I preordered an iPhone 18 for launch-day pickup and arrived around 3:45p after work. I knew launch day could be hectic and came prepared to wait. Instead, what should have been a simple pickup turned into a four-plus-hour ordeal.
I traded in my iPhone 17 and explained that I’m not particularly tech-savvy; my partner normally handles phone setup but was in Las Vegas for work. The employee asked if I wanted to transfer everything in-store. I specifically asked if I could do it myself at home instead and was told yes. They erased my old phone and took it as my trade-in, and I left with the new phone.
I got outside and realized I had a major problem: my phone is also my car key. My old phone was gone, the new phone wasn’t properly activated, and I couldn’t access my car, phone number, accounts, or verification codes.
I walked across the street, connected to Wi-Fi at a bar, and tried unsuccessfully to get the phone working. In years past, you could easily download your iCloud backup without connecting to a cellular network over Wi-Fi. I then returned to Apple and explained everything to the employee checking customers in outside: I had just purchased this phone, had followed his coworker’s instructions, could not access my car, had no functioning phone to call anyone, and was effectively stranded.
Rather than trying to get me inside so someone could determine what went wrong, he told me they might be able to let me use a phone to call T-Mobile, but I could be waiting around 1.5 hours.
His other suggestion was that I walk approximately two miles to the T-Mobile store at Woodman and Dorothy, along a major five-lane road during rush-hour traffic.
I reiterated that I was stranded. No working phone. No access to my car. No way to call someone for a ride. I had followed the instructions of the Apple employee who sold me the phone.
The response was essentially the same: walk to T-Mobile.
So I left and wandered through the mall looking for a payphone. Thankfully, I found Guest Services. Ironically, the person who finally showed me some compassion was a mall security employee, who graciously let me use her personal phone to call my mother. My mother then had to stop what she was doing, drive to The Greene, and bring me a physical car key.
We then went to T-Mobile, where I learned they needed the primary account holder involved despite me being an authorized user. My partner was in Las Vegas for work, so he had to interrupt his trip and physically go to a T-Mobile store there while I was at one in Ohio. We then spent roughly another 2 hours troubleshooting until T-Mobile finally got the phone working.
By the end, a simple Apple preorder pickup had taken more than four hours and required my mother, my partner 2,000 miles away, mall security, and T-Mobile employees in Ohio and Nevada to resolve.
I freely admit that I don’t understand eSIM activation, phone transfers, or all the technical steps involved. That is precisely why I went to an Apple Store, and spent almost $1,500 on a premium phone expecting premium service. If something needed to be activated before my old phone was erased and surrendered, I should have been told that, especially after I specifically asked whether I could finish setup at home.
What I cannot excuse is the complete lack of empathy or meaningful assistance when I returned and explicitly told an Apple employee I was stranded.
The mall security employee who loaned me her personal phone showed me more concern than the company from which I had just purchased a very expensive flagship phone.
My partner worked in Apple customer service for 11 years and has always talked about how seriously Apple takes the customer experience. That made this experience even more disappointing.
Four hours later, I eventually had a working phone. But the four hours honestly aren’t what will stick with me.
What will stick with me is returning to the Apple Store, explaining that I was stranded after following their employee’s instructions, and being told to walk two miles to T-Mobile.