Called customer services to complain of further delay...
in your case, did you made a costumised order, and if so, was it a lot or small?
i'm asking this because the only thing i've changed in the all package was the KB, from wireless to a wired KB+num pad.
It was customised, the parts that I customised were as follows:
2.8GHZ QUAD-CORE INTEL CORE I7
4GB 1066MHZ DDR3 SDRAM - 2X2GB
2TB SERIAL ATA DRIVE
APPLE MAGIC MOUSE-Z
WIRELESS KYBD & USER'S GUIDE-B
COUNTRY KIT,IMAC 27-INCH-GBR
I just called customer services to complain about the further delay. For the benefit of any one else waiting and wondering if it's worth calling, below is a rough summary of the response:
The representative said the customer service rep's have very limited information as to the cause of the delays ("nobody actually knows the cause"), but he appologised for it.
I asked why have people received their orders before me when they actually placed their order after me?
He asked if the other people had also customised their order similar to mine, in which I replied "I'm not sure, probably not". (So it would seem that it is possible your customisation could maybe affect the amount of time you might find yourself waiting in these delays.)
He proceeded to say that the delays are "across the board" with the Intel 2.8Ghz 27" iMac's so everyone will be affected.
I told him that I was not happy especially as this was my first experience buying a Mac.
He appologised and said that once I do eventually receieve my iMac, I can call customer services again and they can offer either a free gift or a partial refund of my money and that he has apparently noted that at their end.
He also offered to upgrade my order to a 'priority' which should help speed things up a little bit (I can't immagine how many other orders are now also noted as a 'priority', but its worth a try!).
I said that I wasn't sure how much he could tell me about this, but I assumed he was aware of the yellow-tint issue with the displays and asked him for progress on fixing that particular issue - had they been given any update?
He seemed a little hesitant at first, as if they have to be careful what they can tell us.
He said that one speculation is that the yellow-tint screen faults are a cause for this delay.
He then proceeded to say that it has been speculated that Apple have actually found the source of the yellow-tint issue (therefore have recognised there is a problem) and are working with the engineers to solve it at the moment.
I asked, if by putting me on a priority list, would I simply recieve a faulty iMac that is available to ship (as opposed to delaying it so that they dont have to send me a faulty one), because other people have reported having experienced this. I said I would rather wait longer if it meant that I was more likely to recieve a machine free of issues.
He said that it is probably still worth putting the order on 'priority' and that by the time I do recieve my iMac, it should be free of faults. He proceeded to say that if I was to receive a faulty iMac, they would make sure to ship a replacement as soon as possible.
I asked, if I did receive a faulty iMac, would I be allowed to keep the faulty iMac UNTIL the replacement arrived (instead of having to send it off as soon as I request replacement as usual) as I had heard that some people had been allowed to do this?
He said that it is possible, you just need to sign a waiver and then you will be able to keep the faulty machine until your replacement arrives.
I told him that I did not mind waiting (if it is because they are fixing the issue), it was just the fact that they kept giving us inaccurate dates and then extending them at the very last minute.
I said that I had heard there would be an update to the iLife software soon, and if that is the case, would the new version be included with my iMac?
He said that it is not confirmed that there is an update but if an update is announced in a few days, I would automatically get it with my iMac (and if not) they will upgrade anyone who has placed their order within 30 days of the announcement - even though it is clearly more than 30 days, so I'm assuming they would allow it in these circumstances.
So it would seem that the rep's are not able to officially tell us what is actually going on with the delays (just like Apple have disguised the delay as 'due to popular demand' in their e-mails), and may not even know for sure themselves.
But at least, if you complain, they are genuinely apologetic and are willing to give you something as a goodwill gesture - and rightly so, given how much we've spent on these machines and how much they are messing us about!
