Apple apologizes to users for mistakenly saying their paid iCloud subscription was cancele...

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iCloud edited April 2017
Days after an error led to false iCloud cancellation emails sent to subscribers, Apple has followed up with another note apologizing for the bug, and reassuring them that their plan remains in good standing.




On Wednesday of this week, a number of iCloud users received messages saying their subscription had been discontinued. The bug appeared to mostly affect 50-gigabyte tier subscribers.

On Saturday, Apple followed up with those same users to issue a formal apology, in an email entitled "Your iCloud storage plan renewal."

"You recently received an email incorrectly stating that your iCloud storage plan has been discontinued," the note reads. "Your 50 GB iCloud storage plan is not affected and will continue to renew automatically.

"We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If you have any questions, please contact us."

While some users were mistakenly told their iCloud plan was canceled, others on Wednesday found errors if they tried to change their plan or manage their iCloud data. Some subscribers also received messages asking them to update their payment information, leading to speculation that the bug may have been associated with credit card authorization servers.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member
    Hopefully just a bug/mistake and not some sort sort of attack.  In a slightly related story, I got the iCloud sign-in alert on all my devices one night this week - this was around a 1am Wednesday and surprised me.  I had not signed out or in on any devices that I was aware of.  I suppose the Mini could have done an automatic update that triggered this, but I wonder if the alert was related to the snafu?
  • Reply 2 of 23
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,241member
    So is every mistake going to be called a "bug" now?
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 3 of 23
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    So is every mistake going to be called a "bug" now?
    1) Not every, but I think it's safe to assume this was a coding error.

    2) All programming bugs are mistakes.
    edited April 2017 StrangeDays
  • Reply 4 of 23
    dachardachar Posts: 330member
    This is not good enough Apple. I thought the original message was rather abrupt.  When I spoke with AppleCare about it they informed me that Apple would never send such rude message and that this is one of the ways of detecting a scam. I then explain that I had been asked to rein-put my bank card details at about the same time. The AppleCare representative's comments made me worried that i had been tricked into providing my bank details to a third party so i cancelled the bank card. So I have been inconvenienced, worried and without a bank card for 5 days until a replacement arrived. It has really dented my faith in Apple. At least I can take comfort that it was not a trick after all but I am still left unhappy and unsure. 
    king editor the graterogifan_new
  • Reply 5 of 23
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    Based on the variety of messages reported in AI's original article, I'm not convinced there weren't
    some similar-looking phishing exploits initiated by opportunists at that same time.
    redgeminipa
  • Reply 6 of 23
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Don’t let paranoia get the best of you. It’s not worth it.
  • Reply 7 of 23
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    So is every mistake going to be called a "bug" now?
    "Don't bug me, man. You're buggin' me!"
    edited April 2017
  • Reply 8 of 23
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    SpamSandwich said:
    "Don't bug me, man. You're buggin' me!”
    “Don’t bug me while I’m bugging these buggers,” said one CIA spook to the other.
  • Reply 9 of 23
    redgeminiparedgeminipa Posts: 555member
    Funny... this all happen to me on Saturday the 15th, not Wednesday the 19th. Alas, no further emails from Apple apologizing for my inconvenience. 
  • Reply 10 of 23
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,808member
    dachar said:
    This is not good enough Apple. I thought the original message was rather abrupt.  When I spoke with AppleCare about it they informed me that Apple would never send such rude message and that this is one of the ways of detecting a scam. I then explain that I had been asked to rein-put my bank card details at about the same time. The AppleCare representative's comments made me worried that i had been tricked into providing my bank details to a third party so i cancelled the bank card. So I have been inconvenienced, worried and without a bank card for 5 days until a replacement arrived. It has really dented my faith in Apple. At least I can take comfort that it was not a trick after all but I am still left unhappy and unsure. 
    I suppose you want free service out of this? Like companies never make a mistake gosh! Get over it! They apologized and owned up to it. What more do you want?
    mike54StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 23
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,664member
    dachar said:
    This is not good enough Apple. I thought the original message was rather abrupt.  When I spoke with AppleCare about it they informed me that Apple would never send such rude message and that this is one of the ways of detecting a scam. I then explain that I had been asked to rein-put my bank card details at about the same time. The AppleCare representative's comments made me worried that i had been tricked into providing my bank details to a third party so i cancelled the bank card. So I have been inconvenienced, worried and without a bank card for 5 days until a replacement arrived. It has really dented my faith in Apple. At least I can take comfort that it was not a trick after all but I am still left unhappy and unsure. 
    I don't believe in Apple's ability to provide a solid cloud platform. There are too many 'buts' for me. The last time I tried to turn backup on for my wife, I got a warning message that 'some things' would not be backed up but it wouldn't tell me which ones. There are weird things that can happen with Photos etc.

    That said, if it works for you, great. This kind of mistake should not happen but it was just that, a mistake, they apologised and made good. It was unfortunate, though, that it caused you so much grief.

    For any kind of online payment, I recommend virtual cards that you charge with whatever money you need at any given moment. You have the peace of mind that nothing can be taken from it without there being any money on it.
    edited April 2017
  • Reply 12 of 23
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    macxpress said:
    dachar said:
    This is not good enough Apple. I thought the original message was rather abrupt.  When I spoke with AppleCare about it they informed me that Apple would never send such rude message and that this is one of the ways of detecting a scam. I then explain that I had been asked to rein-put my bank card details at about the same time. The AppleCare representative's comments made me worried that i had been tricked into providing my bank details to a third party so i cancelled the bank card. So I have been inconvenienced, worried and without a bank card for 5 days until a replacement arrived. It has really dented my faith in Apple. At least I can take comfort that it was not a trick after all but I am still left unhappy and unsure. 
    I suppose you want free service out of this? Like companies never make a mistake gosh! Get over it! They apologized and owned up to it. What more do you want?
    And if this was Google or another one of Apple's competitions would you be saying the same thing? Or is it just Apple that constantly needs to be cut slack?
  • Reply 13 of 23
    IhatewindowsIhatewindows Posts: 2member
    Soli said:
    So is every mistake going to be called a "bug" now?
    1) Not every, but I think it's safe to assume this was a coding error.

    2) All programming bugs are mistakes.
    It was because the code change was not tested, computers don't make mistakes, they do exactly what they are told to do......
  • Reply 14 of 23
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Ihatewindows said:
    Soli said:
    So is every mistake going to be called a "bug" now?
    1) Not every, but I think it's safe to assume this was a coding error.

    2) All programming bugs are mistakes.
    computers don't make mistakes, they do exactly what they are told to do...…
    That gets into a philosophical discussion. Does that mean that all AI will ever be the result of its programming and therefore will never make a mistake? If that's the measure, then can we say that any living thing—including humans—are capable of making a mistake since we're just a result of your evolutionary programming? One might then say that humans have free will, but do we really and if we do does anything else? If a turtle got squashed trying to cross the road make we say it made a mistake by trying to cross, or was it just obeying its programming because it was looking for something—food, water, a mate—it could sense in that direction? I'd argue that one something can make a mistake and obey its programming at the same time.
  • Reply 15 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,871member
    rogifan_new said:
    macxpress said:
    dachar said:
    This is not good enough Apple. I thought the original message was rather abrupt.  When I spoke with AppleCare about it they informed me that Apple would never send such rude message and that this is one of the ways of detecting a scam. I then explain that I had been asked to rein-put my bank card details at about the same time. The AppleCare representative's comments made me worried that i had been tricked into providing my bank details to a third party so i cancelled the bank card. So I have been inconvenienced, worried and without a bank card for 5 days until a replacement arrived. It has really dented my faith in Apple. At least I can take comfort that it was not a trick after all but I am still left unhappy and unsure. 
    I suppose you want free service out of this? Like companies never make a mistake gosh! Get over it! They apologized and owned up to it. What more do you want?
    And if this was Google or another one of Apple's competitions would you be saying the same thing? Or is it just Apple that constantly needs to be cut slack?
    No it's just apple that causes people to come out of the wood work complaining about anything and everything and holding them to a standard they don't even hold their own banks too. Because of the insane whining, here on this apple site, posts are needed in response. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,871member
    Ihatewindows said:
    Soli said:
    So is every mistake going to be called a "bug" now?
    1) Not every, but I think it's safe to assume this was a coding error.

    2) All programming bugs are mistakes.
    It was because the code change was not tested, computers don't make mistakes, they do exactly what they are told to do......
    Fact - testing doesn't catch all bugs. I'm sure any and every release is tested, but that doesn't guarantee all bugs will be identified. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 23
    bestkeptsecretbestkeptsecret Posts: 4,265member
    tallest skil said:
    SpamSandwich said:
    "Don't bug me, man. You're buggin' me!”
    “Don’t bug me while I’m bugging these buggers,” said one CIA spook to the other.

    Good thing he was just bugging the buggers and not actually buggering them...
    watto_cobratallest skilFlappo
  • Reply 18 of 23
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    All bugs are mistakes, but not all mistakes are bugs.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    crowley said:
    All bugs are mistakes, but not all mistakes are bugs.
    ...Therefore, not all mistakes are insects???

    (Darn - if only this site had a syllogism expert instead of a solipsism expert... :D)
    Soli
  • Reply 20 of 23
    mknelsonmknelson Posts: 1,124member
    avon b7 said:
    I don't believe in Apple's ability to provide a solid cloud platform. There are too many 'buts' for me. The last time I tried to turn backup on for my wife, I got a warning message that 'some things' would not be backed up but it wouldn't tell me which ones. There are weird things that can happen with Photos etc.
    https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204136

    some things: 
    • Activity, Health, and Keychain data (To back up this content, you'll need to use Encrypted Backup in iTunes.)
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