How Towson Town Center Management Totally Screwed Me Out of an iPhone 5s

In case this is too long, skip to the VERY brief version at the end labeled [TL:DR] (stands for “Too Long: Didn’t Read”), but I recommend reading it.

It’s that time of year again when the latest iPhone hits the shelves.  It’s Anne’s turn to upgrade and she’s got her heart set on a gold iPhone 5s (I can’t blame her, if it was me, that’s the one I’d get as well).  I’m really excited for her and the fact that it’s not even my phone doesn’t make this episode any less personal.  A little background: last year I pre-ordered my iPhone 5, but stood in line when I found out the arrival date was a Saturday I was out of town.  When I got to the Apple Store, assured a shiny new (albeit white) iPhone 5, it was too late to cancel my pre-order; it was already in the channel.  Luckily it arrived Thursday before I left, so it turned out OK.

 As you’ve probably deduced, if you read the title of this post (which you should; I put a lot of thought into those), I (again) walked away empty handed, but this time, it wasn’t my fault…or Apple’s.  The blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the Towson Town Center General Manager.  Last year, I waited in line for my iPhone 5 starting at midnight and ended up a pretty respectable 45^th in line.  The execution of the launch went spectacular.  So much so, that I was well prepared to wait in line this time, even if pre-orders had been available.  But alas, this year brings a new GM, and he decided to do things a little different.  And thus begins our tale…

 It was a gorgeous 65° on Thursday night at 9pm; closing time for Towson Town Center.  The ropes for the line already laid out for the impending influx of eager current and would-be iPhone owners.  The Apple Store was set to open at 8am, 2 hours early.  It was mandated (by order of the GM) that the mall would be opened so people could wait inside at 6am, but NO ONE was allowed in line OR EVEN ON THE PREMISES until…6am.  Sounds a little hinky.  For starters, that’s not nearly enough time for an iPhone launch (he obviously DOES NOT understand iPhone launches, but more on that later).  I took the chance and parked close to the door, reclined my seat and waited/slept in my car until it was time…well that was the plan, anyway.  I was awoke by a security guard at 3:40am and told I had to wait off the premises.  I moved my car across the street to a strip mall parking lot, where I was near the road leading to the mall entrance.

 Twenty minutes later, at 4am, I hear a car pull in next to me, but no one gets out.  Five minutes after that, another next to that and the occupants start taking.  I get out and, low and behold, they were there for the same thing.  The crowd started to grow a little as we passed 5am.  We began getting concerned about leaving our cars there with a sign stating that mall shoppers would be towed, plus seeing a few tow trucks in the area, waiting to make some cash.  We couldn’t park at the mall because security was chasing people on foot and in cars out of there left and right.  We settled on the Towson Circle parking lot, which was adjoined, but not part of mall property.  We sat just outside of mall property in line-of-sight with the door.  At 5:40am we decided to head over, when we were stopped by security, mid parking lot, to not be on the site until 6am.  Our little group comprised of Stephanie, Amanda, James, Tommy, Patrick, and myself, whom they all acknowledged I was there way before anyone else and should be at the front of the line.  This was a sound plan, and I would have been 1^st in line, but was based on security holding up there end of the bargain and keeping everyone else out until 6.

 Stephanie tried to get some clarification from the tight-lipped guard, which boiled down to “at 6am, people bum-rush the door, and whoever was first, was first.”  We weren’t crazy about that idea, especially since we were legitimately the first people there, but there wasn’t much we could do.  At 5:59am, we started walking.  Halfway across the lot, we saw people starting to run…so we ran.  As we neared the entrance, a security guard steered us toward the back of where the line was set up…then past it.  I was confused, disoriented, going on less than optimal (quantity and quality) sleep, running, and it was dark.  In fact, I was a half a step away from tripping over 2 steps and smashing my face on the concrete.  Where were we going?  Was this misdirection?  Were the ropes a rouse and we were being led to the real entrance?

No.  There was a line of about 40 people that came from the very same lot we were parked in lined up in front of Macy’s, which I might remind you is ON MALL PROPERTY!  No guard at any time said anything about a line forming.  They all repeated (but obviously didn’t follow) the same line dictated from the GM: “No one is allowed in line until 6am.  You must wait off-premises until 6am.”  But there WAS people in line, ON PREMISES, and that was sanctioned by the security guards, as they were leading us to the end of it.

 You may be thinking 45^th is a pretty good spot, right?  After all, that’s where I was last year.  But this year is different.  With 3 colors (white gold, and space gray), 3 capacities (16GB, 32GB, & 64GB), plus 4 different SKUs (versions) with slightly different LTE radios to accommodate differing technologies among regions (such as US, Europe, & China) and carriers, exacerbated by each customer needing a specific carrier (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, or T-Mobile), Apple’s supply was very limited.  All these phones are made by ONE manufacturer, versus many by Android and others, causing a huge supply chain strain.

 After establishing which models (limited to 2 iPhones per customer) the first 40 people wanted, an Apple employee came down to “the rest of us” to inform us that “there were NO more gold or white iPhone 5s’s, any capacity, any carrier.  So after 10 hours of waiting (mostly in my car) and a lot of confusion and frustration brought about by management, I, and many others with me, walked out with nothing.

 I placed an order through the Apple Store app on Apple.com for an AT&T, gold, 32GB iPhone 5S, which is expected to arrive sometime in October.

 Here is my list of reasons why the GM did a poor job planning and clearly doesn’t understand iPhone launches:

• You don’t create a line (with ropes) to line people up the exact same time you plan to bring them in.  (Side note: for being such a stickler for times, people didn’t start going in until just after 6:30.)
• All the bathrooms were closed
• 6am is WAY too late to start lining people up for an Apple launch*.  Midnight is minimum.  9pm would have been optimal.  (Because the start time was so late, turnout wasn’t nearly what it was in the past.  That’s a loss of business.)
• When the Apple Store opens its doors, it is a huge, exciting event, just short of setting off fireworks.  Every employee (or nearly) is at the door clapping and cheering.  In the past, the line went from the front of the Apple Store, down the mall.  Even the 200^th person could see and hear (and therefore, feel) the excitement.  This time: 20 people in front of the store.  Everybody else: on an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT LEVEL!
• The 2 biggest (shopping) events a mall experiences are iPhone launches and Black Friday.  The two biggest days of the year.  SHOW UP FOR THEM!  (When I called, someone in his management office said he’d be out all day.)

 *When I asked about this to (I assume is) the head of security, he said the new GM didn’t want people camping out in the mall because it wasn’t safe.  Here’s the reality: people are going to camp out and wait.  They always do for iPhone, and even iPad, launches.  I’ve witnessed this many times.  So how is it SAFER to make them wait off-premises, where there’s NO parking garage cover, lighting, or constant security in an OK-but-iffy-part of town.  Not to mention causing people to run like maniacs and almost killing themselves to get the spot in line they are entitled to.

 Well, there you have it.  Learn from this tome.  Pass the story to your children, and your children’s children.  I guess the moral of the story is: I’ll likely be waiting at Christiana Mall next year…or maybe they could just use some systems engineering…which is something I know a little about.

 [TL:DR]

• Go to the mall at 9pm Thursday.  (I was the first one there.)
• Waited in the parking lot until I got the boot at 3:40am.
• Parked just outside the lot and waited with 5 other people (who were the next group of people to arrive).
• Was told by security, “No one is allowed in line until 6am.  You must wait off-premises until 6am.”
• We ran to the door at 6am only to get sent to the back of a line of 40 people that supposedly didn’t exist, on the mall property they weren’t supposed to be on.
• By the first 40 people, Apple was COMPLETELY out of ALL white and gold iPhones.  All capacities.  All carriers.
• Ordered online (expected to arrive “October”) and left…empty handed…again.