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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iPad 2 launch with 10s of millions disappointed is the iPad 2 just vaporware?

Another day without the use of £1388 of funds blocked by Apple , and no promised phone call to resolve this issue (which should have happened yesterday) . 


Over the weekend I went to my local Apple store and they told me EVERYONE got their iPad 2 , even those arriving after 4pm , I was ready to be there at around 11:30 am , so the staffer said I was sure to get one . But as we know at around 11:18 am an Apple salesman misled me and took £1388 off my available funds , clearing out an entire bank balance , and leaving me without the use of funds for up to 5 to 6 weeks which was the eventually delivery time on my 2 iPad 2s ... plus blue coverings.... this after stating a nominal fee of £30 to £40 would be taken. Because of this person I not only missed out on the Apple iPad 2 launch ( at the store) but spent the entire day trying to recover funds , he of course would not be missing any of his funds , neither would Steve. 


Since that time I have spent several days trying to complain but to no avail , for the inconvenience , there seems to be no way to get through to anyone that will actually recognise the inconvenience of having an entire bank account become useless after being lied to by a very friendly sounding but completely misleading Apple salesman , you know  one that puts you on hold but does not call you back . 


No more phone calls , time to get formal me thinks. Trading standards , EU commission here I come . You don't get to do this stuff in the EU in 2011. There IS NO STOCK of Apple iPad 2s , and the order system is blocking 10s if no 100s of millions of Euros of customers whilst they are yet to come into creation at some distant Chinese or Irish fab unit.... 


Apple have no answer for this , but think Apple employees , those of you who have been told not to even communicate with me over this matter , it is your job at risk . A launch with no preorder system , online orders made available from 1 am on the launch day ,when no phone support is operating , stock levels that are no way near customer expectations , no tangible stock for 5 to 6 weeks or more from launch.  A CEO who is out of touch , although he revolutionised touch ,  either Mr Jobs has lost confidence or the board has lost confidence in him . 


There must be some infighting in Apple that has led to this disaster of a launch for the iPad 2 . The picture may look different 6 months from now , but by then maybe this latest mess will have facilitated the retirement of a CEO many are losing confidence in . As can be seen by shareholders not supporting his appointment to the Disney board recently....


Or. Mulder , it could just be plain incompetence . 


A company that has the ability to launch a global product ,also has the funds and people to do it .  I do not see that with Apple , there need to be serious staff changes , heads need to go boing , as now ancient Macs used to when you shut them down...


But hey I just want my iPad 2 , last Friday ... and more importantly I want the use of £1388 back now  and compensation for the inconvenience of being misled and living without funds for a week .


iFact one month into the worldwide launch of the Apple iPad 2 . there are 10s if not 100s of millions left disappointed , i.e. with the experience of not having gotten one on launch date , or since . Amazon in the UK has only recently started registering  interest in the iPad 2 from potential customers. The wait time on a UK unit is 3 to 4 weeks currently and when you order as I know this can jump to 5 to 6 weeks , of Apple blocking your funds.... in this economic climate...


There are of course several million very happy purchasers of the iPad 2 , people who were able to sell theirs for up to $4000 ,or even sell their position in a queue outside their store. These far out way the number of Apple fans actually using the device, how many for instance are sold but still inactive , i.e. on re sale?


You dig Mr Steve Jobs ? This IS the post pc experience . An Apple iPad launch is about how much grey sellers can make for day one sales , not any pseudo mystical post pc  fangasm.  


But seriously why am I. or any company  for that matter ,  going to put £4000 down on a Mac pro  or £2000 on a Macbook pro after the feeling I am left with following another  failed Apple product launch .


I can order the most exotic PC hardware and from components to entire PCs and have it in my hands tomorrow. In fact I am obliged to do so by the Apple handles itself . 


The goodwill that you have earned is being eroded on a daily basis , why is there no complaints procedure on your website  ?  In this day of facetime and iWorks I have to physically print out a letter and send it to Cupertino?


Your staff do not respond to complaints or emails , it seems you do not too . 


And I still have heard nothing regarding the £1388 of funds blocked by Apple staff who claimed to take £30 to £40 during my iPad 2 order ...


That matter will have to pass to trading standards , your staff expect me to sit around waiting for phone calls that they do not make ... just another inconvenience to add to the list of my Apple post pc experience 


Why is a multi billion dollar award winning company acting in this manner ? Well I sincerely believe they do not have the money , staff , ability or will to be able to conduct a world wide launch the way Sony , Nintendo , and their recent rivals Microsoft can. 


Check your own experiences with purchasing new tech over the last year , when was the last time you were  messed around so much at the launch of a new product ? Oh yes it was the iPad ....last year !


And you will be again with the iPad 3 next year unless something changes at Apple and Cupertino . 


Think Apple share holders , what is going to happen to the Apple share price in the face of very real competition , increasing every day , whilst Apple launches leave 10s of millions disappointed?








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Millions poised to welcome the post Apple iPad 2 tablet experience

it's coming Steve what are you doing about it?

Lately Apple centrics from top to bottom feeder, like to hum  about the "post PC experience" but consider :


There is no post PC experience , without stock of Apple products to enable people to get experienced ... And with the continuing "stock shortages" of Apple's most potent proponent of the evangelical post PC experience (iTune in App up and drop out) , I speak of none other than that Scarlet Pimpernel of tablets the  iPad 2  , the competition is poised to gobble up Steve's  Apple Pie.

Woe is Cupertino , they would like to sell you their shiny Apple iPad 2 , the only place you can get one by tomorrow is on eBay . Viva Capitalism!  

Now if I wasn't too in love with the idea of locking up funds for 5 to 6 weeks whilst Apple manufactured me a fresh iPad 2 , I am certainly not going to be paying £1200 for a £659 machine on eBay . 

But wait what's this ? tomorrow I get my Acer Iconia dual screen tablet, my second dual screen tablet folly in as many years. What I would like is a dual screen Mac  Air Touch .... but they tell me I am one in a billion at my local Apple Temple , they are almost right I am about 1  in 1.3 billion....

Hmmmh  why are millions about to have a post Apple tablet experience ? Well neither they nor I   have to demean ourselves before Apple sales staff online or in the store  . And I can make more videos of tablets that let you do stuff , that's like really really cool ,  to better aid the blue shirts  in their attempts to  humiliate me the next time I am in an Apple store....

Arrogance is almost cool when you are the only kid on the block ,  your's is the only game, but seriously the onslaught of tablets , Windows 7 , Android Honeycomb , with variants and exotics like the dual screen iconia , or the Asus slider , Acer Tab , should have caused enough worry to Apple to ramp  up manufacturing at a local level . They did not  or if they did there is some serious hoarding going on.

Now in 2011 ,the year of the iPad 2 non launch , it is not  the competition that will defeat Apple it will be Apple that defeats Apple , their cries of supply /demand problems are now  a month old almost , it was crucial that Apple get as many iPad 2 units into the hands of tablet hungry sheep before they started grazing on pastures new ( Android , Windows , and whatever Blackberry and HP are now calling their OS) .

We are days from the UK launch of the iPad 2's competition ,  the acquisition of which costs significantly less in humiliation terms than the iPad 2 . 

let me demonstrate :

You want an Asus Eee Slate Ep121 here you go 

   

You want a Motorola Xoom  here you go 

You want a dual core tablet that also has a keyboard dock go for the  Acer Iconia W500 tablet it even comes with AMD Radeon HD6250 Graphics ! and Windows 7 Bluetooth 3 etc etc for £449!

( throw in some extra and go for the keyboard dock option!) or the Asus EeePad Transformer for £429! which is currently the top of the Amazon UK tablet best sellers

   

You want a totally rare dual screen tablet that runs Windows 7 ? here you go 

 

and so on and so on .


oh fyi Amazon do not block your money or take your money for stock they do not have . 

Now if you want an iPad 2 get to the Apple Store online ,complete your order  and wait 2 to 6 weeks , yes it says 2 to 3 weeks on the initial page , but when it completes that number jumps from 2 to 3 to 4 to 6 . It should read 24 hours.

And the total smash in the groin ? Apple get to block your funds whilst you wait ..... money you could have spent on any of the competition or for like you know living?

Or you could go down your local Apple store , you have to travel there because you cannot check stock any other way , or reserve it .  When you get there , you are going to have a hard time believing their stock quotes anyway .... and they will be ever so helpful in telling you when the iPad 2 was in stock , or that you just missed it , but not able to divulge when they will be in stock . 

All this is designed to create desire , in something that in 1 months time will be sold from Tesco , but as I stated before  I get the feeling Apple is terrified of what increasing competition is going to do  , nobody knows you see . One of those 100s of tablets is going to click with customers and dent Apples  solid Aluminum  ( Aluminium ) shares...


Where is my Mac Air tablet , where is my Macbook pro tablet ?


Apple could have produced something evolutionary in the iPad 2 , or the Air or Macbooks , but it did not , any of the tablets listed above either does more than the iPad 2 ,fulfils the wishes for full OS slates from a growing crowd (see picture above) or does less but cost and ease of getting hold of one without say having £1388 of your funds blocked by a polite but misleading +/- mistaken phone salesman  really does make the case for millions of people this year experiencing the Post Apple/iPad  Tablet experience rather than the "post PC " experience Apple has been hyping , no did I really use that word ? What I meant was selling .....actually not selling , because several weeks into the iPad 2 launch , which now overlaps the competitions launch , there are still "supply and demand problems" !!!!!!!!!!.....


Really the only thing missing from the iPad 2 launch fiasco is Southpark doing a Cartman trying to get an iPad 2 show....


hmmmh...  stroke white cat ... reset monocle ... raise little finger to mouth...eat cheesy poofs

ps if you missed the riff the photo at the top is from New York City , May 8 1945 V-E Day check out the original post here

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iPad 2 launch fiasco presenting an opportunity for the masses to revolutionise Apple?

This is a call for rebellion , a mechanism to change Apple for the better , they do not listen , they have no visible  complaint procedure, even when you do Apple fob you off and ignore you  , they can take your money and keep you waiting 5 to 6 weeks for product which does not exist at the point of sale. The stores and blogs are full of blue shirted trolls ready to stamp out any anti Apple comment . 


Well this is not the Apple I remember , but then again I remember bell bottoms and hippies .and when both Steves had full manes.. well to be honest that time is  a bit of blur ... hhmhh any way : This is not the Apple I remember , and I want the old Apple back , so here is a manifesto for us the fans  to change Apple . Follow the instructions in this blog and change Apple for the better . The shareholders will thank us one day! Engage in your own revolutionary escapades ,  make Che Jobs proud! 


Why?


Speak to anyone in the street not wearing a blue t or making money directly or indirectly from the Cupertino gold rush , and you will often hear the heretical(for the fans) cry that Apple is too big and cares too little about the end user . 


The Apple Store or Temple/Forum as I feel it , has become  is the ONLY way Apple interfaces with it's customer , and it is a place of humiliation and intimidation , the polar opposite of your usually super friendly come back soon y'all American franchise.


So act : take a stroll into your local Apple store , and attempt to ask them when we can expect Flash on iOS , now that the iPad 2 gpu is allegedly 9 times more powerful, it should be a breeze..no? Or dare to mention that your old 486 desktops web cam shoots higher res pics than the iPad 2's  . Don't even start on the fact there are NO iPad 2's in existence ...


You will get an outpouring of iRAGE from blue shirts , in fact pretty soon they will start to congregate around you at this point ask to be shown a Mac Air , and upon it enter "thegameveda youtube " into Safari and click on one of my many videos showing Windows 7 tablets doing things no iPad will be doing to infinity 2.0 and beyond... Show them onlive  , show them Steam , show them Gaikai , show them cool ancient pc games and new pc games all running on a tablet .... 


At this point under cover blue shirts will start to appear , one blue shirt may sneak off and google thegameveda , might even google joojoo or libretto , or iconia or ep121 and come back atcha with some criticisms. 


But take a look at the gathering crowd of REAL people , sheep who have been liberated by your little Windows 7 Tablet rebellion . And now the blue shirts notice the crowds focusing on non iOS tablets , going wow how did you do that ? and asking why they cannot on the iPad ... 


The iRage will start to peak now , the blue shirts may even throw a clear insult or two your way , like  why do you need two screens , a full OS , and the ability to run everything you already own on a tablet ? A tablet is for consumption why for then dost thou  needeth the cloud , when thou canst downloadeth apps? Be gentle for they know not  what they do...


This is your cue to leave , your work is done , you have liberated many isheep , welcome to the revolution ..


Walk out slowly not forgetting the golden question to ask the last blue shirt on door duty  : "Excuse me please , may I be so humble as to inquire if you have any iPad 2 stock?" 


So get down to your local Apple temple spread the heresy and join the revolution . 


And who knows maybe Steve Jobs will take notice and get back to innovating and not iterating as he has done with the iPad 2....


Tomorrow after the return of £1388 of thegameveda funds blocked by Apple , thank the maker ! I will show you where the money went ( after the Cricket)


Oh and Mr Jobs if you are reading this when the Apple Store has delivery within 24 hours , which does not switch to 5 to 6 weeks on completion of the online order , that is when I will order my iPad 2. 


But by that time the Asus Ep121 , Acer Iconia , W500 , Motorola Xoom  , LG G Slate , and a million other tablets all available without cult membership or ritual online purchase humiliation ,they will be quite rightly competing with iPad 2 .... able to do all the things we asked you to put into the iPad 2 but your company were kind enough to leave out...... and perhaps prompting a more revolutionary iPad 3 ?


Till then I will amuse myself in your many Apple Temples , the sheep are so easy to bait there should be Saturday Night Live sketches about Apple Store Staff  , or at least a sitcom , Charlie Sheen are you listening ?


And still no response to my complaints to Apple , but they are so busy not selling iPad 2s they probably don't have the time to respond , let alone having an easily accessible complaint procedure. 




this content is © and originated from thegameveda http://the-games-veda.blogspot.com/  if you are reading it from any other site that has not provided a link back it has been leached