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I bought a Mac book with the student discount that included a $150 gift card. The gift card shows up as an installment payment of $12.50 per month.
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.14
This makes no sense. I was very confused by the charges I am seeing on my credit statement, and I think the website presentation of the summary of charges is very misleading. I am being charged an extra 150 on top of the summary of charges statement. On the ordering page, it looks very much like you are getting a student discount AND a bonus gift card. If there was an option to remove the gift card, I didn't see it. So the deal is really not what it seems. If paying for the gift card is required for receiving the 150 off, then you are paying full price for the item, and then getting a 150 gift card credit to buy apple products. You are not getting 150 cash off of the item. It's very deceptive and frankly leaves a bad taste hanging over my purchase of a new apple product.
Osman789 wrote:
Can please anyone give ms a gift card
Ask your family for one for your birthday.
First, off, most states don’t tax gift certificates at the time of sale. The tax is charged when the gift certificate is redeemed for tangible property. So, there is no tax benefit. I explained why it’s done the way it is in several prior posts and threads. This enables a much easier return of the computer should they decide to return it. When we used to just give out a physical gift card many times the customer would spend it and then decide to return the computer a few weeks later.
Oops no gift card. So, now you either have to buy a gift card in the store and then just give it back to me, but that is an accounting and inventory headache, or I deduct the cost of the gift from the computer return. Again, not very happy customers. The way it currently is, there is no downside, except for those that don’t understand what happened.
For those that aren’t clear. It works like this. The price of the computer is sold at the educational store price. This is usually a discount from between $100 and $250. That’s a savings over non-educational pricing. The price of the computer is reduced again, but this time by the cost of the gift card, say another $100. That discount is in addition to the educational discount. Now, you’re charged $100 for the gift card. So, the additional discount and gift card are a wash. But you got a gift card worth $100.
One year later, and the same thing happened to me just now!!!
Jeff Donald wrote:
Why is it done that way? It makes returns easier. I >>was<< an Apple Store Manager when it wasn’t done that way. Customers tried to return the product and not the gift card. It was a huge hassle. The process should have been explained better at the POS, if you purchased it in store. sorry there was confusion.
Oh, gosh, yes. I remember that being an issue when I worked at Verizon Wireless. Also, buy-one-get-one-free where people wanted to return the "buy one" and have us charge them for the free one.
Are you purchasing this under the Back to School promotion? If so, please post a photo of the receipt or a screen shot of the email. Please mark out any personal information, Apple Support Community is a public forum.
The point is, it’s Apple’s promotion and they can run it how they want. Purchaser is still receiving an extra value in the form of a gift card. It’s not costing you anything, so give it away to a friend, relative or co-worker if you feel it won’t benefit you in any way. Apple Gift cards can be used for Tunes, Apple TV, app, subscriptions, product and services etc. I can’t imagine someone not being able to find something of value in everything Apple has to offer.
Jeff Donald, I came here looking answers to the whole gift card charge and I’m a bit more clear now. Maybe this is a stretch, but if for some reason I return my laptop (which won’t happen), then Apple can revolt the gift card also, and they’ll be whole again — as if they had never sold the computer to me. Either way, when the laptop is all paid off, then I would have the full value of the gift card in the end. Or, I could be very wrong in this line of thinking. 😏
Yes, if the gift card is not redeemed, it could be canceled, but that rarely happens. What normally happens is the extra discount is cancelled and you get to keep the gift card. You can’t have installments on just a gift card. So, all installment payments are cancelled and extra discount is cancelled. Returning a gift would have to be done in-store by a manager. Online would never accept return of gift card.
And, not surprisingly, point-of-sale systems often don't make returns easy. Glad to be out of retail.
Thank you for the explanation, I knew there had to be a reason. I appreciate the quick response too!
Can please anyone give ms a gift card
Me too. Apple shows me education saving but compulsory sell me a $100 Gift Card and charge my money from my bank account balance.
It is tricky. ～～
Nope. Nothing tricky about it at all. You're getting a $100 gift card in addition to your purchase. And, you're only paying for the purchase (the total is the same)
Thank you for this explanation. I was having a hard time figuring this out, but it makes sense now.
Why am I being charged for a gift card?
