Mike Wuerthele
Apple has added more stock to the online reservation program for Apple Upgrade Program members, and return calls promised by Apple customer care to resolve ordering issues have started.
Late Monday night, the Apple Upgrade Program webpage was updated, and presented available stock in some locations to purchasers. Stores with stock had nearly every model available, from every carrier, including T-Mobile.
The change was noticed after Apple customer service retuned calls to some disgruntled program members, advising them of the change. AppleInsider has learned that other customers, mostly from the first batch of callers, had orders for the desired model and a second choice manually placed by the representatives over the phone.
While customers were originally told that some travel may be required, that seems to have been walked back somewhat. We have been informed that users will not have to travel more than 15 miles past the preferred Apple store for pickup.
"We haven't been updated yet," an Apple store manager told us regarding the calls, and launch day stock for program members. "We don't know if the orders that started again [on Tuesday] through AppleCare are coming from our reserved launch day stock, or are extras that they'll send that we don't know about yet."
The upgrade process for program members had a rocky start. Problems with the pre-order process resulted in many Apple Upgrade Program participants finding little or no stock available minutes after the pre-orders for the iPhone 7 began on Friday.
AppleInsider also discovered on Friday that retail stores would be reserving some incoming stock for upgrade program members.
On Sunday, Apple modified the Apple Upgrade Program website, directing customers to call Apple support for help with the process. At that time, customers were asked to give support personnel multiple models desired, and were told that they would be contacted within 48 hours with instructions on how to proceed.
A class action suit filed on Monday by upgrade program members claiming to be wronged by the process seeks reimbursement for "all damages sustained as a result of Defendant's wrongdoing, in an amount to be proven at trial," as a result of potential mishandling of the ordering process, as well as applicable attorneys' and experts' fees.
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11 Comments
Understanding the timeline you laid out means the lawsuit was filed after Apple had noticed the problem and started taking action to resolve the problem. To me the lawyer(s) filing this lawsuit should be forced to pay all legal fees and a fine for filing a frivolous class action lawsuit on the behalf of customers. Also, an apology and promise to not do anything like this ever again should be posted in major US newspapers, on morning and nightly news programs,, radio ads plus NPR, Twitter and Facebook.
I'm surprised that Apple didn't have some idea how many people in the IUP would be interested in upgrading as soon as eligible and then allocated stock accordingly.
Only two models available are gold 128 gig and rose gold 256 gig. Still waiting on Apple to call me its day two so I should be hearing from them today
Just checked the online reservation for a 128GB IP7 Plus in black here in Dallas and was able to reserve anytime after 10:00 AM this Friday! Good deal! I was one of the people in the iPhone upgrade program who logged on at 2:01 AM night of preorders and it didn't show any black IP7 Plus models in the entire DFW metroplex. So glad to see Apple has allotted some more stock to the iPhone upgrade program individuals! I was never expected special treatment but I expected to at least order when the general public was able to, even if that meant getting in line and waiting a week to receive the phone. Update: just checked stock again about 10 minutes later and it's no longer showing any IP7 plus models in DFW anymore...That was quick
So Apple is sending emails to IUP customers asking for model preferences so they can notify you of availability, except for Jet Black which won't be available at launch. Why didn't Apple just say during the keynote that Jet Black wouldn't be shipping right away? Clearly they don't have stock right now. Why offer it for sale only for it to be immediately sold out? Or maybe let people reserve that model for a later shipment date. At least then people would know they're not getting it right away vs. going online first thing to order it and it's immediately sold out.