Today apple charged me for the 32g wyfi/3g--too

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surprised

Most retailers don't charge your card till the product is shipped or about to ship. I ordered the same configuration, so with 39 days to wait I'm a little surprised they are charging so soon. Is this normal for Apple?

 

Apple charged the cards right on pre-order day but the charge dropped off, it was just a funds verification. This could be another funds verification...to make sure people that ordered still have the money available.

Kind of dumb though to tie up people's funds like this though.

 

My funds verification was only 1 dollar on my preorder. Personally I wish they would have just charged the thing and been done with it.

 

I just checked my account again, and I have a pending for the 3g ipad too.

 

I just checked. I ordered my 64gb wifi on March 13th. At the time I ordered the iPad, a case, a doc, and a power cord. On the 13th they did the $1 charge on my account.

Today they posted a charge of $894 against my account (and it appears as pending like any other normal charge) -- and the $894 is exactly what the iPad and state tax would cost. What's interesting is that they didn't appear to charge me for any of the accessories yet.

That is weird - especially since the case and the dock were scheduled to arrive before the iPad.

Maybe they're going to be shipping early?

 

oh yes... they charged me for my 32gb 3g too
maybe we won't have to wait til end of april... : )

 

There's another thread on this forum about this - and someone says they heard from an Apple person that this is a screw up. If it is - it'll be one big fat royal screw-up since they're pulling a lot of this out of debit cards and by tomorrow morning the transactions will be finalized. I used an older account and luckily moved money over to it this past weekend to cover the charges. I feel sorry for those folks who weren't planning on having to fork out the cash until late April. This could get nasty.

 

I pre-ordered accessories also and haven't got a pending for them either.

 

Yes they did charge me for Wi/fI 3g today also.I hope that it is good news for us

 

Oh man, that would be incredible. It was so hard to order the 3g knowing I'd have to wait even longer for it. LOL

 

So they just check if we have the money!!!!!!!!!! some people were not ready for that until april!!

 

I don't buy stuff I don't have the money for.

 

Just checked my account. No charge for my 32wyfi/3g yet. Nor even a credit check. This was on an Amex card.

 

Folks, maybe I can clarify what's happening a little bit for those of you who are starting to get a little miffed and somewhat confused. I used to work in the card servicing business.

It is possible that Apple is staging the pre-orders and starting to ship them. I wouldn't be surprised if they go out ground or go out to be held in the local depot until delivery day. Since they are intended to be delivered on a specific date, this isn't uncommon.

It is possible that Apple is actually charging cards for them. I think it's unlikely, though. I believe cards won't be charged until the delivery date, or possibly the day before.

But wait! you scream! I can see the charge on my bank account!

No, actually you can't. If you see a charge marked "Pending", odds are it's an authorization, not necessarily an actual charge. It's the nature of debit cards that when a merchant runs an authorization, the funds in the account are "locked". That is, no longer available to you. The actual charge will be processed against the account using the same authorization code, sometimes for the same amount, sometimes a different amount as is the case with a restaurant where they authorize the actual amount first, then re-run the charge with the tip you indicated on the slip included.

This can be inconvenient, sometimes creating real problems if the merchant doesn't handle it correctly, but it's the nature of the beast. For example, I used a debit card at a hotel once. When I checked in, they authorized the amount of my expected stay against the card. When I went to check out the clerk at the desk screwed up and instead of using the same authorization code, he processed a new one. On a credit card, this wouldn't have caused a problem, but on a debit card, the 2 authorizations exceeded the available balance and I had a helluva time getting it straightened out.

Apple may have "accidentally" run authorizations for the 3G iPads. On a credit card, you may never even notice. On a debit card, however, you'd see the funds locked immediately, possibly resulting in overdrafts.

Reversing an authorization isn't a trivial thing. Reversing an actual charge, simply involves a credit, but an authorization isn't a real 'charge' and they obviously can't credit your account for funds they didn't actually take out.

The lesson here is that you need to be very careful when using a debit card for large purchases.

Some banks handle this process differently, reflecting a value of $1 when an authorization is processed rather than the actual amount authorized in an attempt to minimize locking funds that may never actually be charged.

I'll be curious to hear whether and when the charge actually completes and processes through for those of you who pre-ordered for delivery (I reserved mine at the local Apple Store).

Now, I could be mistaken about this. Since I didn't pre-order with a card #, I obviously can't see what's happening to the accounts, but I'm willing to lay odds that this is what's happening.