[Nexus 4 General] thomas.clark:
to clarify, all love here, a good dose of disappointment, but no hate.

I don't really disagree with what you're saying, it's just that my perspective leads me to a different conclusion.

I don't want it because I don't like it, and I don't like it because of what I had to go through to get it. I guess this is just part of my personality. Essentially, to enjoy it, I need to forgive Google. If it were family or a single person, I would work on it and do the forgiving. But this is business. Why maintain a business relationship with a company who has shown they don't care about me? It seems to me that Google's unlikely to do what I think it will take to change the way I think and feel about it, and this impression will outweigh my enjoyment of the phone and its features.

Concerning a refund, I essentially got one - by selling it to another Nov 13 guy for what I paid for it. So I get my money back, he doesn't have to keep waiting for his still-limbo'd order – and as a bonus, he gets an extra 8GB (his limbo order is for an 8, too). Everybody wins.

I think I am being practical. I didn't lose any money, or make any (despite all the unrecoverable time and effort I've spent), and I've helped someone else. I can take the money I would have spent on the phone and do other things with it instead. Like take my wife out to a nice long dinner and help to make up for some of the relationship credit's I've burned on chasing this thing down (I dug that hole, of course, so to me this decision is a practical way to help climb out), or set it aside for some other hobby things I've been wanting to buy. Honestly, I'd really prefer a new drill press to this phone, and now I have the chance to go get one.

Actually no, not yet, though I expect that they will make good on this refund promise. If it comes in I'll use it to ship the free bumper to the guy with the phone or to someone who could use a stocking stuffer. (Note: this is not a cue for people to start replying or PMing me about the bumper. I won't answer such. If things go that way, it will be over at reddit where it came from.)

If they don't refund the shipping, I'm not going to chase it any further. When you wrestle with a pig, you get dirty, and the pig doesn't care - I'm just starting to clean up :D

Okay so I do disagree a bit. If I had originally wanted/ordered the 16GB version, then only being charged the 8GB price would likely make me feel better about the whole thing. But that's not the case - I was never going to order the 16GB, not because it cost more, but because I didn't want it. So I didn't really get $50 off.

To someone to whom that extra storage is valuable, it's an entirely different proposition. To me, the extra 8GB might as well be a sticker on the phone that says "Thanks for waiting so long. We charged you full price for your order, and gave you this sticker."

I suppose principles and behaviors are inextricable. I wasn't trying to cancel, ever. I wanted it the entire time, voraciously at first and less over time, exuding proportionally less energy as time went on, right up until the day I got notice that it shipped and that they were charging me full price. In that moment, 34 days in, and seeing no sign that they were going to do what I consider right to make good on the situation, my last bit of desire for the thing ebbed into nothing.

If imagine that if I were you, I would too. :D

In all sincerity, I really want to want it, I just don't. And I truly hope that those who have theirs love them, and that those who are waiting receive them soon and are pleased with their purchases.

Yours truly,

Thomas