Dear Steve Jobs : my iPad 2 Apple post pc experience £1388 blocked by misleading Apple sales staff

Dear Steve Jobs :

I love hate Apple in the best Burton /Taylor fashion . You may glean this  from my many schizo posts on Apple ,sometimes I perceive  Steve and Apple  as embodied by this picture 

Though lately the vibe I am getting could be summed up by this picture : 

You see today something happened that really defies all belief . When you are reading this consider Apple your company , did this to me.

For some reason it got into my head to inquire about the 2 to 3 week delay for iPad 2 online purchases. I ended up buying 2 iPad 2s : but wait:

An Apple salesman actually at best misled me and at worst outright  lied to me , telling  me I would have £30 - £40 taken as a nominal fee , and then promptly allocated £1388   for  two iPad 2 64gb White Wifi + 3G tablet + covers, he told me the phone deal would be quicker than the 2 to 3 week wait I was concerned about , in fact the wait turned out to be 5 to 6 weeks when I received the email confirmation. Stating that Apple charge when they ship and DO NOT allocate funds...but they do..

£1388 vs £30 to £40 , how would you feel about that ...An account that was expected to lose £30 to £40 lost its entire balance , and in the coming week there will be unauthorized overdraft charges.

Apple expected to hold onto these funds for 5 to 6 weeks ! Not that they told me they would do so...

And yes I repeatedly confirmed with the Apple Store salesman that this would not happen  , a nominal fee /deposit is what he claimed . £30 to £40 ... even thought they should update the website to get more customers ....

This is fraud , a company that tells you they are going to allocate £30 to £40 but then allocates £1388 should not be allowed to sell anything online , lesser companies would be facing legal action ,

What do you think Apple should face ? They are offering me a discount on some iPad 2 accessories , but I don't HAVE AN iPad 2  : Apple having blocked my use of funds that I could have used to get one from a store , it looks highly unlikely that I will get one before iPad 3 is announced. Am I bothered , yes Mr Jobs I am !

Currently I will have to wait 5 to 7 working days for the account to return to normal , all iPad 2s will be sold out in the next 48 hours in stores. 7 days and well it's time to look to other options , once all £1388 returns to the account.

But wait the most memorable part of my attempt to purchase iPad 2, once I get past the lies , damn lies and cancelling the order,  is going to be having to check for unauthorized overdraft charges, £30 a time and escalating that are going to hit the bank account Apple have cleared out .

Oh and before I forget , the order , went from a promised 1 week to 5 to 6 weeks , who on Earth is going to wait that long and lock up £1388 of their money , and Apple ,  Steve Jobs et al who on Earth do you think you are , what gives you the right to mess around the people who made your fortunes for you , i.e your customers ?

Apple have offered to cover overdraft charges , all I have to do is go through the horror and humiliation which they are responsible for ,  I wonder how you  Steve Jobs would feel if someone through a lie took away  access to your available funds without notice ?

And you thought queuing for your Apple iPad 2 was humiliation incarnate , think again ...

Currently I seriously believe based on the experience of USA and now UK buyers , that Apple is selling vaporware , this is not a case of supply and demand . No there is something seriously wrong with the way Apple finances its' venture ,i.e. finances it with the blocking /allocation of customer funds , Currently there are close to millions of people around the world with 10s if not hundreds of millions in funds frozen , not available to them for up to 5 to 6 weeks . The truth is there is no product for Apple to give you , are they  using fund preallocation  to fund manufacture , are they financially incapable of manufacturing product on a global scale . If they were you and I  would have your iPad 2 and not an email bumping your delivery to 5 to 6 weeks.


By mopping up customers in this manner  , clearly without having any stock level that even approaches demand , Apple is also killing its' competition , think of all the great tablets coming out in the next couple of months , the Xoom , LG Slate , Asus Eee Slate  , transformer and slider , as well as the build up to the Blackberry Playbook . Apple by spreading out its' iPad 2 release and expecting customers to wait 5 to 6 weeks , has taken a great chunk of custom away from those tablets , WITHOUT ever having to deliver product to any of its customers .


This Mr Jobs is my post PC Apple experience , that of a company that cares more for sales targets , instructs and allows staff to lie through their teeth - there is no way the sales rep did not know that a debit card would have £1388 locked  and not the nominal charge he claims ( £30) . Apple really is not about design at all, sorry people it is about cold hard cash and business , how to hook as many customers as possible and today I learned by any means possible it would seem.


Is this the great Apple where staff volunteered to stay on even through the bad times ?  To me I find it hilarious when Apple fans and para-sites mock the Shenzen tablet scene , Apple itself is now closer to the Shenzen  customer exploitation model ( iterative minimal hardware upgrades and maximum return)  than the grand old innovator that was always a foil to Microsofts and IBM's dominance.  You could even look at the iPad 2 as a KIRF of the iPad.. heck they are made in the same locales no?


This smacks of fear , fear that you could read in the Apple keynote re the iPad 2 . What I do not like is that fear translating to desperation in the sales team that lead to one of them totally misleading me today.


This is not the same Apple I managed to pre order and get the original  iPad from this time last year.

No online retailer should be allowed to list for sale an item which has NOT EVEN BEEN MANUFACTURED , or is not available for immediate sale or failing that clearly labelled as a PRE-ORDER  with a definite rock solid release /lead time . You cannot get away with that as a private seller on eBay but you can if you are Apple!

This sort of thing happens with smaller firms , where it affects 10s to 100s , and the sums are small . But Apple is a company which deals in millions , that's 10s to 1000s of millions of customer funds being allocated  , with no product being delivered , with constantly receding delivery dates , customers in the USA went from times of days to 2 to 3 and  5 to 6 weeks  and yesterday UK customers started with a 2 to 3 week delivery delays  , that went up to 5 to 6 weeks once you completed payment  . I know that is what they did to me.

The serious issue for the EU Trade commission to consider is , Apple is taking and blocking millions of Euros , whilst not providing product, and in my case they did so clearly dishonestly blocking £1388

There are consumer acts , strict consumer acts set up to prevent online retailers behaving in this manner , I believe this matter should be investigated at the highest level and Apple face potential sanctions and or fines . The way they mistreat and demean their customers is now becoming an annual media parade , check your local newspapers for humiliated geeks now.

For Windows sake even the 29 year old social worker who spent 33hours outside the Regent Street Apple temple was told "I hope you get one "  by staff!  Arrogance or sarcasm? is this the image of Apple you want pasted around the world Mr Jobs . The tech world is fickle as you well know , And Apple is headed for a serious fall .Watch those share prices.....

Stores with queues of 1000s for 50 units of product .. this should be illegal , in the EU it probably is .So if you are an EU Trade commissioner reading this please act .

Where the Apple falls : I see clearly through  all this post pc nonsense Apple has continued to talk itself into a frenzy of self appreciation , that sees no flaws ..  fine if your a small town cult , or a fashion house , but a global company that refuses to take criticism  , reminds me of all the great British companies that aren't around anymore ...

Apple  a multibillion dollar company cannot see  flaws or refuses to see them

not in the iPad 2 - which is clearly an iteration not an evolution of the excellent iPad

not in the crazy launch procedure , with NO preorders , and locking £1000s nay actually millions of pounds of customers funds , going online at 1am on the night of the launch which happens to be a Friday , with delays now 5 to 6 weeks .  This is not supply and demand , THERE IS NO SUPPLY!

Recently Apple also  saw no flaws : in the iPhone 4 , remember Antenna gate?

There are people payed 10s of  our millions to create , perpetuate and defend this foul up . We see many of them performing in  quicktime....

So with all due respect Mr Steve Jobs if you are out there what are you going to do about this mess ? And how are you going to seriously address the distress your company has caused me and is continuing to cause me.A 10% discount on a smart cover is not going to restore my faith in you , how about enabling Flash on iPad 2  , and getting me one before the virtual ink on this page drys.

I cannot emphasise clearly enough how  all your good work is being ruined by the actions of a few errant staff, and decisions that constantly lead customers to increasingly dread Apple product launches not enjoy them , many of your own staff drive past your stores at speed on launch day ... ask them ,,,

I will be taking this further , change is good , if you are not going to do anything then your customers will , they have to , I lost the use of £1388 this week , and I have been lied to by an Apple salesman . This is Apple? Where is you App for respect? : People you fund the multi billion dollar organizations that exist to serve you , you , we do not serve them . When they get out of control,stop taking feeback   , it is not just a customer that feels pain , it is eventually the employees themselves who become names crossed out on a list of layoffs as once great companies turn into inefficient Leviathans and sink.

Did this not happen at Apple before?

We in the UK recognise this , through harsh experience , let's see if anyone in Apple is wise enough to do anything

for the Apple sheep : this isn't about Apple hating , it is about the way Apple ritually demeans its customers come every launch of late and personally I got to find a way of living without money next week , oh and I almost forgot my iPad 2 ...boo .hoo..hoo.. !

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