The Lemon Fool

I'm getting grief from Apple's store, and I suspect that's because they *really* like to make life hard for anyone who doesn't have a creditcard on file with them.

I'm wondering if it's possible to get a creditcard with a credit limit of £0.00, that I can give to scam merchants like Apple so they will (hopefully) stop penalising me, without putting myself at risk of financial loss.

I have no expectation of making purchases from the app store. If I ever do, they'll be one-off transactions.

Why not get a pre-paid credit card loaded with the amount you want to spend? Presumably you do want to spend something as there is no other reason to interact with the Apple Store?

midnightcatprowl wrote:Why not get a pre-paid credit card loaded with the amount you want to spend? Presumably you do want to spend something as there is no other reason to interact with the Apple Store?

No, the apple store is the only way to access certain zero-cost software. Most importantly XCode, which I already have, but which is needed to bootstrap a development environment, and build other software.

On this occasion, I had just tried to download LibreOffice. Although (as with many things - e.g. web browsers) I can get it elsewhere (at least if I want to compile it myself), I believe that by going to the app store I get the benefit of it notifying me when an update is recommended. Indeed, many developers of Free Software will point you to the app store for a Mac build of their software, suitable for a product where I am a User rather than a Developer.

But I guess pre-paid card might be a term to search for. One with zero balance.

Why do you say Apple is a "scam merchant"? Do they have a history of making false transactions on customers' credit cards?

I've had one registered there for over five years without issue.

Scott.

swill453 wrote:Why do you say Apple is a "scam merchant"?
Scott.

Because they're behaving like one in aggressively pushing users into giving them an indefinite mandate to take our money.

They have my money. They took it when I bought a macbook. If they get any more, it should be under my control, when I'm buying something else!

UncleEbenezer wrote:

swill453 wrote:Why do you say Apple is a "scam merchant"?
Scott.

Because they're behaving like one in aggressively pushing users into giving them an indefinite mandate to take our money.

They have my money. They took it when I bought a macbook. If they get any more, it should be under my control, when I'm buying something else!

So that's a "no" then.

Scott.

swill453 wrote:So that's a "no" then.

Scott.

No to what? I didn't say or quote anything with a yes/no answer.

And Apple's app store do actually have form on taking very dodgy payments, under the heading of "in-app purchases", some of them unclear to the customers (or even the customers' kids running up the bill). And that's before you factor in risks like a data leak, crooked employee, etc.

UncleEbenezer wrote:No to what? I didn't say or quote anything with a yes/no answer.

To my question, which you didn't requote. "Do they have a history of making false transactions on customers' credit cards?"

Scott.

UncleEbenezer wrote:I'm wondering if it's possible to get a credit card with a credit limit of £0.00

Doubtful but I did once succeed in getting my credit limit on one card reduced to £500.

My purpose was to use it when hiring cars, as that low limit was enough to enable the hire but not enough for the hire company to charge a lot of damage or loss to the card on top of the cost of the hire.

I think there is a place for a card with a low limit.

Lootman wrote:My purpose was to use it when hiring cars, as that low limit was enough to enable the hire but not enough for the hire company to charge a lot of damage or loss to the card on top of the cost of the hire

I doubt that would work these days. They authorise the full excess on the card when you hire it, in my experience. This is typically about 1000 euros if you don't take their rip-off excess waiver.

Scott.

swill453 wrote:

Lootman wrote:My purpose was to use it when hiring cars, as that low limit was enough to enable the hire but not enough for the hire company to charge a lot of damage or loss to the card on top of the cost of the hire

I doubt that would work these days. They authorise the full excess on the card when you hire it, in my experience. This is typically about 1000 euros if you don't take their rip-off excess waiver.

You may well be right, and it was precisely to avoid those "rip-off waivers" that I conjured up this approach.

What we really need is the feature that US credit cards offer, but UK credit cards do not as far as I know, whereby if you pay with a US card that offers this feature, then you can decline all those waivers, and the credit card will cover the risk. With exceptions, of course, but it totally bailed me out on one occasion (Los Angeles, Christman Eve, raining, car towed, spent half of Christmas Day at Hollywood police station, long story, off topic).

Lootman wrote:What we really need is the feature that US credit cards offer, but UK credit cards do not as far as I know, whereby if you pay with a US card that offers this feature, then you can decline all those waivers, and the credit card will cover the risk.

Or use one of the many 3rd party excess insurance companies. I have annual european cover for less than £40. It covers damage to windows, undercarriage, roof, tyres etc. not typically covered by damage waivers from car hire companies, also keys, misfuelling, etc.

Scott.

OK, I've followed up with Apple. This required me to schedule a call with their call centre, and go through a bunch of menu options, before I could speak to a lady whose thick Irish accent I struggled to understand amidst all the extraneous noises on a very poor quality (call-centre) line lacking the higher frequencies to hear many consonants.

Turns out they had indeed put a "random" stop on my account, without any reason to suspect it had been abused, attacked, compromised, or anything. I jumped through some hoops, and she re-enabled it for me.

This certainly feels like bullying. Of course I can't say for certain it's not pure coincidence with my having no creditcard on file with them, but it feels like it. But if it happens again I shall just abandon the apple ID and create a new one, rather than faff about with them, or drag some innocent bank into a subterfuge with that zero-limit card.

I have operated for years without a credit card registered with Apple. From time to time I enable it then immediately delete when the purchase has been made. I do the same with paypal. Never had any issues. The rest of this thread gave me a good laugh.