How long does preparing to ship take?

I just contacted Apple Store Online support yesterday and they told me that since my country has no Apple Store, my MBA will be coming from Singapore, and since it is a custom configured Mac it'll take 1-2 weeks to ship to my country, and that many paper works will be done so it seems like I'll wait for the shipment longer than the expected end of September.

UPDATE ... I am not a believer in conspiracy theories but ... a few hours after posting my complaint above, the order was magically processed and the laptop is to be delivered tomorrow (the 18th) on time and within the window that Apple first indicated. My daughter's virtual school starts the 19th. Thank you Apple ... :)

it's honestly ridiculous how long apple shipping is for certain products for such a huge company.

here's my saga in case any one else is looking:

— ordered macbook air with upgraded 16gb ram on the 7th of august with estimated time frame at the time of order being 26th august to 3rd september

— processing until 15th of august when it then was being prepared to ship

— shipped 17th august, estimated delivery 27th august.

despite being stated pretty much everywhere that apple does 1-3 day delivery after shipping its taking almost three weeks for my order to be delivered. i'm glad there are others in the same boat.

i got my macbook for school and to do my summer homework that i have to submit before 1st september. we'll see how that goes.

although there's an apple store half an hour away from me they didn't let us order it in store because we didn't have a valid proof of id. so i ended up having to order it one on of the macs in the **** apple store, having it delivered in three weeks, when i could've just got it then and there.

hope it arrives sooner. i'll update whenever it does.

i am going to try the same thing then lol.

MacBook Air 2020 with AirPods ordered on 10th

estimated shipping 18-25

AirPods shipped to Korea and has not moved since the 12th

MacBook Air never even shipped

Same here. Ugh. I ordered Aug. 4. My AirPods shipped 2 days later and then arrived the 10th.

its been exactly 2 weeks and my MBP is STILL processing....I start school on Monday.

they gave me a delivery between 19-26. But I haven’t even been charged yet. Oh well.

That’s the same problem for me, I ordered my MBP on the 1st. My AirPods arrived on the 4th, but my computer is still processing. My delivery window is 18-25, but I have a feeling it is going to come after that. I am becoming more impatient because I started school already and my old one does not work as well for class calls.

This is ridiculous! I ordered my standard base model MBA with free engraved AirPods on Sunday August 16. AirPods show shipping as of yesterday on the 18th. The MBA however is STILL PROCESSING???!!!?! For a basic model? I’m a teacher and start work Monday. I need this to complete my duties. I don’t even have the funds to really afford it but made this sacrifice as an investment in my students. Where is the Apple standard that we all have grown to love and respect?

Mine finally ticked over from processing to preparing to ship this morning (19th Aug) after I ordered on 3rd Aug (To United Kingdom). My delivery window is 18th to 25th. The delivery times are insane. How are other companies managing to keep up with demand during pandemic but Apple can't? Crazy for such a huge company.

I suppose I can't really complain at the moment as they did make it clear that the delivery window was that from the start, however if they miss it I'll be very annoyed. Not really the way to treat customers who are dropping £1k on a computer! Glad to find other people who are having the same issues and it's not just me.

So I ordered my MacBook Pro on August 5th and I knew once I ordered it that I wouldn’t receive it until September 3-11th. It is very frustrating considering I have classes that began this week all online and I will be going out of town around the 11th so I hope it is delivered on time. Also considering I spent $2k on a laptop. It has now been 2 weeks and is still stuck in processing! I did receive the AirPods within 2 days but I hope the MacBook does not come in late.

I ordered mine August 12th got a date to receive of August 20-27. Still ‘processing’ as of August 19th. I’m guessing I won’t be receiving it on the 20th. I’m doubting it will be here by the 27th either. Awfully hard to do all my work on a phone since I’m old laptop died. I’m pretty disappointed since I thought Apple would be better at this than Dell.

Mine is arrived today. I'll do a quick timeline of my order.

Aug 3rd - Ordered with Airpods - money for Airpods charged to my bank account straight away.

Aug 4th - Airpods Arrive, MBP is 'Processing'

Aug 18th - MBP still processing

Aug 19th - Before I woke up it updated saying ready to ship and money is taken out of my account for laptop.

Aug 19th - In the evening I got a text from courier and email from Apple saying it was shipped

Aug 20th - Arrives

Hope people find this info useful :)

Mines arrived tomorrow!! I do a quick timeline!

august 1st - Order my MacBook Pro and the AirPods that come with it

august 4th- AirPod came in

august 18- MacBook still processing

august 20th-

email got still saying it be delivered the 21st

Today’s the day- my laptop will be in my hands in two hours! So for everyone else who patiently/impatiently has been waiting for what feels like forever to get their EXPENSIVE laptop, here’s a rundown of shipping:

I ordered an i5, 1tb storage, 8gb ram Gold MBA on 07/31

Processed for one week (08/07)

Prepared to Ship on 08/11, card was charged

Shipped 08/12

-Arrived in ZhengZhou, China 08/12 and departed on 08/14

-Arrived in Incheon, Korea 2 hours later (08/14)

—package was “lost” for four days at the point, but would usually take only 24 hours to go through Incheon

-Departed Incheon, Korea on 08/18

-Arrived in Alaska, U.S. for customs on 08/18

—missed the shipping plane twice (“mechanical error”)

-Cleared customs and left Alaska (08/19)

-Arrived in Louisville, Kentucky on 08/20

—missed the plane twice here too

-Departed from Louisville 08/20 at 4pm

-Arrived in Atlanta 08/20 at 11:46pm

-Shipped overnight to my city

-Delivered on 08/21

I’m not sure if I’ve got high standards or something, but I ordered a custom configuration mac a couple of days ago and nothing has happened. Becoming slightly confused now as when I bought my iPad back in March it was delivered literally the day after I ordered it.

hedgehog2001 wrote:

I’m not sure if I’ve got high standards or something, but I ordered a custom configuration mac a couple of days ago and nothing has happened. Becoming slightly confused now as when I bought my iPad back in March it was delivered literally the day after I ordered it.

You're comparing how long it takes to get a device with a customer configuration versus an off the shelf item. A custom configuration is going to take longer. Also, depending on when in March you ordered the iPad, things were different. Supply chains were more intact. Delivery services weren't overwhelmed.