I waited in line for 1 hour and got the phone. When i went to cancel my phone it had suddenly changed to 'shipping'. My bank account is bleeding.
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iPhone 5 Available to ship:2 weeks / Delivers Oct 5
- Thread starter calvin797
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"Preparing to Ship" is Apple's way of saying "Haha you can't cancel and buy it at your local store which probably has them in stock! Wait a week or two; it's just a phone!"
I think I'm going to go back to the store tomorrow and do what I should have done this morning. I was told I could just buy the one they had at full price and then return it when the one I ordered came in. So if lots of us do this the result will be a lot of already used phones coming back to the stores..which will cost Apple. Maybe then they'll learn not to screw the customer.
Yeah seriously.. This is starting to become very annoying.. Preparing for shipment for how long.. Just waiting on a lucky conveyor belt it seems.. This has turned to the lottery..they can't make the first come the first served.. Just paying small wages from a far to ^ $... They have no control or no idea when our phones ship
My original delivery date was Oct 5 but changed to Oct 9 this morning. I'm probably going to be one of the last people to get their iPhone who pre-ordered on the 14th.
What number did you call to complain?
That's a great idea. Did not know that was an option. R u sure we will get a full refund n not just store credit and a restocking fee?
For anyone in the same boat, after no movement all day today, it just got a departure scan:
ZhengZhou, China 09/22/2012 12:10 P.M. Departure Scan
ZhengZhou, China 09/21/2012 10:25 P.M. Arrival Scan
09/21/2012 10:11 P.M. Departure Scan
09/21/2012 3:10 P.M. Origin Scan
China 09/21/2012 10:17 A.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS
ZhengZhou, China 09/22/2012 12:10 P.M. Departure Scan
ZhengZhou, China 09/21/2012 10:25 P.M. Arrival Scan
09/21/2012 10:11 P.M. Departure Scan
09/21/2012 3:10 P.M. Origin Scan
China 09/21/2012 10:17 A.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS
Yes..you get a full refund under their 'buyers remorse' policy which allows you to return any product with which you are not satisfied within 2 weeks.
Both iPhones moved to preparing to shipment earlier today and I just got a "Your iPhone Customer Service Summary" email from at&t an hour ago.
Complaining on these forums may help you to vent and take out aggravation, but it won't be noticed by Apple. If you feel strongly about this horrible experience (as I do), send them an email to let them know. Mine is below.
---------------
Mr. Cook,
On September 14th, I set my alarm to wake up at 12:00 AM to purchase two new iPhone 5s for my wife and myself. For the first 30 minutes, Apple.com kept kicking me out of the order process. When I finally succeeded in getting two phones in my cart, I was not allowed to check out because of a "one carrier activated phone per order" message. I could find no usable instructions on the Apple site about how to successfully order two phones on a family plan line. This is the 6th iteration of the iPhone and Apple still can't provide an easy way to order two phones on what must be a very popular plan.
A little after 1:00 AM, I decided to just place two separate orders. By then, the shipping estimates had moved from 9/21 (launch day) to 10/5 (two weeks later). Thinking that this must be an error, I left the orders open, hoping for a shipping notification. By the end of the week, that shipping notification never came and I decided to wait in a long line at the local Apple store. Sometime during this process, my orders finally changed to "Preparing for Shipment" and I was no longer eligible to cancel them. As such, I was also no longer eligible to purchase the phones in the store.
What is the point of a "preorder" if it doesn't allow me to get the phone on the first day of availability and locks me out of buying in the store? It's like waiting in a long line at the ticket widow of a movie theatre only to learn that other patrons are being allowed to go straight into the theater and choose their seats first. The fact that I was online, credit card in hand, in the middle of the night to preorder and was still locked out of launch day delivery tells me that Apple had only a few models set aside for preorder. A week later, these units are readily available in the stores (Apple, Radio Shack, Target, and AT&T were all ready to sell me a phone today), but I can't buy one because I have an online order waiting to ship that can no longer be cancelled.
It's not right for Apple to take money from their preorder customers and then turn around and sell these phones to walk-in customers in their stores. No phones should be sold at the stores until the preorder customers have received the products they've already paid for. From an advertising standpoint, Apple gets to say they sold out of preorders in under an hour and brag about the long lines and demand at their retail stores. In reality, they're sticking it to their most faithful customers--those who ordered as early as Apple's own web site would let them and now have no choice but to continue waiting for their order to arrive. My order has now been "preparing for shipment" for over 24 hours--perfectly timed to coincide with the retail store launch to prohibit me from buying in the store like everyone else.
Yes, I realize it's just a phone and it will eventually get to me. But with a company like Apple, this argument is disingenuous. Apple is just as much about selling the experience as it is the actual product. They use words like "magical" and "revolutionary" in their marketing. In the Keynote address, they promised "the fastest turnaround of iPhone availability ever." They can't have it both ways.
There no way my phones will arrive anytime soon, so I have no choice but to continue waiting. In lieu of getting the products I ordered in a timely fashion, I would appreciate a concession of $100 on each of my two orders (WXXXXXXX and WXXXXXXX). I am also requesting that I be sent two Lightning to 30-pin Adapters free of charge as these were advertised as being included when I placed my order (see the screenshot below), but I have now learned are not.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXX
---------------
Mr. Cook,
On September 14th, I set my alarm to wake up at 12:00 AM to purchase two new iPhone 5s for my wife and myself. For the first 30 minutes, Apple.com kept kicking me out of the order process. When I finally succeeded in getting two phones in my cart, I was not allowed to check out because of a "one carrier activated phone per order" message. I could find no usable instructions on the Apple site about how to successfully order two phones on a family plan line. This is the 6th iteration of the iPhone and Apple still can't provide an easy way to order two phones on what must be a very popular plan.
A little after 1:00 AM, I decided to just place two separate orders. By then, the shipping estimates had moved from 9/21 (launch day) to 10/5 (two weeks later). Thinking that this must be an error, I left the orders open, hoping for a shipping notification. By the end of the week, that shipping notification never came and I decided to wait in a long line at the local Apple store. Sometime during this process, my orders finally changed to "Preparing for Shipment" and I was no longer eligible to cancel them. As such, I was also no longer eligible to purchase the phones in the store.
What is the point of a "preorder" if it doesn't allow me to get the phone on the first day of availability and locks me out of buying in the store? It's like waiting in a long line at the ticket widow of a movie theatre only to learn that other patrons are being allowed to go straight into the theater and choose their seats first. The fact that I was online, credit card in hand, in the middle of the night to preorder and was still locked out of launch day delivery tells me that Apple had only a few models set aside for preorder. A week later, these units are readily available in the stores (Apple, Radio Shack, Target, and AT&T were all ready to sell me a phone today), but I can't buy one because I have an online order waiting to ship that can no longer be cancelled.
It's not right for Apple to take money from their preorder customers and then turn around and sell these phones to walk-in customers in their stores. No phones should be sold at the stores until the preorder customers have received the products they've already paid for. From an advertising standpoint, Apple gets to say they sold out of preorders in under an hour and brag about the long lines and demand at their retail stores. In reality, they're sticking it to their most faithful customers--those who ordered as early as Apple's own web site would let them and now have no choice but to continue waiting for their order to arrive. My order has now been "preparing for shipment" for over 24 hours--perfectly timed to coincide with the retail store launch to prohibit me from buying in the store like everyone else.
Yes, I realize it's just a phone and it will eventually get to me. But with a company like Apple, this argument is disingenuous. Apple is just as much about selling the experience as it is the actual product. They use words like "magical" and "revolutionary" in their marketing. In the Keynote address, they promised "the fastest turnaround of iPhone availability ever." They can't have it both ways.
There no way my phones will arrive anytime soon, so I have no choice but to continue waiting. In lieu of getting the products I ordered in a timely fashion, I would appreciate a concession of $100 on each of my two orders (WXXXXXXX and WXXXXXXX). I am also requesting that I be sent two Lightning to 30-pin Adapters free of charge as these were advertised as being included when I placed my order (see the screenshot below), but I have now learned are not.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXX
Attachments
Great letter. I would like to do the same. What is the email address that I can send a letter to?
The key to Apple pre-ordering is to get there at the exact minute of pre-ordering availability. They had no idea they'd sell out 2 million phones in one hour, no one did. Plus, with Apple being the most valuable and close to the most dominant company in America, product demand will get stronger.
So for the iPhone 6, I'm guessing we all pre-order *while* standing in line.
Your fault for assuming this. Plenty of people who discovered they'd no longer be able to get it on launch day through Apple found other means such as ordering through at&t or waiting in line.
Lol. Good plan. But for now I will go into an apple store. Pay full price for the phone. Use it and return it when my precious preordered phone arrives.
Oh my god I feel so bad for Apple customer service sometimes. Being pushed back to Oct. 5 sucks (yes, we were promised the 21st) but **** happens. The 2mill sell was unprecedented, and Apple - believe it or not - is not as evil as this thread believes. That letter asking for money...wow.
Anyway, hopefully I'll get tracking information soon. It seems like everyone's just now being switched over to preparing for shipment, and a couple people have received tracking info within 48 hours (but not many, so it's hard to see that as a pattern or not), so hopefully we'll all be shipped out by Monday. For reference, I got a 16G black and will let you guys know as soon as I get tracking info. No luck on UPS.
Anyway, hopefully I'll get tracking information soon. It seems like everyone's just now being switched over to preparing for shipment, and a couple people have received tracking info within 48 hours (but not many, so it's hard to see that as a pattern or not), so hopefully we'll all be shipped out by Monday. For reference, I got a 16G black and will let you guys know as soon as I get tracking info. No luck on UPS.
http://forums.imore.com/iphone-5-forum/240709-what-does-preoaring-shipment-mean-oct-5-a.html
Just ran across this.
We should all have shipping information by tomorrow/24 hours. No guarantee but I trust this. Seems like the Oct. 5 estimate will be an overestimate.
Just ran across this.
We should all have shipping information by tomorrow/24 hours. No guarantee but I trust this. Seems like the Oct. 5 estimate will be an overestimate.
Thanks, now that I've logged in I can find it by Reference Number. Both my Phone Number and Order Number - 2 are listed.
Same here (and hopefully we're "in the same plane"...boats take too long!
Haha yes planes it is! Wonder what flight it's going to be on...
Has to get to and leave from Hong Kong before we have a flight to track, AFAIK. ZhengZhou's airport does not appear to have regular international traffic.
A posive note. We all get to stay in antisipation for a bit longer. By the time we get our phones most of the folks that already have theirs will be filling the blogs with complaints...its too big...nothing really changed...or be board of it. Soon we will be googling the release of iPhone 6.
Ah, okay thanks.
I signed up for text alerts with my tracking number and it says IN TRANSIT LOUISVILLE, KY, US, which can't be true obviosuly because it just left Zhengzhou, China a couple hours ago. Odd...
