Reservations for In-Store Next-Day Pickup to Start Monday (23 Sep)

[BruiserB]

As I was in line this morning waiting for the non-existant Sunday delivery, the rep who said nothing was left did say that starting Monday evening there would be availability posted for each store's next day shipment and that people would be able to reserve a phone online, so it won't be necessary to stand outside the store each morning.

Has anyone else been told the same thing? Does anyone know if Apple will likely receive new stock on the Monday after launch...or will it be Tuesday before any new phones are received?

 

[MRSucks]

Best of luck getting an order online successfully for next day pick-up. You really need to be fast, accurate, stores near you have stocks and very lucky! That's how I did it last year. Some people got lucky falling in line early before opening at the Apple Stores if and when they have extra stocks.

 

[PTVMan]

I seem to remember this being the case last year with the 5. If so, the system would be in place Monday night after 10p local time for pickup the next day.

 

[dave420]

Best of luck getting an order online successfully for next day pick-up. You really need to be fast, accurate, stores near you have stocks and very lucky! That's how I did it last year. Some people got lucky falling in line early before opening at the Apple Stores if and when they have extra stocks.

As you said you really do need to be fast, and luck helps too. I tried it at least 6 or 7 nights last year at the right time and never saw any stock available near me.

 

[MRSucks]

Yep-many posters even call it a "lottery". Haha. It is NOT that hard / NOT really a 1 to millions odd getting one ... for us savvy and gadget lovers.

You will get one eventually, if not on the first night of trying or 2nd week or whatever. Just keep on trying with better strategy / more flexibility each time.

 

[BruiserB]

Even though I'm a T-mobile customer, I have been thinking about trying to get a Verizon "device-only" phone, so that it has maximum re-sale flexibility.

I tried to go through the regular online ordering process for a Verizon phone to see if device only is a possibility....doesn't appear to be. I know you can get device only at the store. For next-day pickup reservations do you have to go through the same contract selection process, or can you specify device only or make no specification and just tell them device only when you pick up the phone? Or if forced to select a plan, etc., could I tell them to change it to device only when I pick up the phone without being on the hook for any activation or phone plan from VZ....I would be canceling the plan before activating anything, so I can't see how they could force me to pay for something. I realize it might be possible to save a couple of bucks by somehow activating on VZ and just pay the ETF, but I really don't want to go through that hassle.

 

[KPOM]

Even though I'm a T-mobile customer, I have been thinking about trying to get a Verizon "device-only" phone, so that it has maximum re-sale flexibility.

I tried to go through the regular online ordering process for a Verizon phone to see if device only is a possibility....doesn't appear to be. I know you can get device only at the store. .

I think it's been different from year to year. For the 4S you just had to select the carrier, and then you bought the phone and set up the contract when you went to the store. Last year when they set up the reservation system you had to enter your contract information. Ostensibly it was to speed up things inside the store, but the effect was that it temporarily cut off the "device only" back door to an unlocked phone until the reservation system was lifted a few weeks later. Even then, you could try showing up at stores after 8:30 or so to see if they had any releases from no-shows or customers who changed their minds.

 

[BruiserB]

Yep-many posters even call it a "lottery". Haha. It is NOT that hard / NOT really a 1 to millions odd getting one ... for us savvy and gadget lovers.

You will get one eventually, if not on the first night of trying or 2nd week or whatever. Just keep on trying with better strategy / more flexibility each time.

Where do you enter the "lottery" at 10pm? From the overall Apple store page, or do you go to the page for the actual Apple Store you want to go to? Or can you put the model(s) you want and it will tell you which store(s) near you will have that phone?

 

[AceMason]

Does anyone know if you can use in-store reservation if you want to exchange for a different model?

 

[KPOM]

Where do you enter the "lottery" at 10pm? From the overall Apple store page, or do you go to the page for the actual Apple Store you want to go to? Or can you put the model(s) you want and it will tell you which store(s) near you will have that phone?

Last year there was a link from the main Apple iPhone web page when they rolled it out. Since it hasn't been officially announced it isn't there yet, but if it's true I'd go to http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/ and click the "Buy Now" link once they make the announcement.

 

[dave420]

Where do you enter the "lottery" at 10pm? From the overall Apple store page, or do you go to the page for the actual Apple Store you want to go to? Or can you put the model(s) you want and it will tell you which store(s) near you will have that phone?

I believe you go through the regular order process in apple.com and select in store pickup. The web site will then tell you which stores have the device in stock.

 

[BruiserB]

I think it's been different from year to year. For the 4S you just had to select the carrier, and then you bought the phone and set up the contract when you went to the store. Last year when they set up the reservation system you had to enter your contract information. Ostensibly it was to speed up things inside the store, but the effect was that it temporarily cut off the "device only" back door to an unlocked phone until the reservation system was lifted a few weeks later. Even then, you could try showing up at stores after 8:30 or so to see if they had any releases from no-shows or customers who changed their minds.

So I guess that would make tomorrow the last day that there could maybe be a shipment of phones to the stores that won't be pre-reserved?

 

[KPOM]

So I guess that would make tomorrow the last day that there could maybe be a shipment of phones to the stores that won't be pre-reserved?

Potentially, at least until the supplies are more plentiful. Last year I think they had it in place for about 3-4 weeks.

 

[laurasaur25]

Does anyone know how this would work if I already ordered online using an upgrade? I have the general "October" delivery estimate so would love to be able to just reserve for in store pickup. Would I be able to reserve and then cancel the previous order and get my upgrade back right away?

 

[Qoo]

went to 3 different Apple stores today and non of them have the 5S in stock, two of the stores have 2 of the 5S Sprint version in stock, which is not what i am looking for. They all told me start from tomorrow i can reserve online and pickup the next day!

I hope by the time they publish the inventory i can see some Gold or Silver color available

Good luck with all of you for hunting....

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Does anyone know how this would work if I already ordered online using an upgrade? I have the general "October" delivery estimate so would love to be able to just reserve for in store pickup. Would I be able to reserve and then cancel the previous order and get my upgrade back right away?

what is the current status of your order? do you still see the Cancel button? if you do then yes you can cancel the online order and reserve for in store pickup.

 

[bwapod]

Does anyone know how this would work if I already ordered online using an upgrade? I have the general "October" delivery estimate so would love to be able to just reserve for in store pickup. Would I be able to reserve and then cancel the previous order and get my upgrade back right away?

Yeah, but make sure you cancel your online order BEFORE it goes into "prepared for shipping". As a number of us learned last year, at that point you cannot cancel the online order and will have to wait for it to arrive.

It was frustrating for us as the "prepared for shipping" lasted for almost a week for me and a few others...

 

[laurasaur25]

My order is still processing and likely will be for quite a while considering I wasn't able to order until Saturday afternoon.

Can I reserve a phone before canceling? I don't want to risk canceling without being guaranteed a reservation.

 

[bigscotal]

Can anybody spell out for me exactly how the reserve and collect system generally works, and at what point in the process you would see the option?

I've tried running through the process for something like an iPad, which should have had no supply issues I would have thought, but at no point do I see an option to reserve for in store collection?? I configured the iPad options, added it to my basket, but obviously stopped short of actually "checking out".

 

[orangebluedevil]

Can anybody spell out for me exactly how the reserve and collect system generally works, and at what point in the process you would see the option?

I've tried running through the process for something like an iPad, which should have had no supply issues I would have thought, but at no point do I see an option to reserve for in store collection?? I configured the iPad options, added it to my basket, but obviously stopped short of actually "checking out".

details will be here tomorrow, but in general, each night at X pm, the app will populate which stores have the color you want. You click Buy as fast as you can, and if you get it, then you have until closing the next day to pick it up from that store.

 

[metzy25]

Does anyone know if you can use in-store reservation if you want to exchange for a different model?

Wondering the same thing!

 

[bigscotal]

details will be here tomorrow, but in general, each night at X pm, the app will populate which stores have the color you want. You click Buy as fast as you can, and if you get it, then you have until closing the next day to pick it up from that store.

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it.

When you say "app", do you just mean the Apple Store website, or do you specifically mean the Apple Store App?

I'm in the UK, and interestingly if I go to the US store, then I can see the option "Available for pickup: Check for availability" when I configure an iPad, however if I do exactly the same on the UK store, I don't see this option, regardless of which device I choose (i.e. iPad, iPod etc)

I'm assuming the reserve & collect option is indeed available in the UK, so not sure why the difference.

 

[sleepyking]

Wondering the same thing!

No you cannot. If it's the same as last year you can only purchase, not exchange

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Thanks for the reply, appreciate it.

When you say "app", do you just mean the Apple Store website, or do you specifically mean the Apple Store App?

I'm in the UK, and interestingly if I go to the US store, then I can see the option "Available for pickup: Check for availability" when I configure an iPad, however if I do exactly the same on the UK store, I don't see this option, regardless of which device I choose (i.e. iPad, iPod etc)

I'm assuming the reserve & collect option is indeed available in the UK, so not sure why the difference.

You can do it both on the apple website or app.
Suggest you turn on express checkout and have your city/zip code already entered before X pm

Then about 5 minutes before X pm, keep refreshing the window where it lists the nearest stores and availabilities. Once it hits X pm or shortly after, the status next to each store will turn green and say "available" if it has stock.

That's how I remember doing it last year

 

[tymaster50]

All this for a phone though. It's not that serious.

"Relax, retire, enjoy your family, it's just a phone, it's not worth it" - The e-mail from Steve Jobs

 

[leebroath]

If this is true then Apple in Australia should reveal the reservation option first then

What time is it GMT when it's 10pm in Australia?

 

[bigscotal]

No you cannot. If it's the same as last year you can only purchase, not exchange

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You can do it both on the apple website or app.
Suggest you turn on express checkout and have your city/zip code already entered before X pm

Then about 5 minutes before X pm, keep refreshing the window where it lists the nearest stores and availabilities. Once it hits X pm or shortly after, the status next to each store will turn green and say "available" if it has stock.

That's how I remember doing it last year

Thanks again. Makes perfect sense when I look at the US store, but nothing similar seems to be available on the UK store at present. Perhaps they have temporarily suspended reservations due to the new handsets releases, who knows. Guess I'll just need to keep an eye on things and see if that changes in the next day or two.