Nightmare experience ordering on launch day

[CalebEdenburn]

Exactly what the title says. I pre-ordered an Apple Watch Ultra 3 (Black Titanium, Black/Charcoal Trail Loop) on 9/9.

Was super excited to receive the watch yesterday, but then the delivery window slipped from between 12-2 to “before 7”.

It was finally marked ‘delivered’ at 8:29 PM, saying that the driver “met the customer”. No signature, no verification, nothing. This watch was not delivered to me.

I filed a claim with UPS. When I attempted to contact Apple via messages, they gave me the same answer:

“Due to extremely high volumes we are unable to answer your chat at this time. Please try again later.”

So I wait until this morning and I call them on the phone. I’m still on hold. What in the world is going on?

 

[Howard2k]

Sometimes delivery drivers steal stuff. Or deliver to the wrong address. It sounds like a delivery issue, not an Apple issue, but hopefully they can help. Have you called the delivery service?

Good luck! Super frustrating.

 

[goldmac2006]

Sometimes delivery drivers steal stuff. Or deliver to the wrong address. It sounds like a delivery issue, not an Apple issue, but hopefully they can help. Have you called the delivery service?

Good luck! Super frustrating.

Here’s a similar situation with a few other folks; this year has a lot of issues with delivery and in store pickup of iPhone 17 and Apple Watch S11/Ultra 3 orders:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/anyone-else-not-getting-launch-day-delivery-due-to-ups.2466663/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/for-those-who-ordered-click-collect.2466741/

 

[maxpipersid]

Exactly what the title says. I pre-ordered an Apple Watch Ultra 3 (Black Titanium, Black/Charcoal Trail Loop) on 9/9.

Was super excited to receive the watch yesterday, but then the delivery window slipped from between 12-2 to “before 7”.

It was finally marked ‘delivered’ at 8:29 PM, saying that the driver “met the customer”. No signature, no verification, nothing. This watch was not delivered to me.

I filed a claim with UPS. When I attempted to contact Apple via messages, they gave me the same answer:

“Due to extremely high volumes we are unable to answer your chat at this time. Please try again later.”

So I wait until this morning and I call them on the phone. I’m still on hold. What in the world is going on?

So exactly how is this Apple's fault? Clearly an issue with UPS. What do you expect? Apple to issue a refund?

 

[Howard2k]

Here’s a similar situation with a few other folks; this year has a lot of issues with delivery and in store pickup of iPhone 17 and Apple Watch S11/Ultra 3 orders:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/anyone-else-not-getting-launch-day-delivery-due-to-ups.2466663/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/for-those-who-ordered-click-collect.2466741/

It hasn't been super. I didn't get the band I wanted (black Alpine) because 1) I would have to wait until October, and 2) I'm not likely to wear it often anyway, so went with terracotta to get launch day availability. Then they called me the morning of pickup (launch day) and said that the terracotta band wasn't available yet and I could wait for a few days or order a third choice.

In the end I went with the third choice. Frustrating, but I will say that the folks in the store handled it really well, they called me to ensure that I knew what was happening and to let me know my options.

Disappointing, but also well handled.

 

[goldmac2006]

It hasn't been super. I didn't get the band I wanted (black Alpine) because 1) I would have to wait until October, and 2) I'm not likely to wear it often anyway, so went with terracotta to get launch day availability. Then they called me the morning of pickup (launch day) and said that the terracotta band wasn't available yet and I could wait for a few days or order a third choice.

In the end I went with the third choice. Frustrating, but I will say that the folks in the store handled it really well, they called me to ensure that I knew what was happening and to let me know my options.

Disappointing, but also well handled.

That’s how one of the linked posts I saw an iPhone 17PM user got his iPhone in blue as the silver in 512GB was out of stock or not available.

But at least your local Apple Store did ring you to notify the status of the online order pickup; some customers had been stressed so much that they had to talk to the manager about it

 

[CalebEdenburn]

Sometimes delivery drivers steal stuff. Or deliver to the wrong address. It sounds like a delivery issue, not an Apple issue, but hopefully they can help. Have you called the delivery service?

Good luck! Super frustrating.

Yeah definitely not an apple problem, the customer service rep I finally got on the phone was super sweet and helpful. They’re replacing the watch thankfully

 

[CalebEdenburn]

So exactly how is this Apple's fault? Clearly an issue with UPS. What do you expect? Apple to issue a refund?

It’s not apples fault. Never claimed it was. But just like they always do, their customer service team fixed the issue for me and is sending a replacement. Super thankful to them for best in class customer service

 

[4sallypat]

Good to hear the outcome but now I know what Apple specifies / requires Signature required for their devices.

I wish Apple would further restrict it to say "Adult over 21 years" requirement like they do with alcohol !

 

[goldmac2006]

Good to hear the outcome but now I know what Apple specifies / requires Signature required for their devices.

I wish Apple would further restrict it to say "Adult over 21 years" requirement like they do with alcohol !

😂 but Apple doesn’t sell alcoholic beverages at Caffe Macs! Only when there used to be the WWDC bash…

 

[BSoares]

I’ve had fedex mark something as delivered when it was late like that and there was nothing. But they came next morning and delivered it. I guess he scanned the package and kept it in the truck so he could go home and then finished the job the next day.

 

[jz0309]

Good to hear the outcome but now I know what Apple specifies / requires Signature required for their devices.

I wish Apple would further restrict it to say "Adult over 21 years" requirement like they do with alcohol !

so if I were 20 and ordered a new iPhone, paid for it in full, I'd have to have my parents sign? Great idea!