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AT&T iPhone 4S Pre-Order Status Thread

The moral of this entire story is that AT&Ts order taking, order tracking, preorder distribution, shipping, and internal communication systems are probably adequate for every other crap phone they sell that noone cares about but are just not good enough to handle an iPhone launch. In addition to its internal system and process failures I don't believe there is any excuse to justify why even one person who preordered was still on backorder at the same time their stores were filled with phones. Although I had no trouble canceling my backordered phone the ultimate slap in the face was the runaround that some of you got when you wanted to cancel a backordered phone that reps were saying could take between 1 and 28 days to arrive. The only explanation could be incompetence by AT&T staff or a policy that was trying to maximize total sales by locking a group in with "backordered" phones and also having plenty in store to sell to walk ins. I'm not sure which of these explanations AT&T would rather admit to.

Lesson learned: I will sleep out in front of an Apple store before I ever preorder an iPhone from AT&T again.

Preordering with Apple = you are getting a phone on launch day. Preordering with AT&T = you are getting a headache. I just hope for the next launch that Apple doesn't even try to interface with AT&Ts systems to check for upgrades since we all know it has never been able to handle the volume.
 
I'm happy for the people who ordered a day or more after I did and already have their phones.

I'm disappointed in AT&T's promises to those of us who stayed up late and ordered in the first hour or so of the "preorder" window. They said the phones would ship on or before the 14th when I placed my order.

I think AT&T had a major system glitch and screwed up those early orders.

My order status still says "In Progress" with no shipping estimates and absolutely no updates from AT&T saying why they were unable to fulfill my pre-order as promised.
 
cljones said:
Just woke up to a Premier email saying my phone shipped last night and I'll be receiving it today by 12pm! YES! I checked and its in Atlanta, just an hour away!!
Click to expand...

that's awesome! mine still says backordered, pending shipment, etc. i'm going to go to the at&t store the second it opens and see if they can do anything. heh, my father-in-law keeps saying "it's just a phone, i don't get it." right. i think he has a 4 and even his daughter says he would be freaking out just as much, if not more. wish me luck!
 
Still back ordered

Because the Westfield NJ Manager is a jerk and wouldn't let me cancel my pre-order and buy one of his stock. I called a few times and complained loudly to corporate. No one can do anything but the store, they tell me. But the store won't I tell them. Sigh. Stay far away from the AT&T store in Westfield NJ. Once they lock you in with the contract, they could care less about you. They'd rather sell that phone to the guy that walks in and make you wait for yours. Customer satisfaction is a apparently a foreign concept to this store manager.
 
fotofan said:
Because the Westfield NJ Manager is a jerk and wouldn't let me cancel my pre-order and buy one of his stock. I called a few times and complained loudly to corporate. No one can do anything but the store, they tell me. But the store won't I tell them. Sigh. Stay far away from the AT&T store in Westfield NJ. Once they lock you in with the contract, they could care less about you. They'd rather sell that phone to the guy that walks in and make you wait for yours. Customer satisfaction is a apparently a foreign concept to this store manager.
Click to expand...

Is this a corporate store? Is there another one in your area you can visit? Can you obtain their regional managers' phone number? I would seriously be pushing this issue since we KNOW it can be done... as long as your order is still backordered...

G/L,

Don

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sulpfiction said:
iPhone never came with a needle to remove sim tray.
Click to expand...

Our 3GS did...
 
Thanks for the advice

BigDinTexas said:
Is this a corporate store? Is there another one in your area you can visit? Can you obtain their regional managers' phone number? I would seriously be pushing this issue since we KNOW it can be done... as long as your order is still backordered...

G/L,

Don

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Our 3GS did...
Click to expand...

I may try that. The only problem is that I actually have a busy life and I'm working most of today, then have a camping trip planned with my son and then it's back to work Monday. I just don't have time and by the time I do I'll bet the stores are out of my phone. When I get a chance early next week I will definitely be raising hell. But AT&T should be doing the right thing and fixing this by ordering the stores to take existing stock and calling pre-order customers in the order they came in and canceling the back order and giving us phones. They won't. They screwed us and are now some of the manager's at least are doing this for the vocal unhappy customers that show up. I tried and got know where but was glad to hear not all the manager's are complete asses. It was still an underhanded policy designed to maximize in store sales by screwing the pre-order in-store customers and AT&T was complicit in this arrangement. I need the phone and I'm tied up for another year with my other phone with AT&T so I can't walk. But that manager will be getting some very bad written complaints at corporate when I get the time to do it. And AT&T will never see me sign another contract with them. Most of the CSR's are over worked and surly, and the store sales people at my store as well. But they have a manager that is an ass, so I feel bad for them as they institute his policies.
 
My situation was like many, received 1 iPhone on launch day with another one sitting in backordered status "1" but as of last night it changed to "0" and now it's set to be delivered today. All in all, ATT handled this ordeal "ok" and since both phones were delivered within 24 hours of launch, I think I'll order through them again....but had this phone not been delivered today, my opinion would be different. Good luck to all those who are still waiting, you'll get your phones soon.
 
Gee thanks AT&T and Best Buy! I was number 25 on the pre-order list, and how many AT&T phones did Best Buy get in on launch day? TWO.

Seriously?

I was thinking at the absolutely VERY, VERY least about 50 or so. There needs to be a LOT of these delivered to every place with pre-orders. I expected an absolute guarantee of getting it the first day.
 
amurder said:
The moral of this entire story is that AT&Ts order taking, order tracking, preorder distribution, shipping, and internal communication systems are probably adequate for every other crap phone they sell that noone cares about but are just not good enough to handle an iPhone launch. In addition to its internal system and process failures I don't believe there is any excuse to justify why even one person who preordered was still on backorder at the same time their stores were filled with phones. Although I had no trouble canceling my backordered phone the ultimate slap in the face was the runaround that some of you got when you wanted to cancel a backordered phone that reps were saying could take between 1 and 28 days to arrive. The only explanation could be incompetence by AT&T staff or a policy that was trying to maximize total sales by locking a group in with "backordered" phones and also having plenty in store to sell to walk ins. I'm not sure which of these explanations AT&T would rather admit to.

Lesson learned: I will sleep out in front of an Apple store before I ever preorder an iPhone from AT&T again.

Preordering with Apple = you are getting a phone on launch day. Preordering with AT&T = you are getting a headache. I just hope for the next launch that Apple doesn't even try to interface with AT&Ts systems to check for upgrades since we all know it has never been able to handle the volume.
Click to expand...


Thank you. You've basically summarized the WHOLE forum. Nice bombshell~
 
josh3326 said:
I went to an AT&T store and bought it. NO LINE AND NO WAITING. I got mine before a lot of pre-orders! HA HA! :D
Click to expand...

Enjoy your iphone. I hear if you jump off a bridge it will track your fall in real time and then Siri will call the next of kin. Why don't you try it and see if it works.

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djransom said:
What's that number to call?
Click to expand...
They won't do anything for you over the phone with in-store pre-orders.
 
Can other stores cancel your in-store order, or is it only the store where you placed the pre-order that can do that?
 
DropKick said:
My situation was like many, received 1 iPhone on launch day with another one sitting in backordered status "1" but as of last night it changed to "0" and now it's set to be delivered today. All in all, ATT handled this ordeal "ok" and since both phones were delivered within 24 hours of launch, I think I'll order through them again....but had this phone not been delivered today, my opinion would be different. Good luck to all those who are still waiting, you'll get your phones soon.
Click to expand...
Not in-store pre-order, I assume. The big screw up was the way they have handled that situation. For the most part the online and phone in have gotten theirs. If I knew I'd get it in a week i'd be fine with it. It could by 3 or 4 from what I have read and heard. Not cool at all.
 
Last edited:
Called it quits on the pre-order debacle

Called ATT and 'reversed' my order out of the system last evening and with a little convincing, they did this over the phone and restored my upgrade eligibility right away... was tired of waiting to see an update from backordered status after preordering online on 10/7 in the early afternoon ET and hearing nothing (other than my original confirmation with arrival date of [not as early as] 10/14). Went to the local Springfield, PA ATT store when they opened at 9 (small line there) and was out in 15 minutes with new iPhone 4S 64GB Black activated and ready for use.
 
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