How come Apple's website says they don't charge your account

[yhellotharsir]

until the item has shipped, but when I placed my iPad order, my account was deducted $920 (roughly) a couple days after, when it cleared?


Does this mean when my iPad ships, I'll be deducted again??! Or is this supposed to happen?

I really am confused, please help.

 

[sapporobaby]

until the item has shipped, but when I placed my iPad order, my account was deducted $920 (roughly) a couple days after, when it cleared?


Does this mean when my iPad ships, I'll be deducted again??! Or is this supposed to happen?

I really am confused, please help.

This has been explained in about 10000000 threads but I will explain it again.

Apple does a pre-authorization on your card initially to see if the funds are avail. They usually return the money within a few biz days. They will then charge your CC once the iPad physically ships. This money you will not get back of course.

That should clear it up for you.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

They authorize the full amount (for sure on a debit card) and then it falls off, then they do the real charge when it ships. If they did actually take the full amount, it may be close to actually shipping.

I had been told that th ey only did a $1 wrongly last month. Mucked a few things up for me on the day I ordered. They fixed it for me with a fax though.

But i think they need to make a few things more clear with all these long backorders they have going on right now. People tend to think they are ok until the X number of days passes.... But they aren't.

And before someone says "don't order until you have the money", the ipad was a good example, i left the money for them sitting in my savings account for the wait instead of sitting in checking doing nothing you know.

 

[yhellotharsir]

OK but FYI it wasn't "just" a temporary hold they placed on my account - my balance was ACTUALLY deducted $920, and it hasn't been "reimbursed" as of today. And my iPad is due to ship within a few days.

So like... They refund the temporary charge right before it ships, and then RE-charge me for that same amount immediately after?

So confusing.

 

[sapporobaby]

OK but FYI it wasn't "just" a temporary hold they placed on my account - my balance was ACTUALLY deducted $920, and it hasn't been "reimbursed" as of today. And my iPad is due to ship within a few days.

So like... They refund the temporary charge right before it ships, and then RE-charge me for that same amount immediately after?

So confusing.

True but you summed it up. Imagine the people that had 4 or 5 week lead times. They saw their accounts charged a few times. Happened to me, but I did a very smart thing. I called Apple and had them explain it rather than trust the word of anon people on the Internet. While the info you got is based on the experiences of others, maybe going directly to the source would provide faster and better feedback.

 

[yhellotharsir]

Can more people who have ordered their iPad online tell me, whether they were reimbursed their charge after placing the order, and how long before your iPad shipped, did you get the credit back???

I'm so confused.

 

[sapporobaby]

Can more people who have ordered their iPad online tell me, whether they were reimbursed their charge after placing the order, and how long before your iPad shipped, did you get the credit back???

I'm so confused.

Dude, if you are not willing to accept the answers posted here in this thread then do a search regarding the same info already posted elsewhere in the forum. As weekends are not considered biz days, chances are you are not going to see any movement, and rather than coming back here, why not simply call Apple and have it done with?

 

[TraceyS/FL]

Can more people who have ordered their iPad online tell me, whether they were reimbursed their charge after placing the order, and how long before your iPad shipped, did you get the credit back???

I'm so confused.

Did you verify with your bank/CC company to make sure it really was a charge? Some of them make it look like a charge but they are just pre-authorizations. This was proven in the pre-release threads when we were all waiting for them to ship by various screen shots.

You can do an online chat with the Apple.Com store and get more - possibly wrong - info. Depends on the person you get. They should be able to tell you if they have actually charged you for the order or not.

What is your Order Status online? If it is showing "prepped for shipment" then i'd expect that is a real charge.

The pre-authorizations take 3-5 days to "fall off", that is something your bank controls.

Maybe doing a search on your bank/CC in those threads might helps you see how yours handles it? I can't remember which banks made it look like a real charge.

But the best bet is to call the bank/CC, call Apple.

As for how mine happened, they each were different. My daughters wifi for release day didn't hit the bank for the real charge until the day or day after. The pre-auth happened twice in the time between order in Jan and shipment. My 3g for release day hit a few days before i think, about the time it went prepped for shipment.

 

[yhellotharsir]

Yeah but see the confusing thing is, is that after I ordered it and it showed up on my statements, it was actually physically deducted from my balance ($920). It still hasn't been reimbursed, and I ordered it more than a week ago.

Still "Not Yet Shipped" status. It's expected to ship the 20th.

I'm just gonna wait it out before I start jumping to conclusions.