Deutsche Telekom users just wanted to preorder a new iPhone 5. Instead they got phone sex. Nope, it’s not April Fools’ Day. It’s just a Friday. You can’t make this stuff up.
Since Deutsch Telekom is Apple’s partner for Germany, the company was able to offer customers a voucher which would guarantee they could buy Cupertino’s latest and greatest. Germans with the carrier called the number provided to them via a text message. What they didn’t know was that Deutsche Telekom had royally screwed up, no pun intended. The number was one digit too long and thus resulted in connecting callers with an adult dating hotline advertised as “hot dating fun.”
“We really regret what happened and have already apologised to our customers,” a Telekom spokesman said in a statement to Die Welt (via The Local). Once it realized its mistake, the German telecommunications company sent out a second text with an apology for the mistake and the correct preorder hotline number.
Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. No, I’m not talking about that; get your head out of the gutter! Since a call to any 0800 number is free, the customers were not charged for Deutsche Telekom’s faux pas.
If you’re lucky, preorders made today will ship on September 21, when the device will also go on sale in Apple Stores and other retail stores. Unfortunately, that date will likely be pushed back as Apple is having trouble dealing with demand. The craziness isn’t as high in Germany as it is in the US (where the iPhone 5 reportedly sold out in an hour), but Deutsche Telekom did say that customers had to call an average of three times just be connected with one of their employees.
Read also: Apple’s iPhone 5 now available to preorder in select launch countries
Image credit: stock.xchng
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