I’ve been in the market for an iPhone. Even prior to the iPhone 3G announcement, I had decided that I needed something like it to enable me to keep up with email and clients when I’m offsite at meetings for half a day. Unfortunately, I made this decision in the days prior to the new iPhone announcement when the previous generation phones had already gone from the stores. The situation is becoming urgent now, because my old Motorola Razr has started to randomly shut itself off mid-call — obviously a huge problem when speaking with clients.
I had tried to go on the launch day, but didn’t want to spend 4 hours in line at the mall. Since then, I’ve been carefully watching the availability page for the 16 GB black iPhone, the page that supposedly tells you whether the phone you want is in stock. Last night, by some miracle, my chosen phone was available at my local store. I went over shortly before the store opened this morning and discovered that I was already 52nd in line. This is the chronicle of my time at the mall.
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9:50. As I take my place in line, I’m told that I just missed the Apple employee who came out before the store even opened to tell us that the shipment wouldn’t arrive until 10:30, but that it’s “always here by 10:30″. I already feel like a tool of Steve Jobs, and can’t believe that I’m actually sitting in line for a phone. Yet I wait, because I am a tool of Steve Jobs.
10:05. Another employee comes out and tells the line that the shipment “will definitely be here by 11:00.” People are disgruntled, but we figure that we’ll wait anyway. Besides, they said by 11:00, which could be anytime, right? That could mean 10:15. Why not stick it out?
10:10. Another employee comes out and informs us that the information on the website is not correct, or even remotely useful. It doesn’t tell you what’s coming in that day, it only tells you if any are still in stock from the previous day. So the listing that said that the 16 GB black iPhone was in stock was only partly true: they had two of them. Two. “We’re getting a really big shipment today, almost as big as launch day,” Apple guy told us. “But the shipment is only 8 GB and 16 GB white.” Several people leave, clearly wanting the 16 GB black. I don’t really care about color, so I stay.
10:15-11:00. Happy, chirpy Apple employees come out and chat with the line, each assuring us that the shipment will arrive at any moment, and that they’re expecting more than enough to accommodate the 150 people in line. I’m surprised by how many parents are waiting to buy iPhones for their teens. People read books, listen to iPods, text friends. Some clusters of people organize coffee expeditions. We wait, continually reassured that we will soon be walking out with our shiny new iPhones.
11:00-12:00. The Apple employees vanish. Rumors start to spread. Tempers begin to flare, and there are no Apple people to quell the uprising that’s starting to form. Obscenities are muttered.
12:00. The manager comes out and informs the first few people that there were no phones in the shipment. Word trickles back. We wait to see what they’re going to do — perhaps we’ll get some sort of “time served” voucher that lets us jump to the front of the line on another day. “It’s Apple,” people around me say. “They’ll make it right.” People are shouting. They’re flat-out angry. I can already tell from the angry voices ahead that there’s not going to be any sort of perk for waiting as long as we have.
12:10. The manager finally works her way back to my area, around the corner from the store. She explains that there were no phones today, “But the big shipment is going to be here tomorrow, so come back then,” she says cheerfully. This is when the guy in front of me starts to yell. “So I can come back tomorrow and wait another two hours for a ‘big shipment’ of iPhones that may or may not come in?” he asks.
“Oh, they’ll be here tomorrow,” she says brightly and somewhat cluelessly, as though she has no idea that anyone would feel the least bit put out by any of this.
“But you said they would be here today.”
“Yeah, but since they weren’t here today, they’ll definitely be here by tomorrow. ‘Cause, you know, they’ll be here.”
“What, are they coming via pony express?” he snarls. “Did the horses get tired and have to rest? This is 2008. You can track packages from UPS and know how many boxes are on their way. Your distribution center should be able to tell you how many iPhones they put into the box, what kinds, and by what method of shipment.”
“Sir,” she says, “we just don’t have that kind of information. I’m very sorry. Come back tomorrow.”
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Now, I would expect this sort of miscommunication and incompetence if I went to the AT&T store. I would expect it at Best Buy, or Circuit City. But Apple prides itself on customer service. They’re like the Nordstrom of consumer electronics. I think that people were doubly upset because the situation was handled so poorly, with promises that led to nothing. I typically expect incompetence in my customer service, but never from Apple.
Curiously, if you believe what they told us, they have less information about their product stock and delivery than I had when I worked retail in 1995. Is it possible that 13 years ago I could find out how many crystal goblets or sterling keychains were arriving via UPS on any given day, but modern-day Apple can’t manage the same?
I feel like an idiot for waiting there this morning. I feel like an idiot for wanting an iPhone over a Blackberry. After my experience today, if any other device came close to comparing with the iPhone functionality and technology, I’d buy it in a heartbeat, if for no other reason than to get the sound of Steve Jobs’ mocking laughter out of my head.