Having been a customer of EE for many years, I'm used to the many varying dates - being told one thing or another. The truth is that between Apple sending EE stocks and EE selling them, their systems are simply unable to cope with giving accurate real-time stock availability at the time of placing the order. This happens all the time during new product launches - well, at least Apple product launches. I doubt it will change anytime soon unless EE heavily invest in better stock management systems. (Given the eye watering cost of upgrading to the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the £190 Ultra fee, I hope they spend those upfront costs wisely..)
However, to charge upfront costs as much as EE are doing and giving estimates for next day delivery whilst charging £10 for the privilege is definitely not on. It may be that the system says there is stock at the time it was last updated, but in reality, all stock had been depleted. The very least EE can do is refund the delivery charge as a consequence.
I've looked at the possibility of getting the Ultra via Amazon and elsewhere, but there is such a shortage that I can wait the 28 days it mentioned on the site at the time of order (though the operator told me that it should be with me in 7 days, though I somwhat doubt it). The quickest way of actually getting the phone online from what I could see was to order a medium sized Alpine Loop on Amazon and buying a larger strap from Apple. No, I can wait. Many worse problems in the world right now and I have my phone and AirPods Pro 2 to keep me going.
