I had every intention of pre-ordering at 12:01 a.m. PT but in anticipation, I consumed an entire bottle of chardonnay while watching multiple episodes of Mixology on Netflix. I'm not sure if it was the wine or that terrible show that put me to sleep, but alas, there'd be no midnight pre-ordering for me. Interestingly, I managed to peel my drunken self off the floor at about 2 a.m. and thought of heading to ye old MacBook Air to place a pre-order but I quickly dismissed that notion as I crawled to my bed.
Anywho... At 6:45 a.m. PT, after 4 or so hours of sleep, I arose from slumber with a pounding headache and the primary goal of placing my pre-order. I initially tried on my iPhone using the Apple Store app, but it wasn't working properly. So I tried my iPad. I was able to initiate the process but it stalled. Tried Apple.com was able to get through to configuring the order (iPhone 6, 128GB, Space Grey with AT&T Next) but when I tried to add it to the cart, I received an error message that read "Customers who use their iPhone primarily in New York cannot use the AT&T Next purchase option online." "WTF?", I whispered to myself. While I've had an NYC number for the last 13 years, I haven't lived in NYC since 2006. So I was perturbed at that. Didn't really understand why those with a NY number couldn't use AT&T next on apple.com nor did I care to investigate why at the time because, you know... hangoverville.
I then went to att.com to see if I could place the pre-order there. Shockingly, the process was pretty smooth. Shockingly, because att.com is the worst e-commerce site ever. I had no hiccups or issues. I was given a 9/19 delivery date on the site and within minutes received an e-mail confirming the order as well as the aforementioned delivery date. I was so surprised at how well that went, I thought I might have still been sleeping. Thankfully, it was real.
So I went about my morn, preparing for the day, grunting 'ugh' every time the sunlight caught my eyes, when I heard the lovely incoming e-mail chime. I checked my phone and saw that it was an email from AT&T. The subject read "Your att.com order ************ needs further attention". "WTF?", I yelled out loud. The message encouraged me to contact AT&T immediately. So I did. And waited an eternity until I received an automated message of something about technical difficulties. BS, whatever. I tried calling back but received the same BS message. "Eff it," I say to myself, "I'll call those bastards back later."
At about 12:30, I was able to speak to a rep. Aubrey. She was polite and very helpful. She explained that they needed to confirm the shipping address. Really? Anyways, I confirmed it and everything was in order. I was concerned that my delivery date might be pushed back, but Aubrey said that my iPhone 6 was still scheduled to deliver by the 19th. "Goodie," I declared. All was in order.
Until I decided to check my order status online an hour or two later. (We all check our order status at least 10 times a day leading up to delivery). ATT.com now gave me a shipping date of 10/13/14 - 10/31/14! "How the hell?", I yelled. After a moment of cursing AT&T in my head, I calmed myself down in hopes that ridiculous date was some computer generated falsification. After all, Aubrey told me the 19th. And humans never ever lie to other humans. And they had already charged my CC. So I went about my day as if I had never saw that absurd delivery timeframe.
Fast forward to a few moments ago. I'm home. And suddenly rememberedthat I had pre-ordered a brand spanking new iPhone 6. Instead of relying on att.com's ball of lies of when my phone would deliver, I decided to call the customer service line. I used the automated system and would you believe it said "the items in your order are on backorder"? WHAT THE ****?!?!? AT&T can never get their **** together.
But I've decided that I'm just going to play it out and see what happens between now and next Friday. If I receive my delivery next Friday, "goodie". If not, I'll definitely give Aubrey a call.
And yes, I'm drinking chardonnay again tonight.
