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o2 - 'Out of Stock' - latest info

S

Samaritan

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2006
62
0
Oxfordshire, UK
Hi all

Well, just spoke to an o2 CSA to check if my order had gone through - it has, and it's passed credit check and the handset payment has been taken.

My order, like many others is now 'Out of Stock'.

I was informed that o2 are now allocating units to orders (not sure on what basis, whether time ordered or whatever).

If you are lucky enough to have an order number, then you've passed hurdle one, but there is still no guarantee of an iPhone on Friday. Sounds like only 1 in 4 got an order number when attempting to place an order online..!

o2 are informing the lucky people who get stock allocated to their 'Out of Stock' status tomorrow (by close of play) by email or by text, to say that they have allocated stock and the order has gone to dispatch.

They don't currently know if there are sufficient iPhones to match the number of orders at 'Out of Stock' which is why they are now allocating..

If you get a text or an email tomorrow then you'll get one.

If you don't, then the advice is to ring sometime after 4.00 tomorrow to check on the status of your order and get an estimated dispatch date. I think this depends on when they get the next batch of stock in, but it sounds like all the pre-orders get priority, and then they will start to build up spare stock. Sounds like when they re-open the online ordering, its unlikely that they will have stock for some time, and it may take a while for new orders to arrive.

So, if you have an order number, and it says 'In Progress', and your order shows 'Out of Stock' then sit tight, and see if you get a mail or text tomorrow to confirm if you get one on friday.

Sam
 
Interesting post.

They seem to be collecting a lot of cash today - they had a pending payment of £159 on my visa yesterday and have now competed that transaction some time early this evening.

Now I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on tv but my understanding is that they should not take payment until the item has, or is ready to, ship.

I assume your order status on the online tracker is still 'in progress'?
 
I don't think I can be bothered with all of this any more. I think I'll just sit at home on Friday and get an iPhone 3G some time down the line. I'm not that desperate for GPS or 3G data.
 
johnwin said:
Interesting post.

They seem to be collecting a lot of cash today - they had a pending payment of £159 on my visa yesterday and have now competed that transaction some time early this evening.

Now I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on tv but my understanding is that they should not take payment until the item has, or is ready to, ship.

I assume your order status on the online tracker is still 'in progress'?
Click to expand...

Yep - my order has sat at 'In Progress' since lunch time yesterday. The CSA at o2 confirmed it wouldn't change until it was allocated stock, and I received a text or email tomorrow..
 
This is just getting farcical, how can they not know how many iphones they are getting from apple!! Can you imagine if major music events where sold in this manor and the carnage that would cause. Just look at festivals such as Glastonbury (I know this year isn't a great example) they sell out there tickets within hours of going on sale, yes it is a pain trying to get through on the phone, and yes it can be hard to actually get a session started online. But once you are connected your order goes through in a timely fashion, and at the end of the phone conversation/session you know 100% you have tickets.

And seriously how hard would it be for O2 to put a public statement up on there website telling everyone what's going on. It would stop all the speculation and half truths. It would also help if customer services where reading from the same hymn sheet rather than giving every person who rings through different information!!

I am new to O2 (well hopefully if i ever et an iPhone) and i am not feeling particularly inspired at the moment!
 
Samaritan said:
Yep - my order has sat at 'In Progress' since lunch time yesterday. The CSA at o2 confirmed it wouldn't change until it was allocated stock, and I received a text or email tomorrow..
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info - guess I'll wait to see what happens tomorrow :rolleyes:
 
Samaritan said:
So, if you have an order number, and it says 'In Progress', and your order shows 'Out of Stock' then sit tight, and see if you get a mail or text tomorrow to confirm if you get one on friday.
Click to expand...

Hi Samaritan

What do you mean by "in progress" and "out of stock"? My order just says "in progress", no "out of stock".

Cheers, glanv
 
gazzer82 said:
This is just getting farcical, how can they not know how many iphones they are getting from apple!! Can you imagine if major music events where sold in this manor and the carnage that would cause. Just look at festivals such as Glastonbury (I know this year isn't a great example) they sell out there tickets within hours of going on sale, yes it is a pain trying to get through on the phone, and yes it can be hard to actually get a session started online. But once you are connected your order goes through in a timely fashion, and at the end of the phone conversation/session you know 100% you have tickets.

And seriously how hard would it be for O2 to put a public statement up on there website telling everyone what's going on. It would stop all the speculation and half truths. It would also help if customer services where reading from the same hymn sheet rather than giving every person who rings through different information!!

I am new to O2 (well hopefully if i ever et an iPhone) and i am not feeling particularly inspired at the moment!
Click to expand...


Now I don't want to defend o2, but mobile phone ordering is a bit different to festival tickets..

I work for a fairly big IT provider, and we buy in large quantities of stock from the far east - this is where the iPhones will be shipped from. It sounds mad, but you don't always know exactly how many you are going to get. Its often + or - 5%, due to shipping systems, customs, distribution etc.

I suspect o2 doesn't know the exact number they are getting, but an approximate number for online sales.

Couple this with the fact that they probably set an online limit similar to their guess, which they probably didn't expect to reach. You can never predict demand on an item save for previous trends on those items. o2 are in effect guessing what the market will do. Buy too many and you're burning money storing the units when you actually want to sell them. Order too few and you're not burning any money but you may lose a few customers. However, as there are no other 'competitors' for this model specifically, then they will probably err on the side of caution.

Yesterday, I reckon they were genuinely shocked by the number of orders, and closed down the shop when they thought they had reached the stock level they thought they would receive.

Now, given the above, it is likely that 5%-10% of the orders on the system won't receive an iPhone on friday, or maybe all of them will. o2 probably don't know at the moment.

But, I would rather have my expectations set correctly by o2 rather than being promised one on friday only for them not to deliver. In some ways they are damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

When the Wii went out of stock for long periods of time, and retailers had no clue as to stock levels, people didn't blame them directly. Similarly, Nintendo upped their production when they could. Once again, demand vs supply - if demand is unexpected then supply takes a while to catch up. o2 are currently experiencing the same. Their predictions were based on the original iPhone launch, and it seems they were wrong.

It isn't o2 or Apple's fault - its market economics. o2 were allocated the maximum number they could get, given the manufacturer output, and demands across Europe. They've had a go at trying to let people pre-order fairly, but the totally unexpected demand (for them based on previous market experience) has blown that out of the water.

Sit tight, and see what happens tomorrow and friday.

If you failed to get an online order, then try your luck down the shops on friday - if the demand is the same as it was online, then I personally predict a sell out by the end of the morning in big shops, and a sell out by the end of the weekend in the smaller shops.

Just my opinion, of course.

Sam
 
I think I'm being a bit slow. Where does it say 'out of stock' on orders? There's nowhere on my order that has a stock reference?

Order status: In Progress
Order date: 7th July 2008
Description:
Standard delivery: Free
Apple iPhone 16GB Black Postpay SKU Q1 08 Online GBP45 18M 18 Month Warranty
 
glanv said:
Hi Samaritan

What do you mean by "in progress" and "out of stock"? My order just says "in progress", no "out of stock".

Cheers, glanv
Click to expand...

'In Progress' on the website, and 'Out of Stock' on the CSA screen when you call them up..

Apparently all of the 'In Progress' ones are currently out of stock..
 
patience is a virtue ill go to my little local store and pick up a 3g phone no messing around no ave i got it havent I? no worrying about delivery or waiting in all day



sometimes the internet is not better
 
Samaritan said:
'In Progress' on the website, and 'Out of Stock' on the CSA screen when you call them up..

Apparently all of the 'In Progress' ones are currently out of stock..
Click to expand...

Thanks Samaritan.

When I spoke to them (O2) last night, apparently my order was OK. Will be gutted if "in progress" means "out of stock" as I had my order done by 0810! However, I always have bad luck when it comes to orders and deliveries! They always take ages or get lost!

Nothing I can do I suppose until tomorrow/Thursday, then I should be able to find out. There was me thinking my day off work was going to be sat at home watching tv waiting for the doorbell to ring! Could be standing in the pi**ing down rain at 5am! Haha! :D
 
glanv said:
Thanks Samaritan.

When I spoke to them (O2) last night, apparently my order was OK. Will be gutted if "in progress" means "out of stock" as I had my order done by 0810! However, I always have bad luck when it comes to orders and deliveries! They always take ages or get lost!

Nothing I can do I suppose until tomorrow/Thursday, then I should be able to find out. There was me thinking my day off work was going to be sat at home watching tv waiting for the doorbell to ring! Could be standing in the pi**ing down rain at 5am! Haha! :D
Click to expand...

Don't worry about the 'Out of Stock' thing - its like that cos it literally is - they haven't got the stock until tomorrow/thursday!

All their phones on pre-order do that apparently. Yours will be out of stock until its allocated a unit tomorrow - and you'll know if it has by email or text at some point tomorrow..

Otherwise, I'd advise investing in an umbrella :)
 
Samaritan said:
Don't worry about the 'Out of Stock' thing - its like that cos it literally is - they haven't got the stock until tomorrow/thursday!

All their phones on pre-order do that apparently. Yours will be out of stock until its allocated a unit tomorrow - and you'll know if it has by email or text at some point tomorrow..

Otherwise, I'd advise investing in an umbrella :)
Click to expand...

Good advice! Strangely, I bought a sh*t hot umbrella last year when I was at the Apple store in Southampton!
 
Here's what my evening's been like trying to get an answer out of O2 after getting a '24 hour referral' on my order, whatever that may be.

Call O2 to ask what's going on with my order. "Oh, this is sales, you need to speak to customer services."

Call customer services.

"Oh no, you're a new contract, that's sales."

Call sales. Bit cross.

"We'll call the relevant department and call you back in 5 minutes".

Wait. Still cross. No answer after 20 minutes.

Call sales. Quite cross. Same guy.

"I'll call you back in 5 minutes."

- insert deafening silence -

Call sales. Speak to moron who cannot understand why I'm a bit cross despite explanation. 10 minutes on hold waiting to speak to moron. "We don't have access to that system. Call customer services.". Pleasantly explain that his colleague had access to that system, so it might be wise to think again before replying. Moron tells me my phone is 'out of stock' (duh) and I need to call customer services.

Call customer services.

"That's sales."

*DIES*
 
Samaritan said:
'In Progress' on the website, and 'Out of Stock' on the CSA screen when you call them up..

Apparently all of the 'In Progress' ones are currently out of stock..
Click to expand...

All pre-orders are showing 'out of stock' apart from the unlucky few who have been updated to 'cancelled' - probably a problem with credit checks/direct debits etc.

CS told me all orders are currently 'out of stock' on their system because as Samaritan said they are still awaiting the big container from apple with all the phones in it!
 
Listen and don't make me repeat myself.

O2 DO NOT HAVE ANY IPHONE 3G's IN STOCK YET

Demo units are going out today and there will not be any real stock until Thursday when they will ship them out to those of you lucky enough (but ungreatful) to have got the order process not to crash and got an order number.

It will remain "in progress" until it is shipped out on Thursday.

Sales/Customer service are idiots and should be ignored in general.

So don't panic and don't worry as come Friday you will get your phones while I am queueing at 8am because o2 have a rubbish site!
 
spinstorm said:
Listen and don't make me repeat myself.

O2 DO NOT HAVE ANY IPHONE 3G's IN STOCK YET

Demo units are going out today and there will not be any real stock until Thursday when they will ship them out to those of you lucky enough (but ungreatful) to have got the order process not to crash and got an order number.

It will remain "in progress" until it is shipped out on Thursday.

Sales/Customer service are idiots and should be ignored in general.

So don't panic and don't worry as come Friday you will get your phones while I am queueing at 8am because o2 have a rubbish site!
Click to expand...

You are defiantly right on the first point - o2 are not in the business of providing free warehousing for Apple - they will pass through there distribution sheds in a matter of hours

I wish I shared your certainty that I'll get my phone on Friday though.

Fingers crossed
 
I Agree with spinstorm's point that is possible that on O2's system showing out of stock when they haven't yet taken delivery.
 
Anyway was the whole idea that they took orders until they ran out of stock ?
That is why they closed the store, I'd like to hope that if you have an order number and you managed to get your order in you will get a phone !

David
 
Yeah thats what i though, but i am getting more suspicious by the hour that it may not be a simple as that.
 
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