Tax free weekend question

Yeah its weird! And even if they are not able to determine your time zone/time of order based on your billing zip, it should at least not be a huge hassle to figure out how to solve the problem. I had the support team INSIST that the online store uses CST and say it’s impossible for the store to use PST. So strange.

My issue has been resolved and they are refunding the tax money. I haven’t received it yet so I’ll update here if it doesn’t show up (someone on the support team told me weeks ago that it was being refunded and it never came). It just took forever to get to them. Send an email to the tax team with your order number and billing address and last four digits of your cell (to possibly skip the back and forth where they ask for verification). Good luck and I hope you get your tax money back!

I'm having the same problem. I placed my order at 12:04 eastern time and received a confirmation email immediately that said it was placed the day before. Before I even received my order I called about this because I had been charged tax. It's been weeks since someone told me I would get the tax refunded to my card. I've now spoken to their "leadership team" who are telling me that according to their system I placed the order hours before midnight on eastern time, which is not true according to both my credit card statement and the time I received my confirmation email. It's very upsetting, and clearly an ongoing issue they aren't trying to resolve.

Nope! Maybe I was unclear. It was at 00:04 EST on the 14th. The tax support team informed me that the website uses PST, which explains why it appeared as 21:04. The phone and chat support both seem to believe that the online store uses CST, which is why they were insisting I ordered the day before. In any event, I know now that the best thing to do first is reach out to salestax@apple.com.

cheenisauce:

Probably an OK thing, if lead-time were longer before deadline.

Wonder where you'd send comments for this service to Apple

since they have several Feedback categories. Even then, don't

expect to generally get a reply. (Although that could happen.)

An option from Product Feedback page; runs across

places, then stumbles into official Apple support page:

Get Support - https://getsupport.apple.com/

"Choose a Product and we’ll find you the best solution."

Start now - https://getsupport.apple.com/?caller=home&PRKEYS=

Maybe that's a 'Website' issue ~ as compared to 'Product'? LOL🙃

Probably you may inquire directly to Apple about this type of topic.

You can check to see what official info about purchase is exactly.

(There are 'Apple Shopping' links ~ in addition to 'Support' links.)

• Update your proof of purchase - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202703

• Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support

https://checkcoverage.apple.com/

"Enter a serial number to review your eligibility for support and extended coverage."

• Viewing & Changing Orders - Shopping Help - Apple

https://www.apple.com/shop/help/viewing_changing_orders

• Sales Tax Holiday - Apple

https://www.apple.com/shop/campaigns/tax-holiday

• Correct the purchase date or expiration date of your AppleCare agreement - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202696

(Additional information may be duplicate listed among these.)

• Find information about your warranty or AppleCare plan - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202741

cheenisauce:

While I've bought a few items from Apple online from

AK locations, the general time-line appeared to start

from when they received the order. Any lapse in this,

may often default to the buyer's side.

To place an order online without an instant confirmation

is not saying a whole lot. In semi-remote locations where

contract delivery services are involved, many lapses occur.

..Like when I ordered an iMac (G4) direct from Apple and

also an AppleCare plan, back in the day. AppleCare plan

arrived in separate box, with main order information..

The small box was tracked; big box, got lost for 2 months?!

None of these factors included local -15°F weather or frozen

iMac that was left on the door step (in 2003.) First new mac.

My personal opinion:

Apple corporate offices are located in California and the online store is there as well, so wherever they have registered their company and/or divisions, that would legally be the official "Apple time". So, that is what you need to keep in mind.

Apple's corporate offices are in CA; that is traditionally the time zone for the company. Therefore, if you placed your order on a Tuesday at 12:04 AM eastern time, it was 9:04 PM on Monday which would be the legal time for that business transaction. You need to keep that in mind when you order - Apple sells in all 50 states and it would be absurd to assume that the legal time of transaction would be adjusted for each time zone. Never heard of that for an international company.

that may be true, however this is clearly not an isolated incident and dealing with support has been such a headache. Everyone telling me different information. I finally reached a solution when I found the tax team email on a forum. No one, not even the management team I spoke to, suggested I do that. And they alternated between saying that the online store uses PST and CST. It’s completely disorganized and an international company that’s been around as long as apple should be accustomed to dealing with many different time zones and at the very least know what time zone the online store works on.

That may all be - we are not allowed to discuss Apple's policies here. However, there is another problem with your argument: whether it is PST or CST, your order was still placed the day before at 12:04 eastern time > too early.