Apple cost cutting starting to affect customer experience (Watch shipping)

[mzbe]

Real world experience: I preordered an Apple Watch Edition (Ti) on preorder day (I am in Seattle, WA). Initial promised delivery date was 11/2. Apple ended up shipping the watch from Jiaxing, China on 10/30. In prior years, that would have worked out just fine.

Except: When they shipped the watch, they were showing delivery expected on 11/10 (11 days later!). Reason: To save money, Apple is now shipping with UPS World Ease, which is aiming for 5 day-ish delivery, but is based on bulk shipping with resulting more stops and higher risk of delays.

As of today 11/5 (6 days after it left point of origin) the status of shipment is "come back tomorrow for expected delivery date". I am reading that as Monday 11/8 at the earliest. 9 days total.

We have been very spoiled before by Apple's focus on customer satisfaction over cost (the watch is a gift for my spouse, which makes me even more impatient as if it were for myself). Current baseline (they could go faster if they wanted to, and know what they are doing by not prioritizing delivery speed) is "it's ok to be 5x slower than Amazon Prime". I am sad that this is what it is, and worried where else they may start to cut costs (Tim Cook was COO before he became CEO, I don't believe he over-indexes on premium customer experience - as evidenced by the deterioration of Yelp ratings for all Apple Store in the Seattle area in recent years).

 

[haruhiko]

You know what’s happening to the world’s shipping and logistics now right?

 

[mzbe]

You know what’s happening to the world’s shipping and logistics now right?

Completely besides the point - in the past, Apple went with UPS overnight shipping. This is still available from UPS in today's world. Let's say everything goes wrong ... overnight may be delayed and end up being 2 days ... no big deal.
Now - Apple doesn't do that anymore. They are paying for 5-day-ish delivery with no guarantees. In my case, 5 days were wasted in China alone going from Jiaxin to ZhengZhou.

 

[jz0309]

do you not read news re shipping/logistics issues worldwide? lockdowns currently in Chins?
welcome to the pandemic and its aftermaths

 

[BigDO]

Completely besides the point - in the past, Apple went with UPS overnight shipping. This is still available from UPS in today's world. Let's say everything goes wrong ... overnight may be delayed and end up being 2 days ... no big deal.
Now - Apple doesn't do that anymore. They are paying for 5-day-ish delivery with no guarantees. In my case, 5 days were wasted in China alone going from Jiaxin to ZhengZhou.

Lol. The ignorance in “totally besides the point” comment is astounding.

 

[mzbe]

Lol. The ignorance in “totally besides the point” comment is astounding.

? Apple are not paying for fast delivery. They pay for slower delivery. From their point of view this is "working as designed". From a customer point of view, I don't even have a choice to pay extra to get faster shipping (which would not have been necessary in the past, as Apple was always paying for premium shipping to being with). I received my Apple Watch 7 Hermes edition directly from Hermes within 24 hours of availability (shipping US East to West) - different idea of how to treat your customers.

 

[jdblas69]

I don't recall ever getting an Apple order where shipping originated in China and received the next day or even 2 days for that matter. For items warehoused within country yes overnight but not from China.

 

[mzbe]

First half of this year (and AFAIR all of the last 10+ years), all Express shipping from Apple for me (direct from Apple): HomePod mini, AirTags, 2021 iPad Pro 12.9", iPad Pro keyboard. All except HomePod preordered and directly shipped from Apple. Even on repairs in April, Apple officially used to give a 2 day shipment guarantee (I don't recall if that was also sent from China, or sourced from US).
It says "Express Shipping" on the "Your shipment is on its way" email from Apple ... In the good old days (first half of this year was also during pandemic obviously, so that specifically is no excuse for cutting cost now - which was my point).
I'll rest my case now, seems like you guys are fine with Apple stepping down their efforts. Just to compare and contrast: Amazon did not renounce their 2 day Prime shipping targets; in their last quarterly earnings they were showing Billions in additional cost to try and maintain their customer promise, even in the current difficult logistics situation. Apple goes in the opposite direction (not adding cost, subtracting cost). I believe it is fair to call out a premium $$$ brand when they are not keeping up with a mainstream web retailer?

 

[danmart]

I don’t know exactly what is going on with Apple (beyond the world logistics crisis…) but it is more nuanced than it first seems. I ordered two Watches at the same time (his and hers) and one came Express and the other Standard.

 

[mzbe]

UPS World Ease: "When deadlines are more flexible, this best-in-class global service can help you balance speed with cost. Get your shipments where they need to be without hurting your budget."

 

[Taubenweg]

Real world experience: I preordered an Apple Watch Edition (Ti) on preorder day (I am in Seattle, WA). Initial promised delivery date was 11/2. Apple ended up shipping the watch from Jiaxing, China on 10/30. In prior years, that would have worked out just fine.

Except: When they shipped the watch, they were showing delivery expected on 11/10 (11 days later!). Reason: To save money, Apple is now shipping with UPS World Ease, which is aiming for 5 day-ish delivery, but is based on bulk shipping with resulting more stops and higher risk of delays.

As of today 11/5 (6 days after it left point of origin) the status of shipment is "come back tomorrow for expected delivery date". I am reading that as Monday 11/8 at the earliest. 9 days total.

We have been very spoiled before by Apple's focus on customer satisfaction over cost (the watch is a gift for my spouse, which makes me even more impatient as if it were for myself). Current baseline (they could go faster if they wanted to, and know what they are doing by not prioritizing delivery speed) is "it's ok to be 5x slower than Amazon Prime". I am sad that this is what it is, and worried where else they may start to cut costs (Tim Cook was COO before he became CEO, I don't believe he over-indexes on premium customer experience - as evidenced by the deterioration of Yelp ratings for all Apple Store in the Seattle area in recent years).

God, just relax. You sound like the sort of customer who always makes a scene.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Apple just delivered my Beats Fit Pro with UPS next day air saver. Additionally, I got the new iPhone on time as well. So if you preorder something you should receive on launch day as long as you're one of the first.

That said I'm sure depending on the material, order time/date, and all the world stuff logistics have made things difficult especially at port locations around the world. Suck I know but let's be real there's not much you can do about it. Hell, just go to your local store and buy an aluminum version in the interim especially with the current holiday return policy.

 

[Farrellcollie]

God, just relax. You sound like the sort of customer who always makes a scene.

I agree with him that apple customer service has gone downhill. I avoid apple stores because of the rude employees and inefficient methods.

 

[za9ra22]

...I'll rest my case now, seems like you guys are fine with Apple stepping down their efforts. Just to compare and contrast: Amazon did not renounce their 2 day Prime shipping targets...

My Apple Watch was delivered Express shipping a couple of weeks ago, yet it was help up in Shanghai for a few days. I neither know, nor care much what happens to anyone else's Apple products, but I do notice that most arrive within the delivery estimate, so whether it travels Express, or magic carpet, doesn't seem to make a whole lot of difference.

Neither does complaining about it and making an assumption that you know why they make the choices they do, or why those choices may or may not change from time to time. In the end, it's a consumer product and it will be delivered when it gets delivered.

As for Amazon. Good joke. Their 2-day shipping has now become 6-10 day for almost everything when I'm looking at their estimates, and yet they don't offer a reduced tier Prime subscription, nor even a hint of explanation as to why the service reduction is happening at a time when online shopping is still ramping up. Of course, they aren't a 'premium brand' so that's ok then.

 

[PanAm-L1011]

UPS World Ease: "When deadlines are more flexible, this best-in-class global service can help you balance speed with cost. Get your shipments where they need to be without hurting your budget."

It is what it is. If your biggest problem in life is complaining about your watch delivery time, during a global pandemic, then you are blessed, so sit down and put a sock in it.

 

[Dobbel]

You can always move to Europe…

I got my watch 2 days earlier as promised.

 

[BigMcGuire]

My wife and I had problems getting our watches from FedEx this year, and just so happened that we had ordered other things (not Apple related) from FedEx at the same time - got to see both packages affected so while I do think Apple went with the cheaper FedEx shipping vs years prior due to no movement on weekends, FedEx is having some serious problems these days (all of our packages took a week to do what normally should take 1-2 days).

I’ve travelled for work recently and we sat for hours in an airplane waiting for ground crews to clear gates due to employee shortages - it’s happening everywhere. Really shows how spoiled we were (talking about myself mostly here).

 

[mavis]

The title of this thread made me laugh. 'Apple cost-cutting starting to affect customer experience.' As if this is a new phenomenon. ?

They've made a number of cost-cutting changes with the watch which have had a negative effect on customer experience. The short cables on the charging puck (I still use my S0 charging puck. Chrome body and a 2m cable!), the paper boxes, the paper watch sleeve (used to be more felt-like). Not massive changes, but changes which have diminished the experience a bit.