Virgin Mobile IPhone X order

scorchedbee · 14 Nov 2017 at 14:52

So came around to upgrade time, me and the wife upping from a iPhone 7 Plus each to both going for the iPhone X 256gb.

Delivery date for our iPhone X’s was 11/11. I called on the 10th, while actually in the Apple store playing on one, to confirm it’ll be tommorow (11th). Yes I was told l, so I went ahead and bought a nice apple leather case for me and my wife.

Well 11th comes and no info from Yodel so I call VM who say it’s out for delivery and Yodel will contact me.... this is at 10:58.

15:00 - email from Virgin stating that due to the demand they can’t fulfil my order but I should have a update soon

I call VM again on Sunday 12th who now say it is now with Yodel and the delivery will be the 13th. I ask him to please double check, I get nice music for 3 minutes. “Yes sir it’s out for delivery and will be with you tommorow”. I call Work and arrange cover so I can be in for this delivery

Now you all know what happens here.... no info from Yodel and no delivery. Yet again call VM who state that no, no delivery date is on and even if they reprocess the order (why on earth I would want to start again l) that it would be December 2nd now. I ask to cancel both of the 256gb iPhone x’s but they assure me i will have an update in 24/48 hours and credit the account with £50.

Well, today I rang and was given a new number to call = 08001831150

Rang them and explained. The lady said ok I’ll look. And immediately hung up

I rang back and got through and explained all over again who checked with the back office team, who confirmed everything is processed and completed.

The back office team have said the next shipment will be 1st full week off December which will be 4th-8th of December. So god know when we will get our iPhone Xs

Really not happy. Seems they have taken too many orders, I don’t understand why they didn’t know how many they was getting. Other carriers are getting there’s orders out and a colleague of mine on EE ordered on the 5th November and it came on the 13th.

Sorry for the rant and copy pasted text from the VM forums but I feel you guys need to see the customer service VM provide

Mobius 1 · 14 Nov 2017 at 15:00

I’d probably switch carrier if I had received less than stellar service. Especially for the amount of money you’re spending with them. Regardless of how good of a deal you’re getting with the tariff. :/ sounds like they’re making you do a lot of work, to hand over money to them.

Hades · 14 Nov 2017 at 15:28

It wouldn't surprise me if Apple are restricting supply to create the impression that demand for a £1k phone is high. It's a common marketing practice.

silverblack · 14 Nov 2017 at 15:57

It's the same scenario every year with new iphones,you would think after 10 years of selling them they would have enough info to gauge demand.But no they leak them out in dribs and drabs to make them hard to get and appear more desirable.

mrochester · 14 Nov 2017 at 19:28

Hades said:
It wouldn't surprise me if Apple are restricting supply to create the impression that demand for a £1k phone is high. It's a common marketing practice.

This meme has never made sense to me. What good is it to Apple to deliberately NOT sell phones?

Broken Hope · 14 Nov 2017 at 19:47

mrochester said:
This meme has never made sense to me. What good is it to Apple to deliberately NOT sell phones?

Yeah, they make almost 40% margin, why would they purposely not make money?

Is it so hard to believe that a company can't produce 20-30 million phones in the space of a month or two?

The X isn't helped by the fact only Samsung can produce the screen and they had problems with the Truedepth camera system parts.

Hades · 14 Nov 2017 at 20:03

mrochester said:
This meme has never made sense to me. What good is it to Apple to deliberately NOT sell phones?

It's a long term game. Make more available and either the cost falls or supply goes unsold. Both scenarios are bad long term and the brand image falls.

Restrict the supply and it increases desirability. Maybe they make less money this time around but it keeps the brand desirable long term.

Sui · 14 Nov 2017 at 20:03

Wouldn't surprise me if Virgin were getting more orders than the other carriers, simply because of the whole 3 year term, rather than 2 years.

mrochester · 14 Nov 2017 at 20:12

Hades said:
It's a long term game. Make more available and either the cost falls or supply goes unsold. Both scenarios are bad long term and the brand image falls.

Restrict the supply and it increases desirability. Maybe they make less money this time around but it keeps the brand desirable long term.

That still doesn’t make sense because Apple’s best quarter is the one after they release new iPhones.

Apple doesn’t need silly games to make their brand desirable, it already is through making great products.

scorchedbee · 14 Nov 2017 at 20:21

I think VM have underestimated the pre orders due to them offering 3yr finance on the phone bundled with a 2yr sim deal. (I didn't take this but I imagine this has increased how many people moved over to VM)

Hades · 14 Nov 2017 at 21:37

mrochester said:
That still doesn’t make sense because Apple’s best quarter is the one after they release new iPhones.

Apple doesn’t need silly games to make their brand desirable, it already is through making great products.

It's a well known business practice. For example diamond companies, such as De Beers, hold back vast stocks of diamonds to make sure that they are seen as rare. This drives up the price and makes sure there is huge demand because they are seen as aspirational. Why would they do this if it was a better strategy to just sell every diamond they have in stock? After-all, diamonds are great products so why bother playing silly games? Why not just flood the market and make more profit instead?

(diamonds are actually some of the most common gems)

Are Apple doing it? I have no idea. Maybe they are. Maybe they aren't. But they are rumoured to have done it before. How would you feel if you realised you're being inconvenienced by a company to help their long term marketing strategy?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...atch-supply-chain-strain-is-the-new-norm.html

scorchedbee said:
I think VM have underestimated the pre orders due to them offering 3yr finance on the phone bundled with a 2yr sim deal. (I didn't take this but I imagine this has increased how many people moved over to VM)

Wow, people are really taking out a three year loan just to afford a phone? Incredible. I've nothing against Apple at all. If you can afford it and you want it then buy it. But to get into debt for three years to buy it instead of something cheaper and almost as good is just plain nuts.

mrochester · 14 Nov 2017 at 21:43

Hades said:
It's a well known business practice. For example diamond companies, such as De Beers, hold back vast stocks of diamonds to make sure that they are seen as rare. This drives up the price and makes sure there is huge demand because they are seen as aspirational. Why would they do this if it was a better strategy to just sell every diamond they have in stock? After-all, diamonds are great products so why bother playing silly games? Why not just flood the market and make more profit instead?

(diamonds are actually some of the most common gems)

Are Apple doing it? I have no idea. Maybe they are. Maybe they aren't. But they are rumoured to have done it before. How would you feel if you realised you're being inconvenienced by a company to help their long term marketing strategy?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...atch-supply-chain-strain-is-the-new-norm.html

Wow, people are really taking out a three year loan just to afford a phone? Incredible. I've nothing against Apple at all. If you can afford it and you want it then buy it. But to get into debt for three years to buy it instead of something cheaper and almost as good is just plain nuts.

A person not buying an iPhone hurts Apple a lot more than it hurts the person. Apple controls the price of the iphone. More iPhones In the market doesn’t bring the price of the iPhone down, but it does add a huge amount of money to apple’s pockets. This is why this meme makes no sense.

Hades · 14 Nov 2017 at 21:51

mrochester said:
A person not buying an iPhone hurts Apple a lot more than it hurts the person. Apple controls the price of the iphone. More iPhones In the market doesn’t bring the price of the iPhone down, but it does add a huge amount of money to apple’s pockets. This is why this meme makes no sense.

It isn't a meme. It's a business practice. They are two vastly different things.They aren't even similar.

If Apple flood the market and everyone could get an iPhone X immediately then it wouldn't feel rare. It wouldn't feel special. It would lose that shiny, shiny appeal regardless of price. It would then just be an expensive phone. The next time that customer buys a phone they would be less inclined to buy an Apple product as it wouldn't feel as special.

But... a rare item that took a while to get, that your neighbour is still trying to get and is waiting longer for... now that feels special.

I know you won't agree with me and we're going round in circles. So I'll step out of the discussion now. But I hope Apple don't delay your product too long

Steampunk · 14 Nov 2017 at 21:57

Hades said:
It isn't a meme. It's a business practice. They are two vastly different things.They aren't even similar.

If Apple flood the market and everyone could get an iPhone X immediately then it wouldn't feel rare. It wouldn't feel special. It would lose that shiny, shiny appeal regardless of price. It would then just be an expensive phone. The next time that customer buys a phone they would be less inclined to buy an Apple product as it wouldn't feel as special.

But... a rare item that took a while to get, that your neighbour is still trying to get and is waiting longer for... now that feels special.

I know you won't agree with me and we're going round in circles. So I'll step out of the discussion now. But I hope Apple don't delay your product too long

Makes perfect sense when you realise that Apple is as much a lifestyle company as a technology company.

mrochester · 15 Nov 2017 at 06:35

Hades said:
It isn't a meme. It's a business practice. They are two vastly different things.They aren't even similar.

If Apple flood the market and everyone could get an iPhone X immediately then it wouldn't feel rare. It wouldn't feel special. It would lose that shiny, shiny appeal regardless of price. It would then just be an expensive phone. The next time that customer buys a phone they would be less inclined to buy an Apple product as it wouldn't feel as special.

But... a rare item that took a while to get, that your neighbour is still trying to get and is waiting longer for... now that feels special.

I know you won't agree with me and we're going round in circles. So I'll step out of the discussion now. But I hope Apple don't delay your product too long

Apple don’t want the iPhone to be rare or special. They want to sell as many as possible and have as many people as possible using iPhones.

scorchedbee · 15 Nov 2017 at 09:36

Well it appears the flow of stock is improving... for what ever reason. Guys on the VM forums are starting to get their phones

I called today and my delivery date has been moved from, what they now call the “placeholder” date of 1st week of December, to the 18th of November. Let’s not hold my breath just yet

grudas · 15 Nov 2017 at 09:52

mrochester said:
Apple don’t want the iPhone to be rare or special. They want to sell as many as possible and have as many people as possible using iPhones.

you're talking out of your back end. What hades says happens all the time and apple might just be doing that, the price of the phone is ridiculous so make it hard to get, create the impression that people want it so much and it's selling out will result in more people wanting it and buying it. Basic marketing.

scorchedbee · 17 Nov 2017 at 09:08

Update

So called again today and they confirmed it’s due tommorow and that Yodel will text me today with tracking details.... let’s hope they are not lieing this time!

Schizo · 17 Nov 2017 at 09:18

Hades said:
It wouldn't surprise me if Apple are restricting supply to create the impression that demand for a £1k phone is high. It's a common marketing practice.

This.