I popped by the Vodafone UK store yesterday at 7am to pick up a new
iPhone, I was 12th in the queue and they only had 11 32GB iPhones. I
didn't find this out until they had set up and done a credit check on
my account.

This is when my issues with Vodafone started. The helpful chap in the
store said he would ring round a couple of local stores when they
opened to see if he could find one. He dutifully rang me back at 9.30
and told me there weren't any available. So I said OK, thanked him and
said I would place an order online.

I then placed an order online at about 9.30 and had a confirmation at
9.50am on the 24th June.

At 15.14 I then received an email asking to call vodafone. It turns
out this is because they were confused that the store had opened an
account and I had placed an order online. I explained what had
happened and was told that it would all go through now.

I placed a couple of calls with Vodafone in the evening, couldn't get
through to online orders and nobody in customer service could offer
any help/advice.

Fast forward to 25th and it turns out that Vodafone haven't reserved
me a handset even though I placed the order before they ran out of
stock, my order hasn't progressed any further forward than when I
placed it 24 hours earlier and they don't really know what has been
going on.

I'm still on hold to Vodafone and will update as I know more ...