Apple Screwed Me With an iPad
While everyone else is gushing about how much they love their little shiny black and silver iPad, I’m here to tell you the dark truth behind the iPad. Yeah, that’s right, this is the stuff Apple doesn’t want you to know!
So, I ordered a couple of iPads from the Apple store online like 15 minutes after they were announced as being available. I did this so I wouldn’t have to wait in line for one, and in case they sold out. Of course when I ordered them they had a notification that you could only buy two. Fine. They also said that they wouldn’t ship them until April 12. Fine.
Fast forward 5 days. Now the Apple store has, and I quote from a phone call, “A complete contingent…” of iPads in stock. So I’m thinking I’ll just go pick up a couple. So I go online to the Apple Store and try and cancel the order for the two I have there. But guess what! NO! YOU MAY NOT CANCEL!!!
Whoa! What’s going on here?
Ok, so I call customer service and the rather bitchy woman with an, “I’m better than you because I work the phones for Apple” attitude tells me that they won’t cancel the order because my iPads are “prepared for shipment”.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
So, let me get this straight. They are purposely holding my iPads hostage in a warehouse somewhere, just waiting till April 12 to ship them – even while the devices have already been released into the wild and the stores are completely full of them? WTF Apple? Why are you sitting on the shipments to clients who paid for them a week ago?
Oh, but this gets so much better…
If you’re like me you might be thinking, “No problem, I’ll just go to the store and pick them up, and when these come in the mail I’ll return them!” NO! YOU WILL NOT! They’ve already considered your sneaky little plans, and when you go to the Apple store they are going to see that you already bought two and they are going to refuse to sell you any more!
Yep. You would have to use a different name, address and credit card!
But wait! There’s more!
You know how the only iPads that have been released at this point are the WiFi only models? And the ones that will use the AT&T 3G network are coming later? Well, I ordered two of the 3G ones also. It was a separate order a couple of days after the original order. And again, it said “Limit 2” – which I adhered to.
Yeah, well when I was logging in to try and cancel the other iPads so I could go pick them up locally I noticed that Apple canceled my order for the 3G models – without even notifying me! WOW! They get to cancel orders at will, but I can’t cancel one to go pick them up locally?
Of course I asked my special customer service lady about this and she said you can ONLY HAVE TWO of any combination of iPads, released or not! To which I responded, you need to make that more clear! And how about just not letting the order go through? It’s all of… oh, ONE database lookup!
Bottom line: Apple gets no points in my book for the iPad launch:
- If you’re going to launch in two batches and treat devices as if they are different because one has 3G and the other doesn’t, then don’t act like they are the same when it’s time to let customers order them.
- If you’ve already launched a product, don’t stack up customer orders in a warehouse for a week before releasing them. That is just stupid!
- If you’re going to hold products you let customers pre-order, then you have to allow them to cancel for Christ’s sake!
So, tell you what Apple. You can keep your stupid iPad. I mean, you didn’t even give it the iPhone 3G’s non-smudge screen, it’s got no SD card slot (unforgivable), you can’t pair a bluetooth mouse with it, and it’s actually difficult to hold.
Oh, and while I’m at it… what the hell is the deal with not allowing customers to bring a camera or camcorder into the Apple store, but then having employees taking photos and videos of us when we are in there!?! But that’s a whole other story…
UPDATE: 5 hours after publishing this article I got email notification that my iPads had just shipped from Apple’s warehouse! Now is that some sort of major coincidence? Or did someone over there take notice? Let me know if you pre-ordered an iPad and got notice of them shipping prior to the 12th as well.
One email per post. Twenty years of this, still going. Unsubscribe whenever.
I guess you are talking about the iPad 3G ….. my iPad with only wi-fi arrived at 9:45 AM on April 3 by FedEx. I also got the Appleâ„¢ cover and like it. It makes holding and using the thing a lot easier. Now, to just find the camera adapter…… soon!
Actually Doug, I was talking about the normal WiFi version. They didn’t ship mine for like 2 weeks after the stores had a huge stockpile of them!
John
Although unrelated to the iPad, I had a similarly frustrating experience in the Jacksonville, Fl store when I tried to quickly stop in and purchase a simple GPS Nav./Battery Cradle. After trying for several minutes to capture someone’s attention as they walked by or typed away at their computers without acknowleging my existence, I finally “interrupted” the guy at the desk to ask for help and was told “it’s not my job, see one of the specialists on the floor” – all of whom where obviously busy demoing products to other customers.
Feeling slightly stung but determined not to have wasted a trip I spent 10 minutes looking over the items on the wall, found what I thought was the cradle (I’m not very tech savy) and went back to the desk to ask where to cash out. Obviously put out by my “incessant questions”, the guy said I still had to go through one of the (still unavailable) specialists on the floor (ala huffy voice and rolling eyes). Apparently Apple doesn’t want you to be able to drop in and quickly give them your money – you have to wait for the guy who came in before you to get a demo of the latest iPhone first.
Having worked in retail years ago, I tend to be patient and understanding when folks are busy. I know what it ‘s like to be in the weeds. But, apart from the weird procedures to get the opportunity to actually pay for something, the vibe in this store was “We’re hip, we’re cool and we feel absolutely no obligation to give good service to you, the customer, when there are plenty more where you came from.” I gave my brother a cordless drill for his birthday instead.
(Phew!) That felt good. Thanks.
Tori
Thoroughly enjoyed meeting you at the release! So sorry to hear that the troubles extended beyond the line nazi and the camera police. I love your blogs; very amusing reads. I will have to go find you on Twitter as well. Take care!
Nice meeting you too Richelle. ;-) Oh well, I guess Apple can do whatever they want. I especially liked how they told us we couldn’t take photos or videos in the store, and then proceeded to take photos and videos of us! hahaha
Anyway, you can find me on twitter at http://twitter.com/johnpoz
Thanks for stopping by the old blog!
Cheers,
John P.
What is screwing to you is love to me — after using it for those few hours Wednesday night, I was sold. Unlike you, I didn’t have to deal with Apple Customer Service to use my loaner — if I had to talk to difficult human beings to procure mine, I’d probably be pissed also.
This limit of 2 is to create a demand supply wave and increase the panic in customers who are like lets go get them.
OMG, that whole thing is crazy! The customer service of a …. *shakes head* … I don’t even know what, just NOT like a giant corporation that is SO loved by throngs of people. Weird. Ugh.
And um, I know of an Aussie who flew over here to buy I think, 10 of them!
And no non smudge screen? When there are no buttons at all? You’re making me think my mad crush on the iPad.
That’s pretty crazy.
I actually purchased 5 iPads on launch day last weekend, 1 from best buy (their limit) and 2 from 2 different apple stores. The only company that objected to me buying that many seemed to be Amex (the last two ipads flagged their fraud department). I did intentionally not give the second Apple store an email address for a receipt like I did the first, but they both went on the same credit card. Guess I got lucky :)
The limits are pretty ridiculous beyond launch day anyway – not like there’s a big shortage of them. Even on launch day, both apple stores I went to had stacks of them late in the day.
First of all, nice template! You’ll have to let me know how it works for you – I love the fact that Thesis has so many customizations and skins, and still hast tons of functionality on the back end.
Secondly, I have to totally agree with you on the feel of the iPad. I have both a B&N nook e-reader and an iPhone, both of which I use on a very regular basis. Both are light, easy to handle, and can be read one-handed. The iPad is a behemoth in comparison, and is very awkward to hold.
If I didn’t already have a netbook and an e-reader, I might consider getting an iPad. But for feel alone, I’m thinking it’s just not going to fit my needs. Even with my iPhone’s tiny screen, I can consume web pages and videos at an acceptable level and still have much more portability than an iPad. I’ve just adjusted so much to the iPhone’s size that the iPad just feels … clunky in comparison. And if I need to blog, I’ve always got my handy netbook, which is about the same screen size as the iPad. And the weight difference is 1.5lb (24 oz) with the iPad vs 2.6lb (42.3 oz) for the netbook, which isn’t that much of a difference for portability, and I never feel the weight of my netbook in my hand since it’s always on a desk for writing. But for holding in my hands, 24oz for the iPad vs 12 0z for Nook and 4.8 oz for my iPhone makes it just feel massive.