It’s cool that Apple is willing to give us free bumpers and cases, but their system may be a little “flawed” to say the least. After the announcement went up, I immediately downloaded the bumper app and typed in my iTunes password, it brought me to the selection screen. (By the way, is anyone else only seeing black bumpers? Where’s all the colors?!?) Seeing only black was available, I went ahead and got a black. My order processed no problem. Unless you count the ridiculous 3-5 week shipping window.
Here’s where the problems begin. We have 2 iPhone 4s in our house, both linked to the same iTunes account, which I’d assume isn’t that uncommon for couples and spouses who obviously share joint bank accounts. Well,using the other iPhone 4, we downloaded the app, launched, typed iTunes password, and it told me I already had an order placed. D’oh!
I called Apple to ask them what was going on and their solution was for me to just make another iTunes account for the other iPhone. To me, that’s not a solution, that just creates more of a hassle for me. It’s something I shouldn’t have to do to begin with. What would have been wrong with a process where you just enter your iPhone 4 serial number in order to redeem? Then users could do this online or from their phones. That would have been pretty fool proof in my opinion. Doing it by iTunes account is just a bad idea in general.
Anyone else having this issue? Or is their system just wigging out? Apple didn’t seem to have any idea what was going on. I’m still expecting an e-mail back from a rep at Apple as to whether or not they can just process my second order for me. I’ll update if I hear anything further.
Update: Apparently you don’t have to log in with an iTunes ID, it can be an Apple ID too. It does appear they are checking the serials as well. (Obviously to prevent people from logging into multiple iTunes accounts or Apple IDs on the same device to get more than one free case). I’m still curious as to why or if they’re checking iTunes accounts as well, as there really is no need if they’re going off serial.
Update 2: It looks as if a lot of users are saying their orders went through just fine with the same iTunes/AppleID – perhaps it was a glitch that got worked out or a bug? Who knows, but be sure to let us know if you have issues as well. Mine eventually went through ok but we did have to use a different AppleID for the second phone.
Potential Hiccup in iPhone 4 Free Case Program? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
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