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tonyr6

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 13, 2011
1,741
733
Brooklyn NY
Don't buy those Apple Music gift cards from eBay. They are a scam. I bought one on the 5th and redeemed it and instead of making a balance of $99 for the year it put a $99 Apple ID credit. I called up support and they said not to worry it would most likely renew for the year.

My billing date is the 8th and they deducted the normal $9.99 with a Apple ID balance of $89.01 and now customer service can't do anything because it was deducted. So instead of me getting 12 months I really will only get about 10 months of service. The customer service rep also said that they should not even be selling those yet because it starts on the 9th.

Just a warning though not to get suckered into those cheap gift cards. Buy them directly from the Apple Store.
 

tonyr6

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 13, 2011
1,741
733
Brooklyn NY
I am having music withdrawl if it is such a thing. I called Apple support follow up number and he cancelled AM and said it can take a few hours for the credit to go back and reauthorize the card. I am not doing anything until he calls back but in the meanwhile I forgot I had $12 worth of Play credits for doing surveys so I resubscribed for one month using the credits for Play Music. I will sign up for Apple Music once the credits are straining out.
[doublepost=1473371238][/doublepost]All done. Apple support just called me back and I was able to redeem the gift card again. Did get a bunch of errors and I had to enter my password about 5 times already but it is good until 2017 and he even gave me a 5 song credit which would be helpful for some of those grayed out songs (except Album only) on AM.
 

bilibug

macrumors 6502
Aug 27, 2008
361
260
Stockton NJ
I got one on Saturday. When I redeemed it, it gave me the choice of $99 iTunes credit, or 1 year of Apple Music with the discounted price offer. After selecting AM, it told me that It will renew for 1 year after Sept 20th, which is my billing date, expiring Sept 20, 2017.
 

mpayne2k

macrumors 6502a
May 12, 2010
876
63
I got one on Saturday. When I redeemed it, it gave me the choice of $99 iTunes credit, or 1 year of Apple Music with the discounted price offer. After selecting AM, it told me that It will renew for 1 year after Sept 20th, which is my billing date, expiring Sept 20, 2017.

It said the same for me when redeeming the code, but if you go into "Manage Subscriptions" page what date does it show for you? I redeemed two cards back to back, my account when redeeming showed I was good until September 3, 2018. But if I go onto iTunes and look up my subscription, it shows I'll be billed $9.99 starting October 3, 2016.

I too called apple support and the iTunes rep said on their end it shows I have a promotion that is set aside for Apple Music and my credit should come out of that. BTW, that "credit" amount is not the same as my iTunes credit. Confusing as all get up. All he could say to me was to wait until Oct. 3, 2016 and see how it applies. Needless to say I told him that was not a good plan and I feel stuck now.
 

Julien

macrumors G4
Jun 30, 2007
11,861
5,445
Atlanta
An easer method and what i have done for years is catch gift cards on sale for 20% off. You just add them to your account, get the same discount, can use on anything in the App store or iTunes and best of all no confusion.
 
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mpayne2k

macrumors 6502a
May 12, 2010
876
63
Well I got some clarification today. My next bill date is indeed Oct. 3, 2016, but it will be billed at $0.00. The iTunes rep said not to worry, my account (on THEIR end) shows I have an active subscription for 11 remaining months (9/3/2016 was my first billed month, confirmed on my purchase history was billed 1 month for $0.00). As for the double cards redeemed, he said it also shows on their end, but that it wouldn't actually activate until the first card has been exhausted.

I have a clearer understanding of how this card works and under the advisor's suggestion, filed feedback with Apple to better show how these cards apply to your account on the user's end.
[doublepost=1473471804][/doublepost]
An easer method and what i have done for years is catch gift cards on sale for 20% off. You just add them to your account, get the same discount, can use on anything in the App store or iTunes and best of all no confusion.

You're correct, much less confusion. I too purchase iTunes gift cards (typically from PayPal digital gifts off eBay) when they are only 20% or more off (there was a rare 25% off Black Friday 2014).

The appeal of these Music subscription cards were they were $94 on eBay each with the 5 off digital cards over Labor Day weekend. Brought the monthly price down to $7.83/mo. I'm not a student so that is the best price around and it was all done in one shot as opposed to making sure I have credit in iTunes each month.
 

miknos

Suspended
Mar 14, 2008
940
793
Take care where you guys buy the gift card. Many scammers buy it with stolen credit cards.

Code is valid when you redeem but after a few days your account gets locked. Apple might give you a pass once. Otherwise, it's forever.
 

Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
Don't buy those Apple Music gift cards from eBay. They are a scam. I bought one on the 5th and redeemed it and instead of making a balance of $99 for the year it put a $99 Apple ID credit. I called up support and they said not to worry it would most likely renew for the year.

My billing date is the 8th and they deducted the normal $9.99 with a Apple ID balance of $89.01 and now customer service can't do anything because it was deducted. So instead of me getting 12 months I really will only get about 10 months of service. The customer service rep also said that they should not even be selling those yet because it starts on the 9th.

Just a warning though not to get suckered into those cheap gift cards. Buy them directly from the Apple Store.


U do get good cards from ebay often a bit cheaper than Apple.. so its just the seller that was dodgy.
 

Julien

macrumors G4
Jun 30, 2007
11,861
5,445
Atlanta
Take care where you guys buy the gift card. Many scammers buy it with stolen credit cards.

Code is valid when you redeem but after a few days your account gets locked. Apple might give you a pass once. Otherwise, it's forever.
This is the time of year many major retailers offer them up for 20% at times. For instance PayPal usually offers them a couple of times before X-Mass. I like to 'stock up' and avoid any potential scammers.
 
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