Official Avail. Nov 13th - Android 4.2 - LG Nexus 4 - Asus Nexus 7 - Samsung Nexus 10

[sjwaste]

I got a backorder email, but my shipping estimate still says 11/16. We'll find out if I get a tracking # tomorrow.

 

[Eug]

In celebration of the 1000th reply in this thread, I give you this glowing assessment of the Nexus 4 launch, from ZDNet:

Google Nexus 4: Play Store debacle gives buyers the Backorder Blues

I wasn't exactly generous yesterday in my descriptions of the Google Play Store as it melted down for users first in Europe and then in the US trying to buy a new Nexus 4. It was a mess of the first degree and I continue to wonder why Google, arguably the most powerful and successful Internet company in the world, can't seem to get e-commerce right.

You'd think they could figure out how to handle peak loads and ecommerce at least as well as Apple. Google locates their datacenters near hydroelectric dams for God's sake so that they can access enough power to keep the world searching, to process the 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, and to crunch enough data to automatically give me directions to my various destinations as I hop into my car for an appointment.

And yet Google couldn't switch from "Ships in 3-5 days" in the Play Store to "Sold Out" several hours after their stock had been depleted. Google didn't know the difference between "Coming soon" and "Sold Out" and actually let people continue buying phones long after they had all been gobbled up.

Google didn't have the sense to limit numbers of purchases to one or two per household and the situation was exacerbated because the miserable excuse for a storefront that they call the Play Store was such a disaster at peak load that people were buying two or three phones accidentally.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Still haven't heard about my Nexus 10 shipping, if they hold it til my Nexus 4 comes in, that's some shitty customer service.

 

[vshah]

In celebration of the 1000th reply in this thread, I give you this glowing assessment of the Nexus 4 launch, from ZDNet:

Google Nexus 4: Play Store debacle gives buyers the Backorder Blues

I wasn't exactly generous yesterday in my descriptions of the Google Play Store as it melted down for users first in Europe and then in the US trying to buy a new Nexus 4. It was a mess of the first degree and I continue to wonder why Google, arguably the most powerful and successful Internet company in the world, can't seem to get e-commerce right.

You'd think they could figure out how to handle peak loads and ecommerce at least as well as Apple. Google locates their datacenters near hydroelectric dams for God's sake so that they can access enough power to keep the world searching, to process the 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, and to crunch enough data to automatically give me directions to my various destinations as I hop into my car for an appointment.

And yet Google couldn't switch from "Ships in 3-5 days" in the Play Store to "Sold Out" several hours after their stock had been depleted. Google didn't know the difference between "Coming soon" and "Sold Out" and actually let people continue buying phones long after they had all been gobbled up.

Google didn't have the sense to limit numbers of purchases to one or two per household and the situation was exacerbated because the miserable excuse for a storefront that they call the Play Store was such a disaster at peak load that people were buying two or three phones accidentally.

good. i hope there's more media coverage and an actual response from google on what went wrong and how they will fix it. not holding my breath though...

 

[thisjustin]

No info on my order status at all... I have 2 outstanding nexus 4 orders since Google decided I can't cancel an order after 1 hour. One I placed at 10:45 est, the other at 10:51 (placed accidentally since I never got a confirmation until 45 minutes after the first).

I waited 8 minutes in the phone this evening got a rep, Hannah, on the phone and was told everything seems ok with my order and it should ship out tomorrow and arrive on Monday or Tuesday she guessed? But now I wouldn't be surprised to see a backorder email in the next day. In the event they do ship I Was told I should refuse one package if I don't want both... Sounds like an effective way for Google to ship out devices.

What a terrible handled launch.

 

[Capt Caveman]

FU Google. Bunch of asshats.

Got this email from my inquiry about the shipping status of my Nexus 10.

Hi,

Both devices will go out together. Sorry for the inconvenience.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

Thanks,
Ray

What I just replied back to them:

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the reply but you have to be kidding me? After the debacle that I had to go thru in placing my order, you're seriously going to stiff me again by making me wait? So, instead of getting the Nexus 10 and being able to rave about it, I'm force to complain like everyone else on how poorly Google has handle order fullfillment, communication and customer service.

You would think that to appease customers you would do the RIGHT thing and send out partial orders. I still can't believe you gave me estimated shipping date of 11/15 to only later send me a back order notice. How about showing some common sense and not give estimated shipping dates if you don't have the item in stock?

I seriously can't believe on the initial launch of Nexus 10, you want to piss off your customers and make them wait 3+ weeks to receive it when you have it in stock and if I placed a new order for one, I would get one next week. If I had known this is how poorly you handle orders, I would have placed two separate orders, so I could have received my Nexus 10 this Saturday or Monday.

You folks should be ashamed and embarrassed. You have provided an absolutely crappy customer experience. LOL. I can't believe you're not going to ship the items separately. I think it's time for you folks to replace whoever is in charge there with someone that knows how to take care of their customers b/c you folks do not.

A pissed off customer.

 

[Capt Caveman]

In celebration of the 1000th reply in this thread, I give you this glowing assessment of the Nexus 4 launch, from ZDNet:

Google Nexus 4: Play Store debacle gives buyers the Backorder Blues

I wasn't exactly generous yesterday in my descriptions of the Google Play Store as it melted down for users first in Europe and then in the US trying to buy a new Nexus 4. It was a mess of the first degree and I continue to wonder why Google, arguably the most powerful and successful Internet company in the world, can't seem to get e-commerce right.

You'd think they could figure out how to handle peak loads and ecommerce at least as well as Apple. Google locates their datacenters near hydroelectric dams for God's sake so that they can access enough power to keep the world searching, to process the 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, and to crunch enough data to automatically give me directions to my various destinations as I hop into my car for an appointment.

And yet Google couldn't switch from "Ships in 3-5 days" in the Play Store to "Sold Out" several hours after their stock had been depleted. Google didn't know the difference between "Coming soon" and "Sold Out" and actually let people continue buying phones long after they had all been gobbled up.

Google didn't have the sense to limit numbers of purchases to one or two per household and the situation was exacerbated because the miserable excuse for a storefront that they call the Play Store was such a disaster at peak load that people were buying two or three phones accidentally.

I just emailed the author and forwarded him the email I got from Google and my reply to them.

edit - he just emailed me back

That sort of takes the ridiculous to a whole new level, doesn't it? Backorders are one thing, but why not ship what they have? Seems the least they could do after you just spent almost a grand on their devices.

Bleh.


Christopher Dawson

 

[ponyo]

FU Google. Bunch of asshats.

Got this email from my inquiry about the shipping status of my Nexus 10.

Wow. How can a company lack so much common sense and have such poor customer service? I'm beginning to wonder why I'm trusting my data with a company so inept. And Google wants to join the retail world? Google Wallet? Lol. They want people to use a service that crash on couple thousand orders? Today was an eye opening experience and I lost lot of respect for Google.

 

[Eug]

I honestly am surprised at just how badly this launch has turned out. Basically, they've pissed off so many people for so many reasons it's unbelievable.

BTW, I wonder if the 3 week delay is a production delay or a shipping delay. I've been saying elsewhere if there is product to be shipped, because these are small items and because of my presumption that Google would want to minimize the bad PR, Google would air ship some of their stuff to replenish stock asap.

However, this several weeks description is concerning. It suggests to me they either have serious production issues, or they had no such air shipping contingency in place, or perhaps both.

I guess the good news is that threads like this will continue to generate web traffic for the AnandTech forums and the potential for ad revenue.

 

[vshah]

Hooray my tmo order is being delivered today

 

[zod96]

Mine is also being delivered today. Ordered a Nexus 10 16GB right when it went live.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

FU Google. Bunch of asshats.

Got this email from my inquiry about the shipping status of my Nexus 10.



What I just replied back to them:

Wait, so you ordered a Nexus 4 and a Nexus 10, and even though they have Nexus 10s in stock they're holding back that order to ship it with the Nexus 4 whenever those come in? Wooooooow...

 

[Triglet]

Ordered a N10 when it went live, still pending in wallet. The charge was pending on my bank account, but now it's gone.

Sigh.

 

[Sureshot324]

My N10 has been saying estimated shipping date Nov 15 since I purchased it when it went live, but I still can't tell if it's actually been shipped.

 

[Eug]

Nexus 4 already rooted.

http://www.androidauthority.com/nexus-4-root-available-131984/

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Wait, so you ordered a Nexus 4 and a Nexus 10, and even though they have Nexus 10s in stock they're holding back that order to ship it with the Nexus 4 whenever those come in? Wooooooow...

FU Google. Bunch of asshats.

Got this email from my inquiry about the shipping status of my Nexus 10.



What I just replied back to them:

To play Devil's Advocate, this is 1 order or 2 separate orders? If you have it as 1 order I can see why companies don't like splitting it. More work. Companies like Amazon should certainly be able to handle that.

I placed my NExus 10 and 4 in separate orders. My N10 shipped out this morning.

Edit: My N10 order also had the N4 bumper. It shows as "Completed" on Google Wallet. Got the email notification for shipping at 8:11am PST.

 

[pm]

So I got a tracking number - for a label created yesterday - but the tracking number isn't active, my credit card transaction is still pending and I don't have a delivery estimate.

So for anyone who have a device en route, do you know if they require a signature for delivery?

 

[abaez]

I don't understand why everyone is saying this is a botched launch. When Apple launched the iPhone 5 and it sold out immediately with a two week backorder people weren't going bonkers over it. Why this time?

 

[Eug]

I don't understand why everyone is saying this is a botched launch. When Apple launched the iPhone 5 and it sold out immediately with a two week backorder people weren't going bonkers over it. Why this time?

Because they had way more stock, and they didn't screw up all the orders.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I don't understand why everyone is saying this is a botched launch. When Apple launched the iPhone 5 and it sold out immediately with a two week backorder people weren't going bonkers over it. Why this time?

Because millions got in on the preorder which shipped the day of. I don't know of anyone who got caught in the middle because Apple didn't switch the Ships by 9/21 sign to 2-3 weeks.

I waited 3 weeks for my iPhone 5 for work.

The issue here is Google had orders go live. They couldn't manage it and it seems like 90% of the orders went to backorder. If you count the tiny minority who got a tracking #, it's like 2000 people maybe. It's a ridiculously small amount. Any company who has that few handsets ready for an actual launch is doing it wrong. If you're saying Google forecasted wrong then someone on their business side screwed up. If the manufacturing was just slow, then it's still a management issue. To launch with few units means you might as well push back the launch date. It's a fail if you can't manage to meet your demand.

Apple may have run out of stock but they sold 5 million on launch weekend. Furthermore, you had a pretty good chance to nab one in store if you wanted. The iPhone 4 launch was worse I'd say. They've come a long way since then and each time has managed to push those sales numbers further up.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Just got a ship notice for mine, no information on UPS about it though.

 

[preslove]

So, I'm srsly considering just getting in on the 'free' samsung GsIII from t-mobile today. Other than pentaband and more timely updates, is there anything else that the nexus 4 has that should keep me from going samsung? It doesn't look like the processor upgrade has really resulted in much improved performance...

 

[ponyo]

Worst launch and worst retail in history.

I was part of Touchpad fire sale and iPhone 5 launch. HP and Apple both get an A. Google gets F. HP took millions in additional losses by producing extra units to fill backorders. That's customer service.

 

[pm]

I don't understand why everyone is saying this is a botched launch. When Apple launched the iPhone 5 and it sold out immediately with a two week backorder people weren't going bonkers over it. Why this time?

I bought an iPhone 5 - I have it next to me - and personally I vastly preferred that launch. First, I knew when and how to order it. I ordered it when I was eligible and they said "ok, you'll get yours in 11-14 days.". I waited 12 days and they sent an email with two day shipping and I had it within two weeks. It was all very clear what to do, how to do it, and when it would happen and everything happened exactly as they said it would.

On the flip side we have Google, who told me when it would be for sale, let me sign up for an automatic notification (which still hasn't sent me an email), but never told me the time it would be available. Google said the day, but not the time, so I actually stayed up late on the 12th to be awake at midnight on the 13th because I was worried that they'd sell out. Then I checked the website hourly starting at 7am PST. When it went active at 8:30am-ish, I only found out because I was reading messages here at Anandtech. Their website was a mess, crashed a lot, and then I managed to get it in my card and paid for I was still not totally certain that my order went through, then there was no communication for a day and a half, then they abruptly delayed a lot of orders massively - so they changed the rules mid-game (you were going to get your phone in 4 days, now you'll get it in about 3 weeks). For the ones that aren't delayed, some got tracking numbers, others didn't and no one knows what is going on, the reps on the phone don't seem to have access to any more information than the rest of us, it's not clear when the next round of phones will be available to order. It's not clear to me when my phone is arriving, or even if it's shipped and so I'm not sure what plans I may or may not need to make to have the phone picked up while I'm gone for Thanksgiving.

It's not so much that this is an utter fiasco, but this is Google and I expect them to do a good job simply because they are Google. And if anyone in the world should be able to clearly convey information, it should be them. And they let me down on this one and I still have no idea what precisely is going on. And for my co-workers around me who want a Nexus 4 - and there's several - and they didn't obsessively track the Nexus 4 page on Nov. 13th, they don't even know when they'll be able to place an order.

 

[Elganja]

got the notice my nexus 10 shipped... even though I got it today, the ups tracking shows it was shipped last night and is already out for delivery today