I preordered the 8100 from Cingular yesterday just before noon east coast time. I got an email from Cingular confirming the order and prividing me an order number. If I check the order online it says status is "pending," but when I call Cingular premier order status hotline (866 499 8008), I'm told they have no record of my order. The cs rep with whom I spoke filled out a form so that someone would try to find my order in their system.

Is anyone able to confirm through the 866 number above that their order was processed?

Last time I checked status online it said 'pending' as well. I just called the 866 number and the automated system gave me this message for my order: "Your order has been processed and will ship within 24 hrs".

I am hoping this is the case.

Evidently they put the Pearl up for sale on their website by mistake. They told me they have my order, but that the phone isn't available yet. I was told it would ship out whenever they become available. We should be notified by email when this happens.

I just called back and this time I spoke to a live person and told them I needed a status on my order. She put me on hold for 30 seconds and came back on the line and said the order has been completed and I should have a tracking number via email sometime today. She said if I don't get the email to call them back later tonight so they can provide it.

Lucky bastard. They still can't find my order. Let us know if you get the email with the tracking info.

Cingular Raising the FUBAR!!! I called to find where I can order the Pearl. They told me they did not anything about the phone!

Cingular premier CS just told me that "All of the order for the Pearl that were placed yesterday were cancelled" and "all orders will have to be placed again when the phones are received in inventory." He said that could be as early as Friday.

WTF. Does Cingular really suck this badly?

...another reminder of why I made the switch to T-Mobile. That, and to get the Pearl a month ago. Granted, I'm still a new T-Mo customer, but so far I've been pleased with the customer service. Cingular drove me nuts at times.

W-O-W!!! That is horrible/awful CS!

Attempting to see if anyone else has experienced this - no confirmation yet.
BlackBerryCool » Even more Cingular Pearl woes

Now, that sucks! However, as a TMobile customer I do remember ordering my Pearl on rollout day, being told I'd have it in 3 days and not having it until over a week later. That was a long week, too!!! There's always issues on rollouts like these....

Spamdumpster,

Sorry to hear that you're going through such an awful ordeal with all of this. All I can say is my order has not been cancelled. I was told it should be shipping today. I ordered Next Day....then again, you never know. Cingular does not know what they're doing...this is terrible.

I don't understand how all cingular employee's don't get a "memo" informing them of things like this.. It'd be nice if everyone was on the same page.

AMEN to that. I just can't believe that out of the numerous Cingular Employees I've asked they ALL seem to have a different answer. It's quite interesting but at the same time annoying! I just want a date...that's all!

Interesting...

I mean I know T-mobiles exclusive is until the 1st, which I guess leaves us to believe the 1st, although why would people be able to get it from the premier site before then....and besides we don't even REALLY know if it will be in stores on the 1st...some have said January!

Wirelessly posted (Cingular-Blue 7290: BlackBerry7290/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/101)

Mine is supposedly at PENDING too. But rather than watch and wait on a Cingular webpage, I'll be watching for charges against my credit card account.

Not sure why there is a mystery to all this. As long as T-Mo has the exclusive on the Pearl, other companies cannot market the phone in any way. Sidenote: I am not sure anyone has posted positive proof that T-MO's exclusive runs out on December 1. I think that was speculation, now transformed into fact. Could be, but not sure.

That explains the silence or "I dunno" from the local sales reps. Any leaking of info, access to web pages, etc. are all typically done without Cingular's approval.

I heard over a month ago that a senior VP at Cingular said that the phone was not being released to consumers until January 2007. Sales to business customers may vary. Whether that has all changed to December is anyone's guess. At the time I speculated that T-Mo must have had an exclusive on sales to non-business customers through the heavy cell-phone buying holiday season. Maybe they don't. Guess we shall see on December 1. I know the Pearl is being marketed to non-professional users [the 190 million "non-BB" users]. So maybe sales to business accounts will occur earlier.

Because of the exclusive contract everyone has to shut up, even that RIM employee who e-mailed a BBF member and said the release date to Cingular was "confidential." Cingular cannot even say "coming soon" or words to that effect because that would violate the Agreements RIM has with T-Mo.

And because low-level sales reps in stores can't keep quiet, they are the last to know anything about upcoming phones, etc. Heck, look at how mouthy some have been to BBF members. They obviously can't keep a secret which is why executives are not telling them anything.

Excellent point/commentary SF!

I don't know much about this stuff, so I guess I just figured Cingular could pay off T-mo to shave some time off of that exclusive. I will definitely go by the exclusive end date although it's scary to hear that it may not be until 1/07!

Keep in mind that the VP of Cingular may not have been in the know, but I think he was. Besides, things can change and for all I know the person who told me about the Cing VP could have got it wrong too.

Plus, you know how people like to have something to contribute to a conversation. By the time the recount got to me, the person doing the talking could have promoted the "leaker" from janitor to VP so to attach significance to his gossip.

New guy here...what’s up

I just got off the phone w/my RIM rep and he confirmed that Cingular will be making an announcement tomorrow about them having the Pearl on Dec 1st. Cingular still won't have them in stock till next week so don't expect to see yours till the end of next week at the earliest. Hope this helps

Thanks for sharing. I would jump for joy except I have already been through that too many times. I will just hope that this date is true....at least it is after the T-mo exclusive so let's hope it happens!

One sure sign that the 8100c is NOT out is that there is not one on ebay. There are ALWAYS some on eBay when close. There is a guy who is selling Cingular Branded Pearl and charger only, no box or anything else.

It shows 4 right now I think....I thought 1 of them had the box etc. but I could be wrong. He says he got his "hands" on some early. I wonder how!!!

There were (2) Cingular Pearls on ebay yesterday when I searched. I did a quick search now and I see 1.

Here is the thread regarding the Dec. 1 exclusive on the TMO Pearl. Marketing materials in the stores show Dec. 1.

http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...12-1-06-a.html

What the heck is wrong with Cingular? Why can't they just announce an official release date and be done with it. Very frustrating!!!

Cingular actually is promoting the phone. They have rather large posters in the local stores here in Hawaii. I have seen the posters as early as 2 weeks ago, that was the first time I went into the store in a long time.

Maybe it is a logistics/inventory issue? I mean are they sitting in a warehouse ready to get the green light to be shipped?

I'm sure everything is in place, if the launch date is December 1. It's just that no one is supposed to be talking about it or selling till after the launch occurs.

Given all the posts in here and "sightings," sounds like December 1 is the official date.

This is kind of like stores that have not opened yet, with paper covering the windows and doors. The day they open for business, the paper is removed and voilà, we get to see the secrets.

For those people that ordered on the Premier website...

I was able to placed my order successfully on Tuesday (11/28/06) before Cingular unplugged it.

I spoke with Cingular today and I was told that my order will be shipping my order today or tomorrow the latest. The Cingular Rep also told me that they're getting shipments today and another one tomorrow at their main warehouse (this is like a hub facility where all orders get shipped, Cingular must have couple of hubs in United States).

Good luck to everyone and hope you get your Pearl this Friday!

I also ordered on the 28th from Premier and was told the same thing, that I should have my Pearl on Friday. I ordered NextDay!!! Can't wait....

told you so, announced today.

Hahahha thanks!! I am very happy. I am sure you understand why I couldn't jump for joy just yet but now I can!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i just called Cingular Business and i cannot order a Pearl yet. :(
the rep told me that she is being told it is coming soon. I wish i could order one....

Any of those out there who like me ordered through Premier on Tuesday, have anyone gotten his/her order yet? Or at least, do you show a status of "shipped" on the website?

I called yesterday, was told that my phone should be shipping yesterday or the latest today. Called twice today, last time the rep told me the phone was out of stock and is in backorder. He added they are expecting a shipment today and my phone should ship tomorrow.

I then asked if that meant I should get my phone on Saturday since I paid for Next Day delivery? He said they can't do deliveries on Sat, that's crap since FedEx does deliver on Sat. He said more likely Monday/Tuesday.

Anyone out there with similar experiences? Thanks