Last Friday night, we had a lovely community group leaders dinner at the Publick House. We enjoyed the company and talked logistics for our upcoming multiplication. But at 8:45, Ian gave the signal for the iPhone 4s hopefuls to head to internet access. Unless we wanted to wait 2+ weeks for online orders, we knew we'd have to reserve iPhones at 9 p.m. via the Apple web site for next day in-store pickup.
Brett was also in the market for a new phone, so the three of us sat in Brett and Emily's living room and used two computers to repeatedly attempt the reservation process. High traffic volume resulted in lots of error messages, sometimes right before the final step. Brett threw in the towel with his netbook and passed it off to Ian in exchange for Emily's iPhone. With the app, he managed to reserve two (the maximum allowed) for CambridgeSide Galleria. The Boylston Store downtown was already out. One for Brett, one for us.
"We're getting another one. I don't care how far we have to drive," Ian said, flushed with iPhone fever, a glint in his eye. He looked at the online map and tried for a reservation in the Burlington Mall. Two attempts later and we had another destination on our iPhone road trip.
This resulted in a heated discussion on the way home: could we pick up both iPhones and still get the house ready for company? With iMotivation, Ian dusted and swept while I worked on the [REUNION] slideshow for Sunday, and he promised to do more in the morning while I was at my eye doctors appointment.
By 11:30 a.m. I was back with new corrective lens prescriptions and the apartment sparkled. Brett picked us up in the rental car they had picked up for their weekend trip to Jersey. We hopped in the iPhone line after confirming our registration, and thirty minutes later the three of us were on the floor with an Apple Specialist.
Ian and I began the iPhone setup process while Brett looked at cases. When it was time to access our Verizon account, we kept getting an error message. We tried different combinations of our two phone numbers, names, and last four digits of social security numbers to no avail. Our helpful Specialist took us to the Verizon kiosk right outside and after a little searching and some panic about the possibility of a stolen identity, discovered Ian had been reciting the last four digits of our credit card number, not his social. Back to the store we went.
We continued the process and paid for the phone, only to realize they hadn't applied our New Every Two credit; a few weeks ago, the Boylston store had told us they could do everything a Verizon store could do. While I set up my phone, Ian talked to the guys at the kiosk and called Verizon. He learned they only offer the credit through Verizon directly. We'd have to return my phone, then buy it online through Verizon and wait two weeks for delivery. Our specialist talked to her manager. He couldn't give us a phone discount, but offered merchandise to make up the difference. Another reason I love Apple: we got a $50 App Store gift card for our trouble.
Brett dropped us off on his way to pick up Emily and wished us luck with iPhone number two. We grabbed Fox's car (thanks again for the loan!) and headed west.
The Burlington Mall is in the middle of a sea of cars. That it felt surreal is a testament to our adjustment to city living. We parked and quickly located the Apple Store, pleased to see there was no one in the iPhone line. Veterans at this point, we could chuckle at the well-off older gentleman inquiring as to the availability of the new iPhone. No reservation, no phone. In five minutes, we were talking with our second Apple Specialist of the day (who referred to the Boylston Store as "heaven") and breezed through the process.
Mission accomplished, we headed to the food court for some celebratory Chick-fil-a. And I told Ian the next time we need to get iPhones, we're ordering them online.
We're thrilled with our new phones, and wanted to share the love. Our awesome uncommon capsule cases arrived with a couple discount codes to share. Each is good for $5 off any uncommon case: iPhone 3gs, iPhone 4/4s, or iPod touch. Comment with what image you'd wrap around your device of choice, and we'll randomly select two coupon recipients. Deadline is Friday, November 11. Go!