You, the annual upgrader, would go from being treated as a second-class citizen -- to being treated as a preferred customer... C'mon Angela, make it happen!
Yup, agree with that. Because I signed up last year as an annual upgrader, I now cannot even get on the list. When I finally got in around 3:15 or so, there was not one to be had within 200 miles. I would have been happy to take one a few days later, but no way for an upgrader to get on that list. Nuts, now I am likely at least a month or more out.
I woke to place my order the moment the site came up. At 0311 est. I was able to order my jet black 7 128gb without a hitch. I'm still in contract for another month so I paid full price for it. The crazy thing is for the last 4 years Apple has been moving up their release dates causing problems for people who might not be out of contract. Verizon will not let me upgrade until I fulfill my full contract. This wasn't always the case. This will further upset people when they go to purchase their new phones. If I bought a new phone under a new contract and number this year and had it shipped to me, my start date would not be until I officially activated my phone further causing my timing to be off on the next eligible release. Wish these dam companies would think of the crap their putting their customers through!!! The only way to get around all of the crap is to pay for the phone completely outright and sell it when you buy the next one!!
The iPhone 7 Plus, 256 GB, Jet Black listed as 'sold out' in under 4 hours on Australia's largest carrier, Telstra. Apparently, many customers don't regard the 7 as an 'incremental upgrade'.
If I knew Apple's choice of financing for the yearly upgrade program would be a POS to deal with then I wouldn't have even tried. Ended up skipping iPhone upgrade program because financing was not approved and wasted 20 minutes. Now I purchased the phone in full without the upgrade program and instead of Sep 16 delivery, it's Sep 27-29. Thanks, Apple, for your wonderful financing choice that refused to cooperate with a perfect credit score and waste my time at 2:30am-- meanwhile full cash is coming for the iPhone. Pissing me off.
Sorry to hear about this. I had a feeling this was going to happen, so I skipped that. I had asked a question about this in this Forum, and curiously, there was no answer. That was the tip-off.
I was wondering why Phil Schiller sounded like all of three people must have signed up for the yearly upgrade. Now we know why. I cannot understand why they don't allow people to pre-qualify. Very stupid.
I asked on this forum, too -- no answer.
It's odd that the procedure for enrolling * in the upgrade program is so much easier than actually upgrading. **
* order online, financial approval, ship iPhone to you.
** Order online if any available for pickup in state, make reservation (or wait until reservations are accepted), make reservation for in store pickup and exchange.
I wish I knew how/who to contact Apple because they can do better... much better!
Below is a new enrollment -- took about 5 minutes, but shipping changed from 6-10 business days to 2-3 weeks during that 5 minutes.
Conceptually, this is a great plan: Costs less than the carrier 24 month plan; unlocked iPhone; AppleCare included; and upgrade after 12 payments.
We'll save about $25 per line on a 5-line family plan ~= $125 per month savings.
Hope this and my prior post explains what's involved in enrolling and upgrading through the Apple Upgrade Program.
Because of the upgrade hassle, we are going to wait until availability stabilizes -- likely, won't be able to upgrade 4 iPhones, current under plan, until late October or November.
Available... unless your cellular services is through a business account and it's impossible to complete their carrier validation process (which it should let me skip because I'm just buying the phones outright). I guess Apple doesn't want our business.
I'm on a business account through AT&T and I buy my iPhones outright too. You can just order the T-Mobile version full cash price without any carrier account validation. That version is unlocked anyway. Just swap out the SIM.
Whole experience sucked! I was on at 12:02, no iPhone 7+ available at my local store at all! (which is Reno, NV). I am going to be in Las Vegas on Sept 16th, no black iPhone 7+ of any shade at all! Immediately said sold out, and the iPhone 7+ models were only going to be available at 2 of 4 stores?!?! Worst experience at Apple ever.
Genuinely a terrible experience for many people seemingly. Apple standing firm that the store opened at 8:01am (GMT)/12:01am (PST) and it was due to numbers that the opening was delayed for some, but I don't know anyone who got access at that point. By the time I got to order a phone, it was a 4-6 week wait AND there were no options for pick up. Atrocious and I think lessons need to be learned still. Why can't a big tech firm like Apple actually create a system able to cope with the demand they know it'll have placed on it?
Best Buy still has Sept 16 delivery dates for both Watch 2 and iP7/7+! For iPhone you might have to reserve it online and pick it up on launch day, but at least that's better than Sept 30 or October!
Genuinely a terrible experience for many people seemingly. Apple standing firm that the store opened at 8:01am (GMT)/12:01am (PST) and it was due to numbers that the opening was delayed for some, but I don't know anyone who got access at that point. By the time I got to order a phone, it was a 4-6 week wait AND there were no options for pick up. Atrocious and I think lessons need to be learned still. Why can't a big tech firm like Apple actually create a system able to cope with the demand they know it'll have placed on it?
because no ecommerce system can withstand 20 million or whatever people hitting it at once.
but, but, but, but, no one wants to buy the iPhone 7................
Oh, oh, but my family so does want to, but we three have to wait until our two years are up in December. Frustrating, esp considering the advances in the camera(s) from the 6+, which we have to the 7+.
I woke to place my order the moment the site came up. At 0311 est. I was able to order my jet black 7 128gb without a hitch. I'm still in contract for another month so I paid full price for it. The crazy thing is for the last 4 years Apple has been moving up their release dates causing problems for people who might not be out of contract. Verizon will not let me upgrade until I fulfill my full contract. This wasn't always the case. This will further upset people when they go to purchase their new phones. If I bought a new phone under a new contract and number this year and had it shipped to me, my start date would not be until I officially activated my phone further causing my timing to be off on the next eligible release. Wish these dam companies would think of the crap their putting their customers through!!! The only way to get around all of the crap is to pay for the phone completely outright and sell it when you buy the next one!!
Why don't you just WAIT until your contract ends, THEN place your order? Sure, you may have to delay getting the new phone, but you'd not risk getting penalized by the terms of your agreement with your carrier.
Genuinely a terrible experience for many people seemingly. Apple standing firm that the store opened at 8:01am (GMT)/12:01am (PST) and it was due to numbers that the opening was delayed for some, but I don't know anyone who got access at that point. By the time I got to order a phone, it was a 4-6 week wait AND there were no options for pick up. Atrocious and I think lessons need to be learned still. Why can't a big tech firm like Apple actually create a system able to cope with the demand they know it'll have placed on it?
because no ecommerce system can withstand 20 million or whatever people hitting it at once.
Stop being such a pathetic apologist. You lose credibility when you do that. This must be, what, the 15th year that Apple -- the largest market market cap company in the world, with perhaps the smartest people, with the largest cash pile in corporate history -- is doing this? At what point do you expect them to get it right? Never?
East Coast guy here. I have upgraded to every new phone since the original phone.
I waited up to 3AM to find that there is no stock on the iPhone 7 Plus jet black 256gb. In fact, there really wasn't much inventory of any model to be had in the entire D.C. area. I have always been able to order a phone on the first day. I cannot order a new iPhone because I am on the annual replacement program, and I am locked out until the 17th to make an appointment.
In addition, I must go to the store to trade in my phone. Why? Until this model is available in another two months AND I am able to make an appointment to turn in my phone, I may lose interest.
Thanks Apple, for wasting my time. The excitement is gone. How you handle your best customers is dumb. This launch was a disaster.
Good night.
I also woke up just before 3am only to find that ordering the 7 plus wasn't even an option unless I wanted gold. I signed up for the Apple upgrade plan last year which was amazingly simple. This year was a nightmare and I've upgraded almost every year and keep myself on a schedule where I could upgrade when a new phone is released. That is out the window.now. For me, the "excitement is gone"
Genuinely a terrible experience for many people seemingly. Apple standing firm that the store opened at 8:01am (GMT)/12:01am (PST) and it was due to numbers that the opening was delayed for some, but I don't know anyone who got access at that point. By the time I got to order a phone, it was a 4-6 week wait AND there were no options for pick up. Atrocious and I think lessons need to be learned still. Why can't a big tech firm like Apple actually create a system able to cope with the demand they know it'll have placed on it?
because no ecommerce system can withstand 20 million or whatever people hitting it at once.
Stop being such a pathetic apologist. You lose credibility when you do that. This must be, what, the 15th year that Apple -- the largest market market cap company in the world, with perhaps the smartest people, with the largest cash pile in corporate history -- is doing this? At what point do you expect them to get it right? Never?
C'mon.
Do you have any idea how many servers/bandwidth is necessary to handle 20 million visitors hitting your site at the exact same time? Do you have any idea how EXPENSIVE it would be to allocate that much bandwidth to accomadate such a massive amount of traffic?
It would cost TENS of MILLIONS of dollars. HUGE MONEY. All for a few hours of traffic.
That is RIDICULOUS to expect any company to spend that much money for a few hours of online traffic.
This is like expecting a city to build 12 additional lanes on the highway so there is no traffic when the Football team plays once a year. That is a ridiculous request.
You are living in DREAM LAND brah. The same dream land that expects to have ZERO traffic during football games, and ZERO traffic at the local mall during Black Friday.
Go tell me what other website in the HISTORY OF MAN was able to handle 20 million users hitting the site all at once? It has never happened, because its stupid expensive to do so.
Stop making up stupid, non-existent numbers. 20 million? Sheesh. Stop spouting crap thrown out by apologists like @nolamacguy, who just pulled that number out of...wherever....
Figure out how Alibaba handles Singles Day. This is peanuts by comparison.
Genuinely a terrible experience for many people seemingly. Apple standing firm that the store opened at 8:01am (GMT)/12:01am (PST) and it was due to numbers that the opening was delayed for some, but I don't know anyone who got access at that point. By the time I got to order a phone, it was a 4-6 week wait AND there were no options for pick up. Atrocious and I think lessons need to be learned still. Why can't a big tech firm like Apple actually create a system able to cope with the demand they know it'll have placed on it?
because no ecommerce system can withstand 20 million or whatever people hitting it at once.
Stop being such a pathetic apologist. You lose credibility when you do that. This must be, what, the 15th year that Apple -- the largest market market cap company in the world, with perhaps the smartest people, with the largest cash pile in corporate history -- is doing this? At what point do you expect them to get it right? Never?
C'mon.
Do you have any idea how many servers/bandwidth is necessary to handle 20 million visitors hitting your site at the exact same time? Do you have any idea how EXPENSIVE it would be to allocate that much bandwidth to accomadate such a massive amount of traffic?
It would cost TENS of MILLIONS of dollars. HUGE MONEY. All for a few hours of traffic.
That is RIDICULOUS to expect any company to spend that much money for a few hours of online traffic.
This is like expecting a city to build 12 additional lanes on the highway so there is no traffic when the Football team plays once a year. That is a ridiculous request.
You are living in DREAM LAND brah. The same dream land that expects to have ZERO traffic during football games, and ZERO traffic at the local mall during Black Friday.
Go tell me what other website in the HISTORY OF MAN was able to handle 20 million users hitting the site all at once? It has never happened, because its stupid expensive to do so.
Stop making up stupid, non-existent numbers. 20 million? Sheesh. Stop spouting crap thrown out by apologists like @nolamacguy, who just pulled that number out of...wherever....
Figure out how Alibaba handles Singles Day. This is peanuts by comparison.
Think before you post.
We're supposed to believe that at midnight PST there were 20 million people online trying to buy a new iPhone? Haha that's funny.
Comments
Yup, agree with that. Because I signed up last year as an annual upgrader, I now cannot even get on the list. When I finally got in around 3:15 or so, there was not one to be had within 200 miles. I would have been happy to take one a few days later, but no way for an upgrader to get on that list. Nuts, now I am likely at least a month or more out.
I asked on this forum, too -- no answer.
It's odd that the procedure for enrolling * in the upgrade program is so much easier than actually upgrading. **
* order online, financial approval, ship iPhone to you.
** Order online if any available for pickup in state, make reservation (or wait until reservations are accepted), make reservation for in store pickup and exchange.
I wish I knew how/who to contact Apple because they can do better... much better!
Below is a new enrollment -- took about 5 minutes, but shipping changed from 6-10 business days to 2-3 weeks during that 5 minutes.
Conceptually, this is a great plan: Costs less than the carrier 24 month plan; unlocked iPhone; AppleCare included; and upgrade after 12 payments.
We'll save about $25 per line on a 5-line family plan ~= $125 per month savings.
Hope this and my prior post explains what's involved in enrolling and upgrading through the Apple Upgrade Program.
Because of the upgrade hassle, we are going to wait until availability stabilizes -- likely, won't be able to upgrade 4 iPhones, current under plan, until late October or November.
C'mon.
Figure out how Alibaba handles Singles Day. This is peanuts by comparison.
Think before you post.
Or are you just being you?
We're supposed to believe that at midnight PST there were 20 million people online trying to buy a new iPhone? Haha that's funny.
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