My rocky road attempting to pre order the iPhone 6 Plus

[markyr17]

Well, you came into this thread to read my story, so no bitching about how long it is.

I am getting a 64GB iPhone 6 Plus for Verizon in gold for myself, and a 64GB iPhone 6 for Verizon in silver for my wife.

So at 2:57am EST (3 minutes to midnight PST) I successfully put in my pre-order for my 6 Plus on Verizon's site with the delivery date of 9/19. Perfect, right?

The system kept giving me errors while I was attempting to place the order for my wife's phone, saying something about unable to load ECPD profile, or something. After about a half hour of screwing around with their website trying to get my wife's order to go through, I finally got it to go through by using Google Chrome. (Not sure why that helped, as I had cleared website data with safari...)

Alas, I had both orders placed, and stayed up until I got both confirmation emails, which took about an hour from the time of order to receive. I went to sleep feeling accomplished!

I wake up this morning with an email from Verizon Wireless saying the following:

Dear Customer:
Verizon Fraud Prevention Team is currently reviewing the following order on your wireless account.
Name: xxxxxxx
Order/Reference Number: D77xxxxxxxx
Confirmation Number: 9350xxxxxxxx
Order Date: 9/12/2014
# of Devices: 1

Please call the Verizon Fraud Prevention Team between 8am-8pm EST Monday - Saturday at 888-483-7200 option 3, press 1 to verify this Order.
If you or an authorized user on your account did not place this order, please contact the Verizon Fraud Prevention Team as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Verizon Fraud Prevention

I thought, no big deal... Let's call them up and get the order resolved. Damn it, was I wrong. I was on hold for 55 minutes before I was able to speak to anybody...

So while I was on hold, I was looking on Apple's website, seeing how the shipping times were there. I noticed that both of the models I needed were available for in store pick up on 9/19, so this gave me hope that no matter what, I would have my devices. As I'm on hold, I was going through the options on Apple's site for store pickup, and I noticed it wouldn't let me order the iPhone for either of our numbers, because it says "you already have an iPhone reserved for this number with your carrier. Please choose a different number, or choose the option to add a line to your account."

So at this point I figure... Still no problem, Verizon will put the order through, but if for some reason there is a problem, I'll just have them cancel the order, and I'll do in store pickup at my local Apple store.

I speak to the lady in the fraud department, she goes and checks out the orders, and then comes back and tells me that she is sorry to inform me that my account has been locked due to fraudulent activity, and there is nothing she can do. I won't be able to upgrade devices, add lines, or even purchase new equipment through Verizon Wireless until there has been 6 months of good pay history. I asked to speak with her supervisor, because this all made no sense at all to me, but she said they didn't have supervisors in the fraud department.

So, I asked her to please cancel the orders so I can order the phones from another retailer. She told me she would do this, but it may require her submitting a form, and that it wouldn't be instant. This kind of pissed me off, because at this point I'm sure there is no way I'm getting my iPhone on 9/19 through pre-ordering... So she was on hold 10 minutes, and then she came back and told me that she had requested the order cancellation, and that it may take up to 24 hours to complete. Great.

I got off the phone with her, hopped back on the Apple website, and none of the iPhone 6 plus's are available for pickup at my Apple store. FML.

So, I guess I'm lining up at the Apple store on the 19th. This is nothing new for me, as this is what I have done for all of my iPhones since the iPhone 4...

TL;DR I failed at pre ordering my iPhones, and Verizon sucks sometimes.

 

[markyr17]

I guess now what I'm worried about is Verizon not canceling my order in time for the 19th.

 

[Vertigo50]

That sucks, man. These carriers really have to be this clueless on the day of the biggest phone launch day of the year? If I managed the fraud dept I would temporarily suspend all fraud alerts for the day, and review them one at a time later, because you know it's going to be a huge mess and piss off good customers.

 

[fanchee]

Ugh!

I was able to submit my order through Verizon just after midnight, and got the email confirmation and everything. Says delivered by 9/19 and everything.

Then later, upon checking the order status on Verizon, it appears as processing, with a delivery date of 10/7. Still a little while later, I (obsessively) check again and it's back to 9/19. And now, it says date "not available at this time."

I fully anticipate that Verizon will f$@! this up but good. And that'll be ok... Last year I had to wait til early Oct and ordered through Apple with in-store pickup. I'll do that again this year when Verizon screws it all up. But what a mess!

 

[markyr17]

Ugh!

I was able to submit my order through Verizon just after midnight, and got the email confirmation and everything. Says delivered by 9/19 and everything.

Then later, upon checking the order status on Verizon, it appears as processing, with a delivery date of 10/7. Still a little while later, I (obsessively) check again and it's back to 9/19. And now, it says date "not available at this time."

I fully anticipate that Verizon will f$@! this up but good. And that'll be ok... Last year I had to wait til early Oct and ordered through Apple with in-store pickup. I'll do that again this year when Verizon screws it all up. But what a mess!

From what I've heard, you should be good... I called last night after my order status said 10/7, and I was assured I would get my phone on launch day. Others here have also said that you will get your phone on launch day if that is the date that was shown when you checked out.

Good luck!!

 

[nathanalf]

Well, here was my experience:

Woke up 15 minutes before 2AM (central time), and literally tried for over an hour without it working. Apple store was down the entire time for me, and the Verizon website was loading at a snails pace. It wouldn’t matter if it even did load, for every single time I got far enough to see the models and go through the checkout process at some random point it would throw up a "Error receiving EPCD from account" or something like that, and not allow me to go any further.

After this frustrating experience, tried calling Verizon’s 1-800 number which was completely down. It would not even ring, and immediately said ‘call failed’.

After going through quite a few iPhone preorders, this was definitely the most brutal and frustrating. I suppose I’m going to the Verizon store down the street early on the 19th and hoping they have the one I want…

 

[markyr17]

Well, here was my experience:

Woke up 15 minutes before 2AM (central time), and literally tried for over an hour without it working. Apple store was down the entire time for me, and the Verizon website was loading at a snails pace. It wouldn’t matter if it even did load, for every single time I got far enough to see the models and go through the checkout process at some random point it would throw up a "Error receiving EPCD from account" or something like that, and not allow me to go any further.

After this frustrating experience, tried calling Verizon’s 1-800 number which was completely down. It would not even ring, and immediately said ‘call failed’.

After going through quite a few iPhone preorders, this was definitely the most brutal and frustrating. I suppose I’m going to the Verizon store down the street early on the 19th and hoping they have the one I want…

That sucks. If you have an Apple store around you, that may be a better option, as they generally have much more stock. The bad thing for me, is that the nearest Apple store is 2 hours away

 

[rockyroad55]

Well, you came into this thread to read my story, so no bitching about how long it is.

I am getting a 64GB iPhone 6 Plus for Verizon in gold for myself, and a 64GB iPhone 6 for Verizon in silver for my wife.

So at 2:57am EST (3 minutes to midnight PST) I successfully put in my pre-order for my 6 Plus on Verizon's site with the delivery date of 9/19. Perfect, right?

The system kept giving me errors while I was attempting to place the order for my wife's phone, saying something about unable to load ECPD profile, or something. After about a half hour of screwing around with their website trying to get my wife's order to go through, I finally got it to go through by using Google Chrome. (Not sure why that helped, as I had cleared website data with safari...)

Alas, I had both orders placed, and stayed up until I got both confirmation emails, which took about an hour from the time of order to receive. I went to sleep feeling accomplished!

I wake up this morning with an email from Verizon Wireless saying the following:



I thought, no big deal... Let's call them up and get the order resolved. Damn it, was I wrong. I was on hold for 55 minutes before I was able to speak to anybody...

So while I was on hold, I was looking on Apple's website, seeing how the shipping times were there. I noticed that both of the models I needed were available for in store pick up on 9/19, so this gave me hope that no matter what, I would have my devices. As I'm on hold, I was going through the options on Apple's site for store pickup, and I noticed it wouldn't let me order the iPhone for either of our numbers, because it says "you already have an iPhone reserved for this number with your carrier. Please choose a different number, or choose the option to add a line to your account."

So at this point I figure... Still no problem, Verizon will put the order through, but if for some reason there is a problem, I'll just have them cancel the order, and I'll do in store pickup at my local Apple store.

I speak to the lady in the fraud department, she goes and checks out the orders, and then comes back and tells me that she is sorry to inform me that my account has been locked due to fraudulent activity, and there is nothing she can do. I won't be able to upgrade devices, add lines, or even purchase new equipment through Verizon Wireless until there has been 6 months of good pay history. I asked to speak with her supervisor, because this all made no sense at all to me, but she said they didn't have supervisors in the fraud department.

So, I asked her to please cancel the orders so I can order the phones from another retailer. She told me she would do this, but it may require her submitting a form, and that it wouldn't be instant. This kind of pissed me off, because at this point I'm sure there is no way I'm getting my iPhone on 9/19 through pre-ordering... So she was on hold 10 minutes, and then she came back and told me that she had requested the order cancellation, and that it may take up to 24 hours to complete. Great.

I got off the phone with her, hopped back on the Apple website, and none of the iPhone 6 plus's are available for pickup at my Apple store. FML.

So, I guess I'm lining up at the Apple store on the 19th. This is nothing new for me, as this is what I have done for all of my iPhones since the iPhone 4...

TL;DR I failed at pre ordering my iPhones, and Verizon sucks sometimes.

Aww man I thought I did something wrong today.

 

[nathanalf]

That sucks. If you have an Apple store around you, that may be a better option, as they generally have much more stock. The bad thing for me, is that the nearest Apple store is 2 hours away

I would go to an Apple store, but I already traded in my iPhone 5 at the Verizon store for a gift card... Using an old flip phone for the next week...

It's fine. I'm willing to be 'one of the crazy ones' who gets there ridiculously early Friday morning. I just know if I don't get it launch day, I'll be stuck with this flip phone for a while...

 

[Zetaprime]

I tried when ordering was supposed to start (3:01am EDT) and had no luck getting the Apple Store to work either on my computer or via the app. After about an hour I was able to access the store on the app but when I tried to order the Plus in Space Gray with 128G on AT&T the 'add to cart' option was greyed out. I gave up and went to sleep. Upon awakening I tried again.This time the site was working so that the item could be added, but the ship time was 3-4 weeks. So I guess I might as well try at the store since with the ship date that far off it won't really matter if I order now or a week from now should the local Apple Store not have any on launch day. Very disappointing. These companies seem to excel at disappointment. Also the price is mighty steep, also not too thrilled with that. Comes out to $1000, which is close to what my computer (Macbook Air) cost me 3 years ago.

 

[IllIllIll]

I speak to the lady in the fraud department, she goes and checks out the orders, and then comes back and tells me that she is sorry to inform me that my account has been locked due to fraudulent activity, and there is nothing she can do. I won't be able to upgrade devices, add lines, or even purchase new equipment through Verizon Wireless until there has been 6 months of good pay history.. I asked to speak with her supervisor, because this all made no sense at all to me, but she said they didn't have supervisors in the fraud department.

Sounds more like a problem with your credit than fraud. Are you paying your wireless bills on time and in full, with no bounced checks? How does "6 months of good pay history" address an issue with fraud, unless the fraudster is somehow delaying your bill payments?

 

[markyr17]

Sounds more like a problem with your credit than fraud. Are you paying your wireless bills on time and in full, with no bounced checks? How does "6 months of good pay history" address an issue with fraud, unless the fraudster is somehow delaying your bill payments?

Not sure. Never had a late payment with Verizon, and my credit is fine. I am also paying for the device outright. They've obviously got something messed up in their system. Not sure what their reasonings are.

 

[TristanPT]

I got the same email. But under # of devices, mine says 4. I only ordered 2 and my receipt only shows 2 on the order.

After 50 minutes on hold, I hung up. I'll call back later. It's crap that you have to wait that long. They should call me, not just send a crappy email.

 

[kevroc]

Well, you came into this thread to read my story, so no bitching about how long it is.


So, I asked her to please cancel the orders so I can order the phones from another retailer. She told me she would do this, but it may require her submitting a form, and that it wouldn't be instant. This kind of pissed me off, because at this point I'm sure there is no way I'm getting my iPhone on 9/19 through pre-ordering... So she was on hold 10 minutes, and then she came back and told me that she had requested the order cancellation, and that it may take up to 24 hours to complete. Great.

I got off the phone with her, hopped back on the Apple website, and none of the iPhone 6 plus's are available for pickup at my Apple store. FML.

So, I guess I'm lining up at the Apple store on the 19th. This is nothing new for me, as this is what I have done for all of my iPhones since the iPhone 4...

TL;DR I failed at pre ordering my iPhones, and Verizon sucks sometimes.

Not that this helps much now, but the best thing to do in situations like this is to not "stack changes" onto an existing problem. I've found that companies identify mistakes like this and self-correct them with your intervention. Also, trying to make changes on a day like today when support departments are staffed with temp workers and suffering from system issues is just inviting more problems. Best to let things settle down for a few days.


I had a bitch of a problem last night and couldn't get an order to go through, but I wake up today with an email / reservation ticket waiting for me and I complete the order with no problem.

There been other times in the past where Apple or the carrier saw the glitch and just mass-fixed it without any user intervention. Sounds like your problem is clearly something where they made a mistake on their end so probably is correctable.

Also, as some others have learned, always order from Apple direct at all costs. They'll always help you more and have better systems / practices in place to actually help you as opposed to the carriers.

Good luck getting things squared away...

 

[TristanPT]

I got the same email. But under # of devices, mine says 4. I only ordered 2 and my receipt only shows 2 on the order.

After 50 minutes on hold, I hung up. I'll call back later. It's crap that you have to wait that long. They should call me, not just send a crappy email.

Well I finally got through and everything is all good. They told me that my phone should arrive on the 19th.

 

[markyr17]

My rocky road attempting to pre order the iPhone 6 Plus

Well I finally got through and everything is all good. They told me that my phone should arrive on the 19th.

Congrats