I've spent a lot of time over the past few weeks reading these forums, which I've found both enjoyable and informative.
I decided to finally join as a member and post this out of guilt, for although I understand why how the release has unfolded may have been the most practical option, I'm not convinced it's been the most logical and I completely sympathise with a lot of the frustration shown by other board members.
I'm not a particularly hard-core Apple fan, I've had an iPhone for two years and have just replaced my Nexus tablet with an iPad, but I had decided an Apple Watch would be perfect for me when it was announced in September.
So I made sure I was up and ready at 8am for when pre-orders began, with both the Apple Store App and website at hand. The website was useless and was down for a while so I concentrated on refreshing the app, which eventually came online at 8.04. I ordered (in the UK) and managed to order a 42mm Space Grey Sport with Black Band and got an 8.06 confirmation with a 4-6 week (12th-26th May) delivery window.
Which I made my peace with, deciding to be patient, until about a week ago when I discovered this board and got swept up in the excitement with people talking about deliveries much sooner than anticipated.
Then earlier this week things looked promising, when watches from the May window - and even June - were being dispatched.
But then it appeared - and it still does appear - that there is a significant shortage of Space Grey Sport models of both sizes. It didn't look like any had been dispatched, but even when some were, people in London that ordered at 8.08 were getting theirs when people who ordered the same model at .02 still hadn't seen any movement.
I lost all hope of getting mine any time soon.
So when Apple quietly announced last night that one store in the entire country would have a limited supply this weekend and that a number to make appointments would appear this morning, I was definitely interested.
But I wasn't expecting to get as obsessed as I did. The number came online at 9.30 and I tried right away but got a 'call failed' notification, as if it was a wrong number. This was how bad the set-up was, there was no call queuing system, just a rejection, as if they didn't want people to know the number worked. I saw online that at least two people had got through, so I tried again, and again. Eventually I was trying and retrying constantly whilst at work, not getting through.
Over 4 hours and 400+ attempts later (seriously, I don't know where the mania came from), I got through to someone that told me try on appointments were now fully booked for the weekend.
I asked whether I could just forgo the try on and just purchase the one I know I want, but I was told no, very firmly. She said I could come in store on Monday and book an appointment for the next week, but they couldn't promise there'd be any stock left. I asked what the point is in taking up the time of booking an appointment in person, when I could just make the payment, but I was told no, that was not the system.
But the shop was nearby, so of course I decided to stop by, not really expecting to be told anything different.
Having preprepared an angered speech about my 400 phone calls, I walked in, stood by the table where people were having try on appointments for about 30 seconds before someone came over and asked if they could help. I asked if they had the watch I wanted in stock, they said yes and then took me to pay. I walked away with a watch, bemused, within two minutes.
It was odd, I spoke to the three people beside me in the till, one had just walked in like me, another had queued since 7am and at 11 been given an appointment later in the day and another had even flown in from Italy for the day. Neither of the latter two were very happy that others were just being handed watches.
It all seemed very strange and illogical.
I definitely didn't mean to write this much... Short version is, I've now cancelled my preorder, so hopefully someone just got bumped up the list. And I thought it was worth sharing as I agree that no one has been lied to; we've been given delivery windows that will most likely be kept to (if not beaten), so those cursing Apple and making angry threats don't really have my sympathy.
But at the same time, something has not been right about the whole process.
View attachment 545133
View attachment 545134
I decided to finally join as a member and post this out of guilt, for although I understand why how the release has unfolded may have been the most practical option, I'm not convinced it's been the most logical and I completely sympathise with a lot of the frustration shown by other board members.
I'm not a particularly hard-core Apple fan, I've had an iPhone for two years and have just replaced my Nexus tablet with an iPad, but I had decided an Apple Watch would be perfect for me when it was announced in September.
So I made sure I was up and ready at 8am for when pre-orders began, with both the Apple Store App and website at hand. The website was useless and was down for a while so I concentrated on refreshing the app, which eventually came online at 8.04. I ordered (in the UK) and managed to order a 42mm Space Grey Sport with Black Band and got an 8.06 confirmation with a 4-6 week (12th-26th May) delivery window.
Which I made my peace with, deciding to be patient, until about a week ago when I discovered this board and got swept up in the excitement with people talking about deliveries much sooner than anticipated.
Then earlier this week things looked promising, when watches from the May window - and even June - were being dispatched.
But then it appeared - and it still does appear - that there is a significant shortage of Space Grey Sport models of both sizes. It didn't look like any had been dispatched, but even when some were, people in London that ordered at 8.08 were getting theirs when people who ordered the same model at .02 still hadn't seen any movement.
I lost all hope of getting mine any time soon.
So when Apple quietly announced last night that one store in the entire country would have a limited supply this weekend and that a number to make appointments would appear this morning, I was definitely interested.
But I wasn't expecting to get as obsessed as I did. The number came online at 9.30 and I tried right away but got a 'call failed' notification, as if it was a wrong number. This was how bad the set-up was, there was no call queuing system, just a rejection, as if they didn't want people to know the number worked. I saw online that at least two people had got through, so I tried again, and again. Eventually I was trying and retrying constantly whilst at work, not getting through.
Over 4 hours and 400+ attempts later (seriously, I don't know where the mania came from), I got through to someone that told me try on appointments were now fully booked for the weekend.
I asked whether I could just forgo the try on and just purchase the one I know I want, but I was told no, very firmly. She said I could come in store on Monday and book an appointment for the next week, but they couldn't promise there'd be any stock left. I asked what the point is in taking up the time of booking an appointment in person, when I could just make the payment, but I was told no, that was not the system.
But the shop was nearby, so of course I decided to stop by, not really expecting to be told anything different.
Having preprepared an angered speech about my 400 phone calls, I walked in, stood by the table where people were having try on appointments for about 30 seconds before someone came over and asked if they could help. I asked if they had the watch I wanted in stock, they said yes and then took me to pay. I walked away with a watch, bemused, within two minutes.
It was odd, I spoke to the three people beside me in the till, one had just walked in like me, another had queued since 7am and at 11 been given an appointment later in the day and another had even flown in from Italy for the day. Neither of the latter two were very happy that others were just being handed watches.
It all seemed very strange and illogical.
I definitely didn't mean to write this much... Short version is, I've now cancelled my preorder, so hopefully someone just got bumped up the list. And I thought it was worth sharing as I agree that no one has been lied to; we've been given delivery windows that will most likely be kept to (if not beaten), so those cursing Apple and making angry threats don't really have my sympathy.
But at the same time, something has not been right about the whole process.
View attachment 545133
View attachment 545134
