It Took an Act of Steve to Get Me an iPad on April 3 :-)

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A call to UPS resulted in a vague and somewhat confused sounding committment to “try” to deliver my iPad by Saturday. This was a problem since I had it routed to my home. So, if it arrived on Monday, I would have to wait until early evening to actually try it. So, in order to vent my annoyance, I sent email to addresses said to belong to Steve Jobs on Thursday April 1 after my unsatisfactory phone call with UPS. I didn’t expect any response. But, I felt better after sending the email describing the problem and asking to never release a product on Saturday again.

However, on Friday, April 2, I received a phone call from Paul P. from Apple’s customer service group. After our discussion, he called UPS on my behalf and confirmed what I was told: The iPad would be delivered on Monday, April 5. He called back a second time to confirm what he was told by UPS. He then offered to check with the Apple Store nearest to me to reserve an iPad for me for in-person pickup. He called me back a third time to confirm that an iPad would be available for me to pick up at the store along with some of the accessories I had ordered in a separate order. He also provided the name of the person to speak with at the local Apple Store.

On Saturday morning, I wandered over to the Apple Store, arrived around 8:10am, grabbed a cup of coffee from Starbucks, and stood in the reserved iPad line. The line was relatively short (I think I was #20 or so). Apple Store staff cruised the line with bottles of water and cups of Starbucks iced tea while we waited.

After getting into the store, I spoke briefly with the contact Paul told me about and got my iPad and Apple iPad case. Unfortunately, the spare power supply was not in stock as Paul had thought. So, I was not able to come home with that item. The VGA adapter was shipped in a separate order and should arrive at my office on Monday. The Keyboard Dock is a delayed item and will be shipped sometime in the future.

So, it took an Act of Steve to get my iPad to me on Saturday. But, Apple’s Paul P. was able to make it happen. Thank you Paul!

So, was all that fuss worth it? Is the iPad “all that?” Um, hmm. Oh Yes! And, more. I think it is powered by rainbows and unicorn magic tears 🙂 More on the iPad later. Much more!

P.S. UPS showed up a little after 4:30pm on Saturday with an iPad! Apple already issued an RMA for what was expected to be a Monday delivery. So, it will remain unopened and returned to Apple shortly.

P.P.S. Yes, I suspect that all the mail addressed to variants of possible Steve Jobs Apple email addresses are all diverted to customers service.