Why does the Apple TV+ 3 month trial say expired when activating?

brendonj

This page, publicly available, shows a code and says trial offer expires 11/7/23.

But when you go through the steps to activate using an Apple account, it says "Cannot Redeem Code. This offer has already expired."

Seems like they need to post a new promo code.

brendonj

BTW, I chatted w/Spectrum about this, and they said I have to contact Apple. (Typical, passing the buck.) I contacted Apple, and they weren't able to help me, after jumping through various hoops with Apple ID etc. I don't think this is specific to my Apple ID, but maybe I should create a new one?

RogerC

I had a similar experience today but may have gotten a bit further. I called Spectrum who also ultimately said I needed to contact Apple. Apple said they have no current or recent promotions with Charter or Spectrum and noted the last sentence on Spectrum's page for the promo (image below) states "Apple is not a sponsor of this promotion." So it appears Spectrum's promo doesn't actually exist. The strange thing is the process of claiming the promo redirects you to Apple's site where you must sign in. I might think they're using Apple to lure customers, but all this does is piss off the customers who try to take advantage of it. Maybe something they planned to implement then never did? I wonder what the legal implications are of having that web page advertising the offer when it isn't actually possible to use it.

Someone should report it though I'm not sure who to. Total time wasted on the phone about 54 minutes, half with Apple and half Spectrum.

William_M

Hi @brendonj and @RogerC, welcome to our community!

Apple does not need to be sponsoring the promotion in order for us to offer it. If you have used your Apple ID to subscribe to Apple TV+ previously you would not be eligible. If you have not please make sure you have a valid payment method on that Apple ID.

William_M

I was able to successfully redeem this offer with my own Spectrum account and Apple ID. Do you get to this redeem page before getting the "Cannot Redeem Code" message?

RogerC

@William_M I was using a PC rather than a phone or ipad, but I tried on my phone also with essentially the same result. I've not subscribed to Apple TV before and I do have valid payment options on file on my Apple id account.

Click OK and get this:

Click Try Again and we get the "expired" message again.

brendonj

@William_M, I also have a valid Apple ID (from years ago, using iPod touch and iPhone 4) with valid payment option (which perhaps was expired CC, but I updated it as prompted, or I logged in to Apple separately to do that before trying again from the Spectrum link, multiple times). I used iTunes on PC before. I never subscribed to Apple TV, or TV+, in any form, on any device, with any account. I was clicking the email offer to Firefox browser on PC (Windows). Tried again just now. I get an offer page (https://ondemand.spectrum.net/tv-apps/apple-tv-plus) where I click Claim Offer, then I get a login page (https://id.spectrum.net/login), then another offer page (again at https://ondemand.spectrum.net/tv-apps/apple-tv-plus but different content) where it shows AppleTV+ code "Y9763TA9P6WY" and I click Redeem Offer, then it opens new tab and flashes through several pages to land at https://tv.apple.com/includes/commerce/authenticate?returnPath=/redeem?ctx=tv%26code=Y9763TA9P6WY where I provide Apple ID & password, then I get https://tv.apple.com/includes/commerce/redeem?ctx=tv&code=Y9763TA9P6WY where it says "Redeem your offer for Apple TV⁠+" and "7-day free trial, then 3 months free, then $6.99/month." and I click Continue, then I get https://tv.apple.com/includes/commerce/redeem/confirmation?code=Y9763TA9P6WY where it says "Cannot Redeem Code" and "This offer has already expired." and the only button is OK.

I have not tried making another Apple ID (I'm not even sure if Apple allows 1 person to have 2 IDs) or from other devices/browsers/etc.. Based on the error msg (expired) this does not appear to be a problem with my account. However, I wonder if the offer "expired" because I did not have valid payment option (CC was expired) on the first try? I can't remember if it asked me to update that as part of the process, or I did it afterwards and tried again. Certainly I would expect the promo signup to prompt me for whatever it needs to activate the promo, rather than fail for some reason and then say offer expired.

It was also frustrating to spend time talking to both Spectrum and Apple and not have the issue resolved immediately, at least for me, while they look into the issue. Both companies are basically saying, nah, you must be doing something wrong, not our problem. When customer takes the time to report a problem, they should file a case for investigation (if its not a known issue) then provide the workaround or promo via another method, rather than giving the customer more hoops to jump through and dismiss them. Then customer would say "they owned it" rather than "this company is a PITA to deal with, time to consider alternatives."

brendonj

I went to https://appleid.apple.com/account to create a new apple ID (w/new email address). Filled out the form, hit Continue, got this: "Your request could not be completed at this time." & "Your account cannot be created at this time."

I then only changed the phone # from landline (w/voice option) which was on my 1st Apple ID, to mobile # (w/text option) and hit Continue. It emailed me a code which I entered. Then texted me a code which I entered. Then it gave me the page: https://appleid.apple.com/account/manage. There I added a payment method (which was never provided to Apple before).

Then I went back to the Spectrum email and clicked on the offer. When it asked me to login to Apple, I used the new ID. It texted me a code which I entered. I said Yes, trust this browser. Then I got https://tv.apple.com/includes/commerce/terms with License Agreement (about a million pages long), where I hit Agree (probably signing away my children to Apple, who knows). It gave me https://tv.apple.com/includes/commerce/authenticate?returnPath=/redeem?ctx=tv%26code=Y9763TA9P6WY which said "Unable to sign in to Apple TV⁠+. Try again." I provided same (new Apple ID & pwd), got same result.

Geez, I had some hope there, and even agreed to the children. But still no cigar.

brendonj

So I started Edge browser (which I rarely use), clicked the email promo, logged in to Spectrum & new Apple ID (had to do another text verification), and got past the Agree (this time, without scrolling down at all, assuming it hasn't changed) and got to tv.apple.com/includes/commerce/privacy?returnPath=/redeem?ctx=tv%26code=Y9763TA9P6WY, since apparently they forgot to put anything about privacy in the terms I just agreed to, so I click Continue, and get tv.apple.com/includes/commerce/redeem?ctx=tv&code=Y9763TA9P6WY (gee I think I've been here before) where it says "7-day free trial, then 3 months free, then $6.99/month." and I click Continue. Sunuvabitch, don't you know it, here we are at tv.apple.com/includes/commerce/redeem/confirmation?code=Y9763TA9P6WY and it says "This offer has already expired."

So I think we've established that creating a brand new Apple ID does not solve the problem. And I'm starting to think I'm just a glutton to punishment. And I signed away my kids to Apple for no reason. Shame on me for falling for it.