Apple Delays iPhone 3G S Pre-Orders to Prevent Early Delivery?

[xjbri]

Prepared for Shipment

I, too, am awaiting shipment on my order, so all you others out there need not feel bad. I even placed my order on the 8th.

As of this moment my order still states:

"Prepared for Shipment
Product Qty.
IPHONE 3G S BLACK 16GB-USA
Custom configured
Ships: Delivers by June 19th"

I imagine that they are going to overnight the rest of the orders. I'll only be worried on Friday morning if this has not changed.

It's still very exciting to watch and talk about tracking orders!

 

[mortfe]

Delivery

Here is the story guys: The first delivery MUST be attempted, weather it's UPS or FedEx. I have experienced this before. After that, you can call & request a different delivery or hold for pickup. If you want to pick it up, you can, as long as the driver has returned. UPS depots are closed on Sat. I was told by Apple & UPS that there will by no deliveries before Fri - launch date.

 

[emulator]

My guess is that someone at Apple whose job it is to monitor the bloggersphere probably saw all these people talking about they were getting their iphones early passed the info up to management, who then called UPS to put a hold on the shipment. This wouldn't have happened if Steve was back.

your theory might be the true. not the "steve part" of course.

also, people call. too many phone calls get attention, and a flag. I'm pretty sure, many noobs, after seeing others already have delivery dates, started to call apple about their order not being shipped yet.

no wonder the number one rule of every deal site: YOU NEVER CALL!

 

[caric]

late

sounds like mine will come late. I ordered it on saturday, today it said it was shipped, but UPS reports this exception:

THE SERVICE SELECTED IS NOT AVAILABLE TO THE DESTINATION ADDRESS / DOWNGRADED, FORWARDED TO CONSIGNEE, SELECTED SERVICE IS NOT AVAILABLE

I'm having it shipped to my house. they updated the delivery date to Monday, June 22

 

[weaponofgod]

SDWC for the win

Here is the story guys: The first delivery MUST be attempted, weather it's UPS or FedEx. I have experienced this before. After that, you can call & request a different delivery or hold for pickup. If you want to pick it up, you can, as long as the driver has returned. UPS depots are closed on Sat. I was told by Apple & UPS that there will by no deliveries before Fri - launch date.

With UPS, if you miss the package after the first attempt you can request Same Day Will Call as long as you make arrangements before 1900 your local time. Thats mean you can still get the package before the weekend.

 

[mcdermd]

To those worried about signature:

Go to your Apple order status page. There's a link to "pre-sign for this shipment". Print the resulting document and tape it to your door. UPS will leave the package on your doorstep.

 

[Cuthbert]

To those worried about signature:

Go to your Apple order status page. There's a link to "pre-sign for this shipment". Print the resulting document and tape it to your door. UPS will leave the package on your doorstep.

Yes, and please send me your address as I can double check the delivery for you once it gets to your house.

Seriously though, be careful about that.

 

[optophobia]

To those worried about signature:

Go to your Apple order status page. There's a link to "pre-sign for this shipment". Print the resulting document and tape it to your door. UPS will leave the package on your doorstep.

True. And if you do choose this option, feel free to post your address here on the forums.
Also why would anyone go to an AT&T store or an Apple store and wait in line for hours when you can just wonder the neighborhoods, following the UPS delivery truck.

[/joke]

Yes, and please send me your address as I can double check the delivery for you once it gets to your house.

Seriously though, be careful about that.

You beat me to it....

 

[dunar]

I'm still showing three holds in the tracking and a delivery status of "exception", with the 6/19 guarantee email from Apple... Fun stuff. That's for phone #2, #1 is "Prepared for Shipment" and was ordered a whole seven minutes earlier. I'm betting on a Friday delivery on both for me. Now the question is, do I bother to upgrade my original, waited in line at AT&T for, 8gb to OS 3.0???

And now phone #2 is In-Transit - On Time, with a delivery date of 06/17/2009, which I don't believe... Phone #1 is still "Prepared" - so which one does my wife get? I seem to remember promising the first one to her, but is that first ordered or first delivered???

 

[idutchie]

Mine also has the hold off and says scheduled delivery 6-17. I don't see it coming in the next hour and I'm pretty sure there will be a hold on it again as soon as it gets to my city

 

[AtlasBoy]

I ordered my iPhone 3GS on June 10th at 4:14 PST. I received a "prepared for shipment" email on June 11th. That was the last I've heard from Apple. My order status has not changed. I did not select overnight shipping in the ordering process because the phrase "Delivered by June 19th" was plastered all over everything. My order status still says "delivered by June 19th," but I'm worried I haven't received and info yet.

What's also troubling is my mom says that her credit card was not charged. Also, under "Shipping Method" it says "Priority." Does this mean Apple is shipping me my iPhone through Priority Mail (which will take a week at best) or does it mean that my shipment is a priority to Apple and I'll receive it Friday?

I would have happily waited at the AT&T in the small town near where I live. I could have easily got in and got out but I figured getting it shipped to my door would be pretty cool.

Also, receiving my iPhone early would be a dream because I could activate it early and avoid the server slow down/crash like last year.

I've never ordered anything from the Apple Store before and I do not have an Apple Store within 150 miles of my house.

Any help or reassuring words would be appreciated.

Hang in there. I'm betting your phone will be shipped from within the US, so it can ship as late as Thursday afternoon to arrive Friday. The credit card will be charged when it ships. Don't know what to tell you about server crashes - we'll have to wait and see. I'm betting that Apple learned their lesson last year.

 

[AtlasBoy]

Wouldnt this be illegal, I paid for the phone and now the supplier is holding it back from me. Its not my fault the shipping is faster then they thought. Oh and I’m the receiver and I didn’t send any package back and requesting that it be delivered on a different day. That could be tampering with mail.

The phone is RELEASED on Friday. Apple has an agreement with UPS to deliver on Friday. What's illegal about that? It's UPS responsibility until you sign for it. Under your theory, if UPS looses it, your Scre*ed. It's already yours, so they don't have to replace it. Does that sound right to you? It does not "belong" to you until you sign for it.

 

[Ampidire]

I'm lucky my order went through as I ordered after all the 'omg 3gs pre-orders sold out' stories ran through, but sure enough mine has always stated that it would be delivered on the 19th and I never expected otherwise, it is funny the engadget title for this article about ups and overachieving though, heh.

 

[DiamondMac]

Wouldnt this be illegal, I paid for the phone and now the supplier is holding it back from me. Its not my fault the shipping is faster then they thought. Oh and I’m the receiver and I didn’t send any package back and requesting that it be delivered on a different day. That could be tampering with mail.

Is it illegal? No, not in the slightest. I mean, not even the slightest.

There is no such tampering by any means.

 

[klooney]

I don't see this anywhere on my order page am I missing something is there a link of it somewhere?

To those worried about signature:

Go to your Apple order status page. There's a link to "pre-sign for this shipment". Print the resulting document and tape it to your door. UPS will leave the package on your doorstep.

 

[Ampidire]

To those worried about signature:

Go to your Apple order status page. There's a link to "pre-sign for this shipment". Print the resulting document and tape it to your door. UPS will leave the package on your doorstep.

Did this right after I got my tracking email, don't wanna risk not getting to the door on time for the impatient/hurried UPS driver especially since he's probably got a ton more iPhones to deliver that day!

 

[Ariz]

Well suck.

Our records indicate that we were unable to obtain approval from AT&T
to complete your recent iPhone purchase. As a result, we have
canceled your iPhone order.

I'm a current AT&T customer and am eligible for an upgrade. The Apple rep was able to offer no help then transferred me to AT&T where I was cut off.

I ended up ordering through AT&T online.

 

[mcdermd]

The "requested hold"s have been removed and my tracking page has been updated to say:

Your package is on time with a scheduled delivery date of 06/18/2009.

Aaand now the scheduled delivery date is gone again. I fully expect to see it on Friday the 19th now.

 

[charlituna]

I'm in the nervous camp as well. My only concern is that when things come in from China sometimes they get put on a mandatory customs hold for a day or two (overnight shipping or not). I had a Lenovo machine back in 2006 that was held for 5 days. If that is the case, since Apple cut this one so close we may not see ours until next week. And we were some of the first to order

it is unlikely that they are shipping the phones one at a time from China to the customers. they likely had them batch shipped to some kind of hub station (likely a few around the country) just like they likely do their regular model computer stock etc. Then at the hub, they are being boxed for shipment to the stores, to the customers etc.

those folks seeing supposed UPS times for tomorrow are likely those the furthest from a hub station, and yes they are probably going to be held until Friday. and no way would UPS/Fed Ex ever risk a major contract like Apple by not following any hold requests.

those that still say 'preparing' are probably those closest to the hubs that need less time to reach the right folks.

so don't stress about China, customs etc. spend the time backing up your old phone if you have one, grabbing those free and on sale apps you were thinking about getting, etc

 

[mortfe]

Delivery

I got the same 6/17 and called UPS International. AGAIN, they told me all deliveries will start on Fri, 6/19. Disreguard the website (per UPS), They are all in KY & will be shipped to your local UPS depot by tomorrow.

 

[charlituna]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but I would never dream that a company has the power to hold a shipment in progress.
I would have thought, once it is out the door, UPS has control over it.

it's quite easy:

Apple Guy: Morning UPS Guy, Morning Fed Ex Guy
UPS Guy: Morning Apple Guy
Fed Ex Guy: Morning Apple Guy
Apple Guy: So Guys, you know we have that phone coming out on Friday, right?
UPS Guy: Yep
Fed Ex Guy: Heard something about that
Apple Guy: So here's the dealio. We do NOT want anyone getting the phone before Friday. So you are going to have to hold all shipments until then. To make it easy we put a sticker on the box that says "do not deliver before June 19th". Got it.
UPS Guy: Sure
Fed Ex Guy: Uh huh
Apple Guy: Just to make sure we are clear, I want to show you the contract we all signed that you would do what we want when we ask you to hold something. And just how much money you make doing all our deliveries. You wouldn't want to incur our wrath now would you. I mean did you see what we did with that loser in Florida. We bankrupted him, his mama is going to have to sell that house with that nice basement he's been living in. You don't want that to be you, right?
UPS Guy: Nope
Fed Ex Guy: No way.
Apple Guy: Good. Have a good Friday.

done

 

[incoherent1]

No idea, then. I've tried countless times with no luck for everything from Macbook Pros to iMacs to the 3GS this time. My buddy tried to do the same. He lives in both Denver and Phoenix. He wanted the phone shipped to Denver but his billing address is at his Phoenix address. They told him to pound sand so hes going to get in line Friday morning in Denver. I guess like everything seems to be these days... mileage varies from one person to the next.

Odd. Maybe because the addresses were in two different states though.

Nope. I live in Virginia but work in Washington, DC, and it's getting shipped to my work address. I even ordered mine through the Apple website rather than on the phone, so it works even in the automated process.

Some credit cards have "authorized shipping addresses" where you can call them and say that all orders going to ____ are okay because it's an alternate address of yours, but it's usually a precaution rather than a requirement (for example, my work address is not an authorized shipping address). I'd call the credit card company and ask because it sounds like they're the culprit.

 

[vansouza]

Like many others I'm still in the Prepared for Shipment state still, despite ordering on day 1.

This is making me increasingly nervous, but I'm hopeful that maybe my phone is shipping from Apple's domestic stock (no doubt they have a stack of phones in Cupertino or elsewhere) and not directly from China.

I will be PISSED if it doesn't arrive Friday.

Relax; same here. I got a phone call from the local Apple store because I had requested a hold on a 3GS; they called to tell me to show up at another store. I told him not to worry that I had ordered one online; but that I was worried that is still said Prepared for Shipment... he said then it would not be sent by UPS but by overnight FedEx instead.

 

[amann76]

so in the meantime i am trying to update a gen 1 phone and now i keep getting an error saying it cant get past the restore point. Can anybody give some advice on that?

 

[Prez1082]

So should i be worried if mine says:

Prepared for Shipment
Product Qty.
IPHONE 3G S BLACK 16GB-USA
Custom configured
Ships: Jun 19
Delivers: Jun 22

I ordered hours after the keynote on apple.com

I, too, am awaiting shipment on my order, so all you others out there need not feel bad. I even placed my order on the 8th.

As of this moment my order still states:

"Prepared for Shipment
Product Qty.
IPHONE 3G S BLACK 16GB-USA
Custom configured
Ships: Delivers by June 19th"

I imagine that they are going to overnight the rest of the orders. I'll only be worried on Friday morning if this has not changed.

It's still very exciting to watch and talk about tracking orders!