The Real Issue

[baller1308]

I think you should cancel your order.

Whenever there was an update to my order I was notified. I'm not sure what more you want. Hourly emails?

 

[5105973]

Apple totally misinformed the public. The fact is that they did not have a single pink watch ready and yet they claimed delivery 4/24 as a possibility.
I have placed my order at 3:01 and got an confirmation email from Apple at 3:02.
I still did not receive my watch!

And the saga continues, status on my shipment started to change on Sunday 4/26, but for the last 4 days there is not a single info of where the watch is located. What kind of delivery service is that? Never to be able to follow the path of a shipment and hope to be lucky to be at home at that moment when it comes?
The whole process is so vague and unpredictable. I cannot recognize Apple anymore and how disorganized everything became. I will probably like my watch when it comes one day, but I have lost enthusiasm. I also lost respect for Apple after decades of being devoted to their products especially for not coming out and apologizing for this mess.

Exactly! We are caught up in the Pink Watch debacle, too. Ours is a pink sport, but apparently this is happening to Pink Classic Buckle orders, as well. If we could have known that even ordering within five minutes of preorders opening up would fail to put us at least at a 4/28 ship date, we would likely have tried ordering another model as a birthday gift or gotten something else entirely. They had no business offering a 4/24 start date they apparently never had any intention of honoring. If they meant 4/28 or 4/29-5/8, they should have said so.

 

[adamk77]

 

 

[Rok73]

All Apple had to do is when you ordered the watch once you hit submit , it would come back with a pop-up window that would say something to the effect of :

"the watch is a unique launch, as opposed to our other products,and therefore you have a range of delivery times. Guaranteed it will deliver in that range. Click the okay button if you understand"

And then they would not have any problem at all ......l.

So you think it's not enough that people have exactly this information in the initial order confirmation email AND in their profile in the Apple Store?

 

[Cuyler]

...
People are upset because they *assumed* that 4/24-5/8 really meant 4/24. This isn't a debacle. Apple's system actually worked really well. The T-Mobile launch was a genuine debacle - the entire ordering system cratering and staff resorting to paper is a great example of how it shouldn't work.
...

Actually, I think people are upset they can't assume anything. A range of two weeks is too long. Your watch might come on the 24th.. or it might come 14 days later — who knows? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Perhaps people might be satisfied to wait their turn (even though they ordered immediately after preorders started), but it doesn't feel like orders are being delivered.. well.. in order. There's probably explanations — maybe they made lots of blue bands for boys and didn't expect such high demand for pink — maybe there are production problems — maybe it takes longer to go through customs in some countries — whatever! Even if Apple has good reasons for orders being out of order, some customers feel they are being treated unfairly.

I assume everything will be resolved in the coming weeks. Personally, I'm not in a terrible hurry to get a watch (although I would like to have a better idea of when the thing will arrive). However, it's apparent that a lot of people are genuinely upset, so I hope Apple does not feel their system has gone well.

 

[5105973]

Fact: Launch was not smooth.

Fact: We are acting like crack addicts.


When I look at my behavior objectively, I know that my behavior isn't rational. Constantly checking the order status, sharing information about my order time down to the seconds precision, waiting for Apple to take my hard earned money and see a charge on my CC, sharing in the jargon-izing of "EOD", assigning meaning to every little innocuous thing that happens at Apple (order status page goes down and I think "they're updating our order status!" when my head knows the most likely scenario is that it's just down), etc, etc. My head knows this, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

My order confirmation said 4.24 - 5.8. If I weren't on the Macrumors / Apple Watch forum, I would probably have just waited patiently until my watch arrived within the delivery window. But hey, I'm on here because I am excited and want to be part of the hype. Screw what the head wants.

Yeah, that about sums it up!

I do still wonder what the heck Apple is doing dawdling on their MacBooks, though. The watch I can sort of understand. Not sure why a mature product category is suffering from the same supply lag.

Just-in-time means the inventory gets to the customer just-in-time. Not within an almost 2 month delivery window.

 

[zmunkz]

Well it's not unreasonable for customers to have the expectation that the ordering process will proceed fairly closely to the way it's been conducted before, even for a new category of product. The customer IS paying hard earned money not just for the product itself but also for Apple's reputation for customer service and satisfaction.

The problem is not in the customer making assumptions. The problem is that Apple failed to do its own business as usual. They HAVE been slipping. With only a few exceptions here and there, it used to be so easy for us to hold out our money and for Apple to take it. Not lately. It's not just the Apple Watch. My husband was not able to get his hands on the new MacBook in time for an upcoming trip. He went to the Apple Store well after the launch of the MacBook to take a look at it. He decided he wanted it. They told him to order it online. Really, standing in a store that supposedly sells Apple products, he was told to go home and order it online. So he tried to. Current availability for his configuration is 4-6 weeks! The trip is in 2 weeks.

Apple is still a behemoth and can go ahead and become arrogant and abuse the customer's good will, but only up to a point. Then they will go the way of other companies and someone else will note Apple's mistakes and step up.

This Apple Watch has been widely touted as a product very personal to the wearer. Yet it's been sold in an unprecedentedly impersonal way. Ideally with a watch like this you would go in to see it in person first, make your selection and be able to walk out with your choice. If it's being marketed as a watch, it's not unreasonable for customers to expect it to be sold like a watch normally is.

Being told to first make an appointment for a try-on (AFTER most available watches are already sold out) and then to go back to order online is backwards.

There IS poor communication to the customers who did follow the backwards impersonal process Apple stipulated had to be followed. They DID screw up in rewarding those who followed this process well in advance of launch with only a delivery window instead of a launch day or very close to launch day receipt of product. For those saying a delivery window is fair, well perhaps, but it's still not the kind of customer service Apple should be aiming for. It leaves the burden on the customer to try and anticipate and plan for reception of the product without sufficient information to make such plans. The goal of business should be to try to reduce burdens on the customer and make it easy and desirable for us to give them our money!

It's not whining. This is simply discussion of how Apple deviated from their norm in customer service and the subsequent impact on customer satisfaction.

I did get my watch on launch day. I'm one out of only a small percentage of purchasers who did. We still have two watches left on order, one is in processing and the other appears to be preparing to ship, finally, barely in time to be the birthday gift it is intended to be.

Yes -- perfectly articulated! I agree completely

 

[Supermallet]

The latter.



Apple could come out today and say all watches are delayed for 8 months and people would say, "I'm so glad they're going back to the drawing board to provide me a perfect product. Apple is so awesome!!!!"

Oh woe is you. There's a huge difference between "If Apple delivers you the watch you ordered within the delivery window they specified then there's no basis for complaint" and "Oh gee they delayed all watches by another 8 months, thank you sir may I have another?"

If watch delivery dates slip past the listed delivery windows, then it's a real debacle. Could Apple have handled parts of this launch better? Definitely. Is this really worth getting that worked up over? Absolutely not.

 

[j0han]

Think of us who not even in the first wave yet. We scandinavians has to wait until late June....

 

[adammull]

Oh woe is you. There's a huge difference between "If Apple delivers you the watch you ordered within the delivery window they specified then there's no basis for complaint" and "Oh gee they delayed all watches by another 8 months, thank you sir may I have another?"

If watch delivery dates slip past the listed delivery windows, then it's a real debacle. Could Apple have handled parts of this launch better? Definitely. Is this really worth getting that worked up over? Absolutely not.

Again, another comment without addressing the facts. I ordered a Pink Sport. It said available 4/24-5/8. If I see a window, I assume some will get them each day. That is the point of the window. And the first to order, get them the 24th, more the 25th, and so on. Not a single pink was delivered in the entire world on Friday or over the weekend. So why did that window not start on say 4/28, today?

It's not worth getting worked up over in real life. But this a forum. A forum specifically full of Apple geeks and tech nerds, like myself, who come here to specifically discuss these things. Why is that so hard to understand? Do you think I'm talking like this in a staff meeting at work? No. This is where we come to act crazy and be irrational. We want our watches!

 

[Lucifer666]

Geesh, when I clicked this I thought there was something there.

 

[Tycho24]

All Apple had to do is when you ordered the watch once you hit submit , it would come back with a pop-up window that would say something to the effect of :

"the watch is a unique launch, as opposed to our other products,and therefore you have a range of delivery times. Guaranteed it will deliver in that range. Click the okay button if you understand"

And then they would not have any problem at all ......l.

Awesomesauce!!!
Youre post made me lol so hard, I almost cried. =D

 

[Arran]

Think of us who not even in the first wave yet. We scandinavians has to wait until late June....

Consider yourself lucky!

Seriously. By the time you get it, all the bugs will be worked out and production will have ramped-up such that every Swede who wants one (that's both of you) will get it on launch day by just strolling into an Apple store.

That, and you live in a lovely country. Full of calm, sane people

 

[Supermallet]

Again, another comment without addressing the facts. I ordered a Pink Sport. It said available 4/24-5/8. If I see a window, I assume some will get them each day. That is the point of the window. And the first to order, get them the 24th, more the 25th, and so on. Not a single pink was delivered in the entire world on Friday or over the weekend. So why did that window not start on say 4/28, today?



It's not worth getting worked up over in real life. But this a forum. A forum specifically full of Apple geeks and tech nerds, like myself, who come here to specifically discuss these things. Why is that so hard to understand? Do you think I'm talking like this in a staff meeting at work? No. This is where we come to act crazy and be irrational. We want our watches!

You know what? I'll amend my statement. Apple said the watches will be available starting the 24th. They didn't say only specific models. If they really didn't ship any pink bands or leather loops until after the 24th, then that is a problem. I will grant you that.

 

[adammull]

You know what? I'll amend my statement. Apple said the watches will be available starting the 24th. They didn't say only specific models. If they really didn't ship any pink bands or leather loops until after the 24th, then that is a problem. I will grant you that.

Success!! Free forum debates do work!!

In all honesty Apple has spoiled us with previous launches. We're used to 3AM orders being delivered Day One.

 

[joraem]

Yes -- perfectly articulated! I agree completely

This ^^

It is a change from the superior customer service that set apple apart from others. Perhaps it's unavoidable. But it is a change nonetheless. Some will view it as being just fine. Personally, it's disappointing. Not angry about it. Not whining about it. Just noting that to me, it's a sea change in apple's way of relating to its customers.

 

[Canezmd]

totally agree with the OP

 

[McPhallus]

My order confirmation said 4.24 - 5.8. If I weren't on the Macrumors / Apple Watch forum, I would probably have just waited patiently until my watch arrived within the delivery window. But hey, I'm on here because I am excited and want to be part of the hype. Screw what the head wants.

Well said. Obsessing is part of the fun. It's a shared experience. It's a shame, though, to see how some get carried away. I've noticed a lot more infighting around here, in the last couple of days, even among people who have gotten their watches.

 

[jjlannoo]

Cry when they miss the 5-8 date. Till then your watch is still on time. Maybe they thought they would possibly be ready sooner.

 

[joraem]

No one is crying. Go back and re-read the thread. They have clearly not missed the shipping date (yet).

The point is simple: poor communication by Apple senior management on this launch - to mid-management, to customer service reps (each of whom have no current informational share with customers) and to customers themselves. Poor communication is the opposite of Apple's (previously well-earned) reputation. Even if you support the "they didn't miss the window" yet position, I'm not sure how anyone can back the lack of substantive communication ...

 

[TheGreenBastard]

I love your username.

From parts unknown....

I'll ****in' piledrive the next guy who complains about the preorders.

 

[joraem]

I'll ****in' piledrive the next guy who complains about the preorders.

Why?

 

[TheGreenBastard]

Why?

I'm the Green Bastard from Parts Unknown...That's why.

 

[Black Belt]

The "delivery window" was an unwanted surprise that was sprung on us without warning. I realize the lapdogs go along with anything that Apple spews out but this was really annoying and CLEARLY they didn't have their **** together and Angela has no idea how to rollout an Apple product.

----------

I'll ****in' piledrive the next guy who complains about the preorders.

Like we're the least bit afraid of Canadians.

 

[martinctv]

Again, another comment without addressing the facts. I ordered a Pink Sport. It said available 4/24-5/8. If I see a window, I assume some will get them each day. That is the point of the window. And the first to order, get them the 24th, more the 25th, and so on. Not a single pink was delivered in the entire world on Friday or over the weekend. So why did that window not start on say 4/28, today?

It's not worth getting worked up over in real life. But this a forum. A forum specifically full of Apple geeks and tech nerds, like myself, who come here to specifically discuss these things. Why is that so hard to understand? Do you think I'm talking like this in a staff meeting at work? No. This is where we come to act crazy and be irrational. We want our watches!

Don't take it personal, people on this forum always have to put you down or say something negative because you have something to say or a comment about your watch order. Just ignore the "woe is you type of people" I agree with wha you say.