Long waits for reserved iPhones...

[FelixDerKater]

How are the waits in your area for reserved iPhones?

I just got back from my local Apple Store, and the line was over 4 hours long. Of course, I wasn't going to wait that long for a phone. Unfortunately, my failure to stand by for those hours means I won't be getting one for some time now...

What has been your experience?

 

[Revelation78]

How are the waits in your area for reserved iPhones?

I just got back from my local Apple Store, and the line was over 4 hours long. Of course, I wasn't going to wait that long for a phone. Unfortunately, my failure to stand by for those hours means I won't be getting one for some time now...

What has been your experience?

Reserved lines in CO were just as bad. It took about 2.5 hours to get through the process. There were about a thousand folks behind me, a few hundred in front of me when the day started.

I feel really bad for the walk-ins, that has to be brutal. The ones at the end of a thousand person line will take nearly 8 hours to complete the process. In all we had almost three thousand people there today by my estimates.

 

[nws0291]

How are the waits in your area for reserved iPhones?

I just got back from my local Apple Store, and the line was over 4 hours long. Of course, I wasn't going to wait that long for a phone. Unfortunately, my failure to stand by for those hours means I won't be getting one for some time now...

What has been your experience?

Got to the store at 7 am. line was out the mall for both standby and reserved. Got my phone at 2pm. 1000+ people in the standby and 400+ in the reserved.

 

[xmtgx]

QQ, reserved shouldnt mean quicker lines, only promise you the phone, its total BS. Saw about 2000 reserves go by, by the time 100 of us walk-ins did..

 

[jhill89]

Meadowhall in Sheffield, UK had the launch organised really well. The Apple store was next to two double doors that they opened up, one side was Reservations, the other was Purchases. It was a big long a/c corridor with both sides cordoned off. We were given free Starbucks coffee and biscuits, mini-donuts, chocolate fudge brownies and water etc. Made the 3 hours queueing totally worth it. The o2 store was opposite the Apple store and you should have seen some of their faces when we kept getting free food lol!

 

[Chicagogirlie]

Too long

6 HOURS to the minute. Arrived at the Apple in Old Orchard Mall just outside of Chicago at 6:30am this morning with a reservation.

There was a walk-in line and a line for those who reserved phones. Apple staff were letting them in at a ratio of 10:1 (reserved/walk-in) for the first couple of hours but then they moved to a 2:1 ratio. Needless to say that slowed things down considerably and ppl in the "reserved line" were incredibly pissed off.

I almost flipped out when my debit card didn't go through the 2nd time for my the 2nd phone on my family plan. My bank put a hold on the card since they thought there was fraudulent activity going down w/2 purchases back to back. Luckily we had another card w/us to use!

 

[bobdigi]

Its funny how people say "man I wouldnt stand in line for 4 hours for a phone" yet they will spend the next 4 hours on their PC complaining about lines.

 

[PhoneI]

You could also just show a little willpower and get it in a few days without waiting on any line. Now with that being said, I waited about 3 hrs today.

 

[mymoon]

Demeaning in Pleasanton, CA

I personally thought the process was badly managed. I reserved an iPhone 4 to pick up at an Apple store, but saw dozens of irritated and resigned people sitting and standing in the reservation line.

At about 10AM (after dropping my daughter off at her daycare), I got to the mall where my local Apple store is, in Pleasanton, CA (SF East Bay), and saw the long, snaking line of walk-in hopefuls bunched up around the mall entrance. Then, when I got to the Apple store, I saw the reservation line snaking the other direction. If I had stood in line it would have probably taken me at least 4-6 hours to pick up my phone. If I had known this, it would have been a no brainer to have ordered the phone last week for FedEx delivery.

Apple should have had a second reservation line for people (like me) who just wanted to purchase, quickly activate, and leave the store to set everything up themselves at home. To clump everyone in the same line is a horrendous way to treat those customers who bothered to make a reservation. By the way, I didn't see any coffee or anything being served. In fact, the reservation line was interfering with the foot traffic around kiosk vendors in the walkways, which made things even more uncomfortable for those in the reservation line. Demeaning situation all around.

I left without the phone and had to place an online order -- after the 10-day wait -- because the store reservation process was so badly managed. Deeply disappointed.

 

[joecg]

I showed up at 7am, and I had a 5 hour wait. The lines moved fast before the mall opened, but once the mall opened and the apple store started getting actual customers (aka moms needing help using their mac books), the line starting moving extremely slow.

Apple for us gave us Panera catering and water. Also had employees from Gloria Jeans coming by and taking any drink orders you wanted.

 

[Chicagogirlie]

The Apple employees were very friendly. I don't see how they were so customer friendly with so many people who had nasty attitudes about waiting so long.

They served us water, cookies, chips, crackers w/peanut butter, and even came by w/a fruit cart

 

[mathieuheartmac]

I waited outside the (Southdale) mall for an hour before it opened at 7am. I was out with my phone by 9am.
There are four stores in the Twin Cities and I was at the smallest...so I'm not sure how bad the waits were at the Mall of America or Uptown store.

Also, the walk-up line was barely moving. In our two hour wait, I think it moved about 10 feet.

 

[markel253]

I was on line for 4.5 hours at the Staten Island (NYC) Apple Store.

To be fair though - only 2.5 hours once the store opened.

 

[doodads]

I went to Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, MD at 6:30 am. The mall entrances were locked with signs on them saying "To iPhone 4 buyers, the mall opens at 7:00 am." People were waiting in lines at most of the entrances. I followed a guy who went up to a delivery door and opened it and walked in. I did the same. I got to the Apple store and there were 14 people in the line for reservations, and about 100 people in the walk-in line. I had a reservation, so I was number 15 in the line. I went in the store at 7:10 am and was out by 7:20, so it was pretty painless.

A friend of mine was in one of the outside lines, and by the time he got in and got in the walk-in line, he was too far back to get a phone today.

 

[Built]

I guess the question needs to be: Is there REALLY any good way to handle the MASSIVE number of people showing up for this roll-out?

I think the sheer numbers eliminate the possibility for quick in-and-out.

 

[herdinoh]

I went to the apple store located in legacy village,OH. got there at 6:50. I got my iphone at 12:45. I will never do the pickup from store again. what is the purpose of preorder? the only reason I chose to pick them at store was because Apple's system didn't allow me to order them online. 6 hours in line for the phone I reserved?!!! what a joke.

How are the waits in your area for reserved iPhones?

I just got back from my local Apple Store, and the line was over 4 hours long. Of course, I wasn't going to wait that long for a phone. Unfortunately, my failure to stand by for those hours means I won't be getting one for some time now...

What has been your experience?

 

[Mx356]

Got to the store at 6:00, made it inside the store at 7:45 and was gone by 9:00. Overall it was managed well and went smoothly. They were constantly handing out water to us. This was the Knox Henderson store in Dallas where the week long camper was so there was quite a bit of media there. Not a bad day at all and got my first ever iPhone!

 

[tritonj]

I guess the question needs to be: Is there REALLY any good way to handle the MASSIVE number of people showing up for this roll-out?

I think the sheer numbers eliminate the possibility for quick in-and-out.

actually if they didn't make people activate in store there is no problem, just think about the people who camp out for concert tickets, those lines move after a few hours, the problem is all the extra activity that goes on during the process. since they have at home activation now, i really don't see why they won't let people activate at home if they show up at a store

 

[IrishVixen]

I personally thought the process was badly managed. I reserved an iPhone 4 to pick up at an Apple store, but saw dozens of irritated and resigned people sitting and standing in the reservation line.

At about 10AM (after dropping my daughter off at her daycare), I got to the mall where my local Apple store is, in Pleasanton, CA (SF East Bay), and saw the long, snaking line of walk-in hopefuls bunched up around the mall entrance. Then, when I got to the Apple store, I saw the reservation line snaking the other direction. If I had stood in line it would have probably taken me at least 4-6 hours to pick up my phone. If I had known this, it would have been a no brainer to have ordered the phone last week for FedEx delivery.

Apple should have had a second reservation line for people (like me) who just wanted to purchase, quickly activate, and leave the store to set everything up themselves at home. To clump everyone in the same line is a horrendous way to treat those customers who bothered to make a reservation. By the way, I didn't see any coffee or anything being served. In fact, the reservation line was interfering with the foot traffic around kiosk vendors in the walkways, which made things even more uncomfortable for those in the reservation line. Demeaning situation all around.

I left without the phone and had to place an online order -- after the 10-day wait -- because the store reservation process was so badly managed. Deeply disappointed.

Same thing here in WA. It was expected to be a six hour wait, and everyone around me was in the same boat--tried all day on the 15th to place an order to be shipped, and were stuck reserving for pickup instead. From start to finish, this whole thing is a perfect example of some of the worst process management I've ever seen.

Gave up and placed an order online, but I may cancel it at this point as between the pre order disaster and today, I've lost a lot of enthusiasm for a product I can't even (legitimately) tether my iPad to. I've been out of contract on an original iPhone for years; maybe I'm better off staying that way and just picking up a used 3GS instead.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I guess the question needs to be: Is there REALLY any good way to handle the MASSIVE number of people showing up for this roll-out?

I think the sheer numbers eliminate the possibility for quick in-and-out.

They could schedule reserve p/u appointments the same way they schedule Genius Bar appts. Apple has the basic backend. Seems like it would be easy for them to modify for a launch.

 

[dagored]

South Hills Village in Pittsburgh was great. Very well organized. Apple workers organized the people into reserved and non-reserved lines.

The mall let everyone in at 6. i arrived at 6:30 with about 100 people in front of me. At 7 the store opened and the workers went down the line taking names, checking on what you had reserved and when you got to the front of the line, a worker came out of the store, was introduced to you and told what you had ordered. This went very smoothly.

I was a Verizon convert and it took more time entering my new family account info than activating the two phones. That took about 30 seconds. Great experience. I walked out at 8:50. Just 50 minutes in the store.

 

[RKilbane20]

I got to the store at 5 and was the 20th person. the line grew to maybe 150 and the walk in line was like 300

 

[sJv]

I got in line at the Palo Alto, CA store (the same store Steve Jobs made an appearance at for the iPad launch) at 4:50am. At that time it was one big line that wrapped around the block. Around 5:30am, the employees split the line. I moved up a LOT closer to the front and had maybe 30 people in front of me at that point. I was in the store around 7:15am and out the door at 7:25am. Boy am I glad I got there early as the reserved line was VERY long by the time the store opened.

 

[CIA]

I got to the SLC Apple store around 9:45am, got my phone around 1:20pm. Line for reservations was looooooooooong. But the walk up line was longer. Once we got in the process was actually really quick. Checkout and all that was smooth and fast, plus got MobileMe for $30 off, which was great since my account was about to auto-renew in July, so I saved some cash there.

Mobile me pulled all my email and contacts over the air right off before the phone was "activated", and off I went. Old iPhone's cell service stopped working nearly instantly after I walked out of the store.
After about 10 minutes of waiting for my phone to "Activate" I shut it off. A few minutes later I started it up again and it was activated.

The one thing that irked me was I saw some people cut in line in the reservation section.... They were behind me tho so I didn't make a fuss, but it's kinda BS.

Also, besides asking "do you have a reservation?" they didn't do any sort of check to see if that was true, so really anyone could have got in the faster moving reservation line and got a phone, reservation or not.....

The clerk helping me said they would remain open until the reserved iPhone line was gone, no matter how late... When I asked about walk ins, he said that at the current pace they would sell out well before 9pm.

 

[Khurram]

Got to the South Beach store on Lincoln Road at 6:30am. There was already about 150 people in front of me.

By the time I left the store with my phone it was 10:00am.

Ridiculous