Strange irregularities with App Store credit

[familychoice]

Hi,

I purchased a new MBP 14" via Amazon just before Christmas. Everything fine, except the purchased date was incorrect - it stated the date it was shipped to Amazon from Apple, and hadn't been updated to the date it was then sold to me - two weeks later. Eventually resolved (after spending half a day batted between Apple and Amazon support) by Apple who stated they were 'doing me a favour', by correcting the date.

No issues at all with the nw Mac, very happy with the purchase.

A few days ago I decided to accept the free 3 month Apple Music offer. Before doing so, on my iPad, my account was stating £10.25 credit. After accepting the Apple Music offer however, I noted it was now stating 0 credit.

I checked my other iOS devices - all set to zero. Checked my old Intel MBP and there's no credit showing - same with my desktop Mini.

However, the App Store account on my new MBP is stating I have £10.02 credit in my account.

Contacted Apple support, twice, and both times they ignored the request. On the third time I got a response, and after a couple of hours where they took remote control of the laptop, they couldn't come up with a reason for the disparity between devices, since they're all logged in to the same account. The 'fix' suggested was to update the OS (currently 15.1) to the latest version.

But surely that can't be right? I haven't used the new Mac for any purchases, it's a brand new macine, so why should it be showing such a precise amount of credit? Is this a known bug, or something you have to do when buying a new Mac?

They promised to look into it but seem to have closed the ticket. My paranoia would be telling me I have a previously used Mac instead of a new one, given the purchase date issue previously, but it was in a sealed box, and support duble checked it hadn't been previously activated so I don't think that's the case.

I need to work this out, as I'm not confident in making any further store purchases if there's an issue with disappearing credit on one device, and unknown credit appearing on another. I checked my credit card balance and couldn't see anything fishy going on there.

Just wondered if anyone has had a similar issue, or can think of a cause, since Apple support don't seem to have a clue - or care less!

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Probably just another ecosystem disconnect bug... like how unified mail or messages can become disconnected such that you have some messages on one ecosystem device but not on the other. Often, one has to completely log out of 1 or both (or all) devices iCloud connections and then back in again to get them back in sync.

The "favour" probably adjusted the purchase date but that didn't propagate through the system to anything else that revolves around purchase date such as "free trials" tied to purchase dates of new devices.

My guess is the fix of the date spoiled multi-device access to the free trial. You might start the trial on the Mac and then log out of iCloud on the other devices, then back in again and see if they can partake too.

However, I once had a small credit like that seem to vanish. After substantial investigation it was applied to a new purchase I had made. I didn't apply it or request it be applied but it just got applied. Again, a guess is that smallish amounts of credit are not worth managing on their end so an underlying bit of code somewhere looks to clear small credits if they are unused for some period of time.

If you carefully check the receipts of new purchases, you'll probably find that £10.25 was applied towards something purchased. It may not be obvious (like a very visible line item deduction) but just subtraction from some other number- as if a discount in that amount was applied. Do the math of recent purchases like an accountant and you'll probably find £10.25 applied somewhere.

Else, the "favour" altered how free trials tied to new purchases register in their system.

 

[familychoice]

Probably just another ecosystem disconnect bug... like how unified mail or messages can become disconnected such that you have some messages on one ecosystem device but not on the other. Often, one has to completely log out of 1 or both (or all) devices iCloud connections and then back in again to get them back in sync.

Thanks for the reply, I didn't think of logging out and then back in agiain, and Apple support didn't mention it. Everything had been rebooted, but I was still logged into the store.

I logged out of the new MBP, and logging back in again still showed the £10.02 credit. So I then did the same with my Air M2 iPad, and when logging back in, this had changed from 0 to £10.02 credit. Did the same with my Air 4 iPad and iPhone, and again they updated from 0 to £10.02 credit.

So I guess I 'misremebered' the £10.25 credit on the iOS devices that vanished, it was probably this £10.02 amount, but for some reason adding the free Apple Music sub wiped the amount from ALL of my iOS devices, but it was still visible on the new Mac.

Very strange behaviour, and glad I didn't update the whole OS on the new Mac as advised by Apple support, as that was the only device showing the correct amount!

So hopefully all good now, lost credit now available. Thanks for your help!