I ordered an iPod Video 30GB Black from Apple. I chose Apple instead of ordering it tax-free from other online stores because of the free engraving they offered. I ordered on Dec. 6, at night, with the free shipping and expected it to be here on the 16th. I received it today (Dec. 9)! Amazing! With so many negative reviews on this site and others, I was bracing myself for the worst. I guess I'll see, if I have to return it.

ordered an ibook on Jan.18th, website promised 1-3 days shipping on Jan.18th, plan to use it before any major tests/exams, now Jan.28th Friday, item still not shipped, they tried to delay to next week which is Jan.31st or onto Feburary, took them 2 weeks, oringinally 1-3 days -- 4 times longer than they promised and it is still NOT EVEN SHIPPED, this does not even include the delivery time which would probably take 1 week or more -- meaning I probably going to wait ONE MONTH just to get the ibook I ordered from apple store, so much for the 1-3 days shipping promise, would not recommand -- worst incompetent shipping service. get a better 12" pc notebook instead such as averatec/powernotebook(www.powernotebook.com - ranked#1 at resellerratings)  
 
update:finally shipped, took them till Jan.29 to ship from tw, tsk tsk

This review was modified by its author, lbiteyl, on 2/3/05 12:29 PM.

What a joke. I want to know how much a refurb powerbook would be with shipping and tax. Can't find anything on their website, so I call 1-800-MY-APPLE. They proceed to tell me to just enter my credit card information, and the next screen would have the tax and shipping on it. Well, it did, and in doing so, I bought myself a powerbook while I was still looking. No problem, I called back to 1-800-MY-APPLE immediately, and asked to cancel my order. I get an email the next day saying they didn't cancel it and I can return the computer and apple care package. Customer Non service. What a joke. Well, I'll take the laptop, and see how it works, because I've paid for it.....  
 
UPDATE:  
Ok, so I love the laptop. It does not make up for the poor service fromthe apple store.

This review was modified by its author, RyanE, on 11/1/04 8:19 AM.

Excellent order and shipment time.  
I ordered the brand-spanking-new 4th generation iPod from the apple store on 7/19/2004 and got it shipped to me amazingly quick using the cheapest FREE shipping option. The order was shipped out same day, and was at my doorstep in three days, on 7/23/2004. Plus, the $30 off from the education discount made the value fantastic.  
Excellent product, excellent shipping time, excellent store.

Please do not lie to your customers. Unfortunately, Apple Computer is way too large to handle their customer service. I do not enjoy being blatantly lied to regarding my order. Meanwhile, wasting 40 minutes of my time to be transferred around based on information that one sales rep lied to me about. After speaking to sales, then credit, then back to sales, I realized that the first sales rep blatantly lied to me. The second sales rep even confirmed it.  
 
Nice work.  
 
You should apologize profusely.  
AND, still no answer as to when my order is shipping  
 
UPDATE: Received items. Both the G5 and the cinema display were damaged. Apples wanted to charge a restocking fee of 10% for return the cinema display. Because it was opened. It had a black scratch under the glass on the display. PLEASE, it came damaged. THEN, the g5 constantly freezes. On apple's own website/forum there are 900+ (some repeats) posts regarding the g5 freezing. When you call to report the problem, they insist on repairing it by replacing it piece by piece (according to some posters), taking up to 3 months to repair. When you call customer service they say the product has to be DOA before you can get a full refund. The only way to get DOA status is for a tech to declare it that. However, the tech rather attempt to fix the item over several months.  
BACK AND FORTH BACK AND FORTH. it's ridiculous.  
What happened to not "the customer is always right", but at least listen to the customer and stop with the "PROCEDURES"  
I could go on and on about my 10+ phone calls and over 4+ hours collectively attempting to get a NON-FAULTY item.

This review was modified by its author, jenberry, on 6/27/04 2:49 PM.

Very nice service. Of course, it's Apple! I got top notch products, of course. Bought a 12" powerbook g4 and a 10 gb iPod.

This review was modified by its author, Ichiban_jay, on 11/30/03 12:04 PM.

I would expect better service from a no-name startup company, let alone Apple Computer. My credit card was charged three times for the same order, wiping out my credit limit. Apple customer service would not admit fault, and blamed my bank for their mistake. It took repreated calls and endless waiting on hold to get anything done. Finally they were able to drop the extra charges, after two hours of phone calls.

This review was modified by its author, mhawkins4, on 10/2/03 1:00 PM.

I ordered a refurbished ipod 5GB windows on 06/07. All seemed well - the ipod was scheduled to ship on 06/11. After 2 delays that were 2-4 days apiece, I received a phone message from Apple stating that there would be one last delay and that they needed my confirmation to continue with the order. The caller also stated that with my confirmation my order would ship the next day. After giving my confirmation I was treated to an e-mail later that afternoon that said my order would ship on or before 07/09/03! A full 3 week delay! I called Apple and asked for the woman who left the message thinking she could straighten it out and make things right. Unfortunately she gave me confirmation that the correct date was 07/09/03 and offered no apology. I was tempted to cancel my order when she offered but decided against it for now. She said that all refurbished products go through rigorous tests so that could be the cause of the delay - maybe they should think about that fact before they give mutliple unrealistic estimates. Being a lifetime Windows user but hearing positive things about the "new" Apple I had hoped that things would go smoothly. Guess again. I will be surprised if my ipod ships 1 day earlier than 07/09/03. By then I'll hardly remember ordering it. Thumbs down :(  
 
update: Apple shipped my ipod yesterday - the 24th. They also upgraded me to 10GB and 2 day air shipping at no cost. Looks we're ending on a much more positive note :)

This review was modified by its author, s_k, on 6/25/03 10:43 AM.

Here is the invoice from Apple: (for a G4 17” powerbook)  
 
Buyers Name: My name was here  
Web Order Number: some numbers were here  
Apple Sales Order Number: 7005226383  
Apple Delivery Number: numbers went here  
Apple Customer Number: and again numbers  
PO Number: last set of numbers  
 
 
Dear Apple Customer,  
 
The following products shipped on 05/30/2003. Transit time will depend upon whether you have chosen standard or premium freight options. If your order is shipping standard freight, it should arrive within 2 - 5 business days of shipment.  
 
Product # Product Description Qty Ext Price  
________________________________________  
 
_________________________________________________  
Z05M01M9W PBG4 17.0/1GHZ/1024/60G/SD/AP/BT/LL 1 3,599.00  
With the following configuration:  
 
Z05M_B_PROC 065-3719 1GHz PowerPC G4  
Z05M_C_MEM 065-3723 1GB DDR RAM - 2 DIMMs  
Z05M_D_HD 065-3716 60GB Hard Drive  
Z05M_E_OD 065-3718 Super Drive  
Z05M_F_KIT 065-3713 Country Kit/Airport  
Z05M_G_OS 065-3712 Keyboard/Mac OS  
_________________________________________________  
 
The above products have been shipped to:  
 
My address was here  
 
 
Carrier Name: FEDERAL EXPRESS  
Carrier Tracking Number(s): tracking number was here  
 
You can also check your tracking numbers at:  
http://www.fedex.com/us/  
 
For orders shipped Monday through Thursday tracking information will  
be available on the carrier sites 12 to 24 hours after shipping.  
For orders shipped Friday through Sunday tracking information will be  
available on the carrier sites by the following Monday evening.  
 
If your attempt to track this shipment on the carrier's web page is  
unsuccessful, please contact your Apple Sales Support Specialist for  
assistance.  
 
If a partial shipment was authorized, additional items may ship  
separately. This is a record of shipped items only.  
 
Thank you for shopping at Apple.  
 
If you have any questions concerning your order, please call us at  
(800) 676-2775 Mon-Fri 8am-9pm, Sat-Sun 9am-6pm CT  
 
 
Ordering was not easy from apple store. It took 3 tries before I was able to order my 17” laptop. Same problem as with Dell. Sales people are not knowledgeable about the product they sell. Big loss for the company (especially for those interested in making "the switch". Finally I came across a girl in tech support of all places, who was very knowledgeable answered all my questions (first time mac user) and off I went placing my order. The only grudge I have with her (and since she wasn’t in sales dept, she may not have known this), she didn’t tell me that once you “customize” your system, it is apple’s policy that it can not be returned!! Of course I found that out when I went to return this absolutely beautiful sexy machine. When the sales rep looked up my order number, he immediately told me that I can not return this laptop, because it was customized. The only part that was "customized" was an extra module of memory. The standard would be 512 mb, with 1024 mb of RAM, this instantly became a CUSOMIZED system. It outraged me, I said “you guys never told me that it was your policy, and this smells like a rotten egg”. He said not much he could do. I went on to request to speak with a supervisor. This guy proceeded to tell me the same thing. After a heated debate, he finally said that he is going to make an exception for me, but charge me a 10% restocking fee. TEN PERCENT, equals to $350!!! That was unheard of!! The only policy I was made aware of at the time of the purchase is that I had to return this laptop in 10 days or less. I wanted to return it after only 2 days!! I finally agreed to his proposal, (at this point I knew I knew that the Macintosh system, way too cumbersome for me). I mean, something as simple as browsing all your pictures in a given directory required of me to write a scrip, I was told by their tech support, that although they couldn’t tell me on the phone what that script was, I was invited to their online forums where I could post my questions, and surely someone was going to provide the script. Who said macs were capable of everything and then some compared to a PC? Compete BS. Anyways, I am $350 short as a result of apple misrepresenting their policy.  
I would love to buy a laptop that has the same design that this 17” beauty had. Maybe Sony will put out something similar. When they do, the first order is mine!! You can count on that!!

This review was modified by its author, xakep, on 6/14/03 8:12 AM.

Good, prompt service. Everything was flawless, and it took about a week to be shipped from Taiwan to the East coast. I'm not a big fan of the "custom built for every customer" delay period (which was part of the week, 2 days to ship), but hey- everything was fine.

So far, My experience with the apple online store has been a nightmare.  
 
I recently decided to purchase a new black macbook for school. I went with the student promo that offers an ipod discount when ordered. With this I picked up a black 30g ipod.  
 
My online order went fine, I selected 2day shipping, done, easy.. All is well? WRONG.  
 
The next morning I get an email saying my order was not processed because the shipping address I put on my order was different from that on my debit card. It WAS NOT Different, so I call apple.  
 
The Rep double checks both addresses given and then calls my bank to confirm. Everything is correct and he clears the order and also reverses my $18 shipping charge. great!  
 
My ipod was shipped July 24th, I recieved it today, July 26th. Two day shipping works! WRONG AGAIN. Inside the SEALED FEDEX box, Everything is torn to pieces. My ipod box is open and ripped in half. When I open the mangled box, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING inside except the cleaning cloth and the cd. Seeing as how the box was sealed, and shipped FROM apple, this definitely raises some eyebrows. They have yet to respond to my emails and calls.  
 
So on to the other half of my order: the new macbook. I ordered this with 2 day shipping because I am getting ready to move at the end of the month. Apple said OK, we can get it out in 2 days. Once again, oh so horribly WRONG.  
 
See, what Apple fails to mention is that if their products are not in stock at a local facility, they ship it from CHINA just so they can say they are 'ALWAYS IN STOCK'. It has been 2 days since my macbook 'shipped' and the Fedex tracker still shows it in China. I know for a fact it wont be able to get here before I have to move, therefore creating another shipping problem. great.  
 
I love apple products, they are amazing, but do yourself a favor. If you are planning on ordering anything besides an ipod through the apple online store... DON'T. Go into a local apple store and purchase in person, save yourself a headache. The Apple online store charges tax anyway, so you don't gain any benefit purchasing online.