Apple Store cr*p

[BlackDan]

Hi,

I ordered an iBook (BTO) early August through the apple store and until now the date for shipping has been postponed over and over again. Is this normal?

Yesterday, the date was still set for the 20th. This morning it suddenly changed to the 27th for no reason at all :mad: This is the 3rd time it gets postponed. As this is the first time that I'm buying an Apple product, I can tell you the experience is not really what I expected... How are they gonna convert people to Mac if they do their business this way :confused:

Frankly, I think it sucks.

What do you guys think? Has this happened to anyone before. Should I anticipate further delays?

[musicpyrite]

Well, some times these kind of things happen.

Why don't you try to give Apple a call, and see what the heck is wrong with your order. A call can never hurt :)

And I agree, most people I know will not stand for any kind of delays in shipment when buying computers (or computer parts). That is something Apple really needs to get off it's butt and do.

[BlackDan]

I have called several times and even mailed them. They find no reason for the delay. And I got an answer by mail saying that the dates are decided by the production departement and there's nothing they can do about it :(

[rareflares]

I think it could mean that updates in the product line are coming soon and they want to ship you the new product rather than the old outdated version.



the iBook was updated about 130 days ago (4 months) and it might be due for a revision soon. just a thought.

[jsw]

Obviously, people who get what they order on time aren't likely to post, so it's quite possible that the overwhelming majority of orders go through on schedule.

That said, Apple is infamous for its delays. I like places like Dell's online site, where you can get an idea when something will ship - and that data changes based upon which components you select. And it is almost always correct.

I think Apple needs to shape up its shipping date estimates - when an order asks for something they don't have in stock, they should indicate that to the customer. When all the parts of an order are in stock, they should lock them into the order and more or less guarantee a shipping date - which shouldn't be too hard, given that all the puzzle pieces are in the factory.

Or they should allow for some BTO capabilities to be done by brick-and-mortar Apple Stores. I don't see why they couldn't at least do HD alterations as well as some other minor stuff - graphics card updates for the PowerMacs, for example. Sure, it'd take a day or a few hours or whatever to modify the product, but you'd at least know you could get the system.

[BlackDan]

So they'll ship 1 day before the Keynote in Paris, cause the product will be changed after the keynote. That sounds really logical :eek: If they really want me to have the new product they'd put the shipping date on the 29th wouldn't they.

+ A product upgrade seems unlikely since there's no way we'll have a speed bump again before the powerbooks are updated (the performance gap would be too small) and the most likely update for the powerbooks would be a G5 powerbook. Which - and I think most people here will agree - is also unlikely to happen this month...

Probable changes in the product line are a new iMac's (this might go along with an update to the eMac, IMO).

[abhishekit]

Its unlikely that the delay was due to an update. My friend ordered his iBook a week back, and got it in 3 days. They would be holding all the orders if it was an upgrade.

[bousozoku]

Call, explain the situation and when they give you the same answer, ask for the supervisor. If that person can't help you, ask for that person's supervisor. Be nice about it, but be firm. If they realise that you're just trying to get answers, most CSRs in any company are pretty helpful.

[vraxtus]

Hi,

I ordered an iBook (BTO) early August through the apple store and until now the date for shipping has been postponed over and over again. Is this normal?


Did any of you guys read this?

BTO delayed orders are not uncommon at all... usually it's because they can't get ahold of the part, or orders are so heavy they can't be processed quickly.

What did you get BTO on for the iBook?

[munkle]

I've ordered two things from the Apple Store UK, an iPod mini and an eMac, both were shipped and arrived before the estimates provided. I can understand that it must be very frustrating to have an order repeatedly delayed, compounded by the fact that no explanation was given and this is your first order. I would call, politely yet firmly state your situation and hope that that the situation is resolved...you never know they might even throw something in the mix to say sorry! ;)

[wdlove]

I realize also that Apple is known for shipping delays. They really need to be more open about the reason for a delay. Keeping the customer informed will go a long way toward customer satisfaction. A customer will be satisfied if the manufacturer is open and honest.

[solaris]

Yeah, Apple`s estimated shipping dates are really bad.
I can take my AirPort Express order as an example:
I placed an order on the release date, june 9. and the Order acknowledgement said "Ship in 3 days", but the day after it was changed to july 30 (just like that they delay the delivery 6 weeks)! They even delayed once more until I received it last week...

I`m happy with my AirPort Express, but the est. shipping dates are really ************! :mad:

[bousozoku]

Yeah, Apple`s estimated shipping dates are really bad.
I can take my AirPort Express order as an example:
I placed an order on the release date, june 9. and the Order acknowledgement said "Ship in 3 days", but the day after it was changed to july 30 (just like that they delay the delivery 6 weeks)! They even delayed once more until I received it last week...

I`m happy with my AirPort Express, but the est. shipping dates are really ************! :mad:

I don't know why they'd put a quick ship date on a product that they had announced would not ship for weeks. Hopefully, you knew that it wasn't going to ship in 3 days regardless.

[krimson]

wanna hear apple store cr*p?

about 3 weeks after the santa monica store opened, i went it, and walked around messing with the G5's for about 20 minutes.. and no one came over to offer any advice, assistance, etc... basically I was ignored for the most part. No, it was not that full, and 2 sales people were free and chatting to each other, randomly asking people if they needed help. I even made eye contact with the female...

I turned around started looking again with my gf and a security guard came over and helped me.. opened up the g5's case, explained a few things. He asked if we were looking to buy, and I said that it was out of my price range (2.0 dualie), and he promptly took me over to the MDD and showed that to me. I thanked him and told him i had a QS, and he said ok, and went back to the door.

[FuzzyBallz]

What kinda options did you get on the BTO? 2 sticks of 1GB RAM? 128MB gfx card?

[vraxtus]

What kinda options did you get on the BTO? 2 sticks of 1GB RAM? 128MB gfx card?

It's an iBook... you can't get a 128MB card on those...

[FuzzyBallz]

Ooops, thought it was a PB. Well, then, I concur Apple's playing you like a bitch. There's no reason why Apple should have any delay on the iBook, it's not like there are any short supply parts in an iBook.

[vraxtus]

Ooops, thought it was a PB. Well, then, I concur Apple's playing you like a bitch. There's no reason why Apple should have any delay on the iBook, it's not like there are any short supply parts in an iBook.

rofl how nice... "Apple pwned you like a n00b" haha

[munkle]

wanna hear apple store cr*p?...

I turned around started looking again with my gf and a security guard came over and helped me.. opened up the g5's case, explained a few things. He asked if we were looking to buy, and I said that it was out of my price range (2.0 dualie), and he promptly took me over to the MDD and showed that to me. I thanked him and told him i had a QS, and he said ok, and went back to the door.

People will accept any position nowadays just to work in an Apple store! :D

[broken_keyboard]

It's true - Apple is great and they have cool engineers, but the Apple Store is awful.

- Delivery not what they promise
- Infexible ordering system, you can't change your order, you have to cancel it and make a new one.
- On hold for ages
- Often don't commincate important information to the customer

[Applespider]

I'd rather have a lousy store and a great computer than a great store and lousy computer tho :p

But yeah, they should be better at providing information online - even if it's just to avoid calls to their callcentre which eat up profit margins. I hate to think what the order to customer contact ratio is on some of these delayed lines.

As for the retail store, that has a lot to do with the manager of that store and the training of the staff in terms of what they emphasise. Their IT knowledge or their sale skills?

[dontmatter]

well, interesting. I ordered an ibook a little more than a week ago, and it came on wednesday, just as it said it would. It was a little frustrating because I ordered overnight shiping and had to wait 3 days for them to get it to fedex, but.. that's what they said it would take. Was this a 12 or a 14 you had trouble with. Mine was 14.

[evilgEEk]

It was a little frustrating because I ordered overnight shiping and had to wait 3 days for them to get it to fedex..
I ordered a standard 12" ibook last wednesday morning and I asked if I could get it before Monday, the rep said no problem as long as I use 2-3 day shipping because it would be shipping the same day, and it did, it shipped within three hours. So I decided to shell out the additional $15 for the quicker shipping and guess what?!

Yeah, I don't have it yet. But what's more frustrating for me (and this is more FedEx than Apple) is that the ibook is actually sitting at the FedEx sort facility here in my town. I went down there today to try to get it in person but it was locked up and the woman I was speaking with said no one there had the key to unlock it. She seemed genuinely concerned and apologitic, but it still makes me angry.

For me the worst part is the fact that I'm looking so forward to getting the product that the waiting is unbearable. Especially since I know that it's actually in town, but I can't get it until Monday morning. :mad:

I'm planning on giving Apple a call and seeing if I can't get a refund, or credit, of my additional $15, but I doubt I'll get anything out of it.

[jefhatfield]

Hi,

I ordered an iBook (BTO) early August through the apple store and until now the date for shipping has been postponed over and over again. Is this normal?

Yesterday, the date was still set for the 20th. This morning it suddenly changed to the 27th for no reason at all :mad: This is the 3rd time it gets postponed. As this is the first time that I'm buying an Apple product, I can tell you the experience is not really what I expected... How are they gonna convert people to Mac if they do their business this way :confused:

Frankly, I think it sucks.

What do you guys think? Has this happened to anyone before. Should I anticipate further delays?

that is one of the problems with any relatively small/medium small computer company...it plagued circuit city a lot when they carried macs...they would always get their hp/compaq and emachines orders on time since they are huge and could stamp out machines very quickly, but they (circuit city) would always be waiting for the imacs and ibooks...people bought the apple stuff faster than apple could keep up with the demand

i am afraid with such a small number of employees, apple will always be behind on orders and realize this can be the situation with any company that does not have the sheer manpower of an hp or ibm...last i checked, ibm had 48 times more full time employees than apple inc...unfortunately, apple is an island in the vast pc centered world of silicon valley