Apple card disabled my iCloud, App Store, and Apple ID accounts (2021)

Incident recap (known from the thread)

• iPhone trade‑in + Apple Card financing failed when the bank account for autopay changed.
• Trade‑in apparently didn’t complete, payment became overdue, and within ~15 days Apple disabled App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple ID–linked services, though iMessage/phone still worked.
• It took roughly nine days and multiple escalations to reach someone who could resolve it.

Who is at fault?

• One camp views this as a non‑story: the user missed serious emails, didn’t return a trade‑in, failed to pay, and then complained.
• Others argue even if it’s 100% the user’s fault, the consequences are disproportionate and the resolution path far too opaque and slow.
• Some doubt specific details (e.g., “never got a trade‑in kit” or “no Apple reply”), others say there’s no clear reason to assume lying vs. simple mistakes.

Overreach and linkage between debts and services

• Major concern: unpaid hardware leading to broad lockout of unrelated, previously paid services and purchases.
• Critics liken this to a store repossessing or disabling older, fully paid goods because you’re late on a new purchase.
• Defenders argue Apple is within its rights to withhold cloud services if a device on that account is effectively unpaid; opponents counter that disabling all linked services is unreasonable.

Risks of tightly coupled ecosystems

• Many see this as a cautionary tale about going “all‑in” with one vendor (Apple, Google, etc.).
• Losing one account can cascade into loss of phone services, photos, app access, email, and third‑party logins (“Sign in with X”).
• Several recommend: avoid “login with BigTech” for critical accounts, own your email domain, and keep financial products separate from identity/accounts.

Customer support and comparatives

• Some report Apple support as responsive and excellent, especially vs. Google’s near‑nonexistent human support for account lockouts.
• Others emphasize that the key failure here was that first‑line Apple support lacked visibility into billing/lockout status and escalation took days.

Broader policy and regulation themes

• Thread touches on the lack of “due process” for account bans and lockouts at large platforms.
• Suggestions include legal requirements for large tech companies to provide competent, reachable support and clearer separation of powers between financial products and core identity/services.