Vodafone leaves iPhone X customers waiting until Xmas

Youths use their mobile phones near an advertisement for the iPhone X in Beijing, China, earlier today. Photo / AP

Some unhappy mobile phone customers will have to wait till nearly Christmas before they get to hold their latest model Apple iPhone.

While many tech junkies already have or continue to collect their dream phone, some of those who pre-paid at Vodafone stores are having to wait after launch stock was quickly snapped up.

One Auckland technology buff is miffed he has to wait for up to six weeks for his sleek new iPhone X after putting down a deposit on Wednesday.

Mark Smith says he was assured by floor staff at the time it would only be a matter of days before he could start enjoying the upgraded model.

Apple released the latest generation phone on Friday.

But Smith now says he was misled by sales staff after learning this week he would actually only get the phone next month.

Despite not intending to buy a phone he decided it would be a good idea because he had heard there would be a wait and this would be the way around it.

"I am very frustrated because when I was pre-ordering my phone I was told it would be Saturday or early this week and now, within the space of a few days, I am being told it will be up to six weeks.

"Now I am looking at a four-to-six-week wait which is pushing it out to Christmas."

He said all discussion at the time was about getting his phone within 24 hours of it coming onto the market and those on the list would receive a text to collect the phone.

Happy customer Ana Melchiors, of Brazil, shows her iPhone X as she walks out of an Apple store in Miami Beach, Florida, in the United States at the weekend. Photo / AP

Despite not getting a text he went into the shop and discovered he would need to wait far longer than he expected.

He was also told the stock that came into New Zealand was heading to online customers first.

To add to his distress rival Spark was able to offer phones to customers straight away.

Smith said Apple should have sent enough phones to cover the initial demand after all the hype.

"I'm so frustrated with [Vodafone] and am very tempted to cancel the order and go to the rival," he said.

He had left complaints on social media about the issue, including addressing the problem on the Vodafone Facebook page, where others have also voiced their frustrations.

Smith said shop customers were being penalised by the process.

But Vodafone told the Herald it had not misled customers around the new iPhone's availability.

"Vodafone would never deliberately mislead a customer around availability of their chosen iPhone," a spokeswoman said.

"Our online ordering system is designed to ensure customers have really clear expectations around stock numbers and delivery timeframes."

Vodafone operated a 'first-come first-served' system on pre-ordered phones, she said, and many customers who had pre-paid for their new iPhone X's had already received them.

However, she added: "In Mike's case it appears one of our retail staff members got the wrong end of the stick, and we are really sorry for that mistake.

"We can confidently say this is not the experience for the vast majority of our customers.

"If any of our customers have questions about their order, they can give us a call and we will happily look into it for them."

She also offered to speak directly to Smith to explain his situation and apologise directly.