UPS Shows Some iPhone 7 Shipments Bouncing Back and Forth Between U.S. and Asia

[friedkimchi]

Maybe Apple is doing a recall before it even reaches customers? Heard the coil whine issue is pretty loud.

When does the "s" version come out? Looking to pick up my first iPhone next year.

 

[magisman]

UPS told me: I deeply apologize for the delay and the inconvenience this delay may cause. It seems that all Apple packages have encountered a delay in transit due to Apple operating plans and the delivery dates are being affected.

When I asked what "Apple operating plans" meant they said:

Due to special Apple operating plans, scheduled delivery dates fluctuate on U.S. imports. You would have to contact Apple to find out what those plans are.

So UPS is blaming Apple. I can't get through to Apple support to find out if they're blaming UPS or not.

I received this same response on an Apple Watch order.

 

[MrGimper]

Maybe they figured out a way to make the jet black color less prone to scratches???

Fixed the hissing processor?

 

[Tycho24]

UPS told me: I deeply apologize for the delay and the inconvenience this delay may cause. It seems that all Apple packages have encountered a delay in transit due to Apple operating plans and the delivery dates are being affected.

When I asked what "Apple operating plans" meant they said:

Due to special Apple operating plans, scheduled delivery dates fluctuate on U.S. imports. You would have to contact Apple to find out what those plans are.

So UPS is blaming Apple. I can't get through to Apple support to find out if they're blaming UPS or not.

Lol, so....
Apple is aggressively shipping AHEAD of the times 1st quoted & clearly scrambling to get people phones from batches that can reach them sooner- the reassignment causing it to look like "your" phone is traveling, when actually; it is now simply coming to you from a batch that is in a different location.
All this is being done behind the scenes to get YOU your phone ahead of the quoted delivery date.... and you want to know who is to BLAME??!!
Ummmmm... I think we have differing definitions of the word "blame".
*smh*

 

[tongxinshe]

The same thing is happening to me but its actually a lot simpler reason that what most people think is happening. The reason why it looks like its jumping to the US but going back to Korea is because UPS is submitting the import documents. I was confused as well and a simple call to UPS gave me my answer.

That doesn't explain, either. To your theory, that item took less than 2 hours to fly from Incheon, Korea to Louisville, KY, that's not possible, unless UPS actually use X37-B planes to carry their cargos.

 

[PeteePablo]

Stuck in Korea since 8:01PM 9/21. Called UPS and they said it's because of Apple's shipping policy that it has been held. I called Apple and they told me the following:


Lorena:
I do see your iPhone 7 plus with delivery dates for Sept. 23. You must be super excited to receive your new iPhone 7 plus. Not to worry I have checked delivery dates on our end and they are certainly still Sept. 23 no delays have occur. This happens every year when we have pre-orders. UPS doesn’t keep up with the correct scans on their end and always list their status as China or Korea. But not to worry our items do deliver on time and this is a well known issue right now with the status on UPS site.


Dave:
so it could actually be in the US but their scans are off?


Lorena:
Yes its actually in the U.S. right now all of our iPhones for delivery dates for Sept. 23 are in the U.s. but UPS has been scanning the iPhones incorrectly. But there has been no delay on our iPhone 7 orders right now.


Lorena:
They have all been delivered just in time.

So I'm assuming when I wake up tomorrow status will be 'Out for Delivery'.

Thanks for posting this! Apple said my JB plus was coming to me the 23rd but UPS said the 21st and now delivery information is unavailable. My phone it still stuck in Korea too, with the same exact arrival time as yours. Hopefully she's right.

 

[Dr Sly]

The phones didn't bounce back and forth, the entire shipment blew up along the way because they were side by side with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in transit.

 

[ManNBlack]

Well, mine has finally left Shanghai.. twice... they still can't give me a delivery date/time. I am hoping they will make it tomorrow, but I am doubtful. I travel Saturday... or not if they try to deliver my watch.

 

[kingtj]

Just as a general comment.... I've had issues before where UPS tracking info didn't seem right. And when talking to people at UPS customer service, they eventually admitted that the tracking system you see online is more of a "synthetic" report than a true status.

In other words, once the initial package scan is done and the system knows the origin of the delivery, it begins a process of estimating many of the other places and times your package should pass through in transit and updates them accordingly, whether or not someone re-scans the box at those places and times first.

When this goes wrong because a package is lost someplace for a while, or some unusual situation caused UPS to route it a non-typical way through other sorting facilities or ?? -- you'll usually see "Exception" appear at some point, perhaps followed by updated info from another package scan that contradicts the rest of the tracking updates you saw before.

People inside UPS have a different tracking system they're using that gives more accurate info than the customer-focused web tracking.

 

[SaigoNoSamurai]

I'm experiencing exactly this. Except now there has been multiple delays. Was supposed to be delivered today, but as of yesterday morning it still hadn't left Asia, so I knew something was up. It was delayed until tomorrow, but now there is no delivery date at all.View attachment 657160

My phone is on the same boat as yours..

 

[vegetassj4]

#shipgate

*ducks*

 

[AJ5790]

Sounds like they need to be contacting UPS, not Apple. UPS is a company that's good at logistics (I used to work there) but it's not perfect, or even close to perfect.

 

[C-Dubs]

My iPhone has been on the slowest travel path ever... Now it's still just sitting in Korea. I'm pretty sure I paid for expedited shipping, which this is not...

I'm still waiting for an Apple specialist to come onto chat to discuss the matter. I'm definitely not happy with UPS (You'd think they would get extra capacity for this launch or something. Like an extra 747 just for ZhengZhou daily to Alaska).

 

[tennisproha]

Ah yes, these are the rare iPhone 7 Rogue. Consider yourself blessed if you ordered one. They are special editions.

 

[317342]

Mine is still in Korea. Apple's website says delivery by tomorrow, UPS says nothing.

 

[kwikdeth]

You people are incredible. Clearly you've never heard of time zones, or the international date line. Asia is almost a full day ahead of the US.
The scan times are local *to the location they're scanned at*, not to your location.

I've seen this countless times with international shipments from Asia, happens all the time.

 

[tito2020]

Mine just shows "Pkg shipped; delivery being scheduled" in Incheon, Korea. That was 24 hours ago and I still don't have a delivery date.

blame those containers floating on the sea without moving

 

[kwikdeth]

I've been checking MR daily for over ten years and can't recall ever seeing a story like this before.

Tinfoil hats have only come in vogue in the last 2-3 years or so.

 

[tito2020]

I'm just stuck in Korea since yesterday -.- add me
Somewhere there no one knows what's going on

blame hanjin for going bankrupt and leaving your iphones at sea.

 

[Bolt1982]

An increasing number of customers who ordered the iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus have noticed irregular movement on their shipments, as confirmed by multiple tipsters who have contacted us. The peculiar UPS tracking information has also been documented by several Twitter and Reddit users.

MacRumors reader Daniel G., for example, has seemingly seen his iPhone 7 Plus order move between Shanghai, China and Anchorage, Alaska, only to end up back in China. The shipment even made a brief stop in Osaka, Japan, before heading to Louisville, Kentucky en route to Long Island City in Queens.Other MacRumors readers said likewise in discussion topics titled "My iPhone is on a travel adventure" and "Waiting for UPS."

Reddit user AlphaAnger, too, shared a nearly identical scenario:Twitter user Minton, who shared the UPS tracking information pictured above, has seen his iPhone order travel from Zhengzhou, China to Incheon, South Korea to Louisville, Kentucky, at which point it was seemingly sent back to Hong Kong. The entire movement took place within a span of just three days.
Minton is not alone, as several Twitter users have noticed similarly irregular movement on their iPhone orders this week.
In some cases, shipments have moved between the U.S. and Asia in only a few hours, which is unrealistic even when accounting for time zone differences. UPS has allegedly told some customers the irregular movement is related to paperwork, but weather and mechanical issues could also be involved.

Whatever the underlying reason may be, the issue appears to be slowing down iPhone deliveries for at least some customers in the United States. Some customers on Twitter have complained that their new iPhone is "stuck in Korea," while others have vented their frustrations towards UPS's customer service account.

Article Link: UPS Shows Some iPhone 7 Shipments Bouncing Back and Forth Between U.S. and Asia

This happened to My Apple Watch series 2, went from China to Alaska back to China then to Korea then back to Alaska and finally have it!

 

[iLoveMyApple]

My mom works customer service at UPS and she said their systems werent giving them any extra info. Only that my phone got held up at customs but had cleared. My tracking info still shows that it's in Korea but she called international and they told her they were seeing a departure scan at 1:59AM and that it should be coming to the US now. Still hoping it shows up tomorrow. No one, not even UPS (shocker), knows what's going on.

 

[cerebra1]

I received my JB Iphone 7+ after sitting in ZZ china for several days, missing the initial delivery deadline by a day.

Once received, my iphone has the crackly/static/hissing/electric noise sound. Called apple, requested a return...still have my device and despite the noises (albeit really quiet) it works great.

Good luck to you guys. I do worry that apple is pulling the devices back due to the issues...but we'll see.

 

[Jungo]

my Wife's has been stuck in S. Korea for a couple of days now (was supposed to be here today) - mine has been preparing to ship since the past Saturday. - both 7+ flat black 128 - both ordered in the first 15 min.

I THINK apple panicked and grabbed a mountain of them for their NEW every year customers and got them to the stores.

most botched iphone launch in years.

 

[kwikdeth]

From the docs for UPS's tracking API:

Per the information provided on the UPS Developer Resource Center Tracking API page:

"The Tracking API allows applications to access UPS tracking information and query UPS to determine up-to-the-minute status of a shipment, including its delivery status and the time and location of the latest transit scan."

This means that each tracking response will include one or more <Activity> elements. Each <Activity> includes an <ActivityLocation> which is where the activity occurred and <Time> which is the location time for that activity.


"Location time for that activity" = local time at scan location.

 

[sfsoutherner]

Mine did the same thing PLUS I've had 3 scheduled delivery dates but still no phone.