Apparently he set off some automated fraud alert. Despite numerous calls to Apple, he cannot get it corrected. I have used a few hundred dollars worth of gift cards. Does anyone know if Apple states limits?
yes possibly. However if he was caught doing something shady, would he really put a spotlight on it? He would have to know there is no way to winā¦
If this happened to me, and I was innocent of any wrongdoing, my next move would be to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Then Iād contact the consumer advocate reporter at my local tv station.
With all the hostility toward big tech in congress these days that may get some national attention for the situation.
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With Black Friday and many discounts on Apple gift cards available, itās common people either 1) Stock up on gift cards 2) Receive gift cards too.
If I get 100 gift cards hypothetically and I add them to my account why is it illegal. Appleās incompetence to not identify of the status of the gift cards legibility is their own problem. Why would a legitimate user be blocked. This makes no sense.
At the same time, in regards to the posting there is more to the story. Itās one sided.
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I agree there must be more to this story. Some companies are notoriously hard to contact. Like Google. Or PayPal, who I believe didnāt use to have a public number until it was somehow mandated, and still could not give a crap about you even now they have the number. But Apple is very easy to contact, from their retail stores, to their phone support, to their chat support. And Apple is not obstinate about helping.
He never really says what he did to have his account revoked three times.
He says he bought gift cards and added to his account, but doesnāt say when.
He says the message he got said he āviolated the iTunes terms and conditionsā, but he must have done something (perhaps innocent, perhaps not) that lead to his account being blocked (again, three times). Did he redeem the cards? Was he using some program to mass download music he bought and remove the DRM? Etc.
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This doesnāt have anything to do with typical gift card use. Most likely itās related to mishandling the move to a different country (he is an expat in Mexico and claims a history of traveling in his profile.) Changing countries while continuing to use the same account sometimes requires care since not all countries use the same stores and subject apps to similar laws.
Not saying that means iCloud/iTunes accounts work as well as they should.
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Is this the same story?
I donāt see how that follows?
Two different people, two different scenarios.
Merecvilian had his account restored, the other person seemingly repeatedly violated the terms until they blocked his account.
Apple disables accounts when there are perceived violations of their terms of service. If they are overzealous in their enforcement, there seems to be a repair mechanism.
Both of these posts sound overly alarmist to me.
Can it happen to you? Yes. You can also be hit by a train. When my friend was hit by a train there were no conspiratorial cries of āBig Railroad!ā, and āIt could happen to anyone!ā
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I just read that on Hacker News, I thought this was the same person. 
I did not see the other thread here and did not realize it was @MereCivilian
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Ah!
Iām sorry if my response was over zealous.
According to his thread on Twitter, which opens when you click on his tweet in the initial post, his account was blocked within a day and then within hours of Apple Support unblocking him. Of course he could be lying, but it does not sound too shady.
He explicitly states he even read the T&C and didnāt find any possible violations. Unfortunately, he does not say where the additional information regarding Appleās fraud detection being at fault comes from, at least not within that initial thread.
He does not really seem to be interested in having Apple Support fix the situation afterwards, though. Maybe heās already preparing his lawsuit, claiming $ 2 m in emotional damages, and actually receiving help would kind of stand in the way of suing Apple. 
(Just kiddingā¦ no idea whatās going and how frustrating his previous experience might have been. But it kind of shows how a Twitter account with some followers seems to help making the support team notice.)
Thatās how you know theyāre lying - NOBODY had read Appleās entire Ts&Cs. 
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He posted that they unblocked his account.
That is good news. I am glad.
However, the issue is still very much real. Most of us do not have a huge twitter following and i think its clear that this can and does happen to anyone.
btw, I have no associations with twitter user @COM
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Yeah, not meaning to minimize your (or his) experience in any way - just a note that heād updated it. 
understand. All good.
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This is not true. He had a following prior to this issue.
I am glade that I managed to resolve my issue without Twitter. There needs to be a system where customers can appeal to resolve issues with tech giants regardless of who you are.
my comment was not referring to him. If you search for a disabled apple account on twitter. You will see many users report that with no comment/response from anyone. My comment was directed towards those. Either, 8000 followers is better than 100 so from that perspective its pretty big. Sure if you have 8m followers then you really do not care if Apple disables your account.
Also, less than 10% of Twitter accounts have more than 1000 followers.
In each of these cases, its not that Apple didnāt respond. It was more that Apple stood firm that the account will remain disabled until things are brought to the public or the CEO is reached directly.
Even in the case of COM, Corporate Relations got involved which unlocked the account.
so its not as easy as you make it sound. Sorry. A system where Tim Cookās team has to step in is not ideal. Apple Support should be able to resolve these issues. Customers shouldnāt have to email the CEO to get help
btw @Leeabe51 I have read your comments on this thread. You give Apple the benefit of the doubt by saying this isnāt the complete story or they may be trying to cheat the system, which is fine. But the customer should also be given the benefit of the doubt. Apple can be wrong too.
It appears we have different meanings of a normal person. In the apple world, I am not a normal person. I am an apple enthusiast, hence why I am on this forum. We are fans, we know a bit about Apple. We know who runs apple.
It wonāt occur to a regular apple user to email Tim Cook when things go south.
All I am saying is that a regular/normal person will contact Apple Support to resolve the issue. A regular person will not contact TIM COOK.
People use Reddit/Twitter/ etc because they are desperate. I emailed Tim Cook because I was desperate because there was no other option.
Anyway, I have said enough. I want Apple Support to get better. I donāt want to be put in a position where emailing Tim Cook is my only option.
Thatās all I wish to say on this matter.