[Nexus 7 General] MarkyMark8609:
Well, well, well Google/Asus/Computer2000... You've really made a mess of this haven't you?

Someone mentioned earlier they'd received the "sorry" email, mine didn't have that word in it, or anything that could be slightly construed as an apology or explanation for this **** up (Notice they say "incredible demand" and not "unusually/unexpectedly high demand"). Just some rubbish about upgrading my order to overnight shipping, fantastic if it wasn't for the fact that most "two day" shipping in the UK ends up being next day.

Another person said that we were complaining Google haven't updated us and now they have we're still complaining. That is because that update was quite frankly bull****. The main points I wanted clarified in any contact from them was:

1) Why have people been able to stroll into shops and buy these since Monday (I'll chalk the Ebuyer debacle up to a mistake and give them the benefit of the doubt which let's be honest they don't really deserve at this point), yet here I am still waiting for my pre order from the 28th June?

2) When they are actually being shipped, why are they not being shipped in the order of when the pre-order was placed? This is the main thing that has ****ed me off, people who have ordered less than a week ago from Google Play are getting shipping confirmation when people who ordered in June are left waiting. A company who cares about their customer base does not do this, or at least if it happens by some sort of error they offer an acceptable solution. Upgrading my £10 shipping fee to overnight shipping does not constitute an acceptable solution at this point.

This should all have been so simple, if they expected demand to be high (which they should have given that they're selling the damn thing at near-cost) and that they'd struggle to fulfill both retailer and Google Play orders then offer it as a Google Play exclusive for a week or two before letting retailers stock them. Yes they'd have even more strain on the Play Store but at least they'd have a good idea of total orders to be able to plan ahead.

I think the key **** up here was that there still is no release date. I mean seriously what's up with that? If you're going to announce it at I/O then have a firm release date set that you can meet. If you're selling a device that competes with stuff costing twice as much for £200 and are thinking "Hmm it might be a bit of a squeeze but we should be ok" - delay the launch a week and be open about it. Simple.

It seems that it was rushed to meet the I/O deadline without all the pieces being in place and they just hoped it would all fall into place. Hence no actual release date, hence people receiving shipping in a completely random order, hence everyone being left in the dark for so long.

The reason people pre-order is for certainty. They want to be certain they'll receive the product on release day (and sometimes as a little bonus before release day), not pay extra to be messed around and have to sit there watching people who have walked into a shop and bought the device happily playing with theirs while you still wait.

This has been a **** up from start to finish, it's my first Nexus device and at this rate it will be my last. If this is the "pure Android experience" then I think in future I'll stick to the watered-down Samsung/HTC experience. At least they manage to distribute them in a reasonable manner...

/rant

P.S. I didn't even mention the fact they debited my account on Monday, therefore effectively completing the transaction...