Thanks for the support everyone. So what happened was this.
The real perk though was that I have a corporate discount so I only paid $1,393 or so and they gave me a gift card for $1,500.93 or something like that. End result? An extra $100 in Apple bucks . What should I buy?
Good to hear that it worked out in the end. Yes, $100 isn't worth all the frustration, but at least Apple is trying to make it right.
My suggestion for the extra $100 is to use it toward some accessories. Perhaps an external drive (to supplement the 128GB you are getting with the base 13"), or a sleeve and iWork or Bento.
Shipping = fail. You wouldn't want to see how far your laptop could have been thrown onto a truck...