HD For Indies

UPDATED - see bottom for the latest twist

....so after making a pointless trip to the Apple Store only to discover that they had a different upgrade in stock from the one I asked for (they had Final Cut 5 upgrade, I wanted Final Cut Studio Upgrade), basically a more sophisticated thing happened AGAIN a few hours later.

I got an email from a local Apple reseller saying that they had Final Cut Studio in stock. I called and asked specfically for a Final Cut Studio upgrade. Yes, they had that in stock. So I drove down there in rush hour traffic. Once I got there, I discovered that they did indeed have a Final Cut Studio upgrade package, BUT it was the upgrade from Final Cut Pro, not from Production Suite. The guy was very nice and apologetic about it, saying he realized after we hung up and I was on the way that he should have asked to clarify. It was an honest mistake, but still yet another waste of my time.

Beware - there are THREE possible upgrades for Final Cut Pro users!

1.) A straight upgrade from Final Cut Pro version whatever to Final Cut Pro 5 ($399)

2.) An upgrade from Final Cut Pro HD to Final Cut Studio ($699)

3.) An upgrade from Final Cut Production Suite to Final Cut Studio ($499)

(and there's also a Final Cut Express upgrade, but that's another story)

Each one is a different SKU # (package) with a different price. Even though the second vendor had a box that included all of the software I wanted, he couldn't sell it to me at the price I should be paying because his reseller's price for the upgrade from FCP was higher than my retail purchase price for the upgrade from Production Suite.

Be VERY VERY CLEAR when you call and/or ask that you are getting what you wanted, otherwise you're going to pay too much or not get what you wanted.

And get PISSED at wasting an hour TWICE (dammit) because somebody didn't pay attention to what you said and what they had in stock. Well, that's not fair to them - you have to be VERY specific when asking about what you want. I asked for a "Final Cut Studio upgrade" which is imprecise and vague - I SHOULD have asked for "Final Cut Studio upgrade from Production Suite." to be explicitly clear about what it was I needed.

All of this in an effort to avoid Apple's lie - on their website, Final Cut Studio is listed as, and I quote using copy-paste,

"Upgrade from Production Suite
Ships: 1-3 business days"

...and not "we think" or "we hope" or "probably" or "It should" or "if frogs had wings they wouldn't bump their ass a-hoppin'"

I ordered mine on April 25th, they started shipping on Tuesday, and even today is the third business day since they started shipping it, and my order is still listed as "Processing Order" as it has all week. The description for "Processing Order" is given as

Processing Order
In-stock items are processed immediately so that you can begin enjoying your Apple products as soon as possible. Generally, orders can be modified while they are being processed.


....which is incredibly vague and frustrating. Does processing order mean it is in stock? Or that once an item is in stock, orders will be processed immediately? There's no way to know. My order has had this status for 3 days now (starting Tuesday).

I don't have a problem whatsoever with Apple needing time to fulfill backorders. I have a serious problem when they are listing 1-3 day shipping times for new online purchases when outstanding orders have yet to be filled in more than that timeframe. Accurate forecasts would be difficult, but "at least 1-3 days" would be accurate, rather than "1-3 days" which makes it sound like they are sitting around in a warehouse waiting patiently to be shipped by otherwise not-too-busy people.

OK, end of bitch-rant. Woops, not quite, it's Dell's turn next....

As long as I'm cranky and bitching, this reminds me of the situation I have with a 23" Dell 1920x1200 LCD (the 2405 model) that I ordered for $1100 including shipping and everything - I ordered it online expecting it to ship promptly, saw nothing to indicate otherwise on the website whilst ordering, but a week later my credit card hadn't been charged. I checked the online order status, and it said three weeks. A friend of mine more intimately familiar with Dell's inner workings said "Three weeks is the edge of the universe as far as Dell is concerned." "What do you mean?" I asked. "That's the longest amount of time they list. There's two weeks and 6 days, then there's the heat death of the universe - in a little over two weeks, you'll get another email saying 'three weeks estimated ship time', and two weeks later another 'three weeks' email, etc. etc. Three weeks to them means they have no idea when it will ship. It took MONTHS to get my WiFi adaptor for my laptop, and they kept playing this same game."

Our petty conspiracy theory is that Dell stacks up these orders until they can make a bulk order of tens of thousands of these panels to get a bulk discount, then fulfills all the orders at once. Actually, that's not all so far fetched.

Bitch moan bitch moan shit Shit SHIT!

OK, now I'm done. For now.

-crankymikey

UPDATE: I called to find out what's up. It's expected to ship within 24 hours, and I was foolish enough at the time to select 2nd day shipment, which means I'll get it Tuesday...or Wednesday. Nearly a week. And of course, it's too late to change the order. Harrumph. Or more accurately, GOD DAMMIT!

-mike

UPDATE NEXT MORNING - so of course, later that night, in much the same way that your food won't arrive at your table until you go to the bathroom at a restaurant, only after I write my childish rant do I get an email from Apple - it's shipping and will be here Monday. And since I'm leaving town this afternoon for the weekend, that'll honestly be just fine.

And this morning, I got an email that the Dell monitor has shipped yesterday as well, I should get it on Monday or Tuesday.

Aluminum Foil Hat Wearing Conspiracy Theorists: You may now assume Dell & Apple watch the web for complaining customers and ship if they bitch. Hahahahahanot.

Sooooo.........OK!

-mike

UPDATED YET AGAIN FRIDAY 10AM: ...and then the Dell monitor shows up, but I need to pack to leave town for the weekend. I'll play with it next week.