I was invited to a company Christmas party. At the party, there were games and prizes were given away. I "won" a $25 iTunes gift card. I have contacted Apple and put in the gift card number; but the computer voice keeps telling me that the gift card number is invalid. The gift card number is supposed to be a 16-digit number. The only 16-digit number is an alpha-numeric code beneath a scratch off place on the back of the card. Even that number cannot be entered through my telephone keypad. My advice is to NEVER buy an iTunes gift card; because you cannot redeem them or check the balance.

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6 Updates & Rebuttals

Anonymous

Texas,
USA

Glitches..

#2Consumer Comment

Tue, August 07, 2012

I've worked retail for a while. There have been incidents where a card was scanned and NOT activated. Call it a glitch in the system... a faulty card.. a computer error.. whatever. The point is, sometimes people pay for a card and it may not be activated. It's rare, but it happens. There is also a possibility the cashier did not scan it or enter it correctly. Sometimes you have to scan and swipe a card before it is activated.. sometimes just scanning will suffice. It depends on the system. There are a number of things that could have happened that is no fault of Apple nor the company that hosted the party. With the receipt, the retailer will be able to exchange the card for you. The cashier may have mistakenly not scanned it at all. It is very common for a cashier to overlook an item or miscount. There are a lot of things that could have happened.

Sam

Saint Paul,
Minnesota,
USA

Gift Card

#3UPDATE EX-employee responds

Mon, July 30, 2012

I am not saying that the gift card was not paid for. I am 100% positive that it is. I am saying that the clerk that took the money for the gift card did not activate it properly like they were supposed to. The company that put on the party is not to blame and Apple is not to blame for this as I stated in my previous post. The fault lies with the merchant that took the money for the card at the retail location. They took the money and did not activate the card like they were supposed to.

Boulder,
Colorado,
U.S.A.

ITunes

#4Author of original report

Sat, July 28, 2012

I know how gift cards work. It's like I said, I purchase dozens of them every year. They are activated once they are paid for. So by stating that the merchant did not activate the card, you are basically stating that the ITunes card in question was never paid for. This means that you are also stating that the company that hosted the Christmas party gave a gift that they knew was no good. AGAIN, gift cards are activated once they are paid for (or within 24 hours). The purchaser of the gift card receives a slip from the cashier stating that the transaction was either approved immediately or that the gift card will be active within 24 hours.

I have also noted that on a web site that purchases gift cards, ITunes is NOT one of the cards they will purchase. Gee I wonder why?

Sam

Saint Paul,
Minnesota,
USA

Card not activated.

#5UPDATE EX-employee responds

Tue, July 24, 2012

Unfortunately the first person that responded is correct. The card that you got was not activated by the merchant it was purchased from. When Apple sends cards to 3rd party retailers such as Wal Mart or Best Buy for example, the cards do not ship activated. This is so if someone wanted to swipe a card from the display without paying for it, they could not used the card.

When a card is purchased, the cashier that you pay for the card has to scan the card itself to activate it. Failure to scan the card will result in the card behaving just like you described.

Apple did not drop the ball on this one, your company did not drop the ball on this one either. The merchant that your company bought the card from is who the blame is on.

Everything that I have stated here is fact. It is the way ALL gift cards that you see hanging in stores work.

Boulder,
Colorado,
U.S.A.

Company who purchased iTunes Reputable

#6Author of original report

Sat, July 14, 2012

In response to the person who blames either the person who originally purchased the iTunes gift card or the point of sale, I say that the company who put on the Christmas party is a reputable company. I also say that I purchase dozens of gift cards every year; and I have never had a problem. I cannot even check the balance on the gift card. In addition, I cannot even get the Itunes software to download onto my brand new computer! I will NEVER purchase an Apple product after this. So Puh-lease, stop making excuses that blame everyone except Apple/Itunes.

Bryan

United States of America

Not loaded

#7Consumer Suggestion

Sat, July 07, 2012

Basically, whoever purchased the card dropped the ball. If there wasn't a balance when you tried to redeem the card, that means nothing was loaded at the time of purchase. The number comes up invalid because it was never activated @ the original point of sale. Apple as a retailer does not have any responsibility to make sure that the consumer/purchaser follows proper protocol. I'd ask whoever purchased the card for the original receipt and return to the original POS to resolve any issue you may have.

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