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iPhone 3Gs Pre Order confusion- ATT

C

computermilk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2008
274
16
Hey Everyone,

Ok few confusions here on my part, hopefully we can clear them up with this thread.

First off, Why have a line at 7Am for people who pre ordered? Are pre order's being gaurenteed the iPhone? why a line then?

It would seem to ME that people who stayed OUTSIDE the store all night long to WAIT in line should be able to go first BEFORE pre orders, if pre orders are being gaurenteed an iPhone why not let the people who waited outside go in first?

Either way, this LEADS to my second confusion.

How could ATT be sold out already? or the better question is, is it at every location? and how do we know this? I personally believe that it's impossible to be at every single location.... believe it or not there's some pretty PO DUNK locations out there... how could it be sold out already at every single location for a pre order?

I'm just a little frustrated because I can't pre order mine until tomorrow.

So here's the question, I want to get mine on the 19th, and i plan on waiting in line on thursday night going into friday as i usually do, last year i was like the second person at my ATT store... anyways here's the question.. Should i pre order tomorrow?

What happpens if i PRE ORDER tomorrow, go stand in line then get access to the 7am pre order line, walk into the store then the ATT rep says "Oh hey yes you did pre order but it's not here, yours is still being shipped to us"

What happens then?

So that brings up several questions, Why wait in line if you pre ordered? and if you did pre order, how do you SERIOUSLY 100% know it's even going to be there on the 19th (PER Store location).

Like i said, i think it's going to be different at each location....

I wonder... should i just go into the ATT store and ask them? i wonder if they would know how many pre orders they've gotten.
 
why have a line.. because it will stop congestion of people waiting for the iphone by letting pre orders get their iphone first.. since they already have paid for it ..

yes DO NOT pre order your iphone.. it will NOT be their on the 19th .. just wait in line
 
So.

So... basically just don't Pre Order it, wait in line and HOPE that they have stock after the pre order's are gone?

Here's the thing, if they say pre orderes are SOLD out, wouldn't that suggest that there is ZERO Stock after the pre orders?

that's what i'm getting at here, and making a point at. If you say PRE Orders are SOLD OUT, that means there IS no stock after that. So you mine as well only have a pre order line and that's it.

They mine as well put out a message to everyone who didn't pre order and tell them to not even come out.
 
They're opening up early to get the pre-order people who want to show up at open out of the way. They should be quick -- just show ID and walk out. That will free up staff for walk-in sales.

The reason for the second line is AT&T wasn't going to have enough phones to fill pre-orders and I think some people are just conditioned to wait in line for a launch.

Direct fulfillment comes from centralized warehouse/s. When they allocate all their inventory, everyone runs out.

When you phone comes in, you will be notified. If you show up before that, don't expect a phone to be there with your name on it.

Why wait in line if you pre-order? Why do little kids wake up early on Christmas? :)

I think the best bet now to get one on the 19th is to pre-order from Apple online. There probably will be plenty of phones at various retail outlets, but no way of ensuring you'll get one at your store unless you camp out.
 
computermilk said:
Here's the thing, if they say pre orderes are SOLD out, wouldn't that suggest that there is ZERO Stock after the pre orders?
Click to expand...

No, each store will get an allotted inventory. Direct fulfillment doesn't come out of the store's inventory.
 
dagomike said:
No, each store will get an allotted inventory. Direct fulfillment doesn't come out of the store's inventory.
Click to expand...

Oh i see... interesting. So there's 2 different inventories. Pre order and Non...


If you Pre order on Apple.com and have it shipped out to your house, do you think they still have stock for that? and it will arrive on friday?
 
computermilk said:
Oh i see... interesting. So there's 2 different inventories. Pre order and Non...


If you Pre order on Apple.com and have it shipped out to your house, do you think they still have stock for that? and it will arrive on friday?
Click to expand...

Nope, Apple's Pre-orders won't arrive on the 19th anymore. If you ordered between the the 8th and the 12th, you'll get it on the 19th.

They also have an allocation of pre-ordered and non-pre-ordered.

You will need to stand in line and not pre-order if you want it on the 19th.

EDIT: Just kidding, poster above me said that they are delivering on the 19th still...hmm, I thought that Apple and AT&T were sold out on pre-ordered units?
 
fireshot91 said:
Nope, Apple's Pre-orders won't arrive on the 19th anymore. If you ordered between the the 8th and the 12th, you'll get it on the 19th.

They also have an allocation of pre-ordered and non-pre-ordered.

You will need to stand in line and not pre-order if you want it on the 19th.

EDIT: Just kidding, poster above me said that they are delivering on the 19th still...hmm, I thought that Apple and AT&T were sold out on pre-ordered units?
Click to expand...

Well the posts that are going around on the internet are saying ATT, not apple.
 
They probably said they are sold out to stop pre orders so they know how many to ship to each store, that gives them till Friday for shipping.
 
dagomike said:
Yeah, just ATT so far.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=MTE2OTU

"Pre-order now and get it June 19. Free shipping."

I guess Best Buy is doing them too, but you need to also buy a $50 gift card I hear. Lame.
Click to expand...

it won't even let me get passed the existing customer part on apple's website, when i get to the last field, Email Address it doesn't go through and it's Red. I only have one email address... I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that you can't login to your ATT account on the ATT website right now.
 
wow guys check this out...


"iPhone eligibility check is currently unavailable due to scheduled AT&T system maintenance and we are unable to allow iPhone purchases through the Apple Online Store, Apple Retail, or Apple Phone Sales. We apologize for the inconvenience this causes.|To check iPhone eligibility, please try again in 4 hours, 35 minutes.
"
 
The apple.com site still says shipping to arrive on the 19th, but the order thing never works for me (past 2 days). Anyone else seeing this?

1620e34.png
 
ebika said:
The apple.com site still says shipping to arrive on the 19th, but the order thing never works for me (past 2 days). Anyone else seeing this?

1620e34.png
Click to expand...

Yeah dude, it's down right now. not working... the ATT site is down.
 
computermilk said:
Hey Everyone,

Ok few confusions here on my part, hopefully we can clear them up with this thread.

First off, Why have a line at 7Am for people who pre ordered? Are pre order's being gaurenteed the iPhone? why a line then?

It would seem to ME that people who stayed OUTSIDE the store all night long to WAIT in line should be able to go first BEFORE pre orders, if pre orders are being gaurenteed an iPhone why not let the people who waited outside go in first?

Either way, this LEADS to my second confusion.

How could ATT be sold out already? or the better question is, is it at every location? and how do we know this? I personally believe that it's impossible to be at every single location.... believe it or not there's some pretty PO DUNK locations out there... how could it be sold out already at every single location for a pre order?

I'm just a little frustrated because I can't pre order mine until tomorrow.

So here's the question, I want to get mine on the 19th, and i plan on waiting in line on thursday night going into friday as i usually do, last year i was like the second person at my ATT store... anyways here's the question.. Should i pre order tomorrow?

What happpens if i PRE ORDER tomorrow, go stand in line then get access to the 7am pre order line, walk into the store then the ATT rep says "Oh hey yes you did pre order but it's not here, yours is still being shipped to us"

What happens then?

So that brings up several questions, Why wait in line if you pre ordered? and if you did pre order, how do you SERIOUSLY 100% know it's even going to be there on the 19th (PER Store location).

Like i said, i think it's going to be different at each location....

I wonder... should i just go into the ATT store and ask them? i wonder if they would know how many pre orders they've gotten.
Click to expand...


1) The 7pm line is to try and dispense w/ the pre-orders which should go relatively fast b/c all the a/c info has already been taken. That frees up staff for new sales later on. Simple logic -- get the easy tasks out of the way first.

2) The ATT pre-orders are a single allotment. ATT doesn't care where they are eventually shipped too. There is no "per store" pre-order allotment. It's just one big batch. When it sold out, it sold out.

3) The main reason to wait in line if you pre-order is you won't be available to sign for the phone if it were delivered home or to your office. You can go and p/u at 7am before work and be done.

4) If you pre-order from ATT tomorrow you'll get a notice tell you they'll let you know when you can p/u your iPhone. It won't be on Friday. OTOH Apple is still accepting pre-orders for delivery/pick-up on Friday.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
1) The 7pm line is to try and dispense w/ the pre-orders which should go relatively fast b/c all the a/c info has already been taken. That frees up staff for new sales later on. Simple logic -- get the easy tasks out of the way first.

2) The ATT pre-orders are a single allotment. ATT doesn't care where they are eventually shipped too. There is no "per store" pre-order allotment. It's just one big batch. When it sold out, it sold out.

3) The main reason to wait in line if you pre-order is you won't be available to sign for the phone if it were delivered home or to your office. You can go and p/u at 7am before work and be done.

4) If you pre-order from ATT tomorrow you'll get a notice tell you they'll let you know when you can p/u your iPhone. It won't be on Friday. OTOH Apple is still accepting pre-orders for delivery/pick-up on Friday.
Click to expand...

thanks for the Information Chupa,

I think i'm going to just pre order and have mine shipped from Apple.com so i can get it on friday....
 
Chupa Chupa said:
But you can put the $50 GC toward the iPhone purchase. Still lame, but its not like they force you to buy a $50 GC which you have to use on a different purchase.
Click to expand...

That's not bad, but makes no sense. You buy the gift card, preorder using the gift card? If they're making you buy a card, i would assume it is with the idea of buying accessories or something else.
 
OK, I have a few questions about this pre-order business. I pre-ordered my 3GS last week. Does that mean that I can go in on Friday the 19th AT ANY TIME to pick up my pre-order? Or will they sell it to the people who wait in line and just give me a refund for my pre-order? I really don't feel like waiting in line at 6:30am just to get a phone. I'd like to sleep in and get it at about 10am or 11am.
 
If you pre-ordered at an ATT store, when the phone gets there, it's yours to pickup whenever. It has your name on it and you already paid for it.
 
A different question about the AT&T process. The activation and contract renew is done at one's house through iTunes, right? If so, then why would I need to have an 'authorized user' or the account holder there when I go pick it up? I thought you just go in there, flash you I.D. and recipt, and pick it up. Any insights?
 
Rayban said:
OK, I have a few questions about this pre-order business. I pre-ordered my 3GS last week. Does that mean that I can go in on Friday the 19th AT ANY TIME to pick up my pre-order? Or will they sell it to the people who wait in line and just give me a refund for my pre-order? I really don't feel like waiting in line at 6:30am just to get a phone. I'd like to sleep in and get it at about 10am or 11am.
Click to expand...

If you pre ordered it early enough, you'll get one, Sleep in
 
capitanbuzo said:
A different question about the AT&T process. The activation and contract renew is done at one's house through iTunes, right? If so, then why would I need to have an 'authorized user' or the account holder there when I go pick it up? I thought you just go in there, flash you I.D. and recipt, and pick it up. Any insights?
Click to expand...

You can activate it through itunes, and last year they did it for me in the store right when i bought it, I walked out of the store and it was on with my #
 
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