[HTC 10 Guides, News, & Discussion] tony.wheeler:
UK HTC Order Experience

Having ordered my silver HTC 10 from HTC UK I was very worried to read of the problems here. I have just received my silver/white 32Gb HTC 10 from HTC UK/Digital river and thought it worth highlighting my experience in case it helps.

HTC and Digital River certainly do NOT treat us well that is for sure :(. The problem seems to be an almost complete lack of timely communications - at the very least:

- 16 May late evening - ordered device on HTC UK site (no mention of pre-order and no mention of whether stock exists).

- 17 May (almost 24 hrs later) no order ack received but my CC showed a pending £512.99. Concerned at the many negative comments I rang HTC. They were useless! They knew of the order, told me that an order acknowledgement might take 72 hrs and could offer no reassurance about stock, my place in the queue or any help on timelines. I told them I was very unhappy and refused to accept this lack of info. They then recorded my concern (gave me a ticket number) and said that HTC e-Commerce would be in touch within 24 hrs and would know more. Later that day an order ack (with barely any detail) arrived in my inbox.

- 18 May - I received a call from HTC e-Commerce. They too were most polite but again useless. They too could confirm I had ordered but repeated what I had been told. The call actually came from someone in South Africa! (I asked because of the overseas code on my HTC M8 that showed). The gentleman (worryingly) told me he had no idea of stock in the UK (just said that stock was OK - but not where), that I would only be actually charged when the goods were with me, and that he could offer no reassurance about delivery timelines. He said the order was "In Process". I wanted to cancel - he told me to go online and cancel but he could offer no reassurance that the phone would not still arrive! I asked who would then have to pay for insured return and subsequent refund (had I cancelled the order and got the phone elsewhere) - he told me I would have to pay that cost! I tried to escalate the call and he told me a 'manager' would call back within 24 hrs (none have called so far).

18 May (late in day) - I was sent an update e-mail from HTC with a barely highlighted link to a tracking on the Hermes UK site. That site just said "Order Generated"...

19 May (day of delivery!) - I had no update e-mails from anyone but kept checking the Hermes site (having seen the comments from others). Later that day the Hermes site changed status to "Manifested to Courier" (which I checked online and it appeared to indicate they must at least have my phone to deliver!). I was out all day and you can imagine my (pleasant) surprise when I came home to find that Hermes had called and dropped/placed the phone (in box) over my secure back gate (in the light rain) and left a note.

So I have my HTC 10 and I am now happy after an appalling experience from HTC. Like so many others I am pleased to have the phone, have yet to be charged (the bill is pending on my CC), and consider HTC UK and Digital river to be amongst the worst online retailers I have ever used. Hopefully HTC will get to read these poor reports here (from their biggest HTC fans). They make great phones (I've stuck to HTC for many years now) but the customer support that is contracted out is bad. The main problem is the complete lack of order status awareness of their staff and any ability of their combined 'system' to keep you informed.

Even worse, when I did click on a link to complain I was taken to an Expansys site! (info.expansys.com) - so what is going on there I have no idea and Expansys (who I called) refused to comment but did appear to know of the use of their site (did they support HTC sales at one time?).

Good luck. My 10 is fully updated (with the HTC camera patch etc) and works very well so far (incl UK EE WiFi calling that works well). I am now 'playing' with my new toy :)

I'm now waiting to see if my pending £512.99 changes to a billed charge in Euros from Digital River Ireland!