Scores of customers irritated by long wait at gala kick-off
The iPhone 3G was activated in Hong Kong yesterday - but a few customers went offline.
More than 1,500 people were given allotted times and asked to pick up the new devices at the gala kick-off event at Ocean Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui. But for the first couple of hours, scores of excited people were subjected to a long line and wait. Some people threatened to leave - and some did so.
Rajinder Singh, 31, an IT consultant who lives on Hong Kong Island, was one of those selected by Hutchison Telecom to get his phone yesterday, but his excitement soon turned to irritation. Told by a Hutchison Telecom representative to arrive between 12pm and 1pm, he showed up at 12.30 pm.
'There was such mismanagement. They were making people wait, and asking me to wait for three to four hours,' said Mr Singh, who eventually gave up. 'It's just a joke, and they didn't even have anybody there to solve the problems.'
A spokeswoman for Hutchison Telecom said the company was doing all it could to accommodate everyone in the line. The problem was caused because some of the chosen customers showed up before their allotted time slot and it also took longer than expected to register each customer, she said.