Black Friday Promo: CHF 40 Gift Card Was Charged to My Account

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Level 1

10 points

Black Friday Promo: CHF 40 Gift Card Was Charged to My Account

Hi everyone,

I placed an order today on apple.com for the Apple Airpods Pro 3 (Switzerland) during the current promotion that runs from 28 November 2025 to 1 December 2025. According to the terms, qualifying purchases should receive an Apple Gift Card equal to the promotional value (in my case CHF 40) in addition to the normal purchase. The terms also state that the discount corresponding to the value of the Gift Card is applied to the price of the qualifying product at checkout.

Here is what happened in my case:

• Regular price of AirPods: CHF 219

• I used a CHF 50 Apple Gift Card I already had, so my payment total should have been CHF 169.

• The promotion should add a CHF 40 Apple Gift Card as an extra benefit.

However, when checking my account, I noticed two separate charges:

• One charge of CHF 169

• An additional charge of CHF 40

So instead of receiving a discount or free promotional Gift Card, it looks as if the CHF 40 were charged to me on top of the order.

Does anyone know whether this additional CHF 40 is just a temporary pre-authorization and will fall off later? Or should I contact Apple Support directly to resolve this?

Thank you for any guidance.

AirPods Pro 3

Posted on Nov 28, 2025 8:03 AM

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Answer 1

brbo

Level 8

38,581 points

Nov 30, 2025 1:48 AM in response to dimtrii

Re: Black Friday Promo: CHF 40 Gift Card Was Charged to My Account

Yes, but likely it was also deducted, as Apple says in its promotiional offer. ie: +40 - 40 = 0

Yet you get the Gift Card after the charge and the deduction.

.

Am no expert in this area, yet your request deserves some response,

We are all Apple users, like yourself, in the community, and Apple iis unlikely to read your post or explain.

This article lists the current promotional offers Offers - Apple

Eg: says:

"Apple Shopping Event 2025

Offer valid on qualifying purchases of Eligible Products (excludes carrier-connected iPhone purchases) from

November 28, 2025, to December 1, 2025, at a Qualifying Location. Gift card values may vary by Eligible Product. Offer subject to availability. While supplies last. Qualifying purchases can receive a discount equal to the value of the Apple Gift Card (depending on their purchase) off the price of the Eligible Product, but will be charged for all items in their cart, including the Apple Gift Card. Additional restrictions apply.

View full terms and conditions of offer here."

So seems for accounting purposes the price of the promotional Gift Card is first deducted, and then added back.

(Also, that way you may receive a receipt, both for the AirPods, and for the promotional Gift Card.)

Have you checked the statement, if any, for the payment method used for the balance of the transaction ?

The "One charge of CHF 169" would likely include the promotional Gift Card deduction of 40 CHF.

See if you have paid only a total of the regular price of the AirPods overall:

Eg: Perhaps you paid 129 + 40 = the 169 + the 50 = the 219

(Deducting and re-adding the promotional gift card for accounting purposes should = zero charge)

I could be wrong ... you would have the correct figures to check the total you have actually paid to Apple.

Al the best :-)

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Answer 2

dimtrii Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 30, 2025 7:04 AM in response to brbo

Thanks again for your response; much appreciated.

Just to clarify the outcome: your explanation made sense in theory, but in my case the math really wasn’t mathin' at the time. I had a CHF 169 charge and a separate CHF 40 charge that didn’t offset each other.

However, I just saw that the original CHF 169 charge was automatically adjusted down to CHF 129. The separate CHF 40 charge remained as is. So in total I ended up paying CHF 169, which is exactly correct for:

AirPods Pro 3 (CHF 219)
minus my existing CHF 50 gift card
plus the promotional CHF 40 gift card (free)

Everything adds up now, and I did receive the CHF 40 promo card. The only issue was that the communication during checkout and settlement was a bit unclear.

Thanks again for taking the time to help.

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Answer 3

brbo

Level 8

38,581 points

Nov 30, 2025 12:57 PM in response to dimtrii

Thank you for checking things so thoroughly, and for your thoughtful reply.

Good to know everything worked out, and you can now relax, and enjoy getting to know your new AirPods Pro 3! Cheers :-)

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