My Update,
I think it really comes down to who you talk with at ATT. I placed an order on 9/30 with overnight shipping. I spoke with multiple agents saying the phone would ship out on 10/1. On 10/1 my status changed to est. delivery 10/4. I called and after the complete round around I cancelled my order. ( My local ATT store, that has friends working, told me they would have 50 black Note3s on Friday.)
I was still pissed. So during the day I called and immediately asked for a supervisor. She walked me through the process and excuses for the phone being delayed but said the units were not on backorder anymore and any unit ordered on 10/1 would ship 10/2. So I again placed an order with overnight shipping at 7:30pm. All day today my status showed estimate delivery on 10/4-10/8 WTF!
I again called and spoke with another manager, he told me to just be patience and see if the status would change this afternoon. At 1:30 my status changed to shipping 10/2 via fedex. I do not have a tracking number, but I feel a little better. I know this a lot of work for a phone and just 1 day early, but I can't wait.
Also Im in a northern suburb of Chicago