Incredibly slow delivery of new Powerbook (4 weeks down, 4 to go!!!)

moodler · Mar 16, 2005

I ordered a new Powerbook G4 on February 11th from apple.com.au (I'm in Australia) - it was supposed to take two weeks to ship. It had some extra RAM and the faster video, but these surely don't take too long to fit.

After two weeks they bumped up the shipping time to 4 weeks (today).

I just checked the status again and the estimated shipping date is now APRIL 16th (another month!!) This is ridiculous, especially since I read other people have ordered long after me and are getting their machines in two weeks.

Is this a common thing? Is anyone else experiencing this kind of huge lag time? Are there manufacturing problems at Apple? Should I cancel my order completely tomorrow? (I'm feeling like I should)

wnameth · Mar 16, 2005

i would think it should never take that long, try calling apple and maybe see if you can complain.

vieoray · Mar 16, 2005

you should call them for sure and see what the deal is. that delay seems unnecessarily long. i bet if you call, you will have a powerbook in reasonable time.

jsw · Mar 16, 2005

Of course, if current rumors are true about Tiger coming out in April (I suspect they aren't), you'll get it for free or via cheap upgrade if your system ships after it's announced.

Minor plus....

moodler · Mar 16, 2005

I should have mentioned that I've called multiple times during the past few weeks, and keep getting told the computer has still not left Shanghai or Singapore (varies on the person I talk to) and that there's nothing they or I can do.

What I don't understand is why I should be delayed so much when others appear not to be, so I was writing here in case I find out if many others are having the same problem.

This whole process of build-to-order in Asia seems like a bad idea ... they don't seem to even keep any stock here in Australia.

I fully intend to call tomorrow when they open ... if April 18th is really the expected ship date I'll cancel the order and buy something else.

OwenMan · Mar 16, 2005

If you cancel your order will you still have to pay the 10% restocking fee??

Kristine · Mar 16, 2005

Moodler

Call up and speak with Tegan and advise her that you intend to cancel your order if they cannot provide the item immediately. I had my ordered delayed also; after a few calls over the next few days, I decided that if they could not ship that day I would cancel (I had read others getting theirs shipped before mine when I had ordered before them). My husband called Apple on my behalf (he is really good in situations like this) and Tegan called back 30 minutes later with a shipping consignment number for me. I ordered on 16/02 and order was shipped on 08/03. I received the item on 14/03. My PowerBook was 15" CTO also.

moodler · Mar 16, 2005

OwenMan said:
If you cancel your order will you still have to pay the 10% restocking fee??

Not according to their Sales policies section 11.7, because it's been more than 30 days now.

Pismo · Mar 16, 2005

OwenMan said:
If you cancel your order will you still have to pay the 10% restocking fee??

He ordered a BTO PowerBook so he can't return it once it ships (unless it's defective). Restocking fees only apply to stock machines that were opened. I don't think there is a restocking fee on returned stock machines that were not opened. By canceling an order before it ships you do not pay a penalty, even on BTO.

risc · Mar 16, 2005

wnameth said:
i would think it should never take that long, try calling apple and maybe see if you can complain.

Welcome to Apple Australia. My Power Mac G5 BTO took over 2 months to arrive, my AL ACD took around the same time, my PowerBook G4 Stock took 3 weeks, the only thing I've ever ordered that didn't take ages imo was an iMac G5 which the reseller I bought it from actually had it in stock.

vieoray · Mar 16, 2005

risc said:
Welcome to Apple Australia. My Power Mac G5 BTO took over 2 months to arrive, my AL ACD took around the same time, my PowerBook G4 Stock took 3 weeks, the only thing I've ever ordered that didn't take ages imo was an iMac G5 which the reseller I bought it from actually had it in stock.

ever since i started reading these forums, i've never seen a good word about shipping times with apple australia. everyone says they are slow and everyone is always very frustrated. i don't live anywhere near australia, but i wonder why its like that.

plinden · Mar 16, 2005

vieoray said:
ever since i started reading these forums, i've never seen a good word about shipping times with apple australia. everyone says they are slow and everyone is always very frustrated. i don't live anywhere near australia, but i wonder why its like that.

Small market, US orders take priority.
What's it like in e.g. Ireland (1/3 the population)?

JRM PowerPod · Mar 16, 2005

risc said:
Welcome to Apple Australia. My Power Mac G5 BTO took over 2 months to arrive, my AL ACD took around the same time, my PowerBook G4 Stock took 3 weeks, the only thing I've ever ordered that didn't take ages imo was an iMac G5 which the reseller I bought it from actually had it in stock.

Man you've had a rough deal. I'm from Melbourne and my PowerBook and Alu Display were ordered on a Tuesday and at my front door Thursday

risc · Mar 16, 2005

JRM PowerPod said:
Man you've had a rough deal. I'm from Melbourne and my PowerBook and Alu Display were ordered on a Tuesday and at my front door Thursday

You get used to it after the first machine

the only time I've been angry with Apple was when I pre-ordered iLife '05 after the MWSF keynote and Apple lost my order... by lost I mean they shipped it from the warehouse but the courier company never took delivery. I ended up getting it 1 month after the shipping email was sent.

moodler · Mar 16, 2005

I called and found out something interesting.

She asked: "Are you an education customer?"

I said yes.

"Education customers are lower priority ... if a full-price-paying customer comes in later then they get ahead of you in the queue. Oh dear I shouldn't have told you that", she mumbles. Too late, you did.

She couldn't help me more as their support database was down (!) ... so I'm getting a call back later today, I hope.

Nowhere in any communications I've had with the store has this been mentioned before. This is the kind of shonky operations I might expect from a two-bit outfit, not from Apple's official online store. This is a not looking like a company that cares about customers but one skimming on extremely thin margins and bad forward planning.

risc and kristine, were you education customers too?

risc · Mar 16, 2005

No I'm not. Most of the hardware I've bought I've ordered on the day of the keynote, and I'd expect US customers to get there hardware before me. My problem with iLife 05 was retarded though.

Kristine · Mar 17, 2005

moodler said:
risc and kristine, were you education customers too?

Moodler, my order was education; at no time did they tell me (or my husband) that my order was lower priority.

moodler · Mar 17, 2005

Thanks guys, perhaps the problem really is a more fundamental one at Apple Australia.

My return phone call never came this afternoon ... I will be on the phone again tomorrow morning trying to finish this story.

Thank for giving me a place to talk with like-minded people about this! :-D

LSS · Mar 18, 2005

I just ordered my 15" PB (with 128 VRAM) and I was told the delivery time is from 2 weeks to 2 months. I live in Finland.

moodler · Apr 1, 2005

Finally arrived

Just to wrap this up ... my Powerbook eventually Arrived on April 1st - six weeks after my order and (one week after it actually shipped from Sydney).

It's a beautiful machine: no wonder Apple gets away with slow delivery times!

Incredibly slow delivery of new Powerbook (4 weeks down, 4 to go!!!)

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