Shout to all of the AT&T pre-order peeps in the pre-order thread, as most of you probably read my posts!
Where do I begin?
Well, like most of you, I pre-ordered my Coral Blue, 512GB Note 9 on the 10th. Coming from an S7 Edge that is practically unusable due to probably memory fragmentation problems, I needed this upgrade. I was coming over as a new account owner, placed my Note 9 order on the 10th, and sat back feeling relieved that I would have a phone probably between the 21st - 23rd, and maybe even the 24th. So I waited impatiently like most of you probably did as well, and then the week of release came around. Didn't see anything come in on the 20th and some (very litte) people were getting shipment in progress status on their order. I figured it was the people who were right there at 0001hrs on the 10th that made the pre-order, so I did not think anything of it. The 21st rolls around, and more people have tracking information. So I decide to live chat and see if there was any information on the status of my order. This is where I first learned that the customer service department literally knows no more than we do with the orders. Talked to this person, who said. "You will have tracking information by the end of tonight (21st) and will receive the phone either the 22nd or the 23rd guaranteed." I could once again rest easy, knowing that I was going to receive my tracking information and would shortly have my phone.
Now we continue onto the 22nd. Around the evening, I still did not have any tracking number and saw that people already had the phones, some of whom placed their pre-order on the 17th and 18th. This was confusing to me, because I thought that pre-orders were given on a first come basis. So I decided to call customer support. Spoke with three different people. First a Order rep, then transferred to a CS rep, then finally a supervisor. This supervisor told me "I understand why this can be frustrating, but I guarantee - there's that "G" word again - that your phone will ship tomorrow as it is the last day it can ship and you will have tracking information provided to you by the end of tonight (22nd)" Then he said "If by 5PM EST you have not been provided tracking information, we can escalate this to the next level and speak with management." So at this point, yeah, I was kind of po'd but whatever, I should have my phone by Friday so it was all cool.
Now today, the 23rd. I decided to check in the middle of the day to see if there were any updates on my order status online. To my surprise, I see that there is no longer the ship date of the 21st to the 23rd. Waited until I got off of work, immediately asked for a supervisor because I was going to inform him that the supervisor on the 22nd told me to call after 5PM EST to begin escalating the situation to the next level. So I get a manager. Go through the same hoops as I already have for what seems like 1,000,000 times, and finally get another answer. "I cannot escalate this to the next level because it says that your ship date is the 22nd to the 24th." And then was told that the reason I was not receiving my phone was because of the high demand for the 512GB, Ocean Blue variant and they were currently out of stock. So I said "But, is that not the exact reason that pre-ordering exists?" To which he said "Yes, it is." He then said that if by tomorrow, after 5PM EST if I do not have the tracking information, we could escalate the order. So I told him to hold on for a second, called my local AT&T store, and asked "Sir, do you currently have the Coral Blue, 512GB, Note 9 in stock?" To which he said "Yes, but you can only order starting tomorrow (the 24th)." Nice guy, even put the phone aside for me. So I hopped back on with the supervisor, and asked "So what is stopping me from canceling this order and walking into my local store tomorrow to purchase the same exact phone that will be guaranteed for me?" He said "Well sir, you would not have the promise of receiving the phone that a pre-order provides." I took a few seconds to comprehend the absolute garbage that was said to me, canceled the order online, and woke up from this whole dream with the Note 9 in my hand. Just kidding. So, if you made it this far, congrats, you read my rant. I really hope that this hasn't happened to anyone else as I would prefer a slow painful death compared to this event.
Enjoy your note's everyone, some of us gave it all so you can have it 2 days sooner.
(Disclaimer: Most of this is dramatized, but could not be further from the truth at it's core.)
Cheers,
PCMR
Where do I begin?
Well, like most of you, I pre-ordered my Coral Blue, 512GB Note 9 on the 10th. Coming from an S7 Edge that is practically unusable due to probably memory fragmentation problems, I needed this upgrade. I was coming over as a new account owner, placed my Note 9 order on the 10th, and sat back feeling relieved that I would have a phone probably between the 21st - 23rd, and maybe even the 24th. So I waited impatiently like most of you probably did as well, and then the week of release came around. Didn't see anything come in on the 20th and some (very litte) people were getting shipment in progress status on their order. I figured it was the people who were right there at 0001hrs on the 10th that made the pre-order, so I did not think anything of it. The 21st rolls around, and more people have tracking information. So I decide to live chat and see if there was any information on the status of my order. This is where I first learned that the customer service department literally knows no more than we do with the orders. Talked to this person, who said. "You will have tracking information by the end of tonight (21st) and will receive the phone either the 22nd or the 23rd guaranteed." I could once again rest easy, knowing that I was going to receive my tracking information and would shortly have my phone.
Now we continue onto the 22nd. Around the evening, I still did not have any tracking number and saw that people already had the phones, some of whom placed their pre-order on the 17th and 18th. This was confusing to me, because I thought that pre-orders were given on a first come basis. So I decided to call customer support. Spoke with three different people. First a Order rep, then transferred to a CS rep, then finally a supervisor. This supervisor told me "I understand why this can be frustrating, but I guarantee - there's that "G" word again - that your phone will ship tomorrow as it is the last day it can ship and you will have tracking information provided to you by the end of tonight (22nd)" Then he said "If by 5PM EST you have not been provided tracking information, we can escalate this to the next level and speak with management." So at this point, yeah, I was kind of po'd but whatever, I should have my phone by Friday so it was all cool.
Now today, the 23rd. I decided to check in the middle of the day to see if there were any updates on my order status online. To my surprise, I see that there is no longer the ship date of the 21st to the 23rd. Waited until I got off of work, immediately asked for a supervisor because I was going to inform him that the supervisor on the 22nd told me to call after 5PM EST to begin escalating the situation to the next level. So I get a manager. Go through the same hoops as I already have for what seems like 1,000,000 times, and finally get another answer. "I cannot escalate this to the next level because it says that your ship date is the 22nd to the 24th." And then was told that the reason I was not receiving my phone was because of the high demand for the 512GB, Ocean Blue variant and they were currently out of stock. So I said "But, is that not the exact reason that pre-ordering exists?" To which he said "Yes, it is." He then said that if by tomorrow, after 5PM EST if I do not have the tracking information, we could escalate the order. So I told him to hold on for a second, called my local AT&T store, and asked "Sir, do you currently have the Coral Blue, 512GB, Note 9 in stock?" To which he said "Yes, but you can only order starting tomorrow (the 24th)." Nice guy, even put the phone aside for me. So I hopped back on with the supervisor, and asked "So what is stopping me from canceling this order and walking into my local store tomorrow to purchase the same exact phone that will be guaranteed for me?" He said "Well sir, you would not have the promise of receiving the phone that a pre-order provides." I took a few seconds to comprehend the absolute garbage that was said to me, canceled the order online, and woke up from this whole dream with the Note 9 in my hand. Just kidding. So, if you made it this far, congrats, you read my rant. I really hope that this hasn't happened to anyone else as I would prefer a slow painful death compared to this event.
Enjoy your note's everyone, some of us gave it all so you can have it 2 days sooner.
(Disclaimer: Most of this is dramatized, but could not be further from the truth at it's core.)
Cheers,
PCMR
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