Amazing news from Three UK – the Icelandic volcano is being blamed for disrupting the network’s supply of HTC Desires!
In a post published on the Three Blog this afternoon, the operator explained how it’s had to stop allowing customers to upgrade to the Desire in the hope of holding back some stock for pay-as-you-go customers to buy direct from its stores when the Android phone officially launches on its network tomorrow.
And now the ash cloud is now stopping fresh stocks coming through from HTC’s Asian manufacturers, exacerbating the STOCK CRISIS. Expect this to impact on all other European operators too.
Here’s the full, momentous announcement in full, as it’s unlikely we’ll ever get to see a volcano blamed for the lack of a mobile phone again in our lifetimes:
I wanted to update you on the HTC Desire stock situation.
As you know, we’ve been pre-selling the Desire through three.co.uk for new customers, and through our Upgrades team for existing customers.
Stock has been tight, and we appreciate your patience. We’ve tried really hard to spread what we have equally amongst our sales channels, but the Desire is very much in-demand and it was always going to be tricky to get one in the hands of everyone that wanted one.
The stock allowance that we had to carry us through to next week has flown off the shelves. Many existing customers will know that our Upgrades team had limited stock very early on.
Our original plan was that further deliveries were due this week. But as a result of the ash cloud that has been causing problems all weekend, the deliveries that we were expecting from HTC’s manufacturers in Asia have not arrived. They are unlikely to until the chaos subsides.
The plan for tomorrow was to have our stores and warehouses fully stocked up, but that’s now not going to be possible. We do have some left from our original batch, and these will be shared amongst 50 of our stores*. Unfortunately we can’t allocate these in advance.
If you have pre-bought the Desire over the phone or online we’ll be able to fulfil our delivery commitment to you – if you’re unsure of your delivery date, please give us a call. But until further notice our Upgrades team and three.co.uk are very stock constrained.
We appreciate how desperate many of you are to get your hands on the Desire, but unfortunately we can’t control the stock deliveries coming into us.
And here’s the list of 50 UK stores that Three says WILL have some HTC Desire units for sale tomorrow:
*List of 50 3 Stores stocking HTC Desire from 20th April
Aberdeen, 105 Union Street
Bexleyheath, 41 Broadway Shopping Centre
Birmingham High Street
Bluewater
Bury St Edmonds, 23 Cornhill
Cambridge, 16 Grand Arcade
Cardiff, Capitol Shopping Centre
Chesterfield, Vicar Lane
Cramlington, Crastor Court
Croydon, 49 North End Road
Croydon, Whitgift Shopping Centre
Derby, Eagle Centre
Ealing Broadway Centre
East Ham, 117 High St North
Farnborough, 39 Princes Mead
Gateshead, 13 Cameron Walk
Glasgow, 42 Buchanan Street
Hammersmith, 13 Kings Mall
Harrow, 46 St Anne’s Road
Hemel Hempstead, 241 Marlows
Hounslow, Treaty Centre
Ilford, The Exchange Shopping Centre
Islington, 8/9 Upper Street
Kilburn, 99 High Street
Kingston, 57 Clarence Street
Lakeside Shopping Centre
Leeds, 1A Commercial Street
Lewisham, 131-133 Lewisham Hugh Street
Liverpool, 60 Church Street
Liverpool One, 43b South John Street
London Kensington, Kensington High Street
London, 257 Oxford Street
London, 61 Oxford Street
London, 423 Oxford Street
Luton, 89 Arndale Centre
Manchester Arndale, 27 Market Street
Manchester St Ann’s, 24 St Ann’s Sq
Manchester Trafford Centre
Merry Hill Shopping Centre
Middlesborough, 81 Linthorpe Road
Newcastle, 4 Douglas Way
Reading, 21/22 Broad Street
Sheffield, No.1 49/63 Fargate
Shrewsbury, 41/42 Pride Hill
Watford, 36 The Harlequin Centre
West Bromwich, Queen Square Shopping Centre
Westfield
Woking, Bandstand Mall
Wood Green, 36 High Road
York, 13 Coney Street
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