White iPhone 4 Manufacturing Delay, Some Apple Pre-Orders Being Canceled

[finnns2000]

What a mess. I remember working at the OG iPhone launch, I didn't think it could get much worse than that but boy was I wrong. Thankfully, I'm no longer there.

The 3G launch was the last time I'd ever stand in line for a phone. What a waste.

 

[foxhunter]

This is how to fix it

This happened to me and I called 3 times between last Wednesday and today (Monday). Apparently AT&T shows up as a possible fraudulent charge to credit cards. I called my credit card and they authorized the charge, but oops AT&T still wouldn't go through. So I tried another credit card. Same thing. AT&T even told me that the computer was wrong and on their end everything looked fine. I just didn't trust that tho, and so today I called again and the order was still cancelled. Finally third times a charm (hopefully) and the AT&T csr says I should still receive it on the 24th. At least now my status page is showing "in progress" above 2 previous orders (with the same order number associated to them) as being cancelled.

 

[pcmike]

bedifferent,

Looks like you are out of luck. Apple just sent out reminder emails regarding picking up your reserved iPhone 4 and the emails contain the following verbage:

Please note:
Some customers received a confirmation email showing an incorrect price. We apologize for any difficulties you may have encountered. If you're currently an AT&T customer, you can confirm your pricing online.

Good luck on Thursday.

 

[BlackBeastie]

Grow up.

As a male who will be buying a white iPhone, I will gladly turn in my "man card" if it means I don't have to be associated with folks like yourself.

Very right. I am confident enough in my own masculinity to not be threatened by a white phone. Pink - not a chance in hell, but white looks sharp. Black bumper = stormtrooper phone.

 

[Stanmice]

My theory

I think I figured out why my particular order was cancelled and I'm convinced this is what happened after thinking about it. I ordered from AT&T first. Then ordered from Apple. I called and cancelled with AT&T but they failed to change my eligibilty date as by this point it showed June 2012. So when Apple went through a more thorough authorization, it was rejected due to eligibilty. The rep at AT&T I spoke with mentioned this as a possible reason to me on Saturday but said she couldn't do anything about it. I live in an area where it's conceivable that I can walk in on Thursday and buy an iPhone from AT&T, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, or Radio Shack, but if I can't I'll just pre-order for July. I know I won't care when all hell breaks loose on activation day. If anyone i like me and ordered twice, I'd say you're probably in the same boat as me. Someone didn't change your eligibilty and were cancelled.

 

[tkmcguire1]

Apple should give at least $50 off and personally apologize to those people who have had their iPhone orders canceled.

mine was cancelled,Apple offered me an iphone 4 dock and an apple remote...about $50 in products and oh i got this email today,it looks like they are going to try to expedite those who had their orders cancelled and had to place a new order that doesn't ship till Jul 14th


Dear Apple Store Customer,

As we advised in our last communication to you, your recent order for an iPhone 4 was canceled.

We were unable to complete your order due to an issue with your AT&T account status. Please contact AT&T at 800-331-0500 or visit www.att.com/wireless to resolve this issue. You can check your current AT&T account status and eligibility here.

Once this issue is resolved, you can place a new order. When you have completed your order, please email us at applestoreinfo@apple.com with both your previous Web Order Number and your new Web Order Number and we will ensure every effort is made to expedite your shipment.

We would like to apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused.

For the most up-to-date information on your order, please visit Apple Order Status.

Sincerely,
The Apple Store Team

 

[technicolor]

 

[Stanmice]

Good job Apple

mine was cancelled,Apple offered me an iphone 4 dock and an apple remote...about $50 in products and oh i got this email today,it looks like they are going to try to expedite those who had their orders cancelled and had to place a new order that doesn't ship till Jul 14th


Dear Apple Store Customer,

As we advised in our last communication to you, your recent order for an iPhone 4 was canceled.

We were unable to complete your order due to an issue with your AT&T account status. Please contact AT&T at 800-331-0500 or visit www.att.com/wireless to resolve this issue. You can check your current AT&T account status and eligibility here.

Once this issue is resolved, you can place a new order. When you have completed your order, please email us at applestoreinfo@apple.com with both your previous Web Order Number and your new Web Order Number and we will ensure every effort is made to expedite your shipment.

We would like to apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused.

For the most up-to-date information on your order, please visit Apple Order Status.

Sincerely,
The Apple Store Team

Wow. That's great that they at least care. I haven't received an e-mail from Apple yet, though. Nor was I offered an iPhone 4 dock or Apple remote. When did you call about your order being cancelled? Did you re-order and then they sent you the e-mail? Maybe I need to call again and see if they can offer me anything. To be honest, I'd be happy if they just offered to expedite my order if I don't manage to get one on Thursday. Thanks for posting this.

 

[tkmcguire1]

Wow. That's great that they at least care. I haven't received an e-mail from Apple yet, though. Nor was I offered an iPhone 4 dock or Apple remote. When did you call about your order being cancelled? Did you re-order and then they sent you the e-mail? Maybe I need to call again and see if they can offer me anything. To be honest, I'd be happy if they just offered to expedite my order if I don't manage to get one on Thursday. Thanks for posting this.

I found out it was canceled on the 19th,as soon as i saw it i was immediately on the ph with apple after holding for 2hrs found out it had to do with att was showing another order,on the 15th at 12am i started trying to order,finally got through at att.com at 5 am but never got email or anything,so i was on and off the ph with att all day,they told me they could find no trace of my order anywhere that they didn't think it had gone through and by this time it was past 5pm and they told me i should go ahead and order with apple as att was now sold out,so finally at 9:30pm c time,7:30 p time i placed it with apple,then the next morning i get an email from att saying it had gone through so i called and canceled it,but what happened was they forgot to update that on their servers and when apple tried to ship my ph it showed up,after calling apple back twice they told me to call att,i was so mad because att told me to place order with apple because they couldn't find my order,if i had known it had gone through i would have left it alone,anyways well att couldn't help me they said go back to apple,but at least they updated my account,so i called apple back a 3rd time,they said there was nothing they could do i would have to do new order and get on the 15th,i was so upset by this time and exhausted, i suffer from terminal diseases,i am disabled and in a wheelchair and just got out of the hospital 2 weeks ago after almost dying from a life threatening infection,and have to go back and forth every day to get iv treatments.It took me all day to get a order on the 15th for delivery on the 24th and believe me it wasn't easy.So i placed the new order but the next day i called apple back and let them know i wasn't happy how this was handled that they should email customers first and give them a chance to check things on their orders before they just cancel them,i was at the infusion clinic getting iv treatment when this call took place and i told the rep about my illnesses i don't know maybe he felt sorry for me and the free products were his way of pacifying me.I even sent an email to Steve Jobs and told him that me and hundreds of other customers had our order canceled and apple wasn't doing much about it,that was yesterday,i never heard back nor did i expect to.And then i got the email today,it's strange but i doubt it has anything to do with it.I replied to the email and got this message back-

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Apple.

We have notated your new Web Order Number and we will ensure every effort is
made to expedite your shipment.

For the most up-to-date information on your order, please visit Apple Order
Status at www.apple.com/orderstatus.

Thank you for your recent order with the Apple Online Store.

Sincerely,

Marco G.
Apple Inc.

So hopefully others that were canceled will get an email soon too.Sorry about the long postWas just trying to explain what happened.Good luck to everyone

 

[JeffDM]

The 3G launch was the last time I'd ever stand in line for a phone. What a waste.

I've never stood in line for an Apple product. For a while, it seemed like their crowd control technique was one chosen to keep people waiting in line. Some people said they were left in the line even though the employees knew there weren't enough for everyone in line. I remember one person specifically asked and they weren't willing to tell people they weren't going to get one until they ran out.

My 3G was reserved at an AT&T store. When it came in, they called me.

 

[iceberg716]

Had a terrible time today with apple. I ordered two phones and one shipped on Saturday and one was not shipped yet (and I'm supposed to receive both on the 24th). This morning it still wasn't shipped so I decided to call apple to see if there was a problem. I waited 20 minutes on the phone and the lady told me AT&T rejected the order and that I'd better get AT&T to fix it before apple officially cancelled my order.

I was livid. I already hate AT&T and they were screwing up all the hours I spent trying to pre-order the damn thing. So I called AT&T and they told me that they had no record of the rejection, no notes, no nothing. I was mad so I was telling the lady off, "you were the one who rejected it! How do you not have record of rejecting it". She told me there was nothing she could do and to call apple.

So I called apple again. Waited 30 minutes... Finally got a hold of someone and the call failed as she was asking my name and address. Oooooo that was frustrating. I called apple again and waited 55 minutes!!!!!! Got a hold of a semi-old lady. She sounded kinda clueless so I didn't believe much of what she said. But she told me that AT&T didn't reject it. I was like why did the other lady tell me one thing and you tell me the opposite. Give me a supervisor.

Finally got a supervisor, and she told me that because I have a family plan, the second phone is taking longer to ship out. It's not cancelled and it will be at my house on the 24th. What the hell? Almost 2 hours on the phone for nothing and all I got was the assurance that they give a talking to the agent that screwed up.

So, to sum it up, I had no problem in the first place and I wasted 2 hours on the phone. And the ironic thing was that it wasn't att.'s fault.

Phone still hasn't shipped though. Any other 24thers still waiting for their phone to ship?

 

[Primejimbo]

In another thread someone said  and AT&T both ship iPhones pre-authorized for the account rather than going through the old authorization process back 'in the day'. If this is true it it solves most of the mysteries and predicts what's going to happen.

People who ordered multiple iPhones for the same account are going to have at least all but one cancelled, and if its too confusing they might just have all of them cancelled.

Unfortunately some of those that only ordered one might also have not had the system properly validate them and have that one dropped as well.

For checking my AT&T account and reading the other notes my guess is the best way to see if you are going to get a phone is to check your equipment upgrade date by dialing *639# on your current iPhone or go to your AT&T Wireless page online. If you now have an upgraded date in 2011 or further, one of your orders has 'taken'.

As to the white, I had always guessed that it was a 'see through' issue of some kind. I'm actually wondering how long it will be before people will be getting them modded to any color they want - I mean its just glass painted on the inside, right?

Wrong. My wife and i both ordered one on the same family plan and we're both getting them. We both got our tracking numbers later last night and they are being shipped.

 

[iceberg716]

Had a terrible time today with apple. I ordered two phones and one shipped on Saturday and one was not shipped yet (and I'm supposed to receive both on the 24th). This morning it still wasn't shipped so I decided to call apple to see if there was a problem. I waited 20 minutes on the phone and the lady told me AT&T rejected the order and that I'd better get AT&T to fix it before apple officially cancelled my order.

I was livid. I already hate AT&T and they were screwing up all the hours I spent trying to pre-order the damn thing. So I called AT&T and they told me that they had no record of the rejection, no notes, no nothing. I was mad so I was telling the lady off, "you were the one who rejected it! How do you not have record of rejecting it". She told me there was nothing she could do and to call apple.

So I called apple again. Waited 30 minutes... Finally got a hold of someone and the call failed as she was asking my name and address. Oooooo that was frustrating. I called apple again and waited 55 minutes!!!!!! Got a hold of a semi-old lady. She sounded kinda clueless so I didn't believe much of what she said. But she told me that AT&T didn't reject it. I was like why did the other lady tell me one thing and you tell me the opposite. Give me a supervisor.

Finally got a supervisor, and she told me that because I have a family plan, the second phone is taking longer to ship out. It's not cancelled and it will be at my house on the 24th. What the hell? Almost 2 hours on the phone for nothing and all I got was the assurance that they give a talking to the agent that screwed up.

So, to sum it up, I had no problem in the first place and I wasted 2 hours on the phone. And the ironic thing was that it wasn't att.'s fault.

Phone still hasn't shipped though. Any other 24thers still waiting for their phone to ship?

well damn. It was cancelled. Apple is gonna get an earful.

 

[TripHop]

Try The Early Friday Morning Queue For The Early 8AM Openings

well damn. It was cancelled. Apple is gonna get an earful.

I think the easiest way to get a Black iPhone is to get in what will be a relatively short queue Friday morning for the early 8AM opening when there will be plenty for everyone present at opening.

 

[gehrbox]

Very right. I am confident enough in my own masculinity to not be threatened by a white phone. Pink - not a chance in hell, but white looks sharp. Black bumper = stormtrooper phone.

Man I just had the funniest vision in my head of you and your little stormtrooper while reading your reply.

 

[Easermonkey]

Same thing happened to me.....

well damn. It was cancelled. Apple is gonna get an earful.

Well, I was on the phone with Apple, ATT and my ATT store rep for 3 hours on Sunday. Received a voicemail from ATT Customer Care that they had spent almost two hours with Apple and that Apple guaranteed that I would be receiving my phone on Thursday. This morning I woke up to a cancelled order. I in turn reordered through Apple and sent e-mail with old order number and new order number. I then called ATT, who indicated everything was fine on their end. Called Apple, they spoke to a supervisor, they will try and expedite my order and I should hear back in 48 hours, which means no phone for me on Thursday. To add salt to the wound, my husbands phone will be delivered on day early. On a positive note, the Apple rep was very nice I may just keep my old 3G or wait for the white phone.

 

[iceberg716]

To add salt to the wound, my husbands phone will be delivered on day early.

Exactly what happened to me. "My" phone is coming tomorrow and my wife's is the one that is canceled. Was thinking about trying to activate her on my phone, but not sure if that will work since my contract has already been extended and hers hasn't. Was also thinking about activating as me and then switching sim cards, but realized today that the new phone is a micro-SIM and the old phone is regular SIM.

She is not going to be happy that she has to stick with her hunk-a-junk 3G.

 

[Easermonkey]

Nice Husbands

Exactly what happened to me. "My" phone is coming tomorrow and my wife's is the one that is canceled. Was thinking about trying to activate her on my phone, but not sure if that will work since my contract has already been extended and hers hasn't. Was also thinking about activating as me and then switching sim cards, but realized today that the new phone is a micro-SIM and the old phone is regular SIM.

She is not going to be happy that she has to stick with her hunk-a-junk 3G.

My Husband is thinking the same way I don't know about you two, but part of the fun of the new phones is getting the together and playing with them together. He says he many just let his sit in it's little box until I get mine

Going to Radio Shack today, they feel they can get me a phone within 2 to 3 days after launch.

 

[Easermonkey]

Did you talk to Apple today?

Exactly what happened to me. "My" phone is coming tomorrow and my wife's is the one that is canceled. Was thinking about trying to activate her on my phone, but not sure if that will work since my contract has already been extended and hers hasn't. Was also thinking about activating as me and then switching sim cards, but realized today that the new phone is a micro-SIM and the old phone is regular SIM.

She is not going to be happy that she has to stick with her hunk-a-junk 3G.

Did you talk to Apple today? What did the say?

 

[iceberg716]

Did you talk to Apple today? What did the say?

The people I talked to last night weren't able to figure out why my order was canceled, so they had to send a request for someone from "Corporate Apple" to call me today. Still waiting....although it's only 8:45AM in California, so I doubt they are close to calling.

 

[iceberg716]

My Husband is thinking the same way I don't know about you two, but part of the fun of the new phones is getting the together and playing with them together. He says he many just let his sit in it's little box until I get mine

Going to Radio Shack today, they feel they can get me a phone within 2 to 3 days after launch.

I was going to do the same thing with my wife (wait to open it until hers comes). But I have the added twist that I'm trying to sell our old phones as well. Maybe it will be best to just sell them later.

 

[torid110]

I think I figured out why my particular order was cancelled and I'm convinced this is what happened after thinking about it. I ordered from AT&T first. Then ordered from Apple. I called and cancelled with AT&T but they failed to change my eligibilty date as by this point it showed June 2012. So when Apple went through a more thorough authorization, it was rejected due to eligibilty. The rep at AT&T I spoke with mentioned this as a possible reason to me on Saturday but said she couldn't do anything about it. I live in an area where it's conceivable that I can walk in on Thursday and buy an iPhone from AT&T, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, or Radio Shack, but if I can't I'll just pre-order for July. I know I won't care when all hell breaks loose on activation day. If anyone i like me and ordered twice, I'd say you're probably in the same boat as me. Someone didn't change your eligibilty and were cancelled.

I don't think this is the case. I have 2 iphones on the family plan. Mine is the 3GS and my wife's is the 3G.

I initially ordered my wife's through AT&T on the 15th (around 3:00PM EST) got a confirmation email and everything. Later in the evening, i ended up getting through the apple site and ordered my phone. On a whim (since i didn't trust AT&T), i kept trying and 2 hours after my first order, i was able to place another order for my wife's phone. At this point, i have 3 phones ordered to replace 2.

On Sunday, i receive a shipping confirmation for both phones from Apple. I waited until Monday to make sure it wasn't a fluke then i went ahead and cancelled my AT&T order.

And the cherry on top is that i get 2 emails from Apple early this morning saying my phones will be arriving tomorrow

 

[Easermonkey]

Apple response today....

I was going to do the same thing with my wife (wait to open it until hers comes). But I have the added twist that I'm trying to sell our old phones as well. Maybe it will be best to just sell them later.

This is the e-mail I received from Apple at 11am CDT, I am going to trust them to try and do the best they can

Dear ,

Thank you for your recent order with the Apple Online Store.

We have notated your new Web Order Number XXXX and we will ensure every effort is made to expedite your shipment.

For the most up-to-date information on your order, please visit Apple Order Status at www.apple.com/orderstatus.

Sincerely,
The Apple Online Store

 

[charlituna]

Well for one thing Bloomberg ran the article. So they figure its news or it could be just speculation. Right or not, it's possible that it could affect the stock price tomorrow. In the article they said that they contacted both Apple and LG after hours and haven't gotten a response yet. So if Steve Dowling does return the call, he can clarify if the report is correct or not. If not MAYBE he could explain WHY the delay and no white iPhone.

Historically the white models have never sold as well as the black. So perhaps this Mr Kumar is correct and there's a supply issue. So they stopped making whites and went with the more popular black.

In the end the phone has some 600k pre-order/reservations if not actually more (that number might be only directly with Apple and wouldn't include ATT and 3rd party like Best Buy). You can bet that any slight dip in the stock price will be overtaken by the huge rise when story after story of huge lines, stores staying open late etc start hitting. Particularly if they don't end on Thursday but continue through the weekend. I would not be shocked at all if there's actually more like 1 million units in play just in the US and they are gone by Thursday closing, Friday lunch time at the latest.

Releasing 1 million phonessold in less than 48 hours in the US alone would probably skyrocket the stock price over $300

The iPhones were probably just released too early. I hope next time Apple learns to make enough of them and have them distributed in quality to all stores for the 5th generation iPhone.

Actually it wasn't. Because even if they had 5 million iphones just to sell in the US, they would all sell. And fast

They do the summer thing because they know that ATT will allow even the cheaper plans to upgrade at 22-23 months to keep someone around.
Getting 'enough' phones would mean a greater chance of leaks because they would have to start back in Dec/Jan at several factories.

To add salt to the wound, my husbands phone will be delivered on day early.

No it won't. Apple does billions a year with the carriers. they will hold until the 24th.

I think I figured out why my particular order was cancelled and I'm convinced this is what happened after thinking about it. I ordered from AT&T first. Then ordered from Apple. I called and cancelled with AT&T but they failed to change my eligibilty date as by this point it showed June 2012.

I suspect it was less of a 'fail' and more just that the computers don't update automatically. i had a friend that got a blackberry right before the iphone announcement and then returned it (after only about a week) to go back to his 'dumb' phone. he was told it would take 72 hours for his account to show that he was eligible. And it pretty much took the whole time. Lame but there you go. And there's probably not any way for an operator to chance it in a split second, to avoid any kind of fraud.

I know I won't care when all hell breaks loose on activation day. If anyone i like me and ordered twice, I'd say you're probably in the same boat as me. Someone didn't change your eligibilty and were cancelled.

As much as my boyfriend really wants a iphone4, he didn't preorder. when I asked him why not he said that this phone would sell tons right off (and he was right) and there was the potential for a bigger clusterF than when the 3g launched and the ATT servers crashed that morning and stayed at 1/5th speed the rest of the day. Since his job depends on a working phone, he can't risk that. He'd rather wait a week or two and then get it.
Plus now he'll be on set all day and I could be at work also so having it shipped would be less than secure since it would be sitting by our apartment door. so it will worked out.

 

[Stanmice]

No it won't. Apple does billions a year with the carriers. they will hold until the 24th.

Actually, as I'm sure you've seen by now, people started receiving their iPhones today.

I suspect it was less of a 'fail' and more just that the computers don't update automatically. i had a friend that got a blackberry right before the iphone announcement and then returned it (after only about a week) to go back to his 'dumb' phone. he was told it would take 72 hours for his account to show that he was eligible. And it pretty much took the whole time. Lame but there you go. And there's probably not any way for an operator to chance it in a split second, to avoid any kind of fraud.

Maybe I'm the exception to the rule or maybe you are. I just find it hard to believe that after three days of being ok, a system error canceled my order. It seems 98% of everyone who had their order canceled had some apparent reason for getting their order canceled. Be it too many ordered, eligibility being denied, credit/debit cards being declined, failing to accept the terms and conditions, etc. Like I said, maybe I'm the exception and I just was unlucky.