yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Desire General] quicksite:
Just spent last 20 minutes with HTC UK Tech Support -- only because that was the number listed on Handtec website under their page: Manufacturer's Details

So the # I called is: (UK) 0845 890 0079

The guy is Level 1 Tech Support and says he's heard nothing about it. I persist and ask "so where is this information coming from?". He eventually says he will message his Level 3 Tech Support Team; he says they are the final level of Support Staff in UK, and if there were any kind of firmware or other hardware hold, this person would know about it.

Eventually he gets his answer from Level 3: which was just like the answer someone posted as coming from HTC Support Page at Facebook:

"As far as any dealer related issues, we cannot comment, but as for the HTC Desire, we have no knowledge of any hold whatsoever for the device for hardware or software issues"

I said to Level 1: "Right. We have no knowledge of. And doesn't it follow that since you are support & not sales & marketing you would not be notified of any product holds?" He said "I would think we would be. We have to support every phone in consumer's hands. We have nothing about a technical or hardware of software hold".

I said: Then if that is the case, and this is solidly coming from your Level 3 team, who would know for sure if there were such a hold, then the problem would be a supply chain problem with getting product to dealers, doesn't that follow? He said Yes, but he doesn't know.

I feel it was a wasted call, but at least one can say for sure, Tier 3 Tech Support for HTC UK says for sure "there is no hold on the HTC Desire".

Make of that what you will. I think they would never be informed of such a hold, if it existed....
[Desire General] Zubair226:
T-mobile

Hi,

T-mobile have just texted to confirm that they are back in stock.

surley someone out there must know what the real cause for the delay is....?
[Desire General] rahulforlove:
Switzerland update

Confirmed in Switzerland as well..here's Digitec's response:

"After our latest distributor information, the ordered mobile phone should arrive tomorrow, on the 12th and 14th of April. But unfortunately, these dates are all not confirmed. If we get further information, we will of course inform you immediately"

Aargh!! :mad:
[Desire General] bcmobile:
Id be REALLY PI$$ED if they shipped all of the stock to T-Mobile!
[Desire General] carrige:
According to Clove the delay affects all SIM-FREE phones - hence why Handtec and Clove and all the others have been delayed. Carrier phones like T-Mobile's don't seem to have a problem.
[Desire General] zippyioa:
Doesn't look good if you ordered from Clove

http://androidcommunity.com/unlocked-htc-desire-delayed-again-confirms-retailer-20100407/
[Desire General] OnlinePredator:
Or any online store in UK???? Handtech etc..... As previously mentioned
[Desire General] Airwalker82:
On the phone to T-Mobile now, they only got 400/450 in today, and those went in about 30 minutes!

They're meant to be getting some more in this afternoon apparently, but there's a bit of a lag between actual physical stock and the level their systems are showing them - Meaning he couldn't quite finalise my order as it just kept throwing up an error =S
[Desire General] ninja.rogue:
Just received from Clove.co.uk

Urgent News - HTC Desire Shipment Delay

Having only sent you an email yesterday we have now been informed by HTC this morning that they are delaying shipments to all Sim-Free E-tailers until next week. This is very frustrating for both you and ourselves, having made so much effort in trying to ensure you receive your Desire as early as possible.

The actual shipping date is yet to be confirmed, although HTC expect to start releasing stock on 13 April.

Please be aware this is completely out of our control and will affect all other E-Tailers as well. We will continue to update you with as much information as we can.

We wll not be refunding any orders that have already been charged unless requested - this will simply cause further delays next week.

Please accept my personal apologies for this further delay, we only wish we could give you better news. Hopefully you will appreciate we contine to offer the best customer service we can and keep you informed as best we can, even when the news it not what any of us wishes to hear.

Please DO NOT REPLY to this email as we will not be able to receive them.

Regards

Sales Team

Clove Technology
[Desire General] JTHM:
As far as I am concerned, if the delay is down to technical improvements/quality control or unavoidable logistical issues then so be it. :( However if it comes to pass that the delay is due to marketing or preferential treatment within HTC's supply chain where UK e-tailers are being fobbed off in deference to other markets, network providers and/or high street retailers then there's going to be mucho love lost between HTC and me :mad: ...to the extent I may even resign my charge as HTC Fanboy :eek:
[Desire General] jamieyates79:
Howdy .. new member.

I ordered myself a HTC Desire from Handtec on 27th March to replace my iPhone and have been waiting tentatively ever since. I was gutted to receive the email from them yesterday evening saying that shipping has been delayed until 12 / 13th April.

It seems strange to me that there are handsets available for the networks in the UK, notably T-Mobile (who seem to have supply problems of their own with customers waiting for handsets). It also appears that the UK networks have realised the popularity of the phone and are all rushing to stock it and make it available for sale with one of their contracts.

All these things make me wonder if HTC haven't redirected to the first sim free shipments to supply the networks. We know that HTC are keen to establish good relationships with the networks.

Of course this is all speculation, and I have no evidence to back this up, but I think we have reason to be suspicious. And this suspicion is being fueled by the lack of official information from HTC UK.

I'll wait another week to get the handset sim free from Handtec. They seem to be handling the situation as well as they can, although ultimately I'm unhappy about the delay.
[Desire General] gumbald:
I ordered Friday and haven't heard anything yet, does that mean I was lower than 400 in the queue!
[Desire General] Desire_this!:
How do you cancel/alter order if they can't receive emails? It's expensive calling overseas not to mention I'm asleep when they're awake, arrrgh! :S

I tried to send an email earlier but it failed!
[Desire General] OnlinePredator:
Have to say I agree with you.

@JTM: Lol that's a bit drastic, wait like 10 days and chuck a hissy fit over it? It's annoying yes but it happens. Be patient lol. Yes it is freaking annoying, and a bit of an inconvenience, but not worth saying you will not be a htc fanboy simply because they delayed a few shipments lol.
[Desire General] indyjonesUK:
This is getting frustrating now :( especially as Car Phone Warehouse is selling them. Still waiting on clove it will cost me a lot more going elsewhere :(
[Desire General] Airwalker82:
Unfortunately, if T-Mobile managed to get booking slots in for their stock orders before any other network/supplier, then HTC need to fulfill those slots first - I work for a major electronics company and work closely with our logistics department and know how difficult it can be to supply all booking slots due to either supply issues, or stock shortages etc.

It wouldn't surprise me if for whatever reason, not enough stock has been produced, and perhaps the demand was a bit underestimated at first? It may take time to make new handsets - I know we need a 3-5 month lead-time when planning our products for production, and anything inside that window isn't guaranteed... Perhaps it's a similar scenario - a couple months ago demand was 'x', but in the last few weeks it's now 'x' + thousands more...
[Desire General] paulruk:
Must be really tough having to wait 2 weeks for a new toy. :rolleyes:
[Desire General] Airwalker82:
I ordered mine on Monday, so not too far off you, but I found I needed to chase mine through before I was told they'll process/finalise my order to try and get me a handset. It may be worth just ringing them to chase...
[Desire General] Zubair226:
shouldnt be the case as i cancelled my order last week some time on or around the 30th March and told them id be waiting for it to arrive on orange.

They still txted me this morning. so i doubt it has something to do with first come first serve just bad customer service...
[Desire General] bcmobile:
Whatever the reason, there's no excuse for leaving it until the release date to announce a further 7 day delay. Im going to go away and think about it for a minute before I rush out and cancel my order.

I could have had the Nexus One loooong ago but was willing to wait until the 29th March, even 7th April for the desire, having owned several HTC handsets in the past and loved them all. There is no guarantee that they will ship on 13th though so thats probably a deal-breaker for me.

Also, on principle, I don't like giving my hard-earned cash to companies who either can't get their act together, or deliberately misinform their customers. One of those has to be the case here.
[Desire General] gumbald:
My card's been charged, but when I log in - it still shows as "order being processed". Is there another stage? Spoke to someone yesterday, who couldn't give me anything definite, what did they say was going to happen with yours? No promises?
[Desire General] bloke:
Ive Just spoken to Devicewire, definitely delayed till next week... Boo Hoo......

Bloke
[Desire General] Airwalker82:
Well, I didn't do mine online, so I can't check unless I call anyway, but 'Order being processed' doesn't sound too far off.

Basically, what they said to me was something along the lines that they were trying to process all of the orders as quickly as they could now that they had stock - By calling them I think I somewhat jumped the queue?

The guy said that they are unable to allocate the phone to the orders until they finalise the order - Which to me sounds like they need physical stock numbers on their system before it lets them ship anything. This may also be why it says it's being processed, and calling them up may not do any harm (plus, it's an 0800 number).

At the time of calling there were about 40 units left, but they'd been getting calls all morning, so even though the system said 40, the truth in terms of physical stock may have been different, which is why he couldn't finalise my order there and then. They were due to get more in this afternoon though.
[Desire General] Zackarydoo:
What they mean is that you can't reply to that email they sent you. Instead, use the 'contact' link on their main page, then fill out the form.
[Desire General] glumardok:
Once again: It appears that (apart from that one single comment from our Swiss friend rahulforlove) only the UK stock is affected. On their German site Expansys have just switched the order status from "Available in approximately in two days" to "more than 100 on stock".

UPDATE: Right now only 16 left on stock! HURRY!!! ;)

FUNNY: Right now only 10 left on stock - they are sold by the minute! :)
[Desire General] gumbald:
Right, thanks. I'll give them a buzz at dinner. The annoying part is different people seeming to give different stories and thus creating a general feeling of not knowing what's going on.
[Desire General] irkan:
I am pretty sure of one thing in this mess, ... which is the retailers (Clove, Handtec, Devicewire, ... etc) are eager to get the shipment and distribute them as soon as possible.

I truly believe that they dont know anything about what the delay is all about and HTC is keeping quite on it because most probably they are applying a nasty, profitable strategy by delaying the unlocked versions with no reason what so ever.

if there is someone to blame here, its HTC!
[Desire General] bcmobile:
Totally agree with you mate. My frustration is directed at HTC, not Clove. Clove have been more than helpful with the ordering process, updates etc and it would be a shame for them to lose the business.
[Desire General] dizzyw:
At least Clove have been keeping people informed, Devicewire have done nothing but change the stock arriving date on the website (for the first delay) it still states stock arriving 7th April at the moment, have emailed for a status update and will post upon reciept, frustrating tho ! :(:mad::(
[Desire General] gumbald:
T-Mobile just said that if you ring rather than web order, you're more likely to get one quicker. Strange idea of a queue...
[Desire General] JTHM:
[Breathe in, 1, 2, 3 ...9, 10, and Breathe out, sigh] I know - especially as there's nothing else out there that deserves my fanboy status! ;)

It does suck big time, and it also seriously smacks of unprofessionalism to announce a delay in the supply of a product only the day before it's supposed to go on general release. HTC and their distributors would have known the situation days ago and should have kept their customers fully apprised of it.

Now it is apparent that it is not a technical issue and HTC have shown their hand (that they will bump their own "Ultimate Partners" soon as look at them in preference to the whims of network carriers) then there is a real risk that HTC will pull the same stunt next week, and so on until the demand at the carriers starts to wane. If they cannot meet current demand then fair enough and they should commit to a date when stock will definitely be available, but saying little more than 'we may or may not let you have stock sometime next week if no-one else that we'd prefer to sell it to wants it' is not the way to do business.

I will not cancel my pre-order, but I will definitely not be lauding HTC for the manner in which they are handling the release of the Desire.

[Breathe in, 1, 2, 3 ...9, 10, and Breathe out] :)
[Desire General] salahag:
HTC "quietly period"

They should realize that building trust for a long term customer relationship is waay more important than making some partnership with carriers.

At the moment their phones are more successful than most out there, so we basically don't have a choice, but that can change in a minute. If this attitude of staying silent and not being upfront with us (phone updates and now shipment dates) with the fishy smell to it, it will be a minus in the future as we will always remember these experiences.
[Desire General] neur0x:
I've just canceled my clove pre-order, because on expansys.pt they're in stock. I called in and they said at the moment they had 327 HT Desire in stock despite the site says 10 in stock.
[Desire General] salahag:
I don't think it's a good idea to start rerouting our orders, as this might just cause more delays for most of them.

I wonder how this will affect HTC partnership relations with some retailers/ e-tailers now that people are cancelling. Really strange from HTC if it's true.
[Desire General] bcmobile:
@quicksite: Well put. I totally agree. Hopefully the tech press will get some answers. I found a contact who does PR for HTC UK. He was quite helpful with some questions which their customer service people couldn't answer.

Email is as follows:

Also, just noticed devicewire tweeted:
[Desire General] dizzyw:
devicewire have just updated the website to "Stock arriving 13th April", I for one am not a happy bunny at this moment in time, there is a contact us by email link on HTC Uk website if anyone feels like asking some awkward questions. :mad::mad::mad:
[Desire General] dizzyw:
Reply from devicewire, this seems to hint at a technical issue with the phone?

"Hi,

Thank you for contacting devicewire.com

Unfortunately HTC have delayed the delivery of the SIM Free HTC Desire to ensure customers receive the best possible experience from the device.

As an Authorised HTC Ultimate Partner, we work hard to ensure the dates provided on our website are correct and up to date. Unfortunately this delay has been outside of our control.

We are now expected to receive the first SIM Free stock mid-next week. The actual date and quantity have yet to be provided, but as soon as we have any update we will keep you informed"
[Desire General] villiankknd:
engadget and gizmodo is all over ipad....only a mere mention of the desire in a few weeks...

they report of rumours of ipad delays, and no reports of htc desire real delays....

they too are giving desire the cold shoulder.....

sigh......we are left in the cold.........
[Desire General] Danners:
http://twitter.com/devicewire/status/11750698812

:(
[Desire General] carrige:
@villiankknd

I frankly didn't expect any better from Gizmodo, especially seeing as how they focus ONLY on Apple-related posts at times like these. Kat Hannaford's reviews on the Desire and Legend were quite refreshing though :)
[Desire General] Noiz:
So are the ones Carphone Warehouse are selling actual SIM free units? Very tempted to go up there at lunchtime and see if they have any stock. It's only £15 more than I'm paying through Devicewire...
[Desire General] daverave999:
I'm thinking the same...
[Desire General] EddyOS:
Mine was SIM free, but on an upgrade on VF, on the stock Euro/WWE ROM 1.15.405.3 (went up to .4 with the OTA update) from CPW on Friday 2nd

Best phone I've ever owned, bar none
[Desire General] quicksite:
That's a really smart email you sent, devoid of anything inflammatory (vs me: my blood starts boiling, it's the Irish in me!)

I recommend others join in a kind of crowd-sourced twitter campaign posted to all the tech forums and sites that cover mobile industry particularly smartphones:

Here are some of my latest twitter entries -- if we hammer this kind of headline, someone is going to take notice (maybe):

Here are some of the twitter feeds you could subscribe to and then REPLY to with these messages or ones like it:

http://twitter.com/boygeniusreport

http://twitter.com/MobileTechWorld

http://twitter.com/allaboutphones

http://twitter.com/guardiantech

http://twitter.com/coolsmartphone

http://twitter.com/IntoMobile
[Desire General] gogol:
I don't believe this ... anyone got official say from HTC ?

Anyone tried the HTC Support Facebook?

The unlocked version of HTC Desire is all over the Netherlands and Belgium at this moment.

All shops are busy sending orders and orders ...
[Desire General] s4vva:
and for those considering carphone warehouse just be aware that they are the brown units and not the graphite ones that will (maybe one day) be supplied by handtec & clove.

May not make a difference to you but worth knowing.
[Desire General] EddyOS:
Quite like the brown personally, didn't even know there were going to be different versions but I don't care - I'm loving it as it is!!

Although I'd say it's copper, not brown
[Desire General] daverave999:
I thought the 'graphite' is the brown?
[Desire General] Barff1984:
Ordered mine from clove on the 28th, sim free :S

I'm off to Japan a week on Sunday and really want/need this phone for my holiday.

If there's no word by the weekend, then i'll be cancelling the order and going direct to a highstreet

any suggestions on the best place to get it from?
[Desire General] Bunnnyman:
That's what I thought too. Wtf is graphite then?
[Desire General] timmyp27:
CPW now want £449.99 sim free..... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
[Desire General] s4vva:
brown as EddyOS said is the copper colour unit and graphite looks like a mix of black / grey. there are youtube vids out there of the graphite unit. There was a thread on here where I posted the links. Not a big difference but it matters to some people (me).
[Desire General] s4vva:
Just choose Orange PAYG.
[Desire General] JTHM:
I did send a Tip to Engadget. Maybe they'll momentarily take a break from their iPAD focus to report on someone other than Apple.
[Desire General] timmyp27:
Thanks, may do that and cancel the devicewire order.
[Desire General] villiankknd:
DONE, engadget, gizmodo and BGR, hope they will realise that this is a big problem and proceed to report about it
[Desire General] dizzyw:
Just been to CPW in Northampton UK, now they will only sell you a PAYG on Orange if you already have an Orange PAYG sim! WTF is wrong with these people !!! :mad::mad::mad:
[Desire General] inkredi:
they can't be just supplying Tmo, Orange and carphone store with defected devices ...while they are fixing the SiM-Free ones for out retailers !!! weird
[Desire General] redrazr7791:
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/04/06/htc-q1-profits-up-19-year-over-year/

http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/HTC...-increase-in-Q1-revenues-article-a_10638.html

And yet this was posted a couple of day ago :rolleyes:

I will say this, I appreciate Handtec's help in this situation. I would rather have a company come clean and inform their customers about a sh*tty situation like this...then just leave them and their $500+ order in the dark.

Hopefully the major cellphone websites like engadgetmobile, androidcentral, BGR, phonearena, etc will catch wind of this and at least TRY to find out what has caused HTC to keep pushing back the release date.
[Desire General] rahulforlove:
Just spoke to the Swiss vendor Digitec, and learnt that the phone is still not in stock. "First batch" expected tomorrow i.e 8th Apr.

How's it looking in Germany?
[Desire General] globiboulga:
[/QUOTE] I will say this, I appreciate Handtec's help in this situation. I would rather have a company come clean and inform their customers about a sh*tty situation like this...then just leave them and their $500+ order in the dark.

Hopefully the major cellphone websites like engadgetmobile, androidcentral, BGR, phonearena, etc will catch wind of this and at least TRY to find out what has caused HTC to keep pushing back the release date.[/QUOTE]

You think Engadget is going to report on delays for Desire shipments? Come on, that would like viral marketing for HTC... They would not do that. Rather do 5 posts about the long lines of people waiting for their ipads!!!
[Desire General] redrazr7791:
Whether you are being sarcastic or not, that is why I said "hopefully"

However, with Apple holding their "4.0 event" tomorrow...I won't hold my breath:(
[Desire General] Noiz:
Well, I've just been to the Oxford stores. The smaller has none at all and while the larger has two, the rep claimed that the system wouldn't let him sell them on PAYG. I called the Banbury store and they have one left but are claiming the same thing. Contract only.

I'm so pissed off at HTC right now. This is pure bull****.

I should've just got one from CPW on payday last week. I'd have had the thing to play with right over the long weekend, which the Oxford CPW rep delighted in telling me. I know it's 'just a phone' but I've been looking forward to it since I pre-ordered at the start of March! Gutted.
[Desire General] dizzyw:
Are the ones from CPW on Orange PAYG branded or locked at all ? anyone ?
[Desire General] LuftWalk:
The slovene version of Expansys has them on stock as well:

www(dot)expansys(dot).si/d.aspx?i=196165

Two hours ago it was 100+ in stock. Now it's down to 28. I'm holding out though, since the price is a bit steep.
[Desire General] jah:
I am sure HTC only tried to cover the UK when the HD2 was launched because of expected high demand. Not sure why with the Desire HTC have tried to cover so many European countries. I think what are seeing is that HTC are not set-up for such high demand of one device. HTC are not unique in poor supply chain management, I have seen the same in the past with SE and Nokia.