Ever heard of stock transfer?

I finally took the plunge and decided to replace my trusty Nokia with a Blackberry. I’d hoped to hang on for a bit longer, the the clamshell feature has ceased to work and the phone pops open constantly. Now I thought about the iPhone, but in general battery power and roaming costs etc were high. in addition I could simply upgrade by Vodaphone account for no additional cost on line and that swung it. I made the order on line Sunday and as I will not be home until Friday asked Vodaphone by email if I could pick it up at one of the their London stores Tuesday. You would think this would be easy, but oh no. Here is the response: The stock of phones each store have is separate from the stock that we have for orders placed over the phone or online. We can only deliver your phone direct to you at home or work. If you miss the delivery of your phone please call DPD on the number supplied on the calling card to get delivery rearranged for a more convenient day. Call that customer service? When I was a accountant (yes I was for several years) we could do things like stock transfer journals in a few seconds. The process was not hard. Not only that they can not give me a delivery date or time so I can make sure someone is into received it. It may well take three weeks of phoning DPD on my occasional visits to the UK. Why is it easier to be a new customer, than an existing customer changing plans?