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Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

hey.paris

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Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#371

Post by croes »

graemep wrote: post #270
croes wrote: post #26

> Support staff refused to tell me why the account was banned or provide specific details on the decision. That‘s always the most kafkaesque part of these problems and should be illegal

> That‘s always the most kafkaesque part of these problems and should be illegal it is very likely illegal to tell him. it was triggered by the use of a gift card, and therefore very likely to be AML, and in many places (I am not sure about Australia specifically) it is illegal to provide information in the circumstances.

Usually if you get punished they have to tell you the crime you committed.

That seems like a dangerous loophole.

Imagine being banned from all online activities without any reason given.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#372

Post by queenkjuul »

wink wrote: post #292
viraptor wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If enough of these horror stories are publicized, people will learn to never buy/redeem Apple gift cards You'd think so. Yet, the stories of PayPal locking up payouts to surprised people keep coming every year - and people still use them.

That's so much not a fitting comparison. The most money I have ever had on my PayPal account was 100 bucks from a reversed transaction (like, double booking of a hotel room or wrong item sent), otherwise it's just a gateway. It would be annoying if my PayPal account was locked, because I use it a lot to order pizza online and a few small purchases. I could just use my credit card or something else but it's more click…

That you don't keep a PayPal balance and i don't buy Apple gift cards is irrelevant to the people that do keep a PayPal balance and do use Apple gift cards

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#373

Post by akho »

onehair wrote: post #326
akho wrote: post #318

It's hard to empathize with a technically-inclined person who uses cloud services for life-critical things. Let's just hope more people read the story.

> It's hard to empathize I will empathize with you then and with your inability to empathize with the fact that people are different. Some people don't want to admit to themselves that this world is a wolf eat sheep world, trust that if you're a law abiding citizen, you shouldn't expect to be unfairly treated. Some people have more priorities and no time to dwell on harshness. They also would love it if everything ju…

I qualified with "technically-inclined". You can't avoid seeing stories like this (about Apple and Google) on a monthly basis if you read tech websites. It is a known risk, which needs to be managed. Failing to manage it to this extent, while also writing tech books, is just baffling.

Apple is clearly in the wrong, and I'm certain that there are thousands of similar cases that are less public. The author is one of the best-positioned people to know and understand that. I'm sure they'll also get their account back, unlike many others.

(I can empathize with the difficult decision they'll face after that: do they continue to promote Apple, or try to reinvent their career somehow?)

"Looking out for each other", in this case, implies telling the people you care about to have backups, and helping them set up. I do that, a lot. I'd try to also help with this plea, if I had any pull with Apple.

I don't understand the sections of your comment with the word "supposed" in them. Supposed by who, and on what basis? What paid-for service are Apple not delivering? I assume they don't charge the author anymore.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#374

Post by leoxiong »

otterley wrote: post #156

Out of curiosity, why did you buy and redeem such a large gift card instead of paying directly? And was this a form of payment that was unusual in light of your account history?

It’s common in Australia for retailers to offer discounts or reward points for gift cards.

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/product/apple-gift-card

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#375

Post by akho »

wiseowise wrote: post #346
akho wrote: post #318

It's hard to empathize with a technically-inclined person who uses cloud services for life-critical things. Let's just hope more people read the story.

Do you also find it hard to emphasize with any kind of victim or only when it confirms your tech identity war beliefs?

You are so smart.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#376

Post by duskdozer »

gorbachev wrote: post #158
n2h4 wrote: post #92

parisidau, I hope you get your account back. you can in the meantime, and for the future, try compartmentalizing services you use. the old saying of "all eggs in one basket" applies here as well. VPS, hard drives, etc. are cheap and keep you more in control of your own data than you're with big tech.

How do you that with Apple hardware that requires an AppleID to operate? Is your advise to avoid all Apple hardware? Or buy backup hardware none of which will run MacOS / iOS, so you still couldn't access things like your Apple Developer account, or any shared documents?

Are you not able to use them at all without an apple id? I have some older apple devices which I guess predate that

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#377

Post by duskdozer »

SuperNinKenDo wrote: post #322

This person has read literally dozens of stories just like theirs and just shrugged and said "couldn't be me". Well, it can always be you.

Definitely a problem with a lot of developers, though I'm not sure if it's only a matter of having higher than average SES.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#378

Post by queenkjuul »

shelled wrote: post #297
subscribed wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had Amazon close my old, almostt-unused account in Amazon-in-another-country because I dared to add a new payment method. I proved them who I am, that the new payment method (virtual card from a well-known organization) is mine, everything. After lots of back-forth I've been informed their decision is final. I HAVE NOT BREACHED TOS. I wish I has a major law company behind me to force them to admit that. Very happy…

I am in a situation right now where Amazon delivered a fake product. Support suggested they can also try redelivery, and when I asked what if it happens again, they said it should not happen. It happened - fake again. Now the customer support flow is: you upload images of the product (max. three), and the system approves the verification or rejects it, and then you have a way to contact customer care. System rejected…

Wow, i received a fake product from Amazon ten years ago, their support gave me a full refund no questions asked. Shame how far they've fallen.

(Fwiw, i never bought anything from Amazon again after receiving one fake item. If i want to gamble I'll pay Aliexpress prices)

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#380

Post by queenkjuul »

monerozcash wrote: post #283
subscribed wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had Amazon close my old, almostt-unused account in Amazon-in-another-country because I dared to add a new payment method. I proved them who I am, that the new payment method (virtual card from a well-known organization) is mine, everything. After lots of back-forth I've been informed their decision is final. I HAVE NOT BREACHED TOS. I wish I has a major law company behind me to force them to admit that. Very happy…

Emailing jeff@amazon rapidly solved the problem for me when I was in the exactly same situation. Of course it'd have been nicer to tell them to fuck off, but living without Amazon would simply be far too inconvenient.

Are you in the US?

I'm just always a little surprised to read things like "i couldn't live without Amazon," and i wonder if there are no other alternatives for two day shipping on other countries or what it is that keeps people stuck on Amazon instead of using other next-day deliveries

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