‘One or more items in your order will be ready for pickup at Apple, University Village’
– Text message from Apple, complete with map and QR code
I took this message to believe my new phone and its leather case were ready for pickup.
The phone was indicated as ‘available’ on Friday when I placed the order. And did Tim Cook not say (at the Apple event, Sept. 14) that there would be enough phones out of the gate, this year?
Long story short: I left the store without my phone. (It’s not a big deal. It’s just an illustration of how the best-laid plans can go off the rails).
Inside the store after a long, long wait for the phone to show up: No— they did not have it— and would not have it for another four weeks.
I suppose I could have double-checked online if both my items were ready, before going out to the store.
In hindsight, the other red flag was that my credit card was charged only for the case as I placed the order on Friday, but not for the phone .. but I thought that was because they would check the condition of my trade-in phone, and then finalize the charge amount today.
So the message & QR code they had sent out, the time slot of 11.45- 12 noon for the pickup, the careful choreography in the Apple store, was all for just picking up a phone case.
Back at home came the e-mail from Apple with my receipt, and the standard invitation to provide feedback of ‘my experience at the Apple store’.
I basically wrote back:
‘I took your text message & QR code as confirmation that both phone and case were ready for pickup.
Why on earth would your ordering program assume I would want to come in to your store, fight the traffic piling up for the University of Washington football game nearby, to come in and pick up only the case for the phone?
Somewhere along the line there should have been a clear message saying that the phone would be unavailable/ not ready for pickup’.
P.S./ Two days later There was in fact in e-mail sent out by Apple on Friday, that stated that the phone was not available. So yes, I should have checked the status of my order inside the e-mail before I went out to the store.
I was able to pick up my iPhone 13 Pro on Friday at Southcenter. I think that was the only area in Seattle where you could pick them up. I had to wait about 10 minutes in line, then show my QR code and I had it within a minute or two and was on my way.
That’s great! I think I waited too long to put my order in (Friday), and then I should have double-checked the confirmation e-mail they had sent back on Friday, to make sure it was available before I headed to the store. Thing is, that it took the store employees 20 mins to figure out on my order that the phone was not available. They first said there was a problem with my payment for it! Anyway, now I know what to do, and I just have to wait a few weeks. Not a big deal. Enjoy your new phone!