My iPad has said preparing to ship for the last couple of days but hasnt shipped? Any help

I'm like you, but I ordered even earlier, on March 15. I also asked for the engraving, not realizing at the time that it would delay my order. I got an email from them saying it would ship April 5 and arrive April 12, almost a month from the date of my order.

A week after I placed my order, I received another email from Apple on March 22, saying: "We are pleased to inform you that your recent iPad order will ship sooner than expected. Your order is now expected to deliver by April 9, 2012."

So according to that, they moved up my delivery date from April 12 to April 9. Three whole days. Out of a month.

On March 27th, my order status on the Order Page went from "Processing" to "Preparing for Shipment". It has been stuck at "Preparing for Shipment" for the last 3 days. Meanwhile, two other items I ordered at the same time (iPad cover and the camera connection cable) have already arrived.

I called Apple to ask them about the status, but they could offer no additional information. They just said it will arrive by the date mentioned in the last email, which is April 9th. Then I asked to switch from Standard Shipping to Overnight, which they did. As a result, the arrive by date is now April 6th instead of April 9th.

None of it seems to have made much difference. April 6th is still over 3 weeks from the date of my order. As for the "Preparing for Shipment" thing, I don't think it means anything. Mine has been stuck at that stage for the last 3 days. With the weekend coming, I'm guessing it's going to be stuck there a while longer.

Help with what? Waiting? Because that's all you can do.

It will arrive when the order page say's it will arrive. Its current status is irrelevant, and there's nothing you or anyone here can do to change it.

When i ordered mine it said 3 weeks, however I ended up getting it on launch day the 16th, which was 4 days form when I ordered it, obviously it was just luck. I have noticed that people who order the white IPAD seems take longer.

Here's an update to my post.

The status on my iPad finally changed to "Shipped" this morning, and I received a shipment notification email from Apple. So here's the period I waited under each "status".

March 15, 2012: Order placed.

March 15, 2012 - March 27, 2012: Status "Processing"

March 27, 2012 - March 30, 2012: Status "Preparing for Shipment"

March 30, 2012: Status "Shipped"

However, there is a problem. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had changed shipping method to Overnight Shipping. This means next business day delivery. I also had Overnight Shipping on my iPad accessories (cover and camera cable, which I indeed received the day after they were mailed). Since the iPad was shipped today, Overnight Shipping means I should receive it April 2, which is the next business day (since March 31 and April 1 are Saturday and Sunday).

However, the shipment notice says it will be delivered by April 4, two days later than it should arrive. So the total shipping time is March 30 - April 4, which is 5 days instead of the Overnight Shipping I was promised.

I noticed that when I received the iPad accessories (which actually shipped Overnight), the shipment tracking page said:

Service Type: Standard Overnight - Indirect

However, for the iPad itself, the shipment tracking page says:

Service Type: IP Direct Distribution - Indirect

I don't know what this Service Type means. It's obviously not Overnight, and that's why it's taking 5 days to arrive. I have no idea why Apple changed this, since I was promised Overnight delivery.

User to user forum.

We don't have access to anything regarding your order.

What's the expected delivery date, did they give you tracking info?

The Good News is it is well worth the wait.