Telkom stock is seriously wonky

[Frikkie5000]

Can someone please explain to me how supply chain management works at Telkom?

Went to a Telkom store to get a new phone as my Xperia Z3's battery carked and I smashed it in the car door.

Beforehand I download the Telkom brochure and figured "Hey, Galaxy S8's are pretty cheap now, I'll get one of those and be happy for another 4 years".

Rock up at the store and they don't have stock of either the S8 or S8+. Ugh, no big deal.

Give me an Xperia XZ1 then.
Nope none of those either. Sigh...Whatever, get me that damn brick of a CAT S41.... Sorry sir.

By this time I'm truly desperate and resign myself to the fact that I'm gonna get an overpriced latest gen premium phone. Telkom lady, go fetch me a Galaxy S9, at least I'll be cool now. Nope. Don't have those either.

How is it possible that of all the Telkom stores in Pretoria, none of them can get their hands on half the phones advertised in the brochure that was published on 20 April, 2018? I spent over an hour on the phone checking availability of these phones and unless I want a Huawei or an iPhone, I'm **** out of luck.

Now Telkom lost out on locking me into a 24 month contract because they advertise stock they don't seem to actually have.

Grey import, here we come.

 

[Lupus]

Can someone please explain to me how supply chain management works at Telkom?

Went to a Telkom store to get a new phone as my Xperia Z3's battery carked and I smashed it in the car door.

Beforehand I download the Telkom brochure and figured "Hey, Galaxy S8's are pretty cheap now, I'll get one of those and be happy for another 4 years".

Rock up at the store and they don't have stock of either the S8 or S8+. Ugh, no big deal.

Give me an Xperia XZ1 then.
Nope none of those either. Sigh...Whatever, get me that damn brick of a CAT S41.... Sorry sir.

By this time I'm truly desperate and resign myself to the fact that I'm gonna get an overpriced latest gen premium phone. Telkom lady, go fetch me a Galaxy S9, at least I'll be cool now. Nope. Don't have those either.

How is it possible that of all the Telkom stores in Pretoria, none of them can get their hands on half the phones advertised in the brochure that was published on 20 April, 2018? I spent over an hour on the phone checking availability of these phones and unless I want a Huawei or an iPhone, I'm **** out of luck.

Now Telkom lost out on locking me into a 24 month contract because they advertise stock they don't seem to actually have.

Grey import, here we come.

I see this hasn't changed, it's one of the reasons I switched over to prepaid as when we went three years ago to get an LG G4, no one had stock, okay fine a P8 no, what about an S6 no, and so on and so forth.

 

[Fox1]

The stock problem is a real issue at Telkom. Consumer Watch on ECR mentioned customers being billed for 3 months for phones that they haven't received.

 

[McGuywer]

Isn't there a way to check the stock beforehand?