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iPhone 11 Pro In Store Pick Up Was a Disaster

HelloMikee

HelloMikee

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 16, 2009
987
478
San Diego
Ok maybe not a disaster but definitely was not a great experience. Waited in the sun for almost an hour while the non-reservation line was pretty much non-existent.

Had a 12:30-1 pick up time spot but people with 1-1:30 were in front. Just didn't seem to make sense and seemed like everyone was confused lol.

With that said, the matte black is BEAUTIFUL.
 
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Guess YMMV At the Fair Oaks V store at 1:20pm it was quite the opposite. I was in line for my pickup shortly later. And right at 1:30 I was taken in to complete my purchases. I was out by 1:45, and that was with some questions and looking at color options and testing 11 and 11 Pro quickly.
 
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Sometimes walking wait and sometimes they don't
Sometimes they get what they want early and those that come later don't.

But you had a reservation and if you came during your time slot it is usually a breeze and you get what you want
 
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I had a mixed experience. I had to wait about 30 minutes or so in the sun at Covent Garden, London, and no water or snacks were provided like previously, but I can't complain about waiting on a launch day - all the staff are clearly working as hard as they can.

I was there to collect my Pro Max and a Series 5. I asked while waiting if they could check on walk-in stock on an 11 for a relative. They confirmed they had plenty of stock, but that I would have to leave the store and come back later for the new slot. Despite me already waiting and having two pickups... a third would make literally seconds difference (scanning one extra item).

They have to keep the line moving, I get that, but really? A 'computer says no' situation, I guess.

I asked again inside but got the same response.

Fortunately while setting up my phone and watch in the store I spoke to another staff member and explained that I would be sat there for an hour or two at least syncing the devices and that it really doesn't seem to make sense to make me come back later. Fortunately he agreed and sorted me out the extra 11 there and then.
 
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seinman said:
TL,DR: I asked if I could cut in line. They said no. So I asked someone else if I could cut in line. They also said no! I asked a third person if I could cut in line, and rather than deal with me being an obnoxious, self-entitled *******, they finally went ahead and let me cut in line.
Click to expand...
That's one way of looking at it... the other way of looking at it is that I am already waiting in line for my turn and am asking them to scan three items instead of two, a matter of seconds difference.

Funnily they don't ask you to leave and come back when they try to flog you AppleCare or a case with your reservation. A phone, though!? Too complicated! You must come back later! 🤯
 
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HelloMikee said:
Ok maybe not a disaster but definitely was not a great experience. Waited in the sun for almost an hour while the non-reservation line was pretty much non-existent.

Had a 12:30-1 pick up time spot but people with 1-1:30 were in front. Just didn't seem to make sense and seemed like everyone was confused lol.

With that said, the matte black is BEAUTIFUL.
Click to expand...
Odd. I had a great experience today. The way they set up was on the left side of the side walk was the walk-in reservation line so there were quite a few people for the walk in. Middle was check in. On the left side of the side walk the front was those who have the appointment time. and there is a gap and then the next batch of appointment time. So I this instance the 8-8:30 am would be in the front, then there is a gap then 8:30 - 9am. So even if some showed up at 8:15 am, they will still be placed on the 8 am group.

Essentially they did it in groups, and only 6 were ushered in at a time.

Had a great experience. I was in the 3:30 pm group, was actually let in at 3:20 pm and was in and out in 10 minutes.
 
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I guess it all comes down to store.
I had a 10-10:30 window. They held true to first come first serve and placed people in the correct order. Walked in at 10:05, had my iPhone at 10:10.

This was Apple Store Menlo Park Mall Edison, NJ
 
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My main complaint is that they didn’t let me pick up my watch at the same time as my phone because it was for a future window. Understandable, but because I didn’t need personal setup I thought this would be a good chance for Apple to show some above and beyond customer service.
 
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Sorry to hear that. I actually came an hour and a half earlier for my preorder, I had to stand in line and one person got in front of me since she had an earlier time slot but it was pretty seamless. I did have to wait about a half hour with 3 or 4 people in front of me but it wasn’t too bad. I went to the smaller of the two stores in my area so I’m assuming less employees to assist. They had a tech lady starting to assist with orders to help with traffic. You could walk in for a new watch, no lines and the non reservation didn’t form until after I was already in side with at the end of my purchase.
 
DougFNJ said:
I guess it all comes down to store.
I had a 10-10:30 window. They held true to first come first serve and placed people in the correct order. Walked in at 10:05, had my iPhone at 10:10.

This was Apple Store Menlo Park Mall Edison, NJ
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Yes they were putting people in line per their time slots at our store too
 
I picked up my Phone from the Mississauga Square one location and I have to say it was well organized the line kept shifting as people showed up for their reservation times so any one with an earlier appointment window would move a head of me but anyone with a later appointment moved back they grouped us in the assigned pickup time.

any one who walked in had to check in with an apple employee for what phone they wanted and were assigned a pickup time no walk ins appeared to get to the front of the line. the store kept pickup slots available for walkins to help manage the lines
 
Smooth experience at the Austin Domain location. I got there at 5pm as a walk in, asked if they had what I wanted, checked in and then there was one line for walk in’s and preorders. They lined everyone up by appointment time.
Was in and out within an hour.
 
My experience wasn’t perfect either. I think home delivery is the way to go. Much more civilized
 
My experience was fine, I turned up at 9am without a reservation and they had a line for reservations and a line for walk ins and they were prioritising the reservation line but I still got seen in about half an hour and they had coffee and donuts.
 
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Don't purchase on day one next time. I personally would never wait in line for an iPhone.
 
Well, that’s good to hear most people had a great experience. I guess I was more annoyed yesterday looking back but it really was a bit of a cluster F outside the store.

and a big part of being disappointed is because I except so much more from Apple especially over a simple thing such as creating and managing lines lol.
 
seinman said:
TL,DR: I asked if I could cut in line. They said no. So I asked someone else if I could cut in line. They also said no! I asked a third person if I could cut in line, and rather than deal with me being an obnoxious, self-entitled *******, they finally went ahead and let me cut in line.
Click to expand...

I am glad I am not a customer of wherever you work. He was spending about $2,500 on two items and he wanted them to scan the third (not reserved in advance) item which cost another $1,000. He did not want them to do anything to the third item, he just wanted to pay for it. It would take seconds. Not the best way to treat a customer forking over substantial money. Most businesses would have smiled at him and said, "Certainly sir. No problem and we hope both you and your friend enjoy your new devices".
 
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HelloMikee said:
Ok maybe not a disaster but definitely was not a great experience. Waited in the sun for almost an hour while the non-reservation line was pretty much non-existent.

Had a 12:30-1 pick up time spot but people with 1-1:30 were in front. Just didn't seem to make sense and seemed like everyone was confused lol.

With that said, the matte black is BEAUTIFUL.
Click to expand...
The Apple store I went to was sending people with layer reservations to the back of the line. It all depends on the stores.
 
HelloMikee said:
Ok maybe not a disaster but definitely was not a great experience. Waited in the sun for almost an hour while the non-reservation line was pretty much non-existent.

Had a 12:30-1 pick up time spot but people with 1-1:30 were in front. Just didn't seem to make sense and seemed like everyone was confused lol.

With that said, the matte black is BEAUTIFUL.
Click to expand...
I had a reservation for mine. I was within the 5:30 PM to 6:00 PM. The lines for the 5-6 time slot were ridiculously long. And they had a separate line for the 6-7 PM ppl. Somehow the lines merged. And they started taking the 6-7 ppl b4 the 5-6.

On top of that they no longer had my phone! I ordered a SG iphone 11 Pro Max, 512 GB. Got the email confirmation for pickup. And then an apology that they must have given the phone to someone else. The guy who was working there who was helping me was really nice. I don’t know what he did. But he went to the back. And was there for a while. And came back up front eventually with a SG Iphone 11 Pro Max, 512 GB. And activated it on my line.

I was happy to leave with my phone. After spending hours there, waiting etc. But somehow i got the feeling that some other poor bastard last night went without a phone.👀
 
This year it was bad as well. Last 3 years it was smooth and quick process. My slots were usually int the evening after 6 pm In and out basically. Not this time. My location was Lehigh Valley store. Had to wait for 45 minutes. They said that they run out of some reserved phones, because they were still at JFK airport and that there were outages with different carriers and activations were being delayed. That pushed everything back. However they said that those issues were resolved now and they have plenty of phones and activations are working. So at least line was moving. Despite wait I have to give kudos to the person that was helping me. I have asked him if I could also purchase series 5 watch or do I have to complete iphone pick up and then get in another line. He said he will see what he can do. In the end, I was able to trade in my old watch and buy new watch at the same time when I was picking up the phone. So despite wait, I was happy with the service.
 
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I had a October delivery pre-order. I checked early this morning and there was stock available nearby so I cancelled my pre-order and placed a new order for pickup. When I got there there was one other person in line. The Apple employee moved me in front of him since I had an earlier time slot than he did. 10 minutes later I was all set.
 
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