Connect with us

Mobile

AT&T Fixes iPhone 5 Pre-Order Bungle

Published

on

Earlier this week, we told you that at least one customer received an email from AT&T saying that his iPhone 5 pre-order placed last Friday and originally slated to be arriving on September 21st would instead arrive in 14-21 business days. Well, it now looks like AT&T is sending out email retracting the earlier one, saying that it has been able to move the pre-order back to September 21st.

In an new email obtained by Gotta Be Mobile, AT&T says the earlier email which stated that the reader’s iPhone 5 shipping date would be pushed back from September 21st should be disregarded.

AT&T says that it has been able to move up his pre-order from the previously announced 14-21 business days to September 21st, which is the iPhone 5’s release date.

Read: AT&T iPhone 5 Pre-Order Confusion.

ATT-iPhone-5-pre-orders-575x214

It appears that AT&T has rectified the situation for at least one iPhone 5 pre-order.

Here is the full email, which is an automated email sent by AT&T:

Dear [Redacted],

Thank you for your recent iPhone purchase. We are pleased to inform you that we have been able to move your iPhone arrival time up to September 21, 2012.

You may disregard the last iPhone Order Confirmation email from us, which stated that your shipping expectation was 14 to 21 business days.

We appreciate your business and look forward to a continued relationship as an AT&T customer.

Sincerely,
AT&T

Note: This email was auto-generated. Please do not respond.

This is fantastic news for this owner in particular and it bodes well for the hopes of those that either may have received the earlier email proclaiming a new shipping date or those worried that their iPhone 5 pre-order placed last Friday may not arrive on September 21st.

It may be that it fixed his order specifically, given the amount of coverage, but we’re unsure at this point.

Read: My iPhone 5 Pre-Order Nightmare Came True.

iPhone-5-pre-order-2-million-October-575x470

It also doesn’t explain why he got the email in the first place. However, it’s looking more and more like it was a mistake on AT&T’s end. Others who may have received something similar may receive a similar email from AT&T soon.

I can confirm that my iPhone 5 pre-order, which is currently in limbo, remains in limbo, and I’m still unsure if I’m going to be getting my pre-order on September 21st or not.

Cheers, Brent!

33 Comments

33 Comments

  1. John

    09/18/2012 at 3:46 pm

    just got the same message im so happy… lol

  2. Michael

    09/18/2012 at 5:50 pm

    So should every one thats not getting that same email expect not to get there cause I myself have not gotten that email…

    • geminiwind

      09/18/2012 at 7:42 pm

      I ordered my phone before 11:25am eastern on the 14th which was the cut off that began the 14-21 days. But I am a new Att customer and I got my Terms and Conditions to sign yesterday. My order states that I placed the order yesterday. I’m basically screwed out of this order. Even with the $500 deposit I payed. I am back in the line.

  3. Ki (@z0mki)

    09/18/2012 at 7:58 pm

    After 3.5 hours of trying to load the AT&T Premiere site for businesses, I finally was able to order two phones. I shortly received the email confirming the order was placed and to expect a delivery date of 9/21. Today I received an email confirming my orders have been reserved and should arrive on or before 9/21. When the iPhone 4 was released I had ordered one while at work and one directly through Apple. I received my iPhone from AT&T one day early while the Apple order came on release. Hopefully history will repeat itself.

  4. Kay

    09/18/2012 at 8:09 pm

    I ordered the iphone 5 around 6:20 A.M est and was shocked to find out that pre-orders were delayed when i checked later that day. I have only gotten one email to confirm my purchase and it basically says I have a reserved phone and it will “arrive as soon as Sept. 21, 2012”. I have gotten no further emails confirming anything and everytime I refresh the tracking page the status is ‘preorder processing’. I called at&t and the operator was confused when i asked about the delay, asking where I heard that from. I’ve read if the order was made a certain time before 10 A.M est, the iphones would be on time. I have no idea what to think.

    • Ki (@z0mki)

      09/18/2012 at 10:30 pm

      I think you’re good since you ordered at 6:20 EST and I ordered around the same time except PST.

  5. Marilyn Munrollup

    09/19/2012 at 2:01 am

    I wasn’t able to pre-order online because I had already upgraded my line to an iPhone 4S . So I had to go to my nearest AT&T store Friday the 14th , telling them I wanted a 30 day exchange on my 4S && wanted to pre-order the iPhone 5 to exchange it with . The time on my receipt states 9:56am PST . I got an e-mail confirmation later that day stating that my phone would be shipped in 14-21 business days && came with an order number . When I got to the order status page && type in my order number it comes up as

    “OS001: We apologize for the inconvenience. We cannot complete your request at this time. Please wait at least 24 hrs from placing your order, before checking the status of your order online. If the problem persists, please call us at 1-800-331-0500 for further assistance. NOTE: An email may have been sent to your email address on file. Please check your email which may have additional information about your order.”
    It’s already going on 5 days && it’s still giving me this same error , anybody know why ? I did an online chat with customer service on the AT&T site but I swear these people are just dumb . They don’t know how to give clear answers && even told me the order number i gave them was not an order number . I believe they went to the order status page just as I did , got the same response && decided to tell me what I already knew (it wasn’t working) . If l it’s not an order number why does it say so in e-mail ? AT&T needs to get their stuff together , especially when it comes to those such as myself who have been customers for 10 years+ . This is my first iPhone order by the way , aside from the 4S I’ve had for 1 week now .

    • Bob

      09/20/2012 at 7:57 pm

      Had same issue. Called their CS line on the cell number iPhone will be on and magically my order now has status. Of course it just says order processing. No dates. Ordered at the AT&T 11 AM promised 5 day delivery. canceling my 17 year old account with ATT and this order. Done. Verizon here we come…..

  6. Pat

    09/19/2012 at 12:38 pm

    I ordered at 12:25 on 9.14 and got the message today that it will take 14 – 21 days, what a rip off. First time that’s ever happened. Bummed.

  7. Phil

    09/19/2012 at 3:39 pm

    FYI, I ordered my phone at 3 am EST on the 14th and received a confirmation email around 3:10. My order updated to “shipped” today but there was no tracking information so I called AT&T to see what was up. I was told by the customer service rep that anyone that ordered their phone before 9 am on Monday would have their phone shipped on Friday the 21st, and anyone who ordered after that will have their phone shipped in 14-21 days, so unless she was wrong, looks like no one from AT&T will be getting at phone on Friday.

    • Jeff Silberman

      09/20/2012 at 3:16 am

      I ordered one CDMA and one GSM before 6:30am EST and the email indicated
      iPhone 5 64GB Black & Slate (CDMA), Verizon
      $399.00
      1
      $399.00
      Available to ship: 2 weeks
      Delivers Within 5 days after shipping by Standard Shipping
      Part Number: MD664LL/A

      iPhone 5 64GB Black & Slate (GSM), AT&T
      $399.00
      1
      $399.00
      Available to ship: 2 weeks
      Delivers Within 5 days after shipping by Standard Shipping

      I am less than happy about not getting orders placed early enough. Those of us who can’t take off to go wait on line or may have considered that, are not waiting in the warmer climate that made it tolerable to wait as in previous summer releases.

      Perhaps the Memory choice has something to do with the later time?

    • Bud

      09/20/2012 at 6:52 am

      I ordered mine around 6 central time and my said shipped on yesterday as well. It now shows a tracking number and says arrives the 21st by 3pm. You might want to check again in case you haven’t already cause I have been watching mine like a hawk.

  8. Gunnco

    09/19/2012 at 11:08 pm

    This is all very confusing. I just want my phone. Apparently we west coasters get screwed due to the time difference? That just don’t seem right.

    • Josh

      09/20/2012 at 12:24 pm

      West coasters only had to stay up until midnight and then could pull the trigger.

      • Gunnco

        09/20/2012 at 9:26 pm

        No I went to AT&T store because I couldn’t order online

  9. b

    09/20/2012 at 9:13 am

    Why did i bother pre ordering to wait 3 weeks when I can just walk into an AT&T store and pick one up tommorow?

  10. lucckyme

    09/20/2012 at 9:23 am

    I woke up went to work the day Iphone5 went available for pre-order. Came to work around 9:45am EST and I was told that the Iphone 5 was sold out within 2 hours when it opened. Thank God and I dont live in this Man’s economy but through his grace so I still went online to submit my pre-order. I saw a lot of complains online about people who pre-ordered their phone much earlier than me got an email that their phone will not arrive in time while all along, I got 2 confirmation that my phone is scheduled to arrive on Sept. 21. Went to check the status of my order online today and it says it is shipped!!

  11. Broiler

    09/20/2012 at 6:32 pm

    Ordered my phone through att.com at 4am ET on 9/14. Got immediate confirmation that my phone would be delivered on 9/21. My order status still says processing and an AT&T supervisor says I will get my phone sometime in October. She acknowledged AT&T screwed up and that senior management has forbidden its managers from providing any type of compensation for their error. Awesome customer service AT&T. I am now considering Verizon.

  12. Chris

    09/20/2012 at 7:00 pm

    ATT really f-d this up. I ordered 2 phones back to back at 7:30am EST & one shipped the other one told me 2-3 weeks & that was the one ordered first! I knew I should have switched carriers!

  13. Candy

    09/21/2012 at 4:28 am

    If you go in a Pre-order thinking everything wil go magically perfect, your in idiot. Come on is the fricking iphone, people are going crazy for this devices. All the companies Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T are having the same issue. So if your considering to cancel to go with another company because of this, I assure you would had have the same issue if you had order the Iphone. Is not a problem of not being able ship in order, the problem is waiting the merchandiser I which case is in Apple’s Problem. If your so mad then the correct action would be f-k Iphone and go find your self another phone then pisssssssss.

  14. Chad

    09/21/2012 at 7:58 am

    Dear Mr. Stephenson,
    I’m writing to tell you my experience with AT&T recently. We recently made an online order with AT&T for the preorder of the iPhone 5. We tried to make an order at 1:15 AM MST September 14, 2012 and there was too much volume and AT&T’s servers went offline. We tried again and again and finally at 2:05 AM MST we had success. The website confirmed that we would receive an iPhone 5 and with in 30 minutes we received an email confirming we would receive the iPhone 5 on 21st. I received two other emails later on that explained how to contact AT&T using the phone and how to check to see your balances etc. I thought everything was fine and that I would receive my phone as promised on the 21st. I checked my AT&T account yesterday to check on the order status and it shows that the phone is processing. I looked online and checked the message boards to find that people that ordered the phone later than me had already received tracking for their phones. So I called AT&T customer care at 7:30 AM the first agent I talked with told me I would be receiving it today on the 21st as promised. Two Hours went by no tracking and I decided to check again and the second customer care agent told me that it had updated to being shipped 2-3 weeks but she then looked at the time I ordered the phone and said you ordered it early enough that you will get it tomorrow for sure. Well now I am hopeful but I’m starting to have some doubt that I’m going to get the phone tomorrow. Another hour went by and I decided I need to call one more time to make sure that I’m getting the phone. The third customer care agent told me that I would not be getting the phone until 4-10 of October. How could that be? I said I ordered earlier than customers on the message boards that have already received tracking. I was told that she knew that and mine had been back-ordered. I hung up told my wife the bad news and she told me to call back again. I called customer care a forth time only to find out my order had been processed and I would receive the phones Saturday or Monday at the latest. I said are you sure, she replied and said yes. I told my wife and we were both pretty excited we had sold our old phones and bought some cheap used iPhone 3’s that we were going to sale once we got our new phones. We are going to Disneyland October 1st and the new phones will be perfect to take pictures of our family trip. Now I decided that I would call customer care one more time just to make sure that we are indeed getting the phones. I called for the fifth and final time the customer care agent looked up the order and said the order had been processed and I should receive the new phones between October 4-10. I said are you sure I was just told the 22nd or the 24th of September. She said I’m sorry but that is the dates we have. Now I am pretty deflated and discouraged. She told me I should try to go to the store in the morning to try and get a phone. I decided I would go and try to get a phone at the retail store. I called the local AT&T store and asked if it would be possible for me to get two phones. They said one per customer. I decided I could not go and get a phone without getting one for my wife. We have an autistic daughter that my wife volunteers at her school and would not be able to stand in line with me at the AT&T store. So as of today I have not heard anything from AT&T and had I not called yesterday I would be under the impression I was getting phones today. Last year I preordered the iPhone 4S from AT&T and received the iPhone 4 and not the 4S as ordered. I’m wondering if my account number is doomed by your system or am I just that unlucky. I no you will never read this letter but it has helped me blow off some steam. We are still loyal customers that feel like we have been betrayed.
    Sincerely yours,
    Chad

    I posted this on AT&T’s message board and they keep deleting it.

  15. R

    09/21/2012 at 8:15 am

    I never got that email or any update but when calling it was said that my order didn’t get processed until after 9 even tho the order was placed at 12:19 am they said there is nothing they can do to help it will 14 to 21 days if they say everything is fine don’t count on it they will say whatever to get you off the phone they don’t care about customers

  16. bjm2020

    09/21/2012 at 6:14 pm

    AT&T also messed up my order. I placed 3 preorders on the morning of September 14th. I placed two 16gb iphone 5 preorders from apple at about 2:03 a.m. CDT which were processed and received today without a problem. These were for my dad and gf’s phones. I placed my 32gb iphone 5 preorder through AT&T at 01:51 AM CDT on September 14, 2012. I received a confirmation email stating that my order was placed and I would receive my iphone on September 21st and a hold was placed on my credit card for $299.99. So I assumed all was good.

    Last night, my gf asked me if I received my shipping confirmation yet because Apple had sent hers already. I checked my email and realized that I did not receive a shipping confirmation. I immediately went to check the order status at att.com and it stated that the order was still pending with no further explanation. I called the 1-800 number which stated that my credit card was not processed due to an error and it was too late for me to talk to a customer service rep.

    I immediately called this morning on the way to work. I was informed that they had tried to process my credit card 3 times and it was denied each time. What they didn’t know was that I work for the financial institution where the credit card is issued. They did not deny any attempts from AT&T and I had more than a sufficient balance to cover the phone. In fact, my dad’s iphone order from apple was accepted without a problem. The rep then told me that he would try to reprocess the credit card again and about a minute later magically it went through this time. He explained to me that I would receive my iphone sometime next week. I was kind of upset about not getting it today, but it wasn’t a big deal. He informed me that I would receive a confirmation email stating that the credit card was processed and another upon shipment. This was at about 8:30 am this morning.

    At about 9:30 am, I checked my email again and was suprised to see emails at all from AT&T about the order. I then checked the order status online and it said that it was pending again. I called the automated order status line once again, this time it told me that there it could not locate an order for me. Upon, speaking to another customer service representative, he informed me that my credit card was fully processed but I would not receive my phone for 14-21 business days. I was furious at this point and asked to speak to a manager. I asked the manager politely why I did not receive any correspondence by phone, email, or text about the credit card being denied or anything showing that it had been processed this morning. I also asked him why I received two different answers from his customer service representatives about the ship date. He was very rude, he told me that he could not do anything for me at all and it was my fault in the first place because the credit card could not be processed. He also told me that he cannot control what his reps told me about the ship date. Really? You have no control over your reps giving different information about the same account? He basically called me a liar and told me that the emails were sent to me. I then threatened to close my account, He informed me that he would happily transfer me to a customer care rep that could handle this for me.

    I again explained the situation to the customer care rep, who transferred me to another manager. He was very polite, apologized for the situation and inconvenience. He then informed me that the phone will arrive between 14-21 days and although he could not speed this process up, he could offer me a $75 credit on my bill for the inconvenience. A few hours after our conversation, I received a text from AT&T informing me that my payment was processed and that I would be notified when the order has shipped. Still no email as of the time of this writing.

    I am really upset at the terrible communication and incompetence displayed by AT&T in this situation. Hopefully they get it together and get my phone out sooner than later. At this point I don’t expect to receive it anytime soon!

  17. MS

    09/22/2012 at 7:20 pm

    What is the point of pre-ordering a device if someone can go into the store on the 21st but I have to wait 14-21 days. When I ordered mine I was told in the store that I would receive it the 21st or no later than the 22. An hour after I pre-ordered my phone I receive my email stating 14-21 days. Had I known this I would have taken my chances in the store. Apparently the order id has no bearing on anything considering mine is 881.

  18. Gunnco

    09/22/2012 at 11:18 pm

    I pre ordered my blk 16g on 9/14 at around 9:05 pst at AT&T store. Shortly thereafter I received the 14-21 days email and was very displeased to say the least. Just got my tracking # tonight! Phone will be awaiting my touch Monday after work. After back order fiasco I was expecting a lot worse. Only 3 days after the retail stores release? I’ll take it! Att has redeemed themselves a little tonight.

  19. Dave

    09/24/2012 at 2:26 pm

    I ordered my phone on 9/14/12 before 11:25 a.m. EST. At that time I was quoted 14 – 21 days. I get a response from Premier AT & T wireless confirmed my purchase by 11:31 a.m. For 10 days my order number states it is processing, so when I call AT & T today, they tell me that my credit card was declined even though I have the emailed receipt and confirmation from AT & T Premier. I needed to wait 40 minutes today so a CSR could re-run the same credit card that has been on file with AT & T U-verse for 3 years. The service was pretty poor, and then the customer service rep couldn’t tell me if my original order date of 9/14/12 was still good, or was my order going to get pushed out an additional 28 day from today’s date. When I logged in, my new order date is stating 9/24/12 which sucks. Pretty disappointing that the customer service, emails communications, and sales process is so poorly managed. For being a global brand, AT & T is really falling short with service. I would like my original order date to be in effect which means my phone should arrive no later than October 4th. The rep told me it could be 6 to 8 weeks, going to cancel my order and jump ship with Apple and AT & T.

  20. ash

    09/25/2012 at 1:16 am

    i preordered 2 iphones on 9/14/12 one around 12:15 pdt and the other on 12:25 pdt. i got an email and text both saying it will arrive on the 21st but didn’t get anything. i was backordered since the 14 and got off backordered on saturday and still no email, or call about my order. i called at&t and talk to many reps but still couldn’t do anything. i’ve been told many different stories and they wouldn’t cancel my preorder.

  21. alex

    09/27/2012 at 10:53 pm

    I preordered mine on the 14 through AT&T at around 7:30 am central time. I checked the status before the 21st and it said that my order was processed on the 18 due to my credit card not processing properly but was assured by a representative that I wouldn’t lose my place in line. It’s September 28 now and I still haven’t received my order

  22. Dave

    09/29/2012 at 9:45 am

    I place my Iphone 5 order via the At&T premier website on the 14th, yes after 3 hours of hell trying to get it to load. I received my confirmation email dated and time stamped 9/14 @ 7: 18:51 AM PST, well before any cutoffs and all that Jazz.

    Well, here we are 9/29 and after two days of 2 hour phone calls to At&T and getting bounced around like a rubber ball between departments, they have opened a ticket as they think my order was cancelled, pending or is in just a state of limbo.

    Thank you AT&T, 37 phones on my account and I can seem to get one 1 IPhone 5 when I played your stupid game, dealt with your crappy website and wasted 4 hours talking to your stupid customer service people!

    Stupid Stupid Stupid!

  23. Edgar

    09/29/2012 at 7:35 pm

    I preoder mine on the 14th through an AT&T retail store. They told me that the customers with preoders would get their phone first. Well on the 22nd they told me that upper management had changed the rules and that the phones they had were for new customers, after I had given my 100.00 dollars deposit for the preoder. Yesterday they called me and left me a message that they had my new phone well I was working and I couldn’t go to the store, when I called today they told me that they had given my phone to someone else because i didn’t pick it up yesterday. This is ridiculous how AT&T is treating their customer but this is the last time I preoder something through them. I told them that I wanted my deposit back and they told me that it was not refundable, they can change the rules and do whatever they want but they cannot change the rules for the refunds.

  24. moses

    09/30/2012 at 1:47 am

    I ordered mine on sept 24 when will I be likely to receive my iPhone?

  25. Brad Roden Brown

    10/16/2012 at 6:20 pm

    I was not eligible for an upgrade until Oct 5th, so I placed an order for the iPhone 5 16gb in white. I immediately got my tsncs email and accepted them, but that is it. Status says processing. How long should i expect for my order to ship since i placed it that late?

  26. skin care victoria tx

    08/20/2014 at 4:04 am

    It’s in fact very complex in this full of activity life to listen news on Television, thus I
    only use world wide web for that reason, and obtain the newest information.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.