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I had it all planned out...

C

chenjas1

macrumors member
Original poster
May 7, 2007
72
6
I originally tried to walk-in on Thursday morning but had to leave for work before I would have gotten to the front of the line so my plan was to get any leftovers from those who did not pick up their reserved phones this morning...

I called my local Apple Store just around 9pm last night and confirmed with them that all unspoken for reserved phones would become walk-in stock the next morning. I also confirmed that they would be actually closing at 9pm.

So I decide to go to the mall at 1:30am to wait it out. I'm the only one there and shut my eyes and fall asleep in my car. At 2am, I am woken up by a tap on my window... It's a security guard checking to see why I'm there. I explain that I'm waiting for the Apple Store to open at 8am, he doesn't know that they're opening early again but we chat it up for a while. He tells me he started his shift at 9pm and the Apple Store was still selling phones to those who were in line. Roughly 10 people were still there at closing. I'm thinking that it's a good chance that more than 10 people didn't pick up their reserved phones. So I should still be in good shape for the morning. He then says, "Do you want to wait inside the mall?" :eek: Sure as hell beats sleeping in my car. He unlocks the front doors for me and tells me just to go find a couch and make myself comfortable! He also says that the mall will open at 5:30am so be sure to be in front of the Apple Store by then. Cruise control from here on out, right?

After a nice nap on a plush couch, 5:30am rolls by and I head to the Apple Store and am first in line. 30 minutes pass by and a few people have the same idea as me and start up a queue. Shorty after, an Apple employee comes to unlock the doors to the store and I ask him if there's any reserved phones that weren't picked up last night (all the walk-in stock was burned through by 4pm Thursday). He said he'd check and would be right back. The employee comes back and says "Unfortunately, we are all out." Heart. Sunk. He then goes on to say how they did stay open past 9pm and sold reserved phones to those still waiting in line. Now get this... He then says that he and a few other Apple employees purchased the reserved phones as well!!! Come on! Is that allowed??? :mad::confused: I was a bit peeved but he did give me a Special K breakfast bar as compensation for getting screwed over. :D

In any event, I was placed on a new reservation list where I'd receive an email once new stock arrived and I could pick it up without waiting in line by the end of business the following day.

What chaps my ass even more is that I was able to get a preorder in for my wife but not for myself on the 15th so she's been strutting around with the new iPhone since Wednesday.

By the way, my name is Jason Chen but I did not find the prototype iPhone.
 
If you wanted to purchase an iPhone reservation that wasn't picked up, you should have done it the night before.

Of course the employees should get a chance at getting one. They had to wait till the end of the day to see if there was any left. The San Francisco store did the same thing and I talked to a few employees who were hoping there was going to be a few left over for them.
 
I feel your pain. I'm sure you'll have one soon enough. Here's a tag for you.
 

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/dev/toaster said:
If you wanted to purchase an iPhone reservation that wasn't picked up, you should have done it the night before.

Of course the employees should get a chance at getting one. They had to wait till the end of the day to see if there was any left. The San Francisco store did the same thing and I talked to a few employees who were hoping there was going to be a few left over for them.
Click to expand...

Well, I did "confirm" with the store that they would stop selling them at 9pm as my original plan was to show up at that time to get any leftovers but was obviously given bad information.

As for the employees, I disagree. I feel that they should not be allowed to purchase the iPhone this close to launch. I remember when the 3G was released, the guy next to me in line was an Apple employee and was not allowed to purchase at an Apple Store (we were in line at an AT&T store).

I don't think it's fair that employees can have their pick behind closed doors, especially if they snatch up the last ones since remaining phones are supposed to go back into their stock.
 
Does anyone know if Apple employees are prohibited from purchasing the iPhone from Apple stores for a certain time period?
 
So they work all day, (my Apple Store's manager was there at 4am setting up and was there until about 10:15pm) open early, and deal with more than hundreds of customers, possibly close to a thousand, and they don't deserve their own iPhone 4 on launch day?

No matter if it's after the store closes (which would be the only time on launch day) or the next day, they should get one if they please. They could've easily of done it that day, or before the store opened and took out of current stock for the people in line on launch day.

At any rate, the people that didn't show up for reserves gave up their reservation phone. You wanted it, should've been there the night before like a lot of people. Now you didn't get one, and start whining about it, blaming it on Apple.
 
geneticfusion said:
So they work all day, (my Apple Store's manager was there at 4am setting up and was there until about 10:15pm) open early, and deal with more than hundreds of customers, possibly close to a thousand, and they don't deserve their own iPhone 4 on launch day?

No matter if it's after the store closes (which would be the only time on launch day) or the next day, they should get one if they please. They could've easily of done it that day, or before the store opened and took out of current stock for the people in line on launch day.

At any rate, the people that didn't show up for reserves gave up their reservation phone. You wanted it, should've been there the night before like a lot of people. Now you didn't get one, and start whining about it, blaming it on Apple.
Click to expand...

I'm not whining, I'm venting and expressing my opinion.

My point is that I was told by that particular store that sales would end at 9pm and leftover reservations would be sold the next morning, not for a private sale for employees.

It's just my belief that items of limited supply should go to customers first regardless of how many hours a person works in one day.
 
chenjas1 said:
It's just my belief that items of limited supply should go to customers first regardless of how many hours a person works in one day.
Click to expand...

Yeah cause they should be punished for working there and having to deal with customers all day by being disallowed one. Not to mention that when they are buying the iPhone they are customers as well. You know, employees are not just workers, they are people too.
 
chenjas1 said:
It's just my belief that items of limited supply should go to customers first regardless of how many hours a person works in one day.
Click to expand...

If they're buying it for their own use, aren't they then technically customers? :)

Seriously, it's just a frakin' phone. 80% of the iphone4 goodness is in iOS4 which you can run on any 3GS pretty well too.

Sit back, watch the fun for a few weeks, let the knock-off accessories makers get ramped up too, and then one day calmly walk into a store and buy one with no muss or fuss.
 
I'm gonna have to agree with the OP here and say it is somewhat unfair that Apple employees get to purchase iPhones on launch day. IF after the store closed there were leftovers, then that'd be fine. However, my friend got his reservation at about 8:15am Thursday, and the employee who was helping us, basically bragged to me about how employees had put phones aside that morning that they could buy after the store closed.

Apple should just take "employee" pre-orders, and ship employee phones seperately from store inventory phones. It would seem more fair.
 
tigress666 said:
Yeah cause they should be punished for working there and having to deal with customers all day by being disallowed one. Not to mention that when they are buying the iPhone they are customers as well. You know, employees are not just workers, they are people too.
Click to expand...

Let me guess, you work for Apple.

This isn't a debate on if an Apple employee is worthy or hard working enough to deserve an iPhone.

You are missing my point. The employees in question took advantage of the fact that the store was closed to customers and cleaned out remaining inventory. If they're allowed to purchase, wait in line like everyone else.

Imagine the next pair of Air Jordans is shipped to a Footlocker. That store only gets 10 pairs. The 10 Footlocker employees who work that day decide they each want a pair so decide to buy them before they're released to customers... If my particular situation were one that included unlimited supply, I'd be a different story. I wouldn't give two *****. Unfortunately, for me, supplies are extremely limited and I don't feel that those with "access" different than the general public should be allowed to take advantage of it.
 
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