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Ordered a MacBookPro...but shipping times?

G

GuyCalledPete

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 10, 2008
49
0
Hi,

I ordered a MBP last night - my old laptop is really on it's last legs and struggling these days, and it's been hell to hold off buying until the new machines were announced...

Anyway - I live in the UK but I'm away from home most of the time (mostly in Belgium), I figured to make sure there's no additional complexity I'd have the machine delivered to my UK address...they projected 3-7 business days for shipping, and I figured that as I'm actually home next Thursday evening for the weekend, this would be ideal for me to collect it when it arrives...

The order confirmation tells a different story though:
-----
We estimate your order to be shipped 7 business days.
We estimate your order will be delivered to your shipping address
on or before 30 Oct, 2008 - 31 Oct, 2008.
-----

How the hell is 7 business days taking me up to 30th/31st October?!

After I go away again on 26th October, I won't have an opportunity to get the MBP until 7th Nov.

Can anyone tell me how Apple deliveries usually work regarding this stuff, is the 30/31 Oct a "cover your ass" figure from Apple to allow for exceptional delays, or is it highly likely that I won't get the MBP before then?

Oh, not only that - but when I click on the web order number in my confirmation email to view the order tracking, I get a 404 error...I guess that's not normal!

Also this will be the first time I'll have owned a Mac, and I have only really used one for maximum 5 minutes at any one time before. Can anyone give me any advice that a new-Mac owner might need? :)

2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1066Mz DDR3 SDRM-2x2GB
320GB Serial ATA @ 7200
SuperDrive 8X DL
Mini DisplayPort - VGA Adapter
Apple Remote
Aperture Preinstalled
KYBD/User's Guide -B
Country Kit-GBR
(Thinking of buying AppleCare later from a 3rd party)

Cheers,

Pete.
 
The "Shipping in: X-Y business days" is the time it would take for them to process your order and actually ship the computer from the warehouse. Usually it takes 1-2 days... so I guess they either don't have it yet or they are reserving the stocks for the retail stores. So the max # of days = Y days + estimating shipping time. I just ordered mine today and it said it'll arrive sometime next week. (I'm in Canada) If you need that asap, I'd suggest you to cancel the order now and get it at a local retail store sometime before you leave town unless you have to order it in some edu or small biz online stores.
 
I ordered pretty much the same as you last night in the UK.

It also said 7 business days for me, but expected delivery is even worse: 31st October - 3rd November!

I think Apple is falling behind the rest of the industry on delivery at the moment. Many good retailers can now tell you exactly what day your delivery will arrive before you place an order.
 
Clicking on the web order number in the email does nothing for me, but I can go to the Apple Store website and log into my account to see the order status.

Give it another try, Apple's website was clearly getting hammered last night!
 
Ordered it from Denmark i got 29-30 oct. I guess they calculate the amount of orders aswell, i'd imagine they recived alot of orders last night and theres limits to how many orders a logistics department can handle a day.

Mine was custom btw, not regular system config.
 
Mircera said:
Ordered it from Denmark i got 29-30 oct. I guess they calculate the amount of orders aswell, i'd imagine they recived alot of orders last night and theres limits to how many orders a logistics department can handle a day.

Mine was custom btw, not regular system config.
Click to expand...

Very true, but it would be better if they quoted estimated arrival date rather than estimated despatch date when ordering so there are no nasty surprises when the order confirmation arrives! It all seems to be automated anyway, so there is no excuse for not setting expectation correctly at the point of ordering.
 
Same here, which is a bit disappointing as it looks like US customers are getting their ones within a couple of days.
 
Rankrotten said:
It is shipped direct from the Apple factory in China and not the UK hence the delay.
Click to expand...

Yes, and Apple obviously knows that right from the start, so they should make it clear on the ordering page. Telling you when it is going to be despatched is irrelevant; we only need to know when it's going to arrive.
 
Rankrotten said:
It is shipped direct from the Apple factory in China and not the UK hence the delay.
Click to expand...

I've had stuff shipped from China before, but I'd just have thought there'd be some stock in Europe ahead of the launch. But then I guess that stock is going to their stores and resellers.
 
rushmere said:
Yes, and Apple obviously knows that right from the start, so they should make it clear on the ordering page. Telling you when it is going to be despatched is irrelevant; we only need to know when it's going to arrive.
Click to expand...

Exactly this...anyway - I'll see if I can call Apple today and see if they can give me a better delivery date, if not then I'll cancel the order, and decide what to do next. I had pretty much talked myself into going down the Apple route this time, and didn't even do any comparison shopping to find out what kind of windows machine I could get for the same money after the new Apple latops were announced...maybe I'll take the time to step back and do that if I cancel the order.

So - assuming I get the delivery dates sorted out, is there any advice people have for a complete Mac noob?

Pete.
 
...and after a quick call to Apple the order is now cancelled. :(

Damnit - appalling way to handle it as mentioned above - the "shipping date" is of no use to customers, we need to know when it'll be delivered. If I knew when placing the order that the delivery wouldn't be until the end of October then I wouldn't have wasted my time.

Pete.
 
GuyCalledPete said:
...and after a quick call to Apple the order is now cancelled. :(

Damnit - appalling way to handle it as mentioned above - the "shipping date" is of no use to customers, we need to know when it'll be delivered. If I knew when placing the order that the delivery wouldn't be until the end of October then I wouldn't have wasted my time.

Pete.
Click to expand...

I've just filled in Apple's feedback form to suggest they switch to arrival date instead of despatch date. You never know, it's always worth a try!
 
When mine was still in "Prepared for shipment" it was projected to arrive between Oct 21 - 27.

Now that it has shipped, they have something concrete in Oct. 20

The estimatations are just to cover Apple's butt. They have no idea when it's going to arrive until it's picked up. And even then, it's up to FedEx, DHL or whatever they use
 
Minder Thr33 said:
When mine was still in "Prepared for shipment" it was projected to arrive between Oct 21 - 27.

Now that it has shipped, they have something concrete in Oct. 20

The estimatations are just to cover Apple's butt. They have no idea when it's going to arrive until it's picked up. And even then, it's up to FedEx, DHL or whatever they use
Click to expand...

Good to hear that they're managing to beat the estimates.

However, I don't agree that "they have no idea when it's going to arrive until it's picked up". Apple should know what type of courier service they're buying, and it will have an agreed service level. It may be a range of dates, but that range will be part of the contract with the courier(s). They also know how many orders they've got, and how long it takes to fulfil orders.

I'm not saying it's easy to achieve, but it is possible, and some other suppliers do manage to provide this service. It would be a commercial advantage to Apple to provide this level of service when you are paying for a premium product. I have on more than one occasion bought an Apple product from a reseller instead of going direct to Apple, because the reseller has given better delivery information. The reseller makes a margin on the product, so that means less profit for Apple.
 
I ordered my full blown MBP w/320g 7200 and 2.8ghz early yesterday afternoon and it shows an estimated delivery of Oct 20-24th. Apple order status is still "Not yet shipped"
 
Mine is estimated to deliver between next monday (10/20) and firday (10/24).

I really hope I get it before Thursday because I have to leave town on Friday and would hate to know my nice MBP wouldn't be able to be picked up until Monday morning.
 
Update

Trimmer2 said:
I ordered my full blown MBP w/320g 7200 and 2.8ghz early yesterday afternoon and it shows an estimated delivery of Oct 20-24th. Apple order status is still "Not yet shipped"
Click to expand...

My status has been updated to "Shipped" and is expected to arrive on Monday 10/20.
 
Trimmer2,

Where are you ordering from? I ordered a 2.8ghz online (from Hawaii) yesterday morning, and it still has not shipped yet.
 
Trimmer2 said:
I ordered my full blown MBP w/320g 7200 and 2.8ghz early yesterday afternoon and it shows an estimated delivery of Oct 20-24th. Apple order status is still "Not yet shipped"
Click to expand...

can you tell us where you're from?
 
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