Nexus 4 oversold, Google places many on back order

http://www.droid-life.com/2012/11/15/google-appears-to-have-oversold-the-nexus-4-surprises-customers-with-status-change-backorder-emails/

by datalus • 14 years ago

53 63 14 years ago

droid-life.com

fatjokes2• 14 years ago

I was uber pissed off when I got that email today. I've been eagerly waiting since day one and was expecting it tomorrow or Monday.

drivebyacct2• 14 years ago

It seems like Play credit would be an easy way to make this a less sour PR blip. (Not to say it's the same, I just found out my Nexus 10 order is stucked pending, needless to say I'd prefer it over Play credit right now).

timdorr• 14 years ago

If you look at the email sent, they're crediting the shipping charges, which were $13.99. I think that's a pretty good gesture on their part.

That being said, mine shipped out today and should get here Monday. I don't know why they didn't give the option for overnight shipping or ground service. Or they should have planned better than having 2 day shipping with a weekend included, so it's really 4-day shipping.

darrenkopp• 14 years ago

No kidding. At least they are shipping from Kentucky otherwise I'd be even more upset seeing as how where I live I always get 2 day shipping from California when it's shipped via ground anyway.

While technically it's still "2-day shipping" since it's always been 2 business days, I wish they would have added Saturday delivery for the ones that were shipped on Thursday.

Oh well, better to have it shipped than to be one of the unfortunate that got the back-order email.

bryanlarsen3• 14 years ago

They're giving us free shipping, but the optics probably would have been better if they had given us free stuff rather than free shipping, since free shipping is so commonplace.

laxk• 14 years ago

I got the same email 10 minutes ago.

Will Google return money for 2 day shipping? :)

mikeevans• 14 years ago

Yep, the email says "[they] will credit the shipping charges."

sixothree2• 14 years ago

I placed two orders, 8 & 16. Got 1 email. So maybe the one for me will show up. Probably not though....

bryanlarsen3• 14 years ago

<i>We’ll send you a notification when your order has shipped and will credit the shipping charges.</i>

Does that mean that we're getting free shipping for our backordered phones?

skeletonjelly2• 14 years ago

Yes that's exactly what it says.

YZF2• 14 years ago

That means it won't be available again for ordering until all those orders are shipped (> 3wks).

I guess they still have enough to sell for $500 through T-mobile... And enough to supply the scalpers on eBay. I'm still upset from the errors during the order window but maybe it's all for the best.

Google is still not making any visible effort to communicate what's happening to the customers. Very disappointing. Do no evil?

ok_craig• 14 years ago

How is the email not a visible effort to communicate what's happening to the customers?

YZF2• 14 years ago

I signed up to be notified. I tried to buy many times and failed. I lost time and sleep because Google decided to play all these tricks on us. I never got an e-mail or any sort of communication. I guess it depends on your definition of customer but in the physical world when someone goes in a store to purchase something and talks with the staff I would consider them to meet the definition of a customer.

EDIT: Let's say you drive to a store knowing a product is going on sale. You go to a shelf, they have pieces of paper saying take this paper and claim the product at the register. You take the paper. You queue up, you get to the register and they tell you tough luck, we have no inventory. Wouldn't you be annoyed? Then you leave the store to find stalls of people selling the product for double the price.

This sort of stuff can happen but it would be nice if Google said something about it. The only thing they told the community is "sold out" and "check again soon". I was hoping to use this phone while traveling next month but I'll have to make some other arrangements for a reasonable unlocked phone.

jvanenk• 14 years ago

It's a full two days after the original order went through. Couldn't they know this information earlier?

conradfr• 14 years ago

Three weeks before new inventory, that's the real info.

thezoid• 14 years ago

I got the email. It's a disappointment, but such is life. I'm in no rush and now I'll get to enjoy the installation of CM 10 I installed last night a litte bit longer.

overshard• 14 years ago

Got my order in a solid 4 hours after the actual release so I'm not that surprised.

You'd think a company like Google would have a better system for 1. Preordering and 2. Giving a better estimate for when you'll actually receive your product.

alanctgardner2• 14 years ago

The funny thing is, I ordered 5 minutes after it opened. Then they closed it. Then they reopened it. I guess Canadians are getting the short end of the stick on this launch.

edit: I mean, they said 'Sold Out', then after a few hours apparently they allowed more people to buy. I wonder if anyone is getting a phone within the original time span, or if they're buying time at this point.

MikeLindner2• 14 years ago

I think a key mistake is assuming that when the web site said sold out that they actually were. You could refresh 10 times and it would flip-flop between available and not.

While I didn't buy a Nexus 4 I did buy a Nexus 10 and it was plagued with the same ordering issues. I spent over 40 minutes refreshing the page to try to get my order in. Much of the time it just reverted to the "Coming Soon"; even when I got it added to the cart it kept failing over and over when trying to confirm the transaction. Yet my tablet was shipped today.

I think it's telling that now wallet.google.com is talking about "building a smarter wallet." I think they've realized they really screwed up. It would be nice though for them to just come out and say it and apologize for the really horrible buying experience. Especially for those Nexus 4 buyers that now have to wait after already being charged.

Something that ought to stop is folks blaming the buyers without realizing that having to refresh the page 20-50 times was the only way to get an order through for many if not most people.

wmf• 14 years ago

You'd think a company like Google would have a better system...

I would think the opposite, since Google is not used to selling physical products and they've managed to botch every previous Nexus launch in some way.

rhizome2• 14 years ago

Except that they have spent over a decade culling the world for the smartest and most accomplished employees.

blocke• 14 years ago

I managed to get my order in about a minute or two after they became available on the website but have yet to get a shipping notification.

My drug of choice might not be here on Saturday. :(

yumraj• 14 years ago

Google should start using Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, Shopify etc. for managing their store and inventory.

mikelward• 14 years ago

This was a clusterfuck, but I'm still sore at Yahoo, when the same thing happened to me trying to buy world cup tickets. So I dunno if others are any better?

jnky2• 14 years ago

What irks me the most about this whole ordeal is the utter lack of communication from a company that prides itself on being open and transparent.

There was no release time, no numbers on the amount of phones after they sold out way too soon, no excuse for the Play Store and Wallet glitches, and now, finally, no statement on how they somehow managed to miscount their inventory. I cannot even fathom how something like this can happen to a company like Google to begin with.

I'm really disappointed in Google, to say the least.

stcredzero2• 14 years ago

> What irks me the most about this whole ordeal is the utter lack of communication from a company that prides itself on being open and transparent.

The amount of suckage with Google's automation-first customer service pattern and the corporate ossification of the various carriers still leaves an opening for Apple to exploit. The question is, will Apple remain supple enough to exploit this, and will the other companies wise up?

(I'm on a 2nd hand Verizon phone bought off ebay, with StraightTalk no-contract 4G for $45 a month.)

ImprovedSilence• 14 years ago

I've never heard of StraightTalk before, but after checking them out they seem like that might be a path I want to go down. I'm been shopping around for pay as you go/ unlocked plans for a bit now, I'm kinda fed up with verizons offerings. How do you like the plan/ do you get service everywhere/are there roaming charges?

thematt2• 14 years ago

I agree with most of that, except the lack of a release date. The November 13th date was posted and well known in advance.

jnky2• 14 years ago

Yeah, I meant the time. Sorry I wasn't clear about that.

mladenkovacevic• 14 years ago

Still no e-mail for me. But I guess I should be expecting one soon since my order still says "Pending" in my Wallet account :(

I also ordered a 32GB Nexus 10.. I wonder if this will impact the delivery of that item as well :S

bjustin• 14 years ago

Off-topic, but I think the Nexus 4 is a good opportunity for Mozilla. It will be sold mostly unlocked, I imagine, and mostly to geeks, so it could be a great platform for Boot2Gecko. Nice looking, fast hardware for a relatively low price will make for a good development platform.

beering2• 14 years ago

And I accidentally ordered multiple Nexus 4 because it wasn't clear if the system took my order or not. I wonder if their ordering system was hosted on App Engine.

paulgb• 14 years ago

I'm sure "multiple Nexus 4s" is a problem a lot of us would like to have :)

beering2• 14 years ago

It's very possible that they'll get bumped by a few weeks like these other people here. Still, two lottery tickets is better than one, right?

andyjsong• 14 years ago

If Google sold 1 million vs 30 million would really matter to you as a consumer? The sales numbers only matter to stockholders, competitors and analysts. Why is there such a demand to know how much N4s were sold during launch to the consumer? Aren't we just perpetuating the "sheep mentality" Android users accuse Apple users of by demanding that we know the sales numbers during launch to assure that we don't have buyers remorse?

fatjokes2• 14 years ago

Of course not. Hacker News isn't just a random consumer electronics board, or Android / iPhone fan page. Many people here are interested in the business of consumer electronics.

rm999• 14 years ago

Yes, it matters a lot to me as a consumer. One of the reasons I stick with ios is its popularity. Popularity leads to better/more apps, better first party support (more retail Apple stores), better third party support (forums), better third party features (jailbreaking), more accessories, etc.

Steko2• 14 years ago

"as a consumer"

It doesn't really matter as a consumer. However, many people are interested in the industry as a whole and there's a lot of armchair analysis put forth that the Nexus 4's sold out status puts it in the same league as the iphone and galaxy s lines, the only phones anyone ever seems to hear hard figures on.

ldng• 14 years ago

It matters to me. I want to know if I've been "PR stunted". We "oversold" 300.000 nexus 4 just to create demand in time for Christmas is different from we really didn't see that coming in spite of registrations and sold the first batch of 3M phones.

Also, it's different the waiting in line at an Appletore. I wanted to buy a N10 but didn't expected to have it in hand the very same day. You're kind of comparing if I may say, apple and oranges.

That said, if it's a stunt, it half failed because newspaper talks about the N4 but not about the N10.

vidarh• 14 years ago

Yes, it matters. The psychological reward of validation of your choices through group behaviours is very real, and very strong. Call it the "sheep mentality" as much as you like, but it is just as much the "human mentality" - popularity is a key indicator for us for the quality of a product, but even more so it also shapes how happy we are with the product after purchase.

sixothree2• 14 years ago

It does matter in real ways too. The Palm Pre may have been an awesome device, but tell that to the people using it with no community for support and development.

SwellJoe• 14 years ago

I use Android phones, want a Nexus 4, and I also hold a significant portion of my investment funds in GOOG. I care how many are sold.

JOnAgain• 14 years ago

Seems like they launched with 1000 units or less. 3 stores in LA got 5 units. So 15 units for the 2nd largest city in LA? They probably got shipments late, or manufacturing went behind schedule, but they had a published launch date so launched even though they weren't ready.

mkuhn• 14 years ago

Do you have some sources?

skeletonjelly2• 14 years ago

Can't you read? He said he "seems".

flalaw2• 14 years ago

I am traveling so I had the phone shipped to where I am now. Got the email about the 3 week delay. Just called them and they said that they can't change the shipping address due to the "privacy policy." The rep couldn't explain what that meant, but said I would receive a follow up email. Pathetic customer service.

flalaw2• 14 years ago

Here is the follow up email.

"Unfortunately, we don't have the ability to change a shipping address once an order has been placed due to security reasons. If the current shipping address for your order is accessible to you, we recommend leaving it as is and receiving your package there.

If that won't work for you, we can instead intercept this order immediately with your consent. You are welcome to update your shipping address in your Google Wallet account and place a new order.

If you'd like for us to intercept your order, please reply with a message containing "I Consent"."

Now I get to call back and ask what "intercept" means. Great.

DannyBee• 14 years ago

It means they can tell UPS/whoever to not deliver the package or to return to sender. http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/service/delivery/...

Note that they probably cannot use the intercept to deliver to a new address if they are requesting signature authorization/etc

Steko2• 14 years ago

In the absence of actual numbers we can look at Google Trends. iPhone 5 is about double Galaxy S3 and Nexus 4 had been about half of Galaxy S3 for a week before almost reaching it on Tuesday. It may have peaked though (Wed shows it falling but that could be an artifact of the weekend/holiday or whatever); another week should give us a better idea. My guess is it will get swallowed by the Droid DNA hype train which Verizon will be pushing like crazy.

lucian1900• 14 years ago

You know that I'd like? To be able to pre-order one now. I don't want to have to keep track of news for when I can buy one (I got the notification email hours after it was sold out in the UK). I want to give them my money and have one within a month.

Nexus 4 oversold, Google places many on back order

Related Stories