iPhone Upgrade Program Causes Headaches on Launch Day Due to Limited Stock

leesweet said:
The IUP page you go to check for stock now has the 'call 800-MY-APPLE' message 'if you are having problems locating a phone'. Lol. Has anyone actually gotten a positive result from calling? I'm wavering between calling and seeing WTF and waiting until Friday. (Or reinstating (reordering) my full price phone that I cancelled and then selling the current phone on Swappa and f this program.)
Click to expand...
Modernboy said:
I want to echo this post. I just got off the phone with Apple and they are well aware that they are not delivering on what was promised. They are manually taking all info and will be back in touch in 48 hours with a solution. They've said that they are looking to prioritize IUP upgrades over the next couple of weeks so that we can get our phones. I highly suggest anyone who had the same issues I had to call and ask to speak to someone in the IUP department.
Click to expand...

Yes calling is the way to go
 
thefarang said:
The only problem is it's all pretty vague. And what happens if you loyally wait until Sept 17th at 8am and your store says, "Not Available"? Then what? You're now sitting behind how many tens of thousands of other people who pre-ordered between now and Sept 17 plus all of the people who went online on Sept 16, the release date, and ordered.

Then what? Wait until the 18th and do the same thing all over again? And the 19th? . . .

The truly offensive part of this whole mess is you still don't know when you can even place your order. AppleInsider says there will be "some" stock reserved. But is it enough? Is it all Rose Gold 7's? Even the Apple Insider story says the store managers have no idea.

Plus, making it even a bigger joke, they're only reserving inventory for a few days. One manager said 5 another said 3. So, if you miss those days or they don't get the phone you want in those three to five days, guess what, you're stuck checking the Apple Store website again every day because you STILL CAN"T RESERVE! After the 3 - 5 days (which is total unsubstantiated rumor at the moment since no store manager would go on record) it's first come, first served. Hope you like getting up and checking the Apple Store at 8am every morning. Because at least until supply catches up to demand, there's no chance you'll be able to find any of the more popular models by 9:30am.

How the heck is this supposed to be a better deal than just ordering your phone and getting an estimated ship date like everyone else?

Total, total lunacy.

And the Apple Insider article just reaffirms my suspicion that they really didn't think it through. They should have taken our orders and not a single iPhone should go out the door at a retail location until the pending orders have been fulfilled.

They're going to reserve "some" inventory for IUPs? F That. If you weren't in the IUP you could do an in-store pickup and have a phone guaranteed on the day it arrives.

To some degree it cracks me up that they think that we have nothing better to do than to sit there clicking a button every day hoping they'll dispense their product.

I don't need it on launch day. I don't care. It's a piece of technology. But getting yanked around like this just gets to me. That's why I'm buying out my IUP contract. It's obvious there are few advantages and a ton of disadvantages. I am kicking myself for having believed the multiple sources that said doing an upgrade on pre-order launch would be just as easy as purchasing (which is a question I asked 3 or 4 times before signing up for IUP).

Never again.
Click to expand...

How do you really feel.
 
noah82 said:
You are missing the point. These users were "lining up" right with the others during preorder time. They were not allowed the same opportunity to purchase the phone.
Click to expand...
We are not beggars, having to be up all night or wait in line again and again to get a phone upgrade. Apple seems not to care to set this up properly.
Any decent store or even the post-office, has a number system. There is NO reason to mistreat your customers this way. ALLOW UPGRADE CUSTOMERS TO GET IN LINE, first come, first served BUT WITHOUT the need to send people to the back of the line, if they cannot find the phone upgrade online or in the store: SET UP SOME KIND OF NUMBERING PRIORITY SYSTEM, Apple, you're smart enough!
["regular customers" are provided with a November delivery but we, the upgrade "faithful crowd" are falling behind, moving the start of our new service AND hanging in limbo].
 
leesweet said:
Thanks, I'll give them a call tomorrow and report back; they deserve a chance to fix this. But WTF didn't anyone think it through... Sheesh.
Click to expand...

Im not doing anything. I am pissed how bad they fd this up. I was going to get another watch. F them. I will be selling this phone and going to go back to buying my own every year. May even go back to a galaxy. Thats how pissed I am F APPPLE
 
Yep, this bullcrap happened to me as well. Pretty annoying. Good thing I decided not to buy one anyway, due to removing the headphone port, which I use every day.

I remember the justification for the removal of DVD was, "No one uses it anymore." Remember all those threads? All of you jerks said, "If people still used it they would not have removed it, but I can't remember the last time I used a DVD."

Yet this time, everyone uses the headphone port every day. So the rationale applied when DVD and ethernet and floppy were removed does not hold.
 
I called. They picked up fairly quick but it took a while to get somebody from the 'team they put together for this issue' total of a hour on the phone. Anyway, they said they would locate a phone for me and get it to my local store as quickly as possible so I can complete my upgrade. Sent me an email with his contact information. We'll see how it goes, they did seem aware and concerned about the issue.
 
So this is promising, everyone! Apple no longer says we have to wait until 9/17. It says to call. I'm on hold right now!

image.jpeg
 
I paid off my balance before i called because I had problems with the return last year, I will sell my phone and get more then my pay off! I was able go on as soon as they opened up the lines at 3:01am eastern time, I do this every year and never have a problem early bird catches the worm! I used to stand on line the day of for the 1st few phones but then I found out if you do it at release time you get it delivered the 1st day and don't have to be in a line at the crack of dawn! I do it online on the apple site, I don't call, I always get it the first day. I am one of their best costumers I always get the newest latest of all devices, but I don't except special treatment and I love apple too much to go elsewhere, that's like cutting off your nose to spite your face lol it's only going to hurt you in the long run! So yes I got the new watch and iphone 7 plus with no problem
 
Thank you so much for the suggestion they're taking calls about this. I just got off the phone with them.

They apologized profusely and said that Apple is owning this. I believe they're doing everything they can to fix it.

He took down all of my info, what phone I was looking to get (along with a second choice), where I want to pick it up, etc.

Then he said that he guarantees that Apple will be in touch with me by Tuesday evening with an update on when they can get me into the store to pick it up.

I know they're working hard to fix this (behind the scenes) and I appreciate that. I guess I'm not mad anymore now that I know something is in the pipeline.

Oh, I also asked whether or not this delay would affect future release day upgrades (not that I care a whole lot about that but it's fun to be around all the excitement on that day). He said that he isn't sure exactly how they'll handle that just yet but that he guarantees that Apple will do the right thing to get those affected by this back on track for future release day upgrades. That's pretty nice I think.

Crisis over.
 
betsy51556 said:
I paid off my balance before i called because I had problems with the return last year, I will sell my phone and get more then my pay off! I was able go on as soon as they opened up the lines at 3:01am eastern time, I do this every year and never have a problem early bird catches the worm! I used to stand on line the day of for the 1st few phones but then I found out if you do it at release time you get it delivered the 1st day and don't have to be in a line at the crack of dawn! I do it online on the apple site, I don't call, I always get it the first day. I am one of their best costumers I always get the newest latest of all devices, but I don't except special treatment and I love apple too much to go elsewhere, that's like cutting off your nose to spite your face lol it's only going to hurt you in the long run! So yes I got the new watch and iphone 7 plus with no problem
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you read a headline and commented because you've missed the entire point of this thread. This is the first year people are eligibility to upgrade on the program that was introduced last year.
 
leesweet said:
The IUP page you go to check for stock now has the 'call 800-MY-APPLE' message 'if you are having problems locating a phone'. Lol. Has anyone actually gotten a positive result from calling?
Click to expand...

That text is new, and they've got it at the top and bottom of the page. It's a good sign, Apple has realized they have a systemic problem (which you hit on that page). It doesn't sound like they have a fix yet, but they're working on one. I'd call and get your name on the list at least. Although eventually it seems like they'll need to reach out to all IUP customers directly, getting your name on the list can't hurt.

I guess the way I'm feeling is that they've got roughly until Friday to fix it. After that just in terms of stock it becomes kind of impossible. And really that's pretty much the only chance I have of getting a phone before October or November at this point. If I have to wait and check the stores every day, that's pretty much the worst way to buy an iPhone -- I've done that before, it sucks. I did it for my wife last year and she gave up and just started using my old phone (which I'd otherwise planned to sell). If it comes to that then I'm with the rest of you that want to just buy out your current phone and buy a new one outright. Even if they come up with a fix and get me a new phone soon I might just pay off the loan so I'm out, unless they make some very specific promises about next year to incentivize people to stay.
 
betsy51556 said:
I paid off my balance before i called because I had problems with the return last year, I will sell my phone and get more then my pay off! I was able go on as soon as they opened up the lines at 3:01am eastern time, I do this every year and never have a problem early bird catches the worm! I used to stand on line the day of for the 1st few phones but then I found out if you do it at release time you get it delivered the 1st day and don't have to be in a line at the crack of dawn! I do it online on the apple site, I don't call, I always get it the first day. I am one of their best costumers I always get the newest latest of all devices, but I don't except special treatment and I love apple too much to go elsewhere, that's like cutting off your nose to spite your face lol it's only going to hurt you in the long run! So yes I got the new watch and iphone 7 plus with no problem
Click to expand...

Lol u have missed the entire point of this discussion.
 
So, I called. It was pretty quick to get to the person who took my order. Her name was Mary. Gave me her phone number, even! Took the order and said we would be contacted in 48 hours with an update on our reservation. She said that because we were in the upgrade program, we'd be getting special attention and have the opportunity to upgrade as quickly as possible.

Let's just say I'm a happy camper now!

Call 1-800-MY-APPLE people!

image.jpeg

[doublepost=1473563809][/doublepost]
thefarang said:
Not worth it to me. I ended up just ordering mine and paying for it up front. I'll buy out the contract for the rest of my IUP 6S+ and sell it once I'm sure I 100% own it.

The reason I'm choosing not to wait for a solution which may or may not come is because there's no guarantee this won't happen again next year. 0% financing is great but not if I have to deal with being locked out of ordering my upgrade again next year or the year after that. I would rather pay it all today and know nothing is stopping me from ordering the next time I want to upgrade. The only other thing I'm sacrificing is a guaranteed sale price at 12 months. No biggie either.

And when you factor in that now, you're likely to not get an iPhone until at least October and perhaps even November by the time they sort this all out, you're looking at 2 or 3 extra payments into the program. And next year you'll have to pay those extra 2 or 3 payments to upgrade because your new contract didn't start until October or November.

So between that and the hassle factor involved with checking their site on a daily basis until the model I want becomes available, even if you lose 1 year worth of interest on $1000 or get back slightly less than 50% of your purchase price on resell, the difference is so negligible as to make buying it outright upfront a push.

The funny part is that I decided to upgrade last year only because I had decided to go from the 6 to the plus. So, I upgraded and didn't upgrade my wife because I didn't think the "S" was a big enough of a reason to upgrade alone.

I was going to put her on the IUP this year as well. Was all prepped with 2 computer screens open so I could be filling out the application for her while placing the order for mine.

No way now. No way either of us will ever join any Apple financing arrangement.

In the 10 or 15 years I've been buying Apple products (MBPs, iMacs, Apple TV's, iPhone, iPads, etc) I've never had a moment like this where I fell like saying, "F you, Apple" but this program was just such a heinous lie. Even the screen grab people are posting in the thread shows that they were heavily intimating that you could get your new iPhone right away. Not only was that not true (and I never expected them to give IUP people priority) but they went the complete opposite and penalized people in the program.

Where they say that you'll be one of the first to get your new iPhone, they've created the program in such a way as to make sure that most people will be the last to get their iPhone.

To be fair, I don't think they did this on purpose. In talking to a few people over the last couple of days who work at Apple, they seemed really confused at why there's even a problem. Then when you explain that IUP people can only order from the stock being allocated at each store, the light bulb sort of goes off.

Not that any of them created the program but it's obvious that even people within Apple are really confused about how the program works. In my experience, that usually means a company doesn't really value the program. Nobody really fleshed it out or mapped out how the process works. They did the deal to get a deal done with Citizen's Bank and someone had to try and make it work. Some mid-level product manager was told to implement it and he or she doesn't have the kind of pull within Apple to change store allocations or the commerce flow in the Apple Store so . . . we got screwed because this was the best solution he could come up with. He checked off all of the boxes in terms of what his bosses had told him and voila, IUP.

I just have better things to do with my time than get myself involved in a company's program that was an afterthought.
Click to expand...

Please call 1-800-MY-APPLE. You won't be disappointed. Did they make a mistake in telling us to wait until 9/17. They sure did! But the problem was fixed 36 hours later. Give them a chance to make it up to you!
 
GoCubsGo said:
Whether they understand or not, the comments made are, "way to treat your most loyal..." That's BS. Folks on the upgrade program aren't likely more or less loyal, but they DO deserve the same chance everyone else got to pre order. Saying people in the program are most loyal is like me saying I'm most loyal because I pay for the phones outright and don't rely on payment plans. That would be just as absurd.

What I do believe is that people thought somehow that being a part of that program meant they were somehow guaranteed a spot to preorder. I don't know if this is something that Apple implied or users assumed. The tone I saw on Friday was that many seemed to believe they had first dibs or at least a guaranteed spot. If Apple were smart, they would reserve a variety of phones that could handle the upgrade plan user base. It would still mean some didn't get what they wanted as Apple can't plan on which models people want. But they could have handled that much differently. Upgrade plan users got screwed, but the aren't entitled to special treatment because they're in a program similar to those that the carriers have today.
Click to expand...

The comments from some people do make it sound like they think they should have special treatment. However, I think that 99% of the upset people in this thread are people who have pre-ordered phones every year, and always got one on launch day (like myself), and they are just expressing themselves poorly.

This year, I tried and failed to reserve a phone simply because I am on the upgrade program. When I was logging on to the Apple Store to try and upgrade, I was unable to get one reserved at a store because they didn't exist at the store, even though the phones I wanted were still available to be delivered on launch day if I wanted to buy outside the upgrade program. That is what made me personally upset.
 
I guess now that apple has acknowledged the problem, maybe people here and at apple insider (most who weren't even affected by this) will stop berating the customers who clearly did not have a fair chance to reserve a phone. I'll never understand posters who shout others down when they don't have the mental capacity to grasp the situation themselves.
[doublepost=1473564614][/doublepost]
ronm99 said:
The comments from some people do make it sound like they think they should have special treatment.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but I feel that this is a "special" program and they should be treated differently. sue me. It doesn't have to be preferential treatment, but there should be a way to signal that you plan to upgrade at the 12 month mark in order to gauge inventory (or even affect inventory at your preferred store). Most people on the upgrade program have the option to use their carrier upgrade program and upgrade at 12 months. Clearly apple's program should have an advantage other than apple care included (that you pay for).
 
Last edited:
codeunrwolfpack said:
I just called and was told to call back Monday. They said everyone for the iPhone Upgrade Program was out until then.
Click to expand...


Sorry to hear that. The lady I talked to worked until 8:00 central tonight. I know this because she emailed us her number and working hours. I was quite pleased after the call. We'll see what happens in 48 hours when they are supposed to contact us next.
 
tylerdw89 said:
He said there are "a lot of eyes" looking at this issue and it sounded like I wasn't the only one.
Click to expand...

Which says to me that they didn't know it was a flawed process until it stuff hit the fan. Another confirmation that this was not a priority for Apple and nobody really thought it through.

So whatever solution they come up with is going to be half-baked. They're trying to respond on the fly and that likely means, deal with the immediate backlash, fix the problem going forward.

Likely solution is they tell people to call Apple (which it appears they've already done). They make best-efforts to get a phone in your hand as quickly as possible IF you call. If you don't call, if you aren't making a stink, they'll hope this goes away for now and they'll fix it before iPhone 8.

The problem is (and maybe this is what they're trying to figure out right now) they don't have any idea of the scope of the problem. Was it 1,000 people? 100,000 people? 1,000,000 people? Because they didn't allow you to complete the transaction, they don't know. They know how many people are in the IUP but how many people are they going to have to make happy since not everyone tried to upgrade?

And they have set processes and such in place which makes changing where phones are being sent to something that has to be coordinated at a fairly high level within Apple. Likewise, they're ordering system is designed to prevent people bumping their buddies up on the list so, they may not even have a way to insert IUP people ahead of those who have been scheduling in-store pickups and already have appointments.

In other words, it's a huge mess.

I hope you get your upgrade. But I would never recommend this program to anyone going forward.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top