Some AT&T and Apple Store Customers Faced Unexpected Delays When Trying to Pre-Order iPhone X

[MacRumors]

iPhone X pre-orders began at 12:01 a.m. on the West Coast and 3:01 a.m. on the East Coast in the United States, with throngs of Apple customers rushing to purchase the device as quickly as possible in the middle of the night.

While many customers were able to complete their order quickly enough to receive a delivery date of November 3, the day the device launches, some using the AT&T app to pre-order faced unexpected delays of 10 to 15 minutes or longer.

One AT&T subscriber, for example, tweeted screenshots of the app showing that her estimated wait time was 18 minutes until she could pre-order an iPhone X, but once she got down to one minute remaining she lost her position in the virtual queue.

@ATTCares ...You care?? I just had to wait 18 min to pre order and then redirects me to the site and makes me wait AGAIN now 30 more min???? pic.twitter.com/2TrgOd47e6 - momof4always (@Bayley4everat20) October 27, 2017

A second AT&T customer Chris tweeted a screenshot of the app saying "there's been an error tracking your place in line" with a "try again" button. When he tried again, he said he was placed into another 35-minute queue.

What is this @ATT I wait 47 min for the iphone X after a supposedly 15 wait and then I get this message? I'm really dissatisfied right now. pic.twitter.com/agmmIxzYUz - Christopher Saker (@CJSaker) October 27, 2017

Meanwhile, some customers attempting to pre-order on Apple.com or with the Apple Store app said the storefront remained offline for around 10 to 20 minutes after iPhone X pre-orders officially began.

iPhone X shipping estimates slipped to 2-3 weeks for most models within just 15 minutes, and to 4-5 weeks within 30 minutes, so these hiccups mean that some customers might not receive their iPhone X until early December.

Apple typically underpromises with its shipping estimates, however, so some customers may receive their iPhone X earlier than expected.

A bit of good news is that some customers who received a message from Apple stating they "can't reach the carrier systems" have received an email with instructions to complete their order for delivery as early as November 3.

iPhone X shipping estimates are now holding steady at 5-6 weeks in the United States.

Article Link: Some AT&T and Apple Store Customers Faced Unexpected Delays When Trying to Pre-Order iPhone X

 

[WhoDatWayne]

The Apple App store would not come up for about 11 minutes for me. When it finally did, i was at 2-3 weeks out.

 

[gsmornot]

We're sorry. Your iPhone just slipped.

 

[SOLLERBOY]

2-3 Week wait at 6 past the hour when the app came back up for me for Silver 256GB 13-20 Delivery.

 

[FreeState]

I got stuck with these looping (I have screen shots). It went from a countdown to a 6-minute wait to a redirect to their home page and back to a 16-minute wait.

I ended up using Apples site and have a two week out delivery date.

 

[o9ski]

Get life or girlfriend, or both.

 

[Vol7ron]

Yeah, once again, At&t really screwed up! You would think that this would be pretty simple now. It happens once a year!

 

[Codyak]

I mean it's AT&T, you'd think people would have learned by now.

 

[Danbrown521]

ATTs site did that to me several times. Was able to get a launch day 64gb space grey using the Apple store app. A buddy of mine couldn’t get either to work for him. His is pushed back til end of November.

 

[BravesAndBeers]

I Was able to successfully get mine Nov 3rd through signing up for the iPhone Upgrade Program, but my wife wasn’t so lucky. She was told her zip code was wrong and she had to wait an hour to try again. -_-

 

[archvile]

"Walk into an Apple Store on Nov 3 and be able to pick up an X" MY ASS

Why do we let Apple lie to us? It seems all of the supply constraint rumors were true, at least to some degree, yet they flat out spun it around to make it sound like there would be plenty of inventory. Bull-****ing-****, Tim Cook.

 

[AudiA4]

I am an AT&T customer and used the Apple Store app...finally allowed me to begin the process about 4 minutes after start, and it even said "delivery or pickup by Nov. 3" but when I went to activate, I got the "can't reach the carrier servers" error...which ultimately prompted an alert from Apple that my iPhone X reservation was made, but that they would follow with an email later to complete my order. I just received the follow-up email an hour ago, and now delivery is scheduled between Nov. 17 - Nov. 24. Frustrating for ordering 4 minutes after availability, and frankly, as SOON as the app allowed me...

 

[archvile]

Yeah, once again, At&t really screwed up! You would think that this would be pretty simple now. It happens once a year!

Twice a year, this year.

 

[applemacfan007]

I was not able to buy it from the apple store because of having a business account that uses Verizon service but can't be authenticated on the apple store website. I ordered from the Verizon website by creating a new account. I paid full price for the phone. Do you guys think I would be able to cancel that plan when I receive the phone and keep the phone since I paid full price?

 

[Codyak]

"Walk into an Apple Store on Nov 3 and be able to pick up an X" MY ASS

Why do we let Apple lie to us? It seems all of the supply constraint rumors were true, at least to some degree, yet they flat out spun it around to make it sound like there would be plenty of inventory. Bull-****ing-****, Tim Cook.

Oh wow, you've been to the store and tried to get one already? How were the lines?

 

[iPunkin]

The Apple App store would not come up for about 11 minutes for me. When it finally did, i was at 2-3 weeks out.

Same, Apple Store app came online ~X:07 AM, and by then was 1-2 weeks..

 

[Mr. Chewbacca]

The Apple App store would not come up for about 11 minutes for me. When it finally did, i was at 2-3 weeks out.

Same here and it really pissed me off. I could have orderd it through the apple webpage but since I prequalified through the app it would not let me order the phone any other way than the (locked up) app.

4-5 weeks is not the end of the world or anything but I am pissed that I stayed up till 2 in the morning and pre-qualified for nothing. I wonder if it would do any good to call Apple customer service?

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

We're sorry. Your iPhone just slipped.

What is crazy is that the minute it went live and everyone was finally able to get in to order. The one I had reserved in my bag was already sold out. And all I could think of is, how is that possible?

 

[Nik]

Why don't they just accumulate pre-orders for the first half hour and make it a lottery? Would make it more fair in my opinion.

 

[VulchR]

Erm ... 'unexpected delays'? What was so unexpected?

 

[Vol7ron]

I posted this in a different thread, but figured I would se if anyone else had this issue...

After finally getting Apple's iOS app to work, I was able to add the phone to my cart, put 100 down to lower the cost by a couple of dollars, but then during the Apple Pay transaction, it timed out and said that it was unsuccessful. So I tried the payment again an it went right through. A few minutes later I get 2 Apple confirmations with different web order numbers for the phone. Now, I got the AT&T Next agreement for both web orders and they reference the same agreement number.

While I am sure that Apple's system will see it as a duplicate when it goes to ship and not ship the second phone, I am kinda hesitant to have them cancel one order in the off chance that it screws the other order. And forget calling them as their phone system is not taking calls at this time. Has anyone seen this in the past?

 

[Return Zero]

This was the messiest pre-ordering experience I've EVER had. I was using the Apple Store app on my iPhone 7. First of all, the store wasn't even up until 3:15. Then, literally at the first moment I could access the store (and I was checking like every 5 seconds), delivery shipping times had already slipped to 2-3 weeks on all models. Both black models still had Nov. 3 in-store pickup, so I tried to proceed with that, but I kept getting error messages, either when I tried to press continue to get to the carrier check page, or when the carrier check actually tried to process. I FINALLY got the damn thing in my bag around 3:45. Then I tried to pay with Apple Pay, and I got an error I had never seen before with Apple Pay where it said the payment couldn't be processed. So, I tried to pay again, it seemed to work fine, and I reached the pickup confirmation page. I checked my email and had TWO separate confirmations with different order numbers, so it looked like the first payment processed just fine after all. I guess I bought two phones on accident. But WTF APPLE. Still got my check-in window on the 3rd to pick up at 10am, so overall I'm fine with that, but that process was absolute garbage.

 

[pat500000]

Why on Earth are people complaining about few weeks delay? Right now it is 5-6 weeks delay. I will be happy with two weeks delay.

 

[TigerWoodsIV]

Glad I got lucky after hearing all these horror stories. Got through at like 3:04 or so, and since I'm on the IUP, I was able to complete the order in like 30 seconds or less so I got 11/3.

 

[Tom359]

Apple App took about 13 minutes past expected time to let me in store. Once in, I kept getting error messages when they attempted to contact the AT&T servers. Took me a total of about 20 mins to order, which now puts me in the 2-3 week club. When I ordered Watch 3, I was in and out in less than 2 minutes.