I registered just to add my experience here. I've been watching the thread for a while to see how my experience stacked up against the crowd.
On the bottom line: I am not preordering through VZW in the future; probably not preordering at all. Shipping delays and needless restrictions on the delivery make preordering a worse option than buying as a walk-in at a store.
I ordered two phones 9/9 about 3pm central, 128gb 7 in silver and matte black. I'm in the Houston area.
The silver phone "shipped" 9/13 UPS next day air saver, but was understandably held out until launch day.
The MB "shipped" 9/15 by UPS ground. (The MB was ordered first). I am only slightly outside the 1-day delivery range for UPS ground from Memphis.
Shipping info for MB didn't populate until 9/16 afternoon with no package details and no expected delivery date, just an "origin scan" in Memphis.
Silver 128 came 9/16, but I work and VZW disabled "hold for pickup" option in the UPS app. VZW also disabled signature authorization on the app. I had no options other than missing my delivery on Friday and signing the UPS notice on my door to authorize the package to be left on Monday. This makes no sense at all, since i ultimately authorized the package to be left on my porch anyway, I just had to wait until Monday for the 2nd delivery attempt of a phone that was in stock everywhere all weekend. I would have had it earlier and easier if I hadn't preordered.
Monday, 9/19 my matte black 128 finally left Memphis after sitting for three days. It never showed up in the UPS app because Verizon is sending it to "[My Name] Attn: [My name again]", which confused the UPS robots. It came all the way to my local customer center by about 9:30 pm last night, but UPS didn't put it on a truck today. It got a "destination scan" at about 6:30 am. It's just sitting there. But I can't go pick it up because of VZW's delivery restrictions. If this goes like the silver one, I am still two days out of having it in hand, because the driver still needs to leave me a note to sign and come back the following day. Meanwhile, the 128 MB 7 is in stock at the local apple store. That makes two phones I will actually have in my hands several days LATER than I would have had them if I hadn't preordered.
I'm not doing this again.
