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iPad Buyer Burnt by Apple's 'No Cash' Purchase Policy
If you don't have a debit or credit card, you won't be the owner of an iPad. Or so one Palo Alto, California, woman learned when she was turned away for trying to purchase Apple's new tablet with cash. According to an ABC 7 News report (video after the break), Diane Campbell, who is on a fixed income, saved for months to get the $600 she needed to buy an iPad. When she entered the Silicon Valley Apple Store with cash in hand, a clerk quickly informed Campbell that she couldn't use the cash for her purchase. Apple's policy states that customers must use a debit or credit card to purchase an iPad. By limiting sales to card transactions, the company can more easily enforce its two iPads per customer limit. That way, folks can't scoop up multiple iPads and sell them abroad for a large profit.
However, that leaves people like Campbell, who still don't have a card or an iPad, out in the cold. Her only option is to purchase a secondhand iPad from somebody who has a debit or credit card, which is exactly what Apple supposedly doesn't want to happen. So ultimately, no one wins. [From: ABC News, via: Huffington Post]
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Comments
134
Subscribe to commentstlarkin79May 19th 2010 9:24AM
Are you too poor or have bad credit and can't get a debit or credit card? Apple doesn't want your business. Poor people make Apple's products look uncool.
BryanMay 19th 2010 8:50PM
No, it's Steve Jobs' ego, and the ludicrous products sold for even stupider prices made by apple that make people who buy them look uncool. What does an ipad do? It does nothing. She should take her money and buy a dell laptop - a REAL computer.
SierraMay 19th 2010 10:19PM
The reason she should be allowed to use cash is that there is no rule saying everyone has to have a credit card. It is the law that US currency must be accepted for any debt within the US.
CarlMay 19th 2010 10:29PM
I am amazed. According to federal law if legal currency is offered for a purchase and the store refuses, according to law the purchaser may take the item. The store is saying you can have it I don't want money for it. The person can walk out with the item. there would probably be a problem at the door, because most people are unaware of this law. It looks like Apple is. 30 years in the retail business I have come across this situation before. Even if she offered $600 in pennies the store must accept the payment. It is legal tender.
J.J.May 19th 2010 10:59PM
Carl,
I wouldn't believe you if you said the sky was blue.
tyrebitreMay 19th 2010 11:24PM
"Carl said 10:29PM on 5-19-2010
I am amazed. According to federal law if legal currency is offered for a purchase and the store refuses, according to law the purchaser may take the item. The store is saying you can have it I don't want money for it. The person can walk out with the item."
And I am amazed someone could be so gullible or stupid as to actually believe that. I think you should try it, Carl: odds are good you might get several months to a couple of years of free room and board at a local facility for your efforts. Perhaps you should invest a few minutes on the meaning of "debt" and how it relates to US currency.
JLCroadieMay 20th 2010 12:51AM
Save some money: wait 6 months! By then, all the people that are 'gotta have it NOW!' techno-geeks will have bought one and the price will drop by 50%! Like other have pointed out, this isn't a big deal since you can buy a pre-paid VISA card anywhere and Best Buy DOES take good old-fashioned cash!
radecassianoMay 20th 2010 1:05AM
Wow; you're an idiot tlarkin79.
MarieMay 20th 2010 1:10AM
Your ignorance is amazing. You don't have to be POOR to use cash instead of debit/credit cards. Besides, the woman is better off waiting for the second generation of ipad. It will have the bugs worked out of it, have more functions and probably cost less...like THAT ever happens with Apple.
SimzeeMay 20th 2010 4:54AM
Too bad no one would BOYCOTT the IPad. No wonder why Bill Gates is rich....He excepts CASH. What Steve Jobs does NOT understand is that everybody LOVES the color of cash & it's one size fits all. Steve Jobs deserves whatever he gets.
mikeMay 25th 2010 6:55PM
well perhaps she should think about building good credit before purchasing a frivilous item she dosn,t need. I,m curious if she has'nt got a card because she never paid off past creditors.
phillypharmMay 19th 2010 9:30AM
she can't buy it at best buy?
jwilliamsMay 19th 2010 10:08AM
When the Iphone was released, there was the option to purchase an apple gift card with cash, then redeem it for the iphone...
Michael RoseMay 19th 2010 10:09AM
She can buy it at Best Buy -- also, Apple is far from the only business that will not accept cash for payment.
There's some lively discussion of the topic over at TUAW today...
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/05/18/apple-no-cash-policy-for-ipad-takes-some-by-surprise/
Michael RoseMay 19th 2010 11:34PM
Sierra, you are 100% incorrect. No private business is required to accept cash under Federal law.
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml
But please tell us more about the Attorney General's responsibilities to pursue those who break the laws you make up in your head. And the President's credibility is sure to be enhanced by him 'pointing out' the stuff you make up from whole cloth.
DrBenMay 19th 2010 10:53AM
Why doesn't she just purchase a visa gift card and use that? It really doesn't have to be so complicated and everyone need not jump on the discrimination bandwagon.
BenMay 20th 2010 2:13PM
Dr. Ben, Take a bill out of your wallet. Read it. It says, "THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE." (all caps are theirs) Apple may actually be breaking the law by banning cash.
Estoy0noMay 19th 2010 1:27PM
I think the point is - she shouldn't HAVE to. Cash is legal tender for ALL debts, public and private. It says so RIGHT on the face of every single bill. So Apple should HAVE to take the money.
Estoy0noMay 19th 2010 1:38PM
ok - so actually they are NOT required to accept it, as there is not yet a debt.
From http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/faq/faqcur.htm#2
According to the "Legal Tender Statute" (section 5103 of title 31 of the U.S. Code), "United States coins and currency (including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues." This means that all U.S. money, as identified above, when tendered to a creditor legally satisfies a debt to the extent of the amount (face value) tendered.
However, no federal law mandates that a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services not yet provided. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills.
Some movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations as a matter of policy may refuse to accept currency of a large denomination, such as notes above $20, and as long as notice is posted and a transaction giving rise to a debt has not already been completed, these organizations have not violated the legal tender law.
andydotttcomMay 19th 2010 3:30PM
you sir have just been pwned