Apple iPhone 4 ordered
I managed to place my order for the new iPhone 4 this morning around 7:30am.
The ordering experience was… mostly what I expected. I tried the AT&T site first, since I felt that would take me along the cleanest path for making sure everything with my accounts was linked up correctly. No problems logging in, no problems selecting the iPhone 4, no problems confirming my upgrade eligibility. Looking good. Until I landed on the check-out page. The Contact Information form had my current address correct, except my zip code was from Pennsylvania… and it wasn’t changeable. Further, even though there was a Ship To form that allowed me to type my current address (including zip), I hesitated, as they went out of their way to state that if your contact information didn’t match exactly the order would probably be delayed. Hmmm. Let’s try the Apple site instead.
The Apple web site was even worse. It would perform really well in fits & spurts, but every attempt ultimately took me to Apple’s version of the Twitter fail whale: a Post-it note saying the online store is closed followed by phone numbers for a bunch of countries. I didn’t take a screen cap… I was tired of looking at it. Hmmm. Ok, let’s try AT&T again… but first, I’ll call to see if they can fix the zip code problem.
So I navigate the phone tree for AT&T, reaching an operator after 10 minutes (which wasn’t so bad, IMO). I explain the situation. Our conversation is roughly like this:
Me: When I’m looking at the upgrade options, it says that I’m in Downingtown, PA. When I go to check out, it still has my old zip code. Can you look at my account?
Rep: I’m looking here and your account looks correct.
Me: Is there any other place on my account it could have the wrong zip code or location?
Rep: <authoritatively> It still has your primary location as Pennsylvania, but the web site doesn’t use that information. At all. It’s internal only.
Me: I see. But can you change it anyway? Because the web site still thinks I’m in Pennsylvania.
Rep: I don’t see how that can be the case, but I’ll change it for you. There. Is there anything else I can help you with?
Me: Nope, bye.
Not surprisingly, as soon as I get back on the web site, it shows me in Kissimmee, with the correct zip code, and all is good. Not sure why the agent was so adamant that it wouldn’t make a difference (she was quite confident that it wasn’t used by the site), but I’m glad it worked.
I’m also glad I did all of this at 7:30am, before a lot more people woke up.
So now, we wait.