[ericlc2]

This at first came alarming to me so I had to call and talk to 3 different people to make sure I was getting the same information.

I placed my pre-order with staples.com over the weekend. For expected delivery it reads 4/26. At first when I called yesterday I was told it's just a place holder and i'll receive it on the 19th. Well I called again today and asked the woman if she could confirm the delivery and the whole place holder scenario to me and that my order stated delivery of 4/26. I also stated that I pre-order to ensure I will get the product on release date not a week later. She understood and I was put on hold for a good 5 minutes.

Heres the scoop. On 4/19 the playbooks will be delivered from local wearhouses, she ensured me that every state had them and that expected delivery would be for sure by the 22nd. I also asked if you could go into the store with your order number and pick up the playbook. She informed me and confirmed that you could BUT you would essentially be canceling the online order then using the funds again to buy in store.

In conclusion, I canceled my pre-order and will head to my local staples on 4/19. If your pre-order does not have an expected delivery date of 4/19, I strongly advise calling them at 1-800-782-7537 then option #2 to straighten this out. I hope this can help those who may be confused or have been mislead.

***Update (4:00pm EST): Given how irritated I am with this I may have gotten the attention of someone higher up via social networking as I was asked to address the issue by someone @ headquarters, I will update if I hear anything more about this non sense.

***Update (5:30pm EST): So this is what I was told. "The playbook is being released by the vendor on 4/19 and they will begin processing orders so that the earliest delivery date would be 4/19. Because the item is shipping directly from the vendor the delivery could possibly take a few days. You would receive your order at the earliest 4/19 but at the latest 4/26. I'm very sorry for any inconvenience. I do know that you are within the vendors local distribution center so it shouldn't take too many days to receive the order."

Conclusion as of now: Your pre-order is not guaranteed to arrive on 4/19 (at least those that say 4/26 expected delivery). My recent experience with pre-ordering such as console games, other electronics, you receive you pre-order in the mail on release day. The fact that they can't assure you the product will be there on 4/19 tells me there is no benefit to pre order with staples and your better off going in the day of release and pick it up at local store. Rawr so amateur of staples... So again if your expecting your playbook to arrive in the mail on 4/19 its not a bad idea to call and get some answers.

[rj160202]

Thanks for the info. I pre-ordered last weekend. I just checked the status, and while it still reads processing, there has been no change to the expected delivery date of 4/11. Who knows with this launch tho. Very concerning that they can't get something like this more straight forward.

[X04D00]

I got a predicted delivery date of 4/07. I expect to have my Playbook on 4/19, as that is the official delivery date and so far, the only consistent one.

[Cozmik]

I'm pretty sure at this point any date that falls before April 19th can be ignored. We know that the 19th is the Official Release date so anything prior to that is unlikely, not impossible but unlikely.

My pre-order slip from Best Buy doesn't have any date on it. They just said on the day this thing finally comes out just come into the store and pick it up.

[Mama2Many]

Thanks for the info. I pre-ordered last weekend. I just checked the status, and while it still reads processing, there has been no change to the expected delivery date of 4/11. Who knows with this launch tho. Very concerning that they can't get something like this more straight forward.

I pre-ordered on the first day and my order still says this, too. I am not so patiently waiting for my PB! LOL

[dkingsf]

Staples has no clue. I canceled my order, I'll just go into BB on the release date.

[pkcable]

Worstcase I'll buy one on release day and THEN cancel my preorder. Mine still says 4/11, but I'm with the others most of us will not see them until the 19th. Except for me, they told me since I'm PK from CB, I get mine on April First!

[Tiassa]

The difference between Best Buy and Staples is that at BB if you "order on line, pick up in store" the store can fill the order from its own stock. At Staples the "online" and "in store" parts of the business are entirely separate, so all you are doing with "order on line, pick up in store" is a regular online order, but having it delivered to the store as opposed to your home or office.

[Newfangled Gizmo]

Except for me, they told me since I'm PK from CB, I get mine on April First!

Boy, am I glad I wasn't drinking when I read this. Why isn't there a spit-take smiley?

[X04D00]

The difference between Best Buy and Staples is that at BB if you "order on line, pick up in store" the store can fill the order from its own stock. At Staples the "online" and "in store" parts of the business are entirely separate, so all you are doing with "order on line, pick up in store" is a regular online order, but having it delivered to the store as opposed to your home or office.

But I assume if I order online and have it delivered to the store, it'll be there before closing hour of the same day it's released. Otherwise that's just stupid.

[ericlc2]

Bahh although it's probably best I pick up in-store the day of release. I agree with most it is irritating and frustrating that a company is starting to take pre-orders on a product with a decent price tag and has not much of any clue what the hells going on. I'm not trying to bash Staples because clearly its not any one stores or employees fault, this problem goes higher up the food chain.

The difference between Best Buy and Staples is that at BB if you "order on line, pick up in store" the store can fill the order from its own stock. At Staples the "online" and "in store" parts of the business are entirely separate, so all you are doing with "order on line, pick up in store" is a regular online order, but having it delivered to the store as opposed to your home or office.

On my first phone call when the guy told me this I got really steamed as I assumed Best Buys way was most logical and figured thats how "in-store" pick up worked. I will still be going to staples to get my PB just because I will be passing en route on my daily commute. However if it wasn't i'd definitely be going to Best Buy just for the stand alone reason of how irritating this pre-order process has been.

I'm still aware that there is still a good 3 weeks left until launch (errrrr... haha) and would hope that soon (like real soon) the process/dates/delivery dates would be a lot clearer.

[ericlc2]

But I assume if I order online and have it delivered to the store, it'll be there before closing hour of the same day it's released. Otherwise that's just stupid.

This is exactly what I was saying on the phone, so if your expected delivery is after the 19th (like mine was 4/26) on your order definitely make sure you call and have the person you speak with confirm what he or she says with a supervisor. (They won't question you when you ask for a supervisor) She also said that it would be there between a certain time, but the bottom line is that it wouldn't be there on the 19th. Which is mind boggling for a pre-order sale IMO.

[ericlc2]

Worstcase I'll buy one on release day and THEN cancel my preorder. Mine still says 4/11, but I'm with the others most of us will not see them until the 19th. Except for me, they told me since I'm PK from CB, I get mine on April First!

LOL, maybe you should call them and let them know who you are and to expect pre-order sales to drop because of the confusion, and to release it earlier to current/new pre-orders as a way of saying sorry.

[sandmanfvr]

Mine says 4/26 but a phone call confirmed it was good for 4/19. But today I chatted online and told them to change it to in store delivery, so I can get it same day at my store. They said they will call me in 1 business day to confirm.

[snuci]

It's kinda funny but why do some of you think you are getting correct dates from a Staples employee today when they are clearly not 100% sure nor 100% correct? You have better odds flipping a coin than hearing a Staples employee telling you your Playbook will be available for pick-up or delivered on April 19. The pre-orders have to be in order they received them so if you cancel and change it today, you are in line starting today. If they have pre-orders that are shipping from the store, those who ordered online will get them in the order they were pre-ordered, I would assume. You could ask for confirmation about this from three different Staples employees (no offense) but you'd get three different answers.

Stick to what you ordered when you ordered it. It is more likely that you will not get one on launch day if you keep changing the status.

[ericlc2]

@snuci, completely understand what you're saying, except my info didn't come from the local staples store, I was passing info I got from HQ. The 'merchandising' team is aware of the issue now, so i'm sure it'll become more clear in the days to come.

[kb5zht]

3/28.... 4/7.......
...... 4/11.......
4/19.....
....4/22.....

4/26!!!

Hey am I the only one seeing a trend here?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Cozmik]

3/28.... 4/7.......
...... 4/11.......
4/19.....
....4/22.....

4/26!!!

Hey am I the only one seeing a trend here?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

You forgot to add 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.......j/k, couldn't resist!!!

[sam_b77]

Apparently the Playbook will be available in Inida before it is available in USA, according to the retailers here. They were invited to a playbook event a month back.
The retailer I buy my BBs from told me that he expects the playbook in store with him by 25th April.
I argued back by telling him that the US launch was 19th so it didn't seem feasible that India would get it so quick, however he was smilingly confident and said India would get it first.
Let's see how it turns out...
Also the tentative pricing is out. The 32 GB playbook will be around $700-750.

[Cozmik]

Apparently the Playbook will be available in Inida before it is available in USA, according to the retailers here. They were invited to a playbook event a month back.
The retailer I buy my BBs from told me that he expects the playbook in store with him by 25th April.
I argued back by telling him that the US launch was 19th so it didn't seem feasible that India would get it so quick, however he was smilingly confident and said India would get it first.
Let's see how it turns out...
Also the tentative pricing is out. The 32 GB playbook will be around $700-750.

Great that you'll be getting it so quickly over there.....but I just checked my calender and the 19th still comes 6 days before the 25th.

[sam_b77]

Great that you'll be getting it so quickly over there.....but I just checked my calender and the 19th still comes 6 days before the 25th.

True. But deliveries in US are slated for the 26th. 25th is before 26 th ...
But I'm not betting on that to happen though.
Anyway I would not buy it from India. Will have someone carry a 64 gb one from America. Don't want to pay nearly $880.00 for the 64 gb in India.
Unless I can get it through the distributor, then I would get dealer price on it.

[ericlc2]

This has been added to the Staples website:

"Pre-order your BlackBerry� PlayBook™ Tablet by April 17th, 2011 to reserve one of these limited quantity tablets. Product will ship between April 18th and April 20th. Expected delivery: 1 - 3 business days, arriving no earlier than April 19th 2011. Your credit card will be charged at shipment."

[sandmanfvr]

It will be released in US 19th, period. Online dates are placeholders. I have mine changed to in store delivery and I can go get it at the store.

[4sapps]

Well on a post from blackberry on facebook - the guaranteed the delivery of the playbook on the 19th if pre-ordered on the bestbuy website. Since I am tax exempt - I went to the store last Wed. 23rd for my pre-order. Pre-order started 22nd. The customer service girl asked if it was a new phone. I said no. Then she went over to the mobile area and they knew about it. I went over there. They had not printed out the pre-order slips yet. They told me when they receive them they call the people who pre-ordered in order they received the pre-order. So I will get the first phone call to go to the store to get one. They will put it on hold for me for a certain amount of time to come get it. So, Staples dont have the only clueless employees. I will say the Best Buy mobile section seemed to have some kind of clue of the playbook, but not much. GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US! I know we will get them, but while we are purchasing them I am sure we will be giving them lessons on the product.

[dkingsf]

Staples.com now shows my pre-order for the Playbook CANCELED!!!!??

WTF?? I didn't cancel it, called my CC company, they approved the charge, online chat with Staples.com says I have to call 888-nnn-nnnn to discuss the issue.

Going out to buy the Asus Win7 table for $999. At least I can get it.