iPad iPad Air - so much for in-store pickup!

[Fireproof!]

So I got up this morning at 6am to place an order online, and designate for in-store pickup at my local Apple Store, just so I didn't worry about lines, etc.

Chose a couple accessories as well and all items showed "available in store today." Placed my order...boom.

Got an email about 7:45am saying my items were available for pickup. But oddly - only the accessories - not the iPad Air.

So I waited. At 10:30am, nothing changed still, so I decided to head to the store anyway.

For WHATEVER reason - the iPad Air still said "processing." So I just bought another one off their shelf (at the prompting of the store employee) and they told me I can just cancel the one I ordered online.

Well - here it is Noon, and I still can't cancel the one online because it still says "processing." I have to wait until it says "available for pickup." It's not a huge deal - but it's a bit quirky to not be able to fulfill from the store without having me buy another one and "return" the one ordered online.

At least I have it in my hands and it's syncing now...

 

[jlhx]

Weird. I ordered online this morning and it was available for pick-up 10 minutes after the store opened. Maybe it's cause no one is there? I don't know.. I'm gonna pick mine up at lunch

 

[Fireproof!]

Weird. I ordered online this morning and it was available for pick-up 10 minutes after the store opened. Maybe it's cause no one is there? I don't know.. I'm gonna pick mine up at lunch

They were packed with people (workers). Their explanation was "for some reason the apple online store system didn't appropriately talk to our store system..."

 

[Gregintosh]

I also did in store pickup, showed up and bought it instead as the pick up order wasn't ready. Not sure what they're doing and why they couldn't just process it in person. Got the email saying its ready when I got home and cancelled it using the link sent to me.

 

[nostresshere]

My online order slipped to Nov 4th between order at 8am and store arrival at 8:40

So, I bought a new 128 LTE and left. Went home and cancelled online order.

All is fine.

 

[tivoboy]

slow

I did a similar thing, ordered at about 06:30 local time. Went to store at 07:40, was #2 in the Pre-order line. Then, got inside next to first and it too 25 minutes to get the ipad paid for and leave and that entailed canceling the online order and just buying it outright. Everybody else who just showed up was done and gone in five minutes, good thing I pre-ordered.

 

[cwosigns]

So I got up this morning at 6am to place an order online, and designate for in-store pickup at my local Apple Store, just so I didn't worry about lines, etc.

Chose a couple accessories as well and all items showed "available in store today." Placed my order...boom.

Got an email about 7:45am saying my items were available for pickup. But oddly - only the accessories - not the iPad Air.

So I waited. At 10:30am, nothing changed still, so I decided to head to the store anyway.

For WHATEVER reason - the iPad Air still said "processing." So I just bought another one off their shelf (at the prompting of the store employee) and they told me I can just cancel the one I ordered online.

Well - here it is Noon, and I still can't cancel the one online because it still says "processing." I have to wait until it says "available for pickup." It's not a huge deal - but it's a bit quirky to not be able to fulfill from the store without having me buy another one and "return" the one ordered online.

At least I have it in my hands and it's syncing now...

Same (but opposite) issue--my Air was ready, smart cover was not. They gave it to me anyway, and took down my info so they could mark it as picked up when the system finally releases it for pickup.

 

[miclee15]

iPad Air - so much for in-store pickup!

Same happened to me and I just bought one off the shelf. I just got the notice to pick up the ipad, but it's still not allowing me to cancel the pick up on line. I called Apple and the rep told me she was showing it as cancelled. This might take a few calls to resolve.

 

[caesarp]

So I got up this morning at 6am to place an order online, and designate for in-store pickup at my local Apple Store, just so I didn't worry about lines, etc.

Chose a couple accessories as well and all items showed "available in store today." Placed my order...boom.

Got an email about 7:45am saying my items were available for pickup. But oddly - only the accessories - not the iPad Air.

So I waited. At 10:30am, nothing changed still, so I decided to head to the store anyway.

For WHATEVER reason - the iPad Air still said "processing." So I just bought another one off their shelf (at the prompting of the store employee) and they told me I can just cancel the one I ordered online.

Well - here it is Noon, and I still can't cancel the one online because it still says "processing." I have to wait until it says "available for pickup." It's not a huge deal - but it's a bit quirky to not be able to fulfill from the store without having me buy another one and "return" the one ordered online.

At least I have it in my hands and it's syncing now...

Similar thing happened to me in reverse. iPad air was available per pickup email, but smart cover showed as processing. The store manually cancelled my smart cover (somebody in the back of the store had to do it) -- I could not do it online. And they grabbed a smart cover off the shelf and charged me for it there. You might want to call the store and have them cancel your online order (as I'm not sure it will ever show as available based on what I was told). You might then get charged twice.

 

[ZBoater]

They ran out of 128gb models by 6am. I picked up a couple of 64gb models and ordered the 128gb online. Might cancel that.

 

[PaulNY]

Similar thing happened to me in reverse. iPad air was available per pickup email, but smart cover showed as processing. The store manually cancelled my smart cover (somebody in the back of the store had to do it) -- I could not do it online. And they grabbed a smart cover off the shelf and charged me for it there. You might want to call the store and have them cancel your online order (as I'm not sure it will ever show as available based on what I was told). You might then get charged twice.

I had the same issue, iPad was ready for 8am opening but not the smart case. The store couldnt cancel it, but told me I could come back later when it would be ready, or to buy a new one and call to cancel.

I opted to buy the new one on the spot. I called around 10am to cancel and the rep I spoke to couldn't do it, had to get management involved and then had to do a different type of return.

As of now (10pm EST) the smartcase on the original order still shows "processing" and no sign of return. Will have to call back tomorrow.

 

[b166er]

I got lucky. Went to AT&T store around 4pm and they had what I wanted still. 64gb in black. Sorry... Space gray. They were sold out of most models. Probably my quickest/best experience at an AT&T store to date.

 

[shortcut3d]

Just posted a similar experience. My 12:01 AM order processed one of two iPad Air(s) and all the accessories. I got to the store and was offered to cancel the order, but could not until it was ready for pick up. Some other posters thought it was BS. I elected not to purchase another iPad Air because my order transaction total was $2400. I didn't want to add another +$1000 transaction. Not to mention I have a BTO rMBP still in shipping from earlier in the week. For me a few thousand dollars tied up in Apple without hardware is concerning. Definitely a first world problem, but concerning never the less.

FWIW, I just received the pick-up email for the iPad Air (~19hrs processing).

 

[ZBoater]

I had $5000 worth of iPads on my CC today. So I bought two 128GB (his and hers) early in the morning, and I must have been sleepy because I didn't choose pickup. Ratz. I cancelled the order, but they pre-authorized the $2000. It is not really a charge, just a pre-authorization. So I woke up, went over to my MBA, and tried to order again. Not available for pickup. Ratz. So I ordered two 64GB. With Applecare. Another $2000. As I was waiting for 45 minutes to pick them up at the store, it concerned me that I was settling for 64GB when I really wanted 128GB. I ordered a 128GB online. Delivery next week. Another $1000. My Credit Card company put a freeze on my card until I called them. Suspicious activity they said. Suspicious indeed!

 

[Sophia]

Just posted a similar experience. My 12:01 AM order processed one of two iPad Air(s) and all the accessories. . .

FWIW, I just received the pick-up email for the iPad Air (~19hrs processing).

This is similar to my situation with in-store pickup. Ordered a case, iPad Air and AppleCare+ but only the case became available on launch day. I'm still waiting for the iPad to finish its 'Processing' on the website (vs. the pick-up store itself who told me it was showing up as ready for pick-up). I'm just hoping I'll wake up in the morning and the processing will have ended! On the bright side, Apple support gave me two free Smart Cases, so I am not entirely vexed.

 

[gtmac]

I had similar ordered at 6:00 AM for pick up today never got an email checked online it moved to in store Monday. I called and told them to just ship to my house. Customer service was very nice.

 

[iLukeJoseph]

Just remember, they don't do this to often (in store pickup at launch).

I have a feeling Apple was kind of using this as a "tester". I would not be surprised if this doesn't become more common place, as in the iPhone 6 may allow this.

If you think of it from a business stand-point. Yes the "hype" from people standing in line for a week is nice for PR. But the amount of resources Apple has to put into each launch for employees, security, etc.... is insane. If they could even reduce that by 10% I think the savings would be HUGE.

For me living in a small market of Anchorage, AK. It was fantastic to order my iPad Air at 11:01 pm, knowing that I could then go pick it up at my leisure, the next day.

 

[shortcut3d]

This is similar to my situation with in-store pickup. Ordered a case, iPad Air and AppleCare+ but only the case became available on launch day. I'm still waiting for the iPad to finish its 'Processing' on the website (vs. the pick-up store itself who told me it was showing up as ready for pick-up). I'm just hoping I'll wake up in the morning and the processing will have ended! On the bright side, Apple support gave me two free Smart Cases, so I am not entirely vexed.

Also received a free SmartCase while fruitlessly waiting. I'm sure the pick up will be fine now that the processing part is finished.

 

[tramontana]

This happened to me too. I ordered an iPad Air with AppleCare at midnight. At 3:30 am I got an email saying "Your items are ready" and a text later around 10 am. When I went to the Apple store after work, I was told that my order was not showing up as available. They looked into it and brought out my iPad with my name and order number stuck to it, but they couldn't release it because the iPad was showing as "processing." It was only the AppleCare that was ready (which is stupid, since it's not like that's a stand-alone thing!). An employee spent about half an hour on the phone with someone trying to get my order "pushed through" but he finally said there was nothing they could do. I suggested trying to cancel my online order and just buy one that was in stock, but we discovered it couldn't be canceled because it was processing. The employee and I were both upset, and he gave me a free SmartCase and sent me on my way. It was pretty obnoxious that my iPad was sitting right next to me, and I didn't get to take it home! We were at the store for an hour total.

I tried calling the customer service line last night, and the woman on the phone just suggested I call the store (even though I was calling the phone number to see if they had any more information) and that "most orders are processed in about an hour." She also offered me a free case but I declined since I'd already got one.

This morning, I still don't have a notification that the iPad is ready, over 24 hrs after ordering. However, I did get a call from my bank about suspicious charges to my card -- because I now have an original pending charge for the entire order (which should drop off), a pending charge for AppleCare alone, and now a THIRD pending charge just for the iPad. I only had the first two charges showing last night, so I hope this means that things are happening with my iPad order!

In comparison: My boyfriend had also ordered a new Macbook Pro for pick-up. He had his laptop within 5-10 minutes (and then stood around with me for an hour while they failed to resolve my iPad issue).

 

[joeshmo2010]

I had $5000 worth of iPads on my CC today. So I bought two 128GB (his and hers) early in the morning, and I must have been sleepy because I didn't choose pickup. Ratz. I cancelled the order, but they pre-authorized the $2000. It is not really a charge, just a pre-authorization. So I woke up, went over to my MBA, and tried to order again. Not available for pickup. Ratz. So I ordered two 64GB. With Applecare. Another $2000. As I was waiting for 45 minutes to pick them up at the store, it concerned me that I was settling for 64GB when I really wanted 128GB. I ordered a 128GB online. Delivery next week. Another $1000. My Credit Card company put a freeze on my card until I called them. Suspicious activity they said. Suspicious indeed!

You should check your apple stores for the 128 again! 5/6 of my stores got complete restock last night. Or, maybe they already had them but they set them aside to have plenty of stock for the weekend.

 

[Lucille Carter]

After reading all of this, I am glad I just ordered mine and they will calmly deliver it to my office on Monday.

 

[luckylisp]

Same situation for me. I pre-ordered mine, but when I got there Apple said they didn't get the white Air in that morning, (32GB) but were expecting the shipment later that day.

In my local mall Apple and Best Buy are almost directly across from each other so I ended up walking over and picking one up at Best Buy. Bit humorous in a way.

 

[AppleWes]

No problem with in store pickup here in SoCal (South Coast Plaza Apple Store). Within about 20 min after my online order I received the "pickup ready" notification for iPad Air and Smart Case.

Ordered 3pm and picked it up after work. However the "in store pickup" line was a lot longer than the "new purchase" line. Managers apologized and I heard them asking employees why they weren't helping the pickup line first, so I think it was just a fluke issue. I assume after work rush.

 

[tramontana]

Still waiting for my pick-up email, so I called customer service again to see if they had any new information. They keep telling me that they're very sorry but processing is taking longer because there are so many orders being placed. No timeline for when I might be able to expect my order to finish processing in the system. Maybe I'm missing something, but this seems like a lame excuse, given that plenty of other people who ordered online for in-store pick-up were able to get their iPads...

 

[Rafterman]

At least you people were lucky enough to have problems with your in-store pickup. I couldn't even order the model I wanted for pickup because a computer system stock glitch prevented it from being reserved. I'm still getting it shipped for Monday, no big deal, but of course the model I wanted (and just that model, none of the others) had to get forked up.