Dont Preorder your iphone 4s from Best Buy

My experience with BB last year was fine.

On the day they received their iPhone shipment, they would call those they received iPhones for to set up an appointment with you the day the iPhone is to be officially released.
I did pre-order and that's how the pre-orders were fulfilled at the Best Buy I went to. It was a smooth process. After the pre-orders had been fulfilled, it was a first-come, first-sever basis. You WILL lose your place in pre-order if you do not meet up for your appointment that day.
 
lulla01 said:
yeah, i have lots of giftcards i wanted to use and they said that even with a pre order id be in with everyone else. They explained it to me that a pre order would ensure you eventually get your phone.
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Wow, that sounds like some shady business.

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i eversaw said:
No, it's like preordering a game at Gamestop. You put $5 down, but it goes towards the cost of the item.
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Ok, that makes more sense.
 
stevenisHAUNTED said:
My experience with BB last year was fine.

On the day they received their iPhone shipment, they would call those they received iPhones for to set up an appointment with you the day the iPhone is to be officially released.
I did pre-order and that's how the pre-orders were fulfilled at the Best Buy I went to. It was a smooth process. After the pre-orders had been fulfilled, it was a first-come, first-sever basis. You WILL lose your place in pre-order if you do not meet up for your appointment that day.
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I think the point is they have stated that this is NOT the procedure this year.
 
lulla01 said:
yeah, i have lots of giftcards i wanted to use and they said that even with a pre order id be in with everyone else. They explained it to me that a pre order would ensure you eventually get your phone.
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lol. **** Best Buy. I think they've screwed every poster on this board at one point or another. I've personally taken my business to Apple and Amazon since. Best Buy can go down on me.
 
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steve dave said:
stevenisHAUNTED said:
My experience with BB last year was fine.

On the day they received their iPhone shipment, they would call those they received iPhones for to set up an appointment with you the day the iPhone is to be officially released.
I did pre-order and that's how the pre-orders were fulfilled at the Best Buy I went to. It was a smooth process. After the pre-orders had been fulfilled, it was a first-come, first-sever basis. You WILL lose your place in pre-order if you do not meet up for your appointment that day.
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I think the point is they have stated that this is NOT the procedure this year.
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That's exactly what I was told when I pre-ordered. They even made the appointments at the time of pre-order. However my form does say Oct 31st. I'm going to go in today and verify all of this just to play it safe
 
I made the mistake of pre-ordering from Best Buy myself. I cancelled my Verizon pre-order and decided to stay with AT&T (stupid, I know). The BB rep told me that pre-orders will be fulfilled on their "next shipment", but launch day is first come first serve. I think that is absolute bs. I preordered AND put $50 down on a damn BB gift card and someone walking off of the street gets precedence??! I filed a complaint when I got home and within 30 min the "mobile manager" at the store I went to called me to give me some half-a**ed explanation of their new policy. I will be taking my a** to Apple on launch day, waiting God knows how long, but will feel more confident that I will have a phone that day.
 
if you have preordered from Best Buy - DONT CANCEL.

2 reasons:
1. if you can't get it anywhere else at least you have one ordered...

2. Best reason - get phone somewhere else, stand in line, preorder, etc. Leave preorder open. WHen you get the call/email find out when the last time you can pick it up before the phone is sold to a general public person. Go into Best Buy right before they open it up for sale to anyone. Speak to manger, explain that you never had any intention of buying your preorder you just wanted to punish BB for their terrible system. Now they have had a phone on the shelf for 3 days they could have (and would have) sold. This phone cost them sales because for every uncanceled preorder they will have 3 or 4 people walking in asking to buy a phone. Because they couldn't sell it until the preorder released they will get less stock quicker and thus have more unfulfilled customer iPhone requests.

If you don't cancel your order until the last minute, this will cost them sales and money. But when you go in right before the last minute, make sure to explain you actions to the manager and get the gift card refund. If we make a big enough dent they will revise their policies.

And also, make sure to call and complain as much as possible over the next few days. The more complaints, the more chance they will change the policy.
 
solarguy17 said:
if you have preordered from Best Buy - DONT CANCEL.

2 reasons:
1. if you can't get it anywhere else at least you have one ordered...

2. Best reason - get phone somewhere else, stand in line, preorder, etc. Leave preorder open. WHen you get the call/email find out when the last time you can pick it up before the phone is sold to a general public person. Go into Best Buy right before they open it up for sale to anyone. Speak to manger, explain that you never had any intention of buying your preorder you just wanted to punish BB for their terrible system. Now they have had a phone on the shelf for 3 days they could have (and would have) sold. This phone cost them sales because for every uncanceled preorder they will have 3 or 4 people walking in asking to buy a phone. Because they couldn't sell it until the preorder released they will get less stock quicker and thus have more unfulfilled customer iPhone requests.

If you don't cancel your order until the last minute, this will cost them sales and money. But when you go in right before the last minute, make sure to explain you actions to the manager and get the gift card refund. If we make a big enough dent they will revise their policies.

And also, make sure to call and complain as much as possible over the next few days. The more complaints, the more chance they will change the policy.
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And THIS is probably why Best Buy has to give priority to cash-in-hand customers... :rolleyes:
 
ZBoater said:
And THIS is probably why Best Buy has to give priority to cash-in-hand customers... :rolleyes:
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No matter what, even if tons of people do that, they will still probably sell through their allocated inventory in 1-2 days. For BB, it should be about customer service, as they aren't doing very well right now.
 
I think this is store-by-store policy. I re-checked with my local bestbuy and showed them chatter on forum and they reassured that people who pre-ordered phone gets is first and walk-ins will be entertained only if there is anything left from pre-order stock. It is big YMMV. I'll just walk into local bestbuy on 14th to reaffirm that they are practicing what they are preaching.
 
solarguy17 said:
if you have preordered from Best Buy - DONT CANCEL.
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Here's another big reason not to cancel. ELIGIBILITY!

When you place an order through Sprint, Apple or Best Buy then they verify and FULFILL eligibility on your account. The problem is that if you cancel then Sprint takes 7-10 days to restore eligibility to cancelled orders. So if you're with Sprint and have a preorder anywhere then don't mess with it because if your eligibility gets tied up then you'll miss out on your upgrade pricing.
 
I think since we have been hearing that best buy has changed their mind they are going to start making this look like people were misinformed etc. I can tell you from personal experience that my local stores were given directions to sell to walk-ins first then fill pre-orders before this whole thing spread through the internet. So if they are saying the policy is pre-order's first then it has definitely changed! They are trying to sweep this little screw up under the rug big time!
 
I feel bad for anyone who is unaware of this and walks into BestBuy on Friday expecting to pick up their "pre-ordered" phone only to be told, "I'm sorry, we've sold out".
 
I preordered the 64 gb white att iPhone 4s. I was told there weren't many pre orders for that version at my best buy so i should be able to easily get mine right on friday any time. :)
 
At first the problem was "If they're selling First Come First Serve then PreOrdering doesnt make sense". But now the problem is "If they're selling to PreOrders First then waiting in line doesnt make sense". So it really seems that the proper solution was to limit preorders so if Best Buy received 100 of a specific model then they should've quit selling preorders once they hit 50.

Anyway, I'm the first preorder at my store and will be there when they open because I dont trust them. But Im betting that at the end of the day on Friday we're going to see a lot of people legitimately upset that they didnt get an iPhone because A) Their preorder was sold from under them or B) They waited in line and saw dozens of iPhones on the shelf but weren't allowed to buy them.
 
Is this a company wide issue or just some stores? Last year I pre-ordered from BB & it couldn't have gone smoother. I went in the day before, signed up & paid the $50, made an appointment to come in the next day & was in/out in maybe 15-20 mins. Only reason I went thru Apple this year is because I'm working on 10/4 & heading into the New York Comic Con right afterwords.
 
My local Best Buy manager is doing it the way they did last year, by setting aside all preorder phones and then only selling the extras.

She didnt agree with the policy that was sent out to the stores.

Im all set :D
 
neff2k said:
I think since we have been hearing that best buy has changed their mind they are going to start making this look like people were misinformed etc. I can tell you from personal experience that my local stores were given directions to sell to walk-ins first then fill pre-orders before this whole thing spread through the internet. So if they are saying the policy is pre-order's first then it has definitely changed! They are trying to sweep this little screw up under the rug big time!
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I'm sure they will try and sweep it under the rug. But no matter what, I still filed a claim with the BBB on them. As I said before and I'll say it again, they misled a lot of customers. And something should be done about it.
 
I called my store and confirmed - the new policy has been changed to pre-orders first. BB decided to do it differently this year and in the past few days realized they made a mistake. That happens. People / companies make mistakes. But at least they had the balls to admit it and correct it. My store said they expect a more official announcement to come soon. But they were made aware today by corporate that the policy has be reverted to the normal pre-orders come first. Best Buy is not evil. They are a company trying to run a business and stay afloat.
 
EJ8 said:
I called my store and confirmed - the new policy has been changed to pre-orders first. BB decided to do it differently this year and in the past few days realized they made a mistake. That happens. People / companies make mistakes. But at least they had the balls to admit it and correct it. My store said they expect a more official announcement to come soon. But they were made aware today by corporate that the policy has be reverted to the normal pre-orders come first. Best Buy is not evil. They are a company trying to run a business and stay afloat.
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THIS...but, I didn't know they were going to fix the issue, so I went and preordered from Apple, thus, I had to cancel my BB preorder and get the $50 refund.
 
Recent chat history from best buy, take it for what it's worth.

You have been connected to Ethan.
Ethan: Thank You for contacting Best Buy Mobile, where we always promise you straightforward pricing without mail-in rebates. This conversation may be monitored for quality purposes. Hello, my name is Ethan, how can I assist you today? Do you mind if I get your Email address to log our chat?
Customer: My email is ryancasper2004@***********
Ethan: Thank you, how may I help you?
Customer: I am not sure how much you will be able to tell me, but I pre-ordered an iPhone 4S Friday in store and am very confused. At the time of pre-ordering, the mobile rep informed me that I would not be receiving the phone October 14 because the first shipment is for the general public. Mine would be in the 2nd or 3rd shipment.
Ethan: That is not the case the preorders are first.
Customer: He informed me if I want one on launch day, I should show up friday morning and wait in line until the store opens.
Ethan: I don't think that is correct, but they will probably sell out.
Customer: How would they "sell out", if the first shipment is for pre-orders specifically?
Ethan: We may have more preorders than phons.
Ethan: phones.
Customer: Probably. So how do I know where i'm at, per-say on the pre-order list? Will by order ID let me know?
Ethan: Unfortunately not.
Customer: Ok. So how will I know if my phone will be available Friday?
Ethan: You won't until they call you. You could try calling them on Friday.
Customer: Are shipments expected to be once a week or is Apple shipping them to stores throughout the weeks to come?
Ethan: Can't say forsure, to early to tell.
Customer: Is there a "typical" shipment of certain black 16gb, 32gb, etc.? Or is it completely random?
Ethan: It's more of a mix of all the models.
Customer: Ok. Well thank you for the information.
Ethan: No problem, is there anything else I can assist you with?
Customer: That does it. Thank you!
Customer has left the session.
 
Sounds par for the course for Best Buy. There's a reason I won't give them a dime of my money.

They are far too focused on getting your money now rather than having a happy customer who wants to come back to them. So they don't mind doing sleezy things that might piss you off but gets them your money now.
 
I just called 3 Best Buys, and they all are saying that it is first come first serve. I'm kinda pissed, bc now i have to go wait in again. I know i know i should have placed an order directly from Apple or Sprint. This sucks.
 
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