Disabled Account Balance... ?

Hello everyone,

I am here because I don't know where to go anymore for help. I tried calling Apple Support many many times over the past month without the slightest bit of help. I have lost trust in Apple Support because every time I call, I am given a different answer and false promises.

Between Dec29/22 and Jan19/23, I was trying to buy a macbook pro (yes it took three weeks to make the purchase). Every time I went to make the purchase online, I entered my information and got a confirmation email, only to have the order cancelled a couple days later, without any notice or email that my order was cancelled. I had to log in to find out that it's canceled.

Then I went to the Apple Store near me to get help with placing the order (btw order was through Apple Refurbished Store, and must be put through online). At the Apple Store, I placed the order through in front of the staff, checking out with my Apple ID, and checking out as a Guest, and both times the order was "canceled". It had nothing to do with my bank because I called my bank each time I placed an order and was advised that no purchase can be seen -- so Apple was not even processing the order.

I was advised to just buy Apple gift cards in the amount of my purchase (About $5000) in the store, and use the Apple gift cards online to make the purchase. I did so, and the gift cards didn't work. All this was done in the store... Then I called in to use the gift cards to make the purchase over the phone, reading out each gift card multiple times to the sales rep over the phone until 3 hours later, the purchase finally went through.

Never in my life have I had a more difficult time purchasing something. It was like pulling teeth.

Finally, the laptop arrived on Jan19/23. A few days later, the new M2 laptops were released and the price of the laptop I bought went down $400. I called to get a price match as I was under the price protection policy, and was credited $400 in my Apple Account Balance.

Now I am trying to use these funds to buy an iPhone 14 Pro Max, and have been since the end of Jan. It has been three weeks!! I placed the order at the end of Jan, and it was canceled automatically without an email letting me know and here I was expecting my phone to arrive on Feb3 -- when it didn't I logged in and checked in my orders, only to find the order was canceled and the Apple Account Balance was disabled.

I know this because when I went to place the order again, I see an error message that says "Your account balance has been disabled. Please call 1‑800‑MY‑APPLE for help." at checkout. WHAT IS GOING ON?

I called the number on Feb1, on Feb3, on Feb6, on Feb9, on Feb12, on Feb13, on today on Feb16 -- that is 7 times thus far, and each time I spent about 1-2 hours on the phone with some of the most incompetent representatives... Each time, having to explain my story over and over again, I was told that this issue will be "escalated" and that someone will get back to me in 24hours.

Not one single time has anybody gotten back to me by phone or email -- and I check my emails and spam folder every time. Every time, I had to call back and waste hours, only to be told that I can't be helped and be given false promises. It seemed that the reps on the phone just wanted to close the call and not have to deal with my case in any way possible, even if it meant to lie and delay my case another 24hours, 72 hours...

This is getting ridiculous. I just want to use my money to make a purchase... Why is it so hard to buy something? Why can't they just lift the block on my account? Why was it even put there in the first place? I have had my Apple account since 2005 and have made many many purchases over the years.

Some times, I am told that they need to confirm my identity and I do so by having a code sent to my device and by generating a code, and by confirming my billing information and name, etc.

Other times, I am told that they don't want to lift the block and get accused of being fraudulent, etc, which makes me so angry and frustrated to be falsely accused like that.

I am sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give you as much information as possible. Any help would be much appreciated.