yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] zbt1985:
So from my understanding that should already be done. On my tracking it says "Clearance in progress". When I looked that up on FedEx's site, it basically means that's it clearing customs while it is on the plane. I'm guessing if it says you will get the phone by a certain date (mine is Thursday 1030am) you should have it in your hands by then.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] lpasq:
More to my story...

Ana

Ana (Essential Products, Inc.)

Aug 29, 16:21 MST

Hi there Leonardo,

Thanks so much for reaching out -- is there a chance you are able to provide me with your tracking number? This will allow me to enter your request to the pertinent team so they can attempt to make this change. I look forward to your reply. Thanks again for your time; have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

Ana

Essential Customer Experience Team

Leonardo

Aug 28, 11:45 MST

This is a follow-up to your previous request #8020 "Im following up email sent ..."

FedEx just now told me they cannot fix the address, and only Foxconn can as they are the shipper. I would have no idea who to call in China, nor can I communicate in Chinese. Does Essential have ability to inform FedEx to correct apartment to xxxx?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] isopure:
This is strange. Just received this email.

Hi,

Our order review team requires additional verifying information to complete the processing of your recent order.

This verification is performed to protect against unauthorized use of your payment information and similar to what is conducted for in-person purchases.

Please provide an alternative email and phone number to confirm this purchase..

We would like to request a picture of a photo ID (e.g. driver’s license, state ID, passport) clearly showing your photo, signature and address. NOTE: the address on the ID should match the billing address listed on your recent order.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation.  Once verified, we look forward to shipping your order.

Thanks!

Essential Products Customer Care
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] &roid:
Seems like a bailing super stressed customer service rep trying to borrow a few identities on his way out from that f'd up company. They drove him mad...completely insane with all the lies he's had to pass to subdue pissed off paying customers.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] artiemon:
I just got the same email. Doesn't have my name, order number, or any other identifying information. I'm ready to bail on Essential.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] areyes163:
Might be a phishing scam. I would ignore that one
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Djc77z:
I just got that same email. That's the kind of stuff I'd expect to get in my spam folder. I replied back asking if the email was serious?

Update: After replying are you guys serious, got a response with the same email. Definitely phishing.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] areyes163:
I've been trying to cancel for days now. If it ever shows up I'm going to send it back. To bad I was so excited for it. Already opened a dispute with Affirm since that's how I paid. And bonus I was able to order the note 8 for only 525 after discount so I'll just keep that since it's so cheap.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] worldsoutro:
I want my money back. This company can suck a bag of dicks
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kirdroid:
I have the Note 8 pre-order got 525 as well but probably will also keep the essential. But I'm with you I'm no longer as excited to receive this phone like I was when I ordered it. They killed all the excitement with this terrible launch and awful communication. XDA article nailed it and shamed them, wish more sites had the balls and do some actual work instead of just publishing PR articles.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kmoney059:
This is most definitely phishing that's not how they even end with their signature at the end of the email someone out their has been up to date with these forums knowing essential is struggling with orders trying to take advantage of the poor people who don't know better. If you have a Twitter account I would post to that account with the tag [MENTION=754963]essential[/MENTION] so people don't get sucked into this scam
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] johnzhang.inbox@gmail.com:
You are so rude, but you are so right.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] worldsoutro:
It's just so frustrating
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] isopure:
Some guy Eugene Bogorad just tweeted this:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIcObIFVoAAMRz5.jpg
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kirdroid:
Weird.. How the hell he got this? He didn't explain that

Essential emailed him that details? So weird
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] johnzhang.inbox@gmail.com:
I caned the order from Essential, pre-ordered from Amazon, I keep telling myself that the phone is great, the CS is just a third-party trash.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] largeselection:
I also just received this sketchy phishing request. Forget this phone.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] isopure:
"sent out a request for d/l scans and alternate ph# and email. But the replies are going to everyone. Coming in at 1/sec." Yikes
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] creepinm3:
Thank god we get it via UPS.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] worldsoutro:
They won't even respond to my emails
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] stewa2jm:
WTF, I got this exact email. Now I'm finally pissed. This had to be phishing, and if it isn't, they are really losing their marbles...
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tlxxxsracer:
DO NOT RESPOND TO THAT EMAIL! Thats a phishing scam. Please do not reply with any personal information.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] stewa2jm:
No ****, Sherlock.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tlxxxsracer:
People on reddit sure think its legit and people responding. Im just trying to make a clear statement in case someone reads
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] isopure:
Some already have and their replies are apparently going to everyone else?!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] stewa2jm:
Sorry for swearing. ... I was fine until this. Now pissed.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kmoney059:
Yes I'm on Reddit and Twitter trying to help those who have replied not everyone know about phishing
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] stewa2jm:
How can you use email and not be aware of phishing...

How was there customer data base compromised? ... Ugh
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] maverick96:
Essential is a fuk'n disaster. All I want is my money back and to through with this nightmare company.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] johnzhang.inbox@gmail.com:
I have cancelled my order from Amazon. I dont want to deal with this company anymore.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] hollowlog:
That phishing scam is a disaster. The phone may be the greatest ever, but no phone is worth all of this nonsense.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] johnzhang.inbox@gmail.com:
It is a big thing that the personal information got compromised. Really big deal.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kirdroid:
I hope they address the people whose information got leaked with explanation on what happened.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] maverick96:
They won't. They don't respond to anything. None of the people that have begged to cancel orders, nor the people begging for shipping info.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] EVOSerb:
This is regarding for those that ordered the ph-1 from a Sprint's store. I stopped but the corporate Sprint store near my house where I ordered my ph-1 and the manager told me there is a delay due to a typhoon in Taiwan (supposedly that's where the phones are made) so the new date for shipping is September 1st. They already cleared out the display space in their Sprint store for the ph-1 because higher ups told them to do it but they don't have the phone yet due to the weather issues over in Asia.

Hope this helps someone lol
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kirdroid:
He is lying to justify the new date [emoji3].. Phones are made in China (Foxconn factory) though Taiwan and China are next each other I'll give him benefit of doubt [emoji23]

They are also shipping phones to many of us in the past few days so he just gave you Typhoon reason since he knows everyone will be fine if they say that.

Essential is just not ready to make that many phones and they hurried the launch, so they will take time to fulfill orders to their direct customers, partners like Sprint, Amazon, best buy etc. Best buy probably made the sane decision and told only ships after September 8 to set expectations low for it's orders.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] xda0330:
Why is the Fedex showing the phones still in China? How the hell is that phone going to arrive at my house in New York by Thursday 10:30am when it is still in China? What is going on with this company. Now I am reading about Phishing and that perhaps Essential some how leaked our info? Omg, this company.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kirdroid:
If it gets to Memphis but tomorrow night, it can still get to everyone by Thursday. Question is if it clears all this custom thing in a timely manner. Looking at how everything is going chances are slim that everything will go smoothly.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] xda0330:
Thanks for the reply. None of us even know if the phone has left China. XDA finally wrote an article on all the crap that has been going on. So many of the websites are just regurgitating whatever BS Essential releases and then acts as though it is reality
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] &roid:
Exactly, all the official mainstream tech sites are mostly covering up for the Essential serving of bull$#1t being passed out. Reddit, Twitter and of course XDA has all the real life stories of frustration from the lack of official (or honest) communication from Essential. The "Father of Andorid" seems to be a deadbeat dad.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] graffixnyc:
I didn't get a phishing email so the leak must not have included everyone. I wonder what they will say about it. One of the guys from Android Police replied to that guy's tweets about the issue so it may make android police.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] hx3:
I wish everyone could relax a little bit. Some of you have obviously been waiting a while for this phone to be released and that's understandable. But everyone will be receiving it very soon. I'm sure all of us still have phones that we'll be using before our Essential's arrive within the next 1-2 weeks, or less.

I can understand the frustration now, especially with customer support. It's a brand new company pushing out their first big product to many consumers. But there's no use in whining about it or canceling your order. It's a smartphone. It's not the end of the world if you haven't received a tracking number yet or if you will have to wait two extra days due to the weekend coming up, etc. All of us will be receiving it soon, and then everything will start to calm down. However, hopefully this phishing scam isn't serious (I never received that email).

Not trying to come off as rude at all. But this has to be very high up there on the list of first world problems I've seen. I haven't received a tracking number yet, but I'm still excited for when it arrives. I still have my U11 to use until the Essential arrives, and other things to do with my life instead of complaining, whining,getting angry and so on over a new smartphone and a company pushing out their first product.

It will all be worth it in the long run.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
Google had similar issues with the Nexus 6P two years ago.

Delayed shipments, available, then not.

How big is Google?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] IM0001:
Obviously the one problem this company had was a disconnect between their marketing and their manufacturing/logistics.

Similar to other Kickstart/Startup companies, they promise before they are truly able to guarantee said promise. If the email was true in that "Your phone has been Built" and it would ship "7 days from then" then that is one hell of a tight timeline to take a actually just been built product, package it, and ship it directly from said warehouse where the devices are stored shortly after production. It's unique, and kind of cool, but without an in house production facility, this was really a bad idea and not something they should have said or did on the initial batch.

Hindsight is 20/20, but what I believe they should have done, considering how they have blown past all their previous dates given, is to not say anything until they had say 10,000 devices built, packages that batch in a crate and shipped to US shores. Then stored in a warehouse where they are ready to be individually divide up and shipped to customers as soon as the initial review batch have gone out (to hopefully catch and flaws QA had missed to that point,) then open the order flood gates and promise 7 days while delivering in 5 or less.

They had reservation emails so they easily had pre order interest numbers and could have at least relied on at least half the people with a reservation following through with an order once the reviews hit and orders were opened, so having at least that many on American soil ready to ship would have been easy. That and the fact that Amazon and Sprint would probably have easily been willing to front the bill of holding onto 3x of that number to help them be prepared to ship the second orders open as well.

But in what can only be this major blunder, the company is ran by engineers with grand visions and design philosophy, but lack a bit of that Business Marketing, Planning, and Logistics that they obviously so desperately need.

Either way, hopefully they can come around and save face by providing good software updates, reliable hardware, and good post delivery support.. Time will tell at this point but hopefully they and other companies learn from this mistake as in this day and age, it's surprising it's still a mistake many companies make again any again.

EDIT: Ha well I guess I am applying for This Position. Guess without this position filled, it kind of shows why their Logistics seems to be a dumpster fire.

So much of this could have been avoided. Ugh.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
Maybe the position is open because of this? Just say'n.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] hx3:
Obviously a heck of a lot larger than Essential. That's my point, at least with customer service going on right now regarding tracking and shipping. Of course people are going to receive similar or the same responses from Essential regarding their order. Practically every company does that, and I can easily sense that Essential employees are working their tales off to make things right. People need to give them a little bit of a break and stop being selfish. Plus, the devices are being built and shipped in/from China. Essential employees are all US-based. It's going to be a bit difficult for customer service to give us exact details on tracking, etc.

Yes, things could have gone more smoothly in different areas. But they'll learn from this experience for future products. A small company is being bombarded with orders, suppliers, messages from different avenues and so on. We will all receive the device very shortly. I'm sure most of us will really enjoy it and see that it's worth the wait.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kirdroid:
This company doesn't get any sympathy from me just because they are a start-up or whatever. It's not like it's some budget phone or something. I'm also fine waiting and don't mind delays here and there. Just communicate properly is what everyone saying. We do understand that costumer care may not have all the info but some of the essential leaders should be more interactive with customers on twitter or other channels and provide them some assuring updates. I mean I still see people on twitter asking why their orders hasn't shipped even though they paid some 10-15 days back. Not everyone is on XDA or redditt to keep up with info. So many customers are just left in dark with no communication from essential. For such a small company atleast one or two higher ups who can get more info can be more interactive with customers and give them some good info once every few days. But what customers get is pindrop silence.

By the way I have my tracking but still i feel for so many other customers who have no info.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] isopure:
On top of missing that Logistics Operations Manager, they're also hiring for Head of Customer Care. Could be why support is so disjointed. Also doesn't help when there's irrational lunatics emailing them 10 times a day or discussing ways to "get back at them" for not delivering such as calling Andy Rubin direct (WTF??!).

They're also looking for a Social Media Lead so you'll have to excuse them for not communicating a unified message from those channels as well.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kirdroid:
May be they shouldn't have released without having all those in place ??? Looks like important positions if you are talking big and setting yourself high standards. First thing they have to worry is costumer satisfaction, if customers are not happy then what's the point.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] IM0001:
Like I said much earlier in this thread, there are a lot of links in the chain and one or two missing could easily have put this entire launch into jeopardy. However I agree that their marketing promising things multiple times that the rest of the company can't cash really did not help matters at all. A proper communications manager should know this so unless someone higher up is writing these promises and pushing them out against better judgment, they should have had much better logistics in place to finally deliver on at least one of their promises.

In this case, their logistics are so bad that they are shipping individual phones from China (more than likely caused by them having to outsource their shipping at the last minute to get phones moved on the warehouse floor and instead of shipping a pallet to the US, getting orders shipped as close to the 7 days as promised while shipping pallets to Amazon and Sprint separately. (I could practically bet that Amazon and Sprint shipping will be much better as its a lot easier to plan and ship a order of 10,000+ to a single location than 10,000 orders of 1 each to different locations.)

While I have a very technical background, I feel like I could handle the challenge of logistics quite well. Here's hoping.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] faded03cobra:
A large portion of what the USPS delivers comes from UPS.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] km8j:
Annnnd 20 hours in customs
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
I don't give them a pass by any means.

FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS -> They all blow.

I've had a bad experience with each and every one at some point.

Some are worse than others.

I have a long private driveway and if I get a package and the regular person is not at work that day, I'm screwed.

They will post a note on the gate and claim, that they tried to deliver.

I can be home waiting and if it's not the regular person, I will not get my package.

That being said, I'm expecting a computer for my daughter tomorrow.

It shipped from Apple via China.

I finally got real tracking information, even though I've had a tracking number since Friday.

It's even worse, that tracking number was on a pallet with others and I got a notification that those other tracking numbers were related, but no tracking information.

Once the package cleared customs, then I got tracking information for the package.

This was early this morning.

The tracking and shipping from Essential doesn't bother me. All they had to do was issue a statement saying they had logistic issues and shipments might be delayed. They just need to communicate and set expectations.

Also for those people, wanting to cancel.

Once an order is dispatched to be packed, there is a point of no return.

No matter what you have for tracking, if they have started building a pallet, you cannot cancel.

It is going to ship.

You can refuse delivery and have it sent back and do a chargeback or ask for credit.

So it's no surprise to me that orders could not be cancelled after placed.

I don't care about the camera performance that people are whining about.

I would like a bumper or case though.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] isopure:
From Essential twitter:

We’re aware of & looking into a recent e-mail received by some customers. We’ve taken steps to mitigate & will update with more info soon.

https://twitter.com/essential/status/902782859416674304
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] hx3:
Obviously there are a few important positions missing at Essential right now, which is already a small enough company. Just be patient and continue to use what you already have for up to a week or so.

All I can really say is to hang tight, it'll arrive very soon and I'm sure they'll learn from these mistakes with future products they launch especially from a communication standpoint. I'm sure all of us will really enjoy the phone (minus the camera fanatics, but I'm not one of them).

Really my only concern is receiving a first batch of the phone. It can be pretty common for those to have at least one problem from any manufacturer. We'll see, though.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] ~~Tito~~:
The more I read and see whats going on. The more I want to time travel.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] anandlal:
http://www.techdroider.com/2017/08/new-fake-essential-phone-email-scam.html?m=1
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] malikons:
Yeah, they seem to have more problems than just not being able to ship the phones. I'm happy to cancel my order and spend my money elsewhere. What a disaster!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Azdian:
I got that email and I replied asking to cancel my order but I got an instant email from the mail delivery subsystem that the email address ( customercare@essential.com ) couldn't be found.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] spotmark:
Anybody try viewing their "ticket" with support? You can't even get to the page any longer. I was willing to give this company the benefit of the doubt, but now I'm starting to wonder.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] stewa2jm:
They clearly had a data breach/hack of some sort. I'm sure this is a consequence of that.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] spotmark:
And they also have clearly taken my money over a week ago, shipped me nothing, and refuse to communicate with me. This is not off to a good start.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] mallman:
LMAO so you're holding Essential responsible for a phisher?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] stewa2jm:
OK, so how about you calm down this time, champ. I was just providing information.

---------- Post added at 07:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:02 AM ----------

If the phishers had a lot of emails they got then from a hack. It is their responsibility to safeguard our data. Just sayin'
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] harajuka:
Looks like shipping is back on track and is in transit.

8/30/2017 - Wednesday

6:51 pm

In transit

SHENZHEN CN

6:50 pm

International shipment release - Import

SHENZHEN CN