Author: Michael Evans
Reader mdanie2 who, like me and thousands of others, has been waiting over a week for his new MacBook Pro, surprised me this morning with news that his computer had gone back to Korea of all places. Sure enough, I checked and it looks as though my package, which was sent from Shanghai to Cologne on April 16, has now been sent to Incheon in Korea. The strange thing is that is was sent to Incheon from Shanghai, the origin of the package.
Maybe it never left Shanghai in the first place and the Cologne tracking was merely a stack of expectant paperwork. Or maybe Cologne sent the consignments back to Shanghai for some unfathomable reason. Or, improbably, Apple have frozen all the stock in Cologne and duplicated the orders from Shanghai.
The good news is that after six days of no action, our computers are now going somewhere. No one, I suspect, can fathom the mind of the great UPS, but I can't help wondering why Korea? It's hardly nearer than Shanghai and, at this rate, we could be waiting months.
As far as I am aware, Apple have made no statement on the affair, nor have I or mdanie2 received an email to apologise for the delay.
UPDATE 22/4/10 18.30: My much-travelled MacBook Pro is now in Warsaw. Shanghai, Cologne, Shanghai, Korea, Warsaw. Wherever next? Surely not London?
UPDATE 23/4/10 09.00: After an overnight flight from Warsaw, the MacBook has now arrived back in Cologne (for the second time) but is stuck because of "adverse weather conditions." A quick check shows that is is currently warm and sunny in Germany, just like in London. But why could it not have been sent direct from Warsaw to London? And why did it go all the way back from Cologne to Korea in the first place? So what gives, UPS?
UPDATE 24/4/10 05.00: After 24 hours stuck in Cologne's adverse weather (too much sunshine?) the package has landed on British soil at East Midlands Airport, about 120 miles north of London. As I type it is probably in a truck negotiating the M1 motorway. It's weekend, though, so not much hope of seeing it before Monday. At least it is better off than the thousands of people still stranded abroad as a result of Iceland's revenge.
UPDATE 26/4/10: Flown all of 100 miles from East Midlands Airport to Stansted, north of London. Now out for delivery! At least I will have a seasoned tourist on my desk.
I don’t think we are moaning, more wonderig what is going on. Of course I realise the problems: I as much as anyone have personal experience, having been stranded four days in Switzerland last weekend and having spent $2,200 driving and training back home. But there is somethig off with UPS’s tracking reports. You are possibly right that the package probably never left Shanghai in the first place, but UPS recorded it as imported to Germany and ready for delivery. And as to what today’s adverse weather conditions could be, I know not. Euroe is enjoying balmy Spring weather at the moment. I will continue to report progress because, clearly, lots of people are in the same boat.
Michael
lol.. matchbooks? thanks, automatic spellchecker :X
ummmm.. my MBP tracking says the same thing. But I’m pretty sure your macbook was never in Cologne. I don’t think any flights were even allowed to go there, let alone enter the volcano-ash-zone, and even if they somehow got there, they would NOT have been allowed to take of from there to bring your macbook back to china… twice. Try watching the news while you’re reloading your UPS tracking page.
Most likely they just tried to send it to Cologne but are now pursuing a different route. After all, the flight restrictions might have been juggled around with, so maybe your macbook was put on the plane and it was “as good as there”, only to have the flight cancelled and go “back” to china, without having ever left the tarmac. Heck, maybe the plane even got halfway there when it had to turn back due to not being allowed into the airspace over northern europe. UPS don’t have a location code for that kind of thing.
but this is interesting, because my macbook pro is in INCHEON, KR (korea) at the moment so maybe it’ll go to warsaw next.
Are you nuts? Why should apple apologize to you? they did nothing wrong. If anything, UPS should apol– no wait, the EU should apologize for not lifting the airspace sooner– no wait, in fact, how about god or gaya or whatever should apologize directly to you for making the volcano erupt, thus delaying your precious macbook.
seriously though, stop moaning. It’s nobodies fault. Do you think UPS *wants* to have a giant backlog? I imagine their systems are in chaos and they are rushing around trying to organize different routes, flights, etc.. I’m sure they have warehouses overflowing with backlog– possibly including perishable goods or big corporate orders or god knows what.
guess where our matchbooks rank in their priorities? Yeah. I’m in the same boat.