parties.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#87

Post by paul7986 »

I just bought my niece a Visa gift card and she said she had the hardest time using it. Not many would accept it. What's up with this latest gift card scammed .. tampered gift cards. Has the media not done a blitz on this issue yet? It's the holiday season and many are going to be scammed! I will be giving a greeting card with cash or just cash app family members.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#88

Post by matheusmoreira »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #65
Apreche wrote: post #18

The real problem is that companies do not offer any accessible, powerful, and intelligent customer support. Even if they have real humans to talk to, they simply follow a script. Those agents do not have the ability to investigate a situation or the power to use their discretion to take meaningful action. We should impose, by law, the following rules on all companies that offer accounts to their customers. 1. If they…

The real real problem are shameless shitheads that will abuse anything to any length the run scams or malware distributions. " Yes support tech, please understand my child just died of cancer and my wife in a car accident last week and the only pictures I have of them are on my bitcoin4free@gmail.com account! " Google probably also bans thousands of accounts a day. And suddenly every single one of them needs a full h…

Apple is worth trillions of dollars. Just treat it as a business expense.

https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/optimal-amount-of-fra...

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#89

Post by kyboren »

Apreche wrote: post #18

The real problem is that companies do not offer any accessible, powerful, and intelligent customer support. Even if they have real humans to talk to, they simply follow a script. Those agents do not have the ability to investigate a situation or the power to use their discretion to take meaningful action. We should impose, by law, the following rules on all companies that offer accounts to their customers. 1. If they…

But then how can IP companies like Google leverage zero marginal cost of production to achieve infinite scale? Customer support costs scale linearly with the size of the customer base!

Won't somebody please think of the shareholders?

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#90

Post by sceptic123 »

dylan604 wrote: post #72
Workaccount2 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real real problem are shameless shitheads that will abuse anything to any length the run scams or malware distributions. " Yes support tech, please understand my child just died of cancer and my wife in a car accident last week and the only pictures I have of them are on my bitcoin4free@gmail.com account! " Google probably also bans thousands of accounts a day. And suddenly every single one of them needs a full h…

I know you're just trying to pull something out of thin air that sounds plausible, but...this would be simple to prove with a request for valid death certificates, marriage license, and a birth certificate to prove you were married, the child is yours, and that both are in fact deceased. Oh, and of course, you'll have to prove who you are as well.

It may be simple enough to prove, but that is an uncomfortable ask if those circumstances are genuine.
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