More CC Activity
Well, I've had more Apple-related credit card activity. I'll post my Apple-related history and see what happens!
I placed a total of three Apple orders on 24 June, the day after the keynote, around 18:30 PDT. The first order was a PowerBook order, and all parts of that have shipped and billed, so it's not really of interest.
The second order was for a 1.8GHz G5, standard (non-CTO) configuration. It was placed through the Education store. With AppleCare (APP) and estimated tax it comes to $2582.16.
The third order was for a Dual-2GHz G5, Configure-To-Order (CTO). It was placed through the Developer store, and was approved the next day. With iPod, mouse, 2 packs of DVDs, APP and estimated tax it came to $3772.49.
The APP from both orders, along with the iPod, mouse and DVDs all shipped quickly, before the end of June. There were also billings for them, though I never tried to match up those numbers.
Now that I have the background, consider this. On 4 August two authorizations are made to my card. For those who do not know, an authorization is like a pseudo-charge. Someone is thinking of making of charge of $something, and wants to make sure that the funds will be available. It's normally used by places like Amazon.com, where they authorize immediately but don't charge until the order ships. Of course, if the authorization is not converted to a charge within a certain amount of time it is cancelled.
Anyway, on 4 August two authorizations were made, for $59.99 each. I assume that they were simply checking my card to make sure it is still usable, one authorization per order. One $59.99 authorization was converted into a charge, and the other left to expire. For now, I am assuming that the $59.99 charged was for the 1.8 G5.
The next activity was a charge (with no prior authorization) on 7 August for $2365.77. This looks like a charge for the 1.8 G5, making a total of $2425.76. Subtract the $2199 1.8 computer and you're left with $226.76. This is not enough to cover APP and tax, or even APP by itself, but is too much for tax. If the charges are for the computer and its tax, then it is off by $72.83 (7% county sales tax). I have heard that Apple intentionally overcharges a little, and adjusts the amounts (through modified charges or refunds) once the order is completely shipped, so I am assuming that this is happening here.
The third item is an authorization made on Friday (15 August) for $3054.48. The cost of the second G5 is $2839, and comes to $3037.33 with 7% tax, so this looks like a pretty close match.
Now this is kind of interesting when you look at the history. As I said, I am assuming that the two $60 charges were to simply check my cards status, but then why did they not simply place all of the charges as soon as the card status was verified? I was thinking that Apple has begun to realize that multiple charges/authorizations in a short period of time can easily cause cards to lock up, so they would spread things out over time, but then I wonder why only one $60 charge was allowed to live, rather than having both authorizations charged, or leaving both to die.
I am also thinking that the first order was charged because it was not a CTO order, so it was a simple matter of charging it was it went into...well, whatever stage it's in now (pre-shipping?). I would guess that it's waiting for 10.2.whatever.
Now the second order seems to be partially charged. I would guess that it's in authorization, rather than charge, because it's either ready to start configuration, or is waiting on shipping (and installation of 10.2.whatever).
Anyway, this is certainly interesting information. Hopefully they will be shipping soon. Any other experiences similar to this? Feel free to see what your credit cards automated service line reports!
