I'm planning to pre-order an iPhone 4 through Apple.com as a new AT&T customer. Is it still safe to pre-order an iPhone 4? I don't mind receiving it on Mid July. Also, I plan to use a debit card, will that be a problem?
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Safe to pre-order iPhone 4 on Monday?
- Thread starter ronaldcastillo
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the servers were suffering this part week because over 600,000 people were trying to pre-order all at once, but most of hysteria has died down now and so come monday (or now) you should be fine to pre-order.
debit card is also accepted by Apple
debit card is also accepted by Apple
You can use a debit card if it has a Visa or Mastercard logo on it. I used my debit card (w/ MC logo) to pre order with AT&T on the 15th and everything's been fine.
A good friend of mine, sitting right next to me, walked into AT&T the day of. They told him they could not accept his debit card. He then said "Okay, I'll go get some cash, be right back" and they further told him they would not accept cash either. My experience has been the same, they would not accept by debit card.
I do not think it is safe yet.
I tried about 3 hours ago, and got the message:
"We were unable to complete set up online. To finish creating your account, visit an Apple Retail Store starting on June 24."
When I tried it a second time, I got to the "enter your SSN, etc." screen and it displayed a warning saying that multiple credit checks will lower my credit rating or something to that effect. I decided to toss in the towel at that point.
I used the "Create a new AT&T account - give me a new phone number." option.
I'm pretty unhappy about the whole pre-order process here. I understand that 600,000 is a lot of phones -- but be real, 600,000 is a very small number of transactions for a modern computer service. I mean, at Lycos we commonly wrote services that handled millions of fairly complex transactions per hour. (And Lycos isn't even at the top of the food chain for major Internet services.)
- Don
I tried about 3 hours ago, and got the message:
"We were unable to complete set up online. To finish creating your account, visit an Apple Retail Store starting on June 24."
When I tried it a second time, I got to the "enter your SSN, etc." screen and it displayed a warning saying that multiple credit checks will lower my credit rating or something to that effect. I decided to toss in the towel at that point.
I used the "Create a new AT&T account - give me a new phone number." option.
I'm pretty unhappy about the whole pre-order process here. I understand that 600,000 is a lot of phones -- but be real, 600,000 is a very small number of transactions for a modern computer service. I mean, at Lycos we commonly wrote services that handled millions of fairly complex transactions per hour. (And Lycos isn't even at the top of the food chain for major Internet services.)
- Don
Yes and no. For sites that don't normally receive that kind of traffic, you can't blame them for having problems.
FYI, to the OP. My friend just ordered his on Apple.com for July delivery. It worked flawlessly.
Unless you want to order from AT&T who STILL as preorders suspended. Come on it has been 5 days, aren't they caught up by now?! I don't want to pay the activation fee, or have to call later to add my FAN discount.
Tried again:
"We are unable to connect at this time."
"We're sorry. There was a problem connecting to the server. Please continue to the next page where you can save your information with an Apple ID, then make an appointment at your nearest Apple Retail Store, where a Specialist will be ready to help you. If you don't want to make an appointment, please try again later."
It's not a huge deal, but I'd like to get into the queue for a late July delivery at least.
Oh, and they want to charge a $36.00 "one-time activation fee"... Is that only through the Apple.Com site? Does AT&T charge an activation fee?
"We are unable to connect at this time."
"We're sorry. There was a problem connecting to the server. Please continue to the next page where you can save your information with an Apple ID, then make an appointment at your nearest Apple Retail Store, where a Specialist will be ready to help you. If you don't want to make an appointment, please try again later."
It's not a huge deal, but I'd like to get into the queue for a late July delivery at least.
Oh, and they want to charge a $36.00 "one-time activation fee"... Is that only through the Apple.Com site? Does AT&T charge an activation fee?
if your debit card has the Visa/Master Card logo, I don't see why they wouldn't accept it. I know they don't accept a plain debit card that only requires a pin number.
Thanks! I plan to pre-order on Monday. I want to deposit the money first onto my sister's debit card, and it will be under my Mother's name for AT&T. Also, can I request a new phone number, but if I don't like it will I be charge extra to port over my current T-Mobile number? Also, the voice/message/data plan that I choose on the Apple site, I could always change it right?
Walked into my AT&T store with a Bank Of America Debit check card from Visa and they accepted it, went through fine.
Of course I'm still holding my breathe until I get a shipping confirmation (with the tracking info, I already got an order confirmation).
Serious? That's pretty messed up. My friend is pissed off about it. I had the same problem. Maybe it's my local store?
Does he have the same card? Multiple people on the forums have confirmed success with the same card as me. Maybe it is your store, I'm not sure.
Just an FYI to everyone, if your debit card has a Visa/Mastercard logo I am pretty sure that you can use it anywhere a credit card is accepted regardless of whether or not they take debit cards.
I went to AT&T to preorder on the 15th and they wouldn't let me use a debit card either. They said it had to do with there being a hold on the money. Like someone could take money out of their account at the last minute and they wouldn't get paid. Luckly my friend let me use his credit card.
Just to clarify since "debit cards" have only been out about 20 years or so now..
A Debit Card has a Visa or Master Card Logo on it.
It can not be denied anywhere they accept Visa and Master Card.
If it doesn't have the Visa or MC logo, it is an ATM card not a debit card.
A Debit Card has a Visa or Master Card Logo on it.
It can not be denied anywhere they accept Visa and Master Card.
If it doesn't have the Visa or MC logo, it is an ATM card not a debit card.
so i have a quick question regarding to debit card. I have a debit card that has mastercard on it. Let say i have $1000.00 in it, so when you place a pre-order that is like over a week before it ships. It show process for a day then it disappears on your bank accout, but its shows its still on hold like its says you have balance is $1000.00 but avaible is lets say $700.00 cause the phone is $300.
So it went on for like 3 days like that for me and now its says new balance is $1000.00 avaible $1000.00 as I understand is the bank only holds the transaction for only like 2-3 days. So should I worry about that at all and should I call them tell them my bank to keep that transaction from AT&T? By the way I have more than that in my bank account just using for an example
Sorry I high jack this thread I didn't want to make anoter one thought it would be good place since we were talking about credit cards and debit cards
So it went on for like 3 days like that for me and now its says new balance is $1000.00 avaible $1000.00 as I understand is the bank only holds the transaction for only like 2-3 days. So should I worry about that at all and should I call them tell them my bank to keep that transaction from AT&T? By the way I have more than that in my bank account just using for an example
Sorry I high jack this thread I didn't want to make anoter one thought it would be good place since we were talking about credit cards and debit cards
At this point it is a supply issue. Their first few batches of iPhones are spoken for and I don't think they know when they are getting more from Apple.
This has happened with everyone's accounts. The bank can only hold the funds for 3 days before releasing them, which is what it did when you placed the order; your account will be charged when the phone ships.
The activation fee is an AT&T thing, so they charge it as well, only I think it is $35. I have a FAN discount that waives that fee, and that is why I want to avoid ordering from apple, but I don't want to wait until the end of July for the phone, so I would like to know when AT&T will start getting the phones again so that I can decide what to do.