UPDATE: We have a response from Vodacom via Twitter – the G3 will only be launched in their stores on 7 August. Which contradicts the releases from LG. Following some snooping, we can confirm that My Broadband was told on the 17th of July, by Vodacom, that the phone would only release in their stores on 7 August. I suppose letting the actual retailers and customers know the correct information isn’t part of the communications plan then?

The official release is out and LG has confirmed that as of today (1st August) the LG G3 is available at Vodacom, MTN, Virgin Mobile and Cell C stores. So the LG G3 is now available in South Africa, or is it?

On Saturday the 12 of July I went into my nearest Vodacom Store (one at Meyersdal Mall) and ordered the phone, knowing it was set to launch on 1 August. This morning I rang said store and spoke to Ashley Sroneman, a sales consultant. I asked Ashley if my phone was available to collect and she told me the following:

“LG launches the phone from LG stores on the 1st. This does not mean Vodacom has it.”

I asked her if I could quote her verbatim (because it is very clear I was being fed a line of made up rubbish) and she agreed but then put me through to her manager, Nadia Duminy, who confirmed that even though the public has been told the phone was launched on the 1st of August it wouldn’t be available in Vodacom stores. She said the stores would only be able to place orders as of today and she could have a phone for me “sometime next week”. She refused to give me an exact delivery date.

I thought this justification seemed a bit strange so I phoned the Vodacom store at Alberton where a sales consultant confirmed that the store had placed an order last week for the phones but had, as of yet, not received delivery and had not been notified when to expect the phones, he told me it would likely be “sometime next week”. I contacted Vodacare in Alberton who repeated the Meyersdal Mall branch story and told me they could only order today and I could expect a phone “sometime next week”.

For good measure I then phoned Vodacom The Glen who said they were expecting delivery of stock “sometime next week”, but once again, said no firm dates had been set by Vodacom. In fact, the sales consultant at The Glen confirmed to me (but asked to stay anonymous) that Vodacom tends to be late to the party with most new models and they’re “never here when they tell everyone they will be.”

To confirm this wasn’t a general issue across all networks I then contacted MTN at The Glen who confirmed they had stock of the G3 and wanted to know if I’d like to come pick one up.

So despite pre-ordering the phone more than two weeks ago, if you’re a Vodacom client you might be lucky to get your hands on it “sometime next week”. For everyone else there is MTN & Virgin Mobile.

Time for a network change?