UPDATE: Mudah.my has come forward, removing all ad listings for the Huawei Mate 30 series on their website. On top of this, they are taking steps to improve the safety features on-board to improve the buying and selling experience. This will hopefully reduce the chances of consumers being scammed in the future.

The Huawei Mate 30 series has endured a torrid release. While Huawei unveiled the Mate 30 line in September at an event in Munich, it initially released the devices exclusively within China. Then, Huawei announced that it would sell both devices in Malaysia, which seemed like a big step forward for the company, but it’s not as straightforward as it seems.

Firstly, the Chinese company is only offering 4G variants of its handsets, there is no 5G option available. That’s not really much of a problem in Malaysia where 5G is barely present. You also cannot choose which SKU you would like either, with the registration form only giving the option of your preference between Black and Space Silver. The real problem comes in when you actually try to purchase the device.

The Huawei Mate 30 Referral Program

In a statement by Bill Liu, Country Director of Huawei Malaysia, customers can pre-order any Mate 30 series smartphone with a referral code from an owner of the Mate 30 Pro (from the Exclusive Ownership Program). According to Liu, this is part of Huawei’s plan for consumers to “connect with owners to understand the device”.

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This may seem fine and dandy, but this process comes with several caveats that complicate matters. For starters, to actually get a referral code you need to have owned at least two Huawei Mate devices before this. Doing this doesn’t just give you the ability to pre-order the device, but it also grants you your own referral code that you can share with others.

Now, these hurdles are in place largely because the Mate 30 series is Huawei’s first flagship device to come with Huawei Mobile Services (HMS)—the alternative to Google Mobile Services. That’s received its fair share of skepticism, so Huawei’s initial ownership program was targeted towards users who have owned two Huawei Mate devices in the past.

Thankfully, there’s incentive to go through the hassle. Customers who successfully pre-order the Mate 30 series under the referral program will be entitled to a Huawei SuperCharge Wireless Car Charger, Huawei PU Back Casing, and Huawei Care (1 year Extended warranty + 6 Month Screen Crack Protection). For those who successfully gain 5 pre-order referrals, they will get a free Huawei Watch GT.

There have been several Malaysian users who have managed to pre-order and even collect their own Huawei Mate 30s and Mate 30 Pros. According to them, the reception to the new referral program hasn’t been great, and the turnout is quite small. It seems like the Huawei Mate 30 Pro isn’t doing too hot in Malaysia, and it doesn’t help that Huawei Malaysia haven’t flaunted any sales numbers like they usually do.

This was to be expected though, the device is still a hard sell, even without all the complicated procedures in place. The lack of Google services is bad any user, though Huawei Malaysia is surprisingly hush on the matter. Many consumers are still oblivious as to whether Google apps are on the Mate 30 line or not. Huawei however have diverted focus over to different topics, choosing to heavily push the device’s camera capabilities instead.

Fake Huawei Mate 30 units abound

The limited availability has also led to another entirely different issue. Because Huawei is heavily marketing the Mate 30 Pro (billboard ads, fullpage newspaper ads) but actual units are hard to get, lots of fakes are going on sale in Malaysia via e-commerce sites like Lazada and Mudah.my.

These devices are priced way too low to be legitimate, but they manage to fool gullible consumers who don’t know any better. This problem is doubled due to Lazada and especially Mudah.my’s hands off approach to return policies, where sellers can set their own policies depending on how they see fit. I don’t need to explain how this can results in a cavalcade of potential problems.

Retail units are already available?

Thankfully it appears there’s a bit of a silver lining, though it does complicate the pre-order situation. It now appears that you might not need a special code to get the Mate 30 Pro at all. Malaysian smartphone retailer Mobile2Go currently has stocks available which you can buy right away. On top of that, they are throwing additional freebies for the flagship quad-camera device.

According to the retailer, the Huawei Mate 30 Pro on sale is the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant which retails for RM3,899. If you purchase it from them, they are giving away a case, a wireless charger, 10,000mAh power bank, a 10L backpack and a 3-in-1 premium gift box. The confusing part is that you need to contact them directly to secure a unit, but it’s otherwise completely legitimate.

While Mobile2Go were the first retailers to obtain legitimate local units of the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, other big retailers like DirectD and InfoTech have also begun to receive ready stock. Pricing remains the same, with the Mate 30 going for RM2799 and the Mate 30 Pro retailing for RM3899. These don’t come with as many goodies, but they’re safer options than the random online seller and much more convenient than Huawei’s referrals.

We really hope Huawei does away with the cumbersome referral system and will simply allow consumers to purchase the Mate 30 line. If they’re worried about the reception the device will receive because it’s lacking Google services, then they need to be more transparent about it. As it stands, it seems like they’re deliberately hiding it from consumers, and it’s not a good look.

UP NEXT: Commerce Department will soon allow US companies to restore relations with Huawei