Apple turns away iPad buyer

[bigseb]

Apple turns away iPad buyer; points to No Cash policy [POLL]

By Sam Diaz | May 18, 2010, 3:20am PDT
Summary


Your cash is no good inside an Apple store - if you're planning to buy a new iPad or iPhone. The company's policy requires a credit or debit card to purchase these items.


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With the credits markets still rocky and the public still carrying a sour taste for big banks, you might think that cash would be king again. But there are some places where your hard cold cash is no good. For example, if you’re thinking about walking into an Apple store and dropping some Benjamins for a new iPad or iPhone, think again. For those two items, it’s credit or debit only.
Why?
Apple’s not saying - not in the company’s pricing policy (http://www.apple.com/legal/sales_policies/retail_us.html) and not to an “On Your Side” crew (http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=7447037) of a San Francisco news station that was asking on behalf of a local resident. KGO’s Michael Finney told viewers yesterday about a computer-less woman named Diane Campbell who decided that an iPad would meet her needs and spent months saving - $1 here, $5 there - until she had $600, enough to buy the $499 iPad.
But when she walked up to the counter at the Palo Alto retail store and pulled out a wad of bills to pay for her new iPad, she was turned away.
http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/apple-legal-sales-policies-us-retail-sales-1.png (http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/apple-legal-sales-policies-us-retail-sales-1.png)
An employee reportedly told her that the reason Apple only takes plastic and puts a 2-per-customer on iPads limit was to “prevent con artists from buying lots of iPads selling them overseas” for an inflated price, according to the report. But Apple would not confirm that explanation, Finney reported. Instead, it simply pointed to its pricing policy.




http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apple-turns-away-ipad-buyer-points-to-no-cash-policy-poll/34581?tag=nl.e589

[bigseb]

Discuss ^^^ :grin:

[Muffinabus]

They changed the policy after this gained a little media attention. Imagine that.

[Wee_Guy]

What about buying a load of Apple gift cards and buying an iPad with them? Can you buy gift cards with cash?

[nikhilbhardwaj]

dont really care.

[pwnst*r]

I don't see what the big deal is. They implemented this back in 07 with the iPhone. Anyway, it's reversed and they gave her a free iPad anyway, so whoopdeedoo.

[McRat]

Lots of businesses don't take cash. However, drug dealers still take cash I've heard.

Wait until you see what they do on Cruise Ships nowadays. It will make your eyes bug out. Not only do they not take cash, they issue you a special credit card just for the trip.

[Shining Arcanine]

Lots of businesses don't take cash. However, drug dealers still take cash I've heard.

Wait until you see what they do on Cruise Ships nowadays. It will make your eyes bug out. Not only do they not take cash, they issue you a special credit card just for the trip.
With cash, you have potential issues with counterfeit money and money laundering. Accepting only credit cards eliminates these issues.

[McRat]

PSS - I'm not sure how many of you have been in an Apple store, but the one I go to doesn't have a cash register that I know of. The sales people have iPhones with CC readers on them. You buy right from the guy or gal you're talking with, and they email you the receipt. It's actually pretty clever.

[MikeA36]

Good thing for me then that I don't covet anything Apple. Never had a CC, never going to have a CC. Cash or debit for me. If you don't want it, your loss not mine. :)

[Shining Arcanine]

Good thing for me then that I don't covet anything Apple. Never had a CC, never going to have a CC. Cash or debit for me. If you don't want it, your loss not mine. :)

That is a poor financial decision. You are practically giving away money. Credit cards can provide discounts on gasoline and other purchases. I get 5% off gasoline via a Pentagon Federal Credit Union Credit Card and 2% off anything else via a Charles Schwab Credit Card.

[jrothwell97]

Old news. They've since reversed the card-only policy and sent a complementary iPad to the woman who was turned away (http://www.slashgear.com/apple-approve-ipad-cash-sales-amid-bad-pr-2086207/).

[Dr. C]

...The change means that Apple will accept cash for an iPad, but the buyer will have to set up an iTunes account while at the store.

The real reason here becomes apparent. The purpose of an iPad is to induce the consumer to purchase propriety and censored content via iTunes. This is kind of hard to do with cash over wireless. So they get the customer to open an iTunes account at the store and presumably place a cash deposit in it.

[Swagman]

That is a poor financial decision. You are practically giving away money. Credit cards can provide discounts on gasoline and other purchases. I get 5% off gasoline via a Pentagon Federal Credit Union Credit Card and 2% off anything else via a Charles Schwab Credit Card.

And your every transaction can/is watched by some government official.
Doesn't sound so bad at first glance does it ?

So what if you sell a few items and there's no cash about to pay for it ?

The bovernment would really like to tax you on those second hand sales.. Really.. they would, even though shedloads of tax was paid on them in the first place. It's only the fact that stuff can be paid for with cash that (any) Boverment deems it too difficult to track transactions.

So cash is your friend.

And then.... What if something goes wrong with your account ? (ID theft ?)
Well... the computer sez your skint/don't exist... The computer can't be wrong can it ?

So you steal to live or die.

Cash is your friend.

[pwnst*r]

Old news. They've since reversed the card-only policy and sent a complementary iPad to the woman who was turned away (http://www.slashgear.com/apple-approve-ipad-cash-sales-amid-bad-pr-2086207/).

^old post.

[jrothwell97]

^old post.

Indeed. (Saw the OP, scanned rest of thread, didn't notice corrections.)

[pwnst*r]

^_^