yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Touch HD General] chaosdefinesorder:
surely if this is the case, why can't you "sell" an un-bodged contract with the standard "O2 600" (or whatever contract ppl want) texts bundle so that your customers can use O2's own "promotional bolt-on" to get unlimited whatever they want as O2 states is possible on the bolt-ons section of their website? Customers with an 18 month, £35pm contract or higher are entitled to an inclusive "unlimited" bolt-on of their choice - this potentially includes texts! Why can't we choose this for ourselves or does "O2 Retail" specifically mean the O2 branded highstreet stores only?
[Touch HD General] Ben_Mobiles.co.uk:
O2 has always run separate product groups for themselves, CPW and other dealers - so information on their site doesn't necessarily relate to O2 products sold eslewhere, as is the case here. You have no idea how many times their site causes us CS issues :)

We have no choice but to offer unlimited texts, unfortunately - but bolt-on flexibility is high on my list of things to sort out with our site.
[Touch HD General] Ben_Mobiles.co.uk:
If you look at Orange's product range and then look at what's selling well on their competitor networks (O2 and Voda, for instance..) there's an obvious case for them to push a touch-screen device to consumers for the first time ever - so as a result demand is higher than perhaps HTC expected. However, stock is coming through regularly.
[Touch HD General] Mark One:
Ben - would it be possible to post a regular update on availability here?

The one piece of info we are missing right now is when?

Some rumours suggest later this week others say some next or thw eek after that.

A lot of people are calling your CS daily for an update when an authoritative post here would save all parties time and money.
[Touch HD General] jamief00:
What's the point in asking them for an ETA? It's changed every 2 days for the past 3/4 weeks - you'd be as well shutting your eyes and pointing at a calendar! They do not know when stock will be in - any dates they give you are rubbish.
[Touch HD General] DawsonUK:
My email this morning from mobiles.co.uk

"Unfortunately the 02 network kept putting the release date back.

All we are waiting for is approval to be able to sell the handset and

we have been told this should be within the next 2 weeks hopefully

earlier.

As soon as this goes through and we have the stock you will be updated

as soon as

--

Amy Mullins"
[Touch HD General] Ben_Mobiles.co.uk:
While I (and my CS staff) can pass along the best information we have (currently: approval should be finalised this week, stock is exhausted temporarily but a delivery is booked in for today) I make it a policy never to commit to actual dates if I have no control over them.

So, I guess the answer remains; they'll be despatched as soon as humanly possible, which could be this afternoon or Friday or anytime in between. When they are despatched an email will be sent to confirm this, and please be patient - I know you're keen to get it ASAP but there's no phone call in the world that will speed this process up, unfortunately.

Trust me, I'm applying as much pressure as I can to ensure things go both smoothly and quickly but O2 are O2 and I have no direct contact with their testing guys.
[Touch HD General] Ben_Mobiles.co.uk:
Worth noting - I expect my staff to be pessimistic about dates, as "under-promise/over-deliver" (within reason) is part of the training style here.

Going to have to add "02" vs "O2" to that training though :D
[Touch HD General] chaosdefinesorder:
I just got an email from Mobiles.co.uk saying that further to my correspondence, my order has been cancelled.

I did NOT REQUEST THIS! Gaah!
[Touch HD General] Ben_Mobiles.co.uk:
Hrm - email me (ben at mobiles) your order number?
[Touch HD General] smurkej:
Anyone here know an o2 insider that works in the testing dept.? :)
[Touch HD General] ozakar:
Cancelled order from mobiles.co.uk

Yesterday I gave an order for the touch HD at mobiles.co.uk, with the O2 24 month contract + quidco 40 cashback. Today I received a message telling me that my order was cancelled because they couldn't verify my address, or I had bad credit score. I really doubt that! I really wonder if other people had their orders cancelled today in a similar sort of way ?

Best regards,
[Touch HD General] smurkej:
Well hey, that's what happens when you're dealing with retards.
[Touch HD General] sthapa:
i ordered mine this morning with orange direct, got it for £40 a month, including 1200 mins, unl texts, unl browsing.....cant wait to get it.
[Touch HD General] melbeams:
I have just received a phone call from mobiles.co.uk telling me that:

- my order has been accepted by O2

- phone cleared for use on o2

- will be despatched as soon as in stock.

The phone call was not prompted by me so perhaps communications are improving, I can only hope that it is correct. However the mobiles.co.uk website still shows as preorder only for 02 so I am not too optimistic:<
[Touch HD General] robhw:
Out of interest - When did you place your pre-order? I have had no call yet but only ordered end of last week.
[Touch HD General] melbeams:
7th November
[Touch HD General] dom_mitchell1:
No call or email for me either. I ordered on 12 November. Mind you, I haven't called them either. I've just been sitting patiently waiting and reading this thread.

I might drop an email over and see if I get any response.
[Touch HD General] Ben_Mobiles.co.uk:
Sorry but it would appear that someone has gone slightly off-reservaton here, approval is still not in place.

You don't think I'd receive confirmation of approval and do anything other than post here first do you? :)

Sorry about that

Ben
[Touch HD General] robhw:
Oops. We almost were on a winner there. Never mind - back into Hibernation till the almighty & mysterious O2 give their approval.

On a side note - is it not a bit dodgy trading standards-wise to offer a phone for pre-order/sale and credit check customers when you have absolutely no confirmation that you will ever be able to supply the phone...
[Touch HD General] lawmcd:
I was thinking the same thing... more to do with theorder.co.uk who are actually advertising the phone as in stock and available on o2 but after placing my order and having the money withdrawn from my account I received an email saying that there will be a delay in receiving the handset.

Edit: I cancelled my order first thing this morning tho as I still had my preorder with mobiles

As they are running off the CPWG stock then i would say this is fairly dodgy by advertising and taking payment for a product / service that you are unable to (or possibly never?) able to provide...
[Touch HD General] Ben_Mobiles.co.uk:
Submission of an order (even a pre-order) involves accepting T&Cs that cover a credit check being performed - for efficiency's sake and because 99.99% of the time approval will be granted orders are progressed as far as possible as early as possible. As approval and stock is nearing this has started, hence the phone calls.

Might interest you to know that conversely we don't charge (or even pre-auth) cards for money (where there is a charge) until stock arrives, which is a pet peeve of mine with online shopping.
[Touch HD General] robhw:
Erm - So what are the phone calls for. You just said a few posts back that someone was incorrectly advised that O2 approval had been received. You have also stated on several occasions that you have no contact with O2 approvals - therefore surely you cannot know that approval is approaching.

What's going on?!?

(p.s. not really worried about the legal side of things just a tad concerned that you are contradicting yourselves on an alarming number of occasions. Just pick a fence post and sit on the same one for a while)
[Touch HD General] stax:
Same here even without a e-mail or phone call. My order is from 30.10 and stays Pending for 25 days and now Cancelled. They do me a favour I don't have to cancel the order anymore. This comapny is a such a joke.
[Touch HD General] ScarySquirrel:
Mine is still on ORDER RECEIVED.
[Touch HD General] Ben_Mobiles.co.uk:
Phone calls - not sure, not my department. Probably to confirm you still wish to go ahead given the time delay involved.

Approval has been "this week" for a while now. Approvals speak to me via O2's CPW team > CPW's O2 team > CPW's Mobiles.co.uk team > me...
[Touch HD General] davenash:
oh it gets better...

Called theorder this morning again, and 'oh yes sir the last handset in the country is now available at a CPW store, I'm booking it out to you now, will call you back...'

2 Minutes later she calls back 'thats all sorted, you've passed the credit check (but will have to pay £150 deposit!!), and I can get the phone shipped out today'.

Paid the bloody £150, and their delivery charge (mobiles don't charge!!), v v excited, and at 2pm Dan the manager calls 'I'm sorry that phone's not authorised by O2 yet...' blah blah 'yes it should be authorised within 7 days'.

Pushing a bit further, is it really 7 days?: 'well 7 days is the just the ball-park standard response we give out when we don't really know what the date will be - so I expect it will be within 7 days, it normally is, but I don't really know'.

Great so now they've got my £155.99 and I STILL have no phone and I'm now losing out on an extra month's half price that I would have got with mobiles... Although I still have my pre-order with them.

I don't get it though - it sounds like sometimes mobiles credit check you before the phone is dispatched (a couple of people mentioned this has now happened to them) and the rest of customers are charged upon network approval? Which is it?
[Touch HD General] TTDegs:
Just a guess (I work with retail credit - but retail credit that has nothing whatsoever to do with mobile phones!)

But the credit check and physically taking the deposit from your account are 2 completly seperate activities.

It would appear that some companies treat these as 2 seperate activities:

Credit check up front, and then later (upon sending the phone) they take the deposit.

Other websites / companies might do them as seperate activities, but decide to take your deposit at the time of order rather than at time of dispatch.

Personally I know which method I (as a customer) would prefer...
[Touch HD General] sbrundell:
Just given up and ordered on Vodafone free phone on 18 month contract £35 pm inclusive of web access http://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk/Brands/HTC/b509/n443/p3185.aspx
[Touch HD General] SingaporeAirlines:
But you only get 100 SMS :(
[Touch HD General] hmillhouse:
Do you know if they're actually in stock and shipping?

I wonder if Vodafone approval was needed here..
[Touch HD General] SingaporeAirlines:
How are you supposed to check for dead pixels when you're supposed to return the goods "to (them), as-new, unused" ?
[Touch HD General] SiliconS:
That's a warranty situation for which statutory terms and conditions would apply.
[Touch HD General] gadgetuk437:
Was sorely tempted by the cheapo O2 deals, but in the end went for an Orange contract (better 3g/data in N. Devon) through buymobilephones.net. Their orange deals were cheaper than mobiles.co.uk... and my phone is arriving tomorrow... YAY!!

I went for this deal;

HTC Touch HD £89.99,

Orange Raccoon (18mths) £25.00pm

300 cross-network mins + 100 texts + Unlimited UK Land Line mins

= 18 x £25pm + £89.99 phone - £20 Quidco discount = £519.99 = £28.89pm

The Raccoon £30pm deal with the free phone works out the same too, but I prefer to pay the lump sum up front and have a smaller monthly outlay. Still a big hike from my old £24/month to T-mob... and I'll get less data.
[Touch HD General] fowler002:
you get no data included, you have to pay £7.50/month extra for the 250mb data.
[Touch HD General] gadgetuk437:
I am well aware of that... hence the big hike (for less data), see my earlier posts, several pages back. But I didn't think it was worth mentioning, because only Expansys is offering a HD with a data package as standard.

But I'll live with it. As it stands unlimited data T-mob on GPRS is a bit meaningless (especially on a severely war-weary hermes)
[Touch HD General] SingaporeAirlines:
Also it's worth noting that on Vodafone, you "only" get 500MB of data (probably 600MB at a stretch) through fair use while on O2 is it as near unlimited as you're going to get.

Not too sure about T Mobile.
[Touch HD General] gadgetuk437:
T-Mobile web'n'walk, £7.50, 1Gb per month

(but at 1 - 5Kb/s GPRS down yer in bumkin country)

Lookin' forward to some 3g goodness!
[Touch HD General] tboy2000:
I would love to go to orange but tried several times via CPW and keep getting declined. Even after faxing proof of address! What sucks is no one can tell me why I am declined. Have had contracts with vodafone and 3 with no problems. Really really sucks! Can't get it on O2, can't get it on Orange, Vodafone is too expensive. Who would think to get a contract would be so stressful!!!!
[Touch HD General] gadgetuk437:
Might be worth trying buymobilephones.net, their Orange deals are better than CPW/mobiles.co.uk, and you can get £20 back from Quidco too.
[Touch HD General] tboy2000:
The thing is no matter where i get an orange contract i will still be declined. It's orange declining me not the retailer :( :( :(
[Touch HD General] sonypc100:
Another day, its now midweek, heres hoping....

Question for Ben, As of today, do you have stock available to dispatch if o2 give you the go ahead? I notice you are now out of stock on Orange?

thanks
[Touch HD General] TTDegs:
I believe that the Retailer is obliged to get you to agree to Terms and Conditions before doing the credit search.

Tucked away in those T&Cs ought to be a reference to who they use to do the credit check (which may be Orange themselves, or someone like Experian).

Further tucked away ought to be contact details of who you can get hold of to see the credit details which they then used to make the decision.

Unfortunately, all of this is a bit of a faff (and can cost a small amount of money) to get hold of.

And ultimately, it won't tell you specifically why you have been declined.

What it will show is things like:

Mortgage balance £xxx,xxx

Mortage payments over last x months are 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 (eg 1 = paid, 0 = not paid)

Credit Card 1 balance £xxx

CC payments 1,1,1,1,1,1,1

Found on Voters Role = yes

Bank Account = yes

etc etc

Overlaid on top of this, Orange and every other credit provider, put their own slant on how to interpret the data.

For example, some credit providers might not mind if you missed a credit card payment 3 months ago.

Others might insist that everything is squeeky clean.

You won't get to ever see what those overlays are.

Ultimately though, it might be worth getting hold of your credit report, as occassionaly there can be mistakes in there which result in you being declined despite actually having a good record.

Sorry - lots of waffle - hope it makes sense and helps :)
[Touch HD General] Meza1:
Interesting, I just had a call from mobiles.co.uk asking if I still wanted to go ahead. They said (I didn't ask) that the phones are coming into stock 'by the end of the week', we'll see eh.
[Touch HD General] Gaz25:
Ben any more news?
[Touch HD General] Ben_Mobiles.co.uk:
'Fraid not..
[Touch HD General] mrpetrov:
I'm genuinely curious why expansys can ship theirs out on T-mobile so quickly - do you think it's because t-mobile tested and approved them quickly fr use on their network, or because expansys doesn't have to wait for t-mobile's sign-off (as apparently mobiles.co.uk are having to do with o2)?

Petrov.
[Touch HD General] saquib:
As someone who went over to the darkside (Iphone 3g), I've been thinking about getting this phone. Anyway, found a site where the phone is free on a £30/month Orange contract. Only down-side is no internet included:

http://www.buymobilephones.net/mobile-phones/merchant-4-85-7327-Phones.ihtml

P.S. I've nothing to do with that site, so do your investigations if reputable etc.
[Touch HD General] Mark One:
Well (& with the best will in the world) there has to be something up here. I can only imagine the pressure that O2 are under from retailers to clear this product (a process that should take 3-4 days) - they are loosing contracts to Orange on a daily basis and there's no way they would create this delay without reason.

As the handset has been in the wild for quite some time now (& don't we all know it), wouldn't it be extremely unlikely that they had discovered a serious flaw that is preventing them from approving the release?

Are they procrastinating until they can sell them from their own stores cutting out the middle men? In any event, I would bet that the Orange retail exclusive has something to do with this and that online shops attempts to circumvent this have failed - possible as a result of the relationship of their parent company with the networks.

Posting this sort of comment usually results in the problem resolving within hours leaving me looking foolish - which I would welcome in this case.
[Touch HD General] DawsonUK:
Mobilephonesdirect do it on Vodaphone, including web and unlimited landlines. I dont get the cashback (hassle anyway) or the Quidco, however I do get the phone, unlocked and unbranded, and in stock ready for dispatch.

Sorry Ben, your companies approach to the launch of this phone left a lot to be desired, so I have cancelled.
[Touch HD General] chaosdefinesorder:
how much per month is this Voda deal?
[Touch HD General] DawsonUK:
The one I have taken is £40 per month, 700 xnet, unlimited landlines, web bolt on and 250 texts (probably about 249 more than I need). Phone is free, and they have confirmed by email in stock ready for dispatch.
[Touch HD General] chaosdefinesorder:
Hmm the skeptic in me has just pointed out something that could be going on here...

O2 may well be holding off approving the HD because they consider it a rival to the iPhone and are hoping that people will just give up waiting for the HD and go for iPhone instead...

...which would also be stupid of them as the people wanting the HD specifically DON'T want the iPhone, so they're instead going elsewhere, so O2 are losing a lot of sales!

The testing team are probably on holiday somewhere... O2 have seriously screwed up here!
[Touch HD General] sheppo55:
Vodafone unlimited web browsing is subject to fairusage of 500mb a month isnt it?
[Touch HD General] ScarySquirrel:
This is a good point. I went into an O2 shop a month or so back asking for the Samsung Omnia, and they said that O2 do not sell it "as we have the iPhone instead".

On another forum I go on, someone has just said they had a call from Mobiles.co.uk stating that they would be dispatching O2 handsets by Friday this week or Monday next week. I am surprised that Mobiles.co.uk actually called someone themselves!!!
[Touch HD General] DawsonUK:
yes (web is limited), believe so, should be enough for my needs, however, they do advertise it as unlimited and given the current push on broadband (advertised as unlimited) it would be fair to assume that this restriction will be removed in the future.
[Touch HD General] sheppo55:
i dont like it when companies advertise it as unlimited when its clearly not id feel much happier if they were too put 500mb of data inclusive then saying its unlimted any way im giving to end of week as i said a few days ago
[Touch HD General] melbeams:
I have jumped ship as well and gone for the Vodafone contract. Received my email to say despatched so should have by tomorrow.
[Touch HD General] sbrundell:
Yep just received email to say mine on way from mobilephonedirect.

If I had to pay the £7.50 bolt on for data on O2, the Vodafone option is cheaper as well
[Touch HD General] TTDegs:
or possibly (as was mentioned by someone else waaaay back on this thread), maybe Apple have something in their contract with O2 that prevents O2 from selling a 'rival' phone? *

Whilst we might acknowledge that the iPhone and HD are 2 rather different beasts, to your average person on the street they appear very similar, and you could certainly understand that there will be a number of people who might buy an HD simply because they want a flashy new phone but

don't

want an iPhone because everyone else has one.

You would have to say that (Apple contract notwithstanding) it would make no sense whatsoever for O2 to drag their heals over this - why on earth would they when they have a queue of customers to start charging?

usual caveat for any Apple or O2 lawyers reading this - it is pure speculation, and I have no idea if it is true or not. The Apple / O2 contract may or may not have a degree of exclusivity to it, and this may or may not be the reason why the O2 validation of the HD is being delayed. Many other reasons are possible and potentially more valid / true. The opinions written here were made during a time of mental breakdown, and that defense will be used in court if necessary blurble blibble wibble.
[Touch HD General] TTDegs:
One extra point to make - regarding Vodaphone.

and this one really WILL get the lawyers twitching LOL *gulp*

Before jumping ship to Vodaphone, you might want to check out the X1 / experia forums...

But please don't take this in any way shape or form as me recommending (or not recommending) you stay with mobiles (or any other phone supplier).

Just suggesting that you might want to do some reading regarding the particular paring of the X1 and Vodaphone.

Enjoy :)
[Touch HD General] sonypc100:
e2save is telling me if I order now I can get it by 1pm tomorrow on o2 - nothing about stock issues and its part of CPWH/mobiles.co.uk
[Touch HD General] caskey:
Still saying pre-order for O2 on the e2save site. Unless you phoned them i presume?
[Touch HD General] sonypc100:
where are you looking? im guessing we are entering the site via different links and getting different messages, the way I went I got no pre order message, and at check out screen I get this..

ORDER NOW and your product will be delivered FREE before 1pm Thursday Delivery £0.00(All prices include VAT at 17.5%)Total£104.99

Im not ordering as im not trusting that I will have it by 1pm tomorrow!
[Touch HD General] DawsonUK:
mobilephones direct, ordered at 11.34, dispatched 13.27, will confirm when received.
[Touch HD General] caskey:
http://www.e2save.com/orange-contract-phone/HTC+Touch+HD/1/TOUCHHD#o2tariffs Thats where im looking. I just see this "Available today on Orange. Pre Order on O2." at the top.

Have an order placed with mobiles.co.uk already, probably give it till the end of the week before i cancel i think.
[Touch HD General] davenash:
Trust me you will not get an O2 HD from e2save/theorder (both the same company actually, not 'both owned' by cpw) tomorrow.

a) they have no stock (the last 1 in the country is reserved for me when...)

b) they also have no o2 clearance. Confirmed for me by a senior manager today around 1pm.

They took a £150 deposit off me on Tuesday, reserved the last cpw unit in the country, promising it would be with me today, but phoned me up just a few hours later to tell me they didn't have network authorisation.

I'm sure they will be authorised at exactly the same time as mobiles.

But I DO recommend you order - their customer service is much better than mobiles.
[Touch HD General] sonypc100:
last one in the country!? my local CPWH has stock!
[Touch HD General] Gaz25:
He could be referring to the O2 stock
[Touch HD General] Shetlander:
Got my HD from e2save last thursday. Delivered Royal Mail Special Delivery friday 21st Nov on O2.

Network approval ????
[Touch HD General] Gaz25:
and that's with O2 contract?