Sorry, Your iPhone Reservation Isn't A Reservation
How are Apple Stores doing with the much-anticipated iPhone 3G S launch? Apple fan on the ground Joseph reserved his phone online, queued up outside of his nearest Apple Store this morning at 6:30, and... hit a snag, since his reservation apparently isn't a reservation.
He wrote us:
So far, on day 1, Apple has managed to live down to all expectations. I rolled out of bed at 5:30am, and was in line outside the mall at 6:30am, ready and waiting for when the doors to the Apple Store would open at 7 (attached picture). It started off nice, as at about 6:40 Apple employees came outside to greet us with coffee and doughnuts, and to pump up the crowd. At 6:50 they took us into the mall, and divided us up into two groups, those with reservations, and those without. Those without reservations were told the only iPhone 3G S available for them would be a black 16GB phone.At about 7:45, I got to the front of the line. The concierge attempted to find my reservation, but was unable to do so. No problem, I thought, I can just pull up the email on my original iPhone. I showed it to the concierge, who them started to hem and haw, as she called a manager. Apparently, my reservation wasn't really a reservation, although the email from Apple sure looks like one. After all, the email says, "Thanks for starting your iPhone purchase online. To finish the process, come to your nearest Apple Retail Store and look for a Concierge in an orange shirt. We'll help you complete your purchase, activate your new iPhone, and set it up for you."
Somewhere between starting my online purchase and coming to the Apple store to finish it, there should have been another email. I'm not quite sure what that email looks like, since I never got it. I guess I should have been looking more for the email that says "Oh, but here in the middle of those two things is another step." Also, the line at the bottom of my original email that iPhones are sold on a first-come, first-served basis doesn't really apply.
Tim, the manager, told me that I was more than welcome to buy the 16GB iPhone, which I declined. As I walked away, he tried to explain to me that he understood exactly how I felt. Oh really Tim? Did you pre-order a phone, wake up many hours earlier than usual to go get it, and then be told you didn't really order one? "Um, well, no. But I don't have the new phone yet either." Ok, thanks Tim, that's exactly how I feel.
Solution? Go across the street to an AT&T store, spend less than 5 minutes waiting for a rep to get to me, and out the door with the 32GB iPhone in less than 20 minutes. On this one, AT&T gets a big thumbs up, while Apple, um, not so much.
Have any other early adopters out there experienced similar issues with Apple's reservation system, and reservations that aren't? Share your 3G S victory or horror stories in the comments. Or just make fun of the people who Need To Have It Today.
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Comments:
I got the same email. I started the process on Apple's website, and when it told me they couldn't complete it online, I closed the browser. I later went through it again to see if maybe they just needed a system to update or something, but ended up at the same screen. This time, however, I read the *entire* message. I continued to the next page in the process, and selected the store and the model I wanted. THAT, is what gave me an actual reservation.
Was that webpage clear? Eh, not really. But I also failed to read the entire page.
Did the OP actually pick out a phone online to reserve and a date to pick it up?
If not, he had no reservation- he just did the part to pre-qualify his credit and account info to make the in-store activation go faster.
Reading the comments from other people who went through the process i think this guys is complaining that he didn't read enough. Maybe Apple should read things for him?
I don't get it. The iPhone is a nice device (aside from some of the limitations imposed on it by Apple/AT&T), no question about it. But what's so special about it that it gets an absurd amount of news coverage every time a new one comes out? The 3GS is a rather MINOR update...but you still saw a ridiculous amount of news about THE NEW iPHONE!!!, people waking early and waiting in lines for it, whether AT&T will allow certain people to upgrade, etc. The iPhone is like the Paris Hilton of cell phones...you hear every little thing about it in the news even though it's just downright silly.
After the AT&T store figured out how to get its computer systems back online, I would say my purchase went rather more painlessly than I originally feared. I was in and out in about 35 minutes total.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: The OP is clearly an inferior human being for not having the latest generation iPhone within 5 minutes of it being available.
/Signing off with my wi-fi enabled, $50 HTC...
Teenage girls and their silly fads... wait. This was a dude?
(I kid because I love.)
@nataku83: Indeed, and I must be some form of pre-sentient bacterium because all I have is a measly Samsung Propel O_o.
@nataku83: What is an HTC? For the past almsot 2 years I've been using a $25 flip phone from Samsung, doesn't hold more than 50 messages in the inbox if all the other message folders are emtpy. Going to upgrade it in November, and I was looking for something a little more robust.
@ekthesy: Ooh that sucks. Trust me, though, as an AT&T employee we have like 10 billion systems to work with just to do things to one phone line. Extremely inefficient and annoying.
Enjoy your phone :D
i am curretly being held hostage by UPS for my iphone. I was to be here by 10:30 am at 10:20 UPS site said it was still out for delivery at 10:30 it said an attemt was made at 10:18 but no one was here to sign. Funny condering i was in my living room next to the front door and theres no note. So i call UPS and they say O i see the driver tired to delivey it to my adress on S i am on west. i checked on google maps my address don't even EXIST on South and i they even admit the box says west. My local UPS office is to call me in an hour to make "Arrangements"....
It wasn't the employees' fault, at all. They were actually reasonable, kind, and pleasant to deal with from stem to stern, from a) finding out from 611 if I was eligible for the upgrade; b) going in-store to pre-order; to c) picking up the phone today. Cheers to them, definitely.
The computer networks were messed up because millions of iPhones are getting newly activated all at once. Can't blame anyone for that.
@ionerox: Exactly. I went through the same process and realized at the time that it wasn't a real reservation because I never actually selected a phone. At first it was a little confusing, but it made sense once I got the email.
Why , get it from Apple , ordered mine online at att , and it comes to my door for free.
hummm, what is this whole waiting line crap . nothing is worth that ever !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
S009 :)
@grapedog: HTC is a company that makes smartphones like these that look nice, but from my experience do not last nearly as long as you would like. Mine gave me issues about 8 months in first with the touch screen not working in certain corners and then not at all. I wouldnt receive some calls or texts and the voicemails from said mysteriously missed calls would just pop up hours later. It was very inconvenient but it didnt get to me too bad until my mother thought I hated her because I wouldnt answer her calls or texts that I never got. I had mine when the iphone had come out and my brother got one, and to be honest I didnt want one, I enjoyed my full keyboard, which was the reason I got it in the first place, however one day I had enough, and bought a first gen iPhone at MSRP because I was still under plan and immediately destroyed, and I mean destroyed my HTC POS. Havent looked back.
I like my ipod touch and all (we've got 2 macs in the house as well), but who really gives a sh*t about this in the 'scheme' of things.. what a waste of effort, bandwidth, and the precious life we've been afforded.. you might be interested to know that 1/6th ([www.ctv.ca]) of the world's population is going hungry today .. and you took effort to buy a phone vs helping your fellow man, now that's a good goal to reach, not..
@scootinger: I'm not sure what makes it so special, either, but I'm damn impressed with whichever kid in the marketing department got the nightly news to do all the work for them.
This time around, a number of pre-orderers, including myself got screwed. There's not a huge demand today so many of the stores, including one I went to, have plenty of phones in stock and no wait. However, because pre-orders are subject to the vagaries of line-porting, shipping issues, and the like, you could end up in a situation where it would be simple to go to the store and buy one today, but you can't because you're being held hostage by your pre-order. They won't let you cancel it - and even if you did you'd lose your line port. so you just have to wait. I don't mind waiting - but I pre-ordered on the 10th, and everyone I've talked to who also ordered then has a phone now. So yes, big f'ing deal, right? well, it's the principle that matters. You guarantee a pre-order? well, honor it.
It looks like the OP never completed his reservation to begin with. If you completed your order halfway and then exited your browser, or forgot to click the final button or whatever, then you get that standard e-mail. I got 5 of them because I was really indecisive. The manager was right to turn him away because it would be unfair to those who did complete the entire process.
Why would someone wait in line at the Apple Store, when they could spend 5 minutes at the AT&T Store? Yes, that's what he did eventually but he could've saved himself a few hours by not first going to the Almighty Domain For Apple Fanboys.
@scootinger: They've sold more iPhones than just about any other phone, ever. An unusually large amount of people own them and the thing has crossed generation boundaries like nothing else. I can't even begin to tell you how many people in their sixties I've run into who have these things.
The utterly amazing absorption of these phones into society is why even a minor revision is a Big Deal. Say what you will, but the iPhone is a revolutionary device that has forever changed the development of mobile phones the world over. People who don't have them don't understand. I didn't - I used to talk trash about them - until I finally went into an Apple Store and spent an hour playing with one, and bought it on the spot. Yeah, it's lacking in some critical areas but what it does, it does very, very well. Far and above anything else out there when I bought mine last November.
Today, we have Android and Palm and I really hope they give the iPhone a huge run for it's money. Competition is awesome and will either force Apple to improve their products or will wind up so much better that I ditch my iPhone and switch platforms. Either way, I think it's great - but in the meantime, Apple has a huge head start on everyone else and the iPhone is where it's at today.
As I walked away, he tried to explain to me that he understood exactly how I felt. Oh really Tim? Did you pre-order a phone, wake up many hours earlier than usual to go get it, and then be told you didn't really order one? "Um, well, no. But I don't have the new phone yet either." Ok, thanks Tim, that's exactly how I feel.
Really, walking away from someone who is actively talking to you and trying to help you? I sincerely hope that exchange didn't take place, but have a sinking feeling that it did.
Is it really worth being so rude to people who are probably overwhelmed with customers just so you can vent and feel superior and soothe your poor frazzled tech obsessed nerves about having to wait an extra day or so to get the Newest Unnecessary Thing (Now With More Unnecessary!) ....???
If you visited a Southern California Apple Store, I'm pretty sure I know precisely which "Tim" you are referring to. Heh, I wonder ...
@ionerox: I got two of those emails (started the process twice just to back out at checkout). Unless you actually PAID for your phone online you had no reservation.
@henwy: Agreed. Also, who the hell reads stuff anyways these days. If my information cannot be provided to me in the form of glossy square buttons and 140 character snippets, I am not interested.
I didn't buy one, but I went with a friend who did to the Apple Store.
Your problem is that you didn't read the directions and finish the process - you stopped before you actually selected the store and model you wanted. My friend did the same thing, and it sounded like there were others who did as well, since the person in the orange concierge shirt seemed to instantly know what was going on. He still got his preferred model, though.
Lesson: When you're buying a cell phone, read the instructions.
@Nitrokart: That's exactly what I did. I was told there were about 100 people in line at my local Apple store. When I went to an AT&T at a mall took me 30 minutes of waiting (couple people in front of me) to get my phone.
I have no comment, as I waited in line for the Palm Pre on the launch day. Got one and enjoy it though.
I got a kick out of "...at about 6:40 Apple employees came outside... to pump up the crowd."
To "pump up the crowd" - I'd have loved to have witnessed that.
"Whatcha gonna do?" "Spend money!" "When ya gonna do it?" "In 20 minutes!" "Whatcha gonna do?" "Spend money!" "When ya gonna do it?" "In 19 minutes!"
Oh boy! It's today's snivel fest about the iphone! No round of new posts here is complete until we are all feeling sorry for iphone owners. B O O H O O. How about we just change the name of this site to The Iphone Whiner's Forum? I guess I am the only one is tired of hearing the crying...
@funkright: Sell your 2 macs and the ipod to help them if you feel so righteous.
On that note, I was awarded the luxury of preordering online and it arrived to my desk this morning at 11.
@grapedog: I've had my HTC Touch Diamond since it was available to Sprint users, because it showed up just as my old phone died a noisy and painful death. Picked it up for $200 new, and have been using it fairly extensively since. Have had no problems. They make good stuff.
@scootinger: It's really easy to understand. The iphone is the choice of people who want to be trendy and have other people envy them. IT'S THAT SIMPLE. We live in a world of joiners and wanna-bes.
The best part of all of this is the amount of people who just can't live without an iphone, but are p.c. owners who would never dream of buying a mac.
Once again Apple takes a dump in everyone's mouth and 50 fanboys swear to the world that they got chocolate cake and the OP is at fault. Gotta love it.
Advice for Apple change the line "To finish the process, come to your nearest Apple Retail Store and look for a Concierge in an orange shirt. We'll help you complete your purchase, activate your new iPhone, and set it up for you." to "You're purchase is not yet complete, try again on the website."
Well, I got up at 6AM to goto WORK today. Sorry it took you longer to buy your new toy, even when you plainly show that your current one is working fine. Is it really that special to get a new one?
"Tim, the manager, told me that I was more than welcome to buy the 16GB iPhone, which I declined. As I walked away, he tried to explain to me that he understood exactly how I felt. Oh really Tim? Did you pre-order a phone, wake up many hours earlier than usual to go get it, and then be told you didn't really order one? "Um, well, no. But I don't have the new phone yet either." Ok, thanks Tim, that's exactly how I feel."
Wow. Joseph is kind of a dick.
@Jeremy82465: I've had my current HTC (tilt) for about a year now, not a single problem. I also still have my previous HTC (2125), which I got in May 2006, and it also works perfectly, although I've only used it once in the last year, before I got Garmin to help me move my GPS software from the mini-sd card it came on to a micro-sd card so the new phone could use it.
@Black-Cat: That's ridiculous. Everybody and their dog has an iPhone. In my department, out of a dozen employees, ten of us have iPhones. That's hardly "having other people envy."
Maybe when they first came out and were $600 you could have made that argument, but they're so inexpensive and ubiquitous today, nobody can possibly be jealous. Any average middle class person can easily afford one. The people who don't have them aren't envious, they just don't want one.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: "They gave you good customer service, right?"
Wrong. They led him to believe he had one reserved for him, then said "oops, we don't" when it mattered. Just because they fucked up with a smile doesn't mean they didn't still fuck up. And making fun of early adopters doesn't change any of that. They promised him something and reneged.
@nataku83: I want to say I had the HTC 2125 as well, and I really loved having it until it stopped working for one reason or another. My friend Vincent had a tilt as well and he had an issue with the speaker but that was it, his brother also got one and had zero issues. So I could easily be an isolated incident but it was a very annoying one, and that phone got what it deserved!
Yea what a downer this story is. Manager tries to show sympathy, but OP is a jerk.
Consumers bit back I suppose....
Oh please. I'm sure you have a perfectly good cell phone to hold you over until you can get the one you want in stock. Its not like the world is over just because you don't have your shiny new gadget at zero hour on day 1. Jeebus.
At least they were *nice* to you. They gave you good customer service, right?
Sounds strikingly familiar to the people calling us today who ordered their iPhones online from AT&T and showed up at the store expecting us to have one for them - they're coming in the mail, and no you won't die if you don't have it instantaneously.
And if your friends judge you because you don't have the spiffy new new new new iphone. Please, get new friends.