More Nexus 4 orders starting to ship, but some still being snubbed [FORUM TALK]
Google is still having trouble meeting demand for the Nexus 4 (LG themselves even attributed abnormally high demand as being the main issue for the shipping woes), but you should know that the company is trying its best to catch up to all the orders they’ve received. It looks like a new batch of shipments are starting to go out, though, as we’ve received a number of new reports of folks receiving Nexus 4 units this week.
We have folks in our inboxes and our very own forums telling us they’ve either received shipping notifications for the device to arrive this week, or that they’ve arrived as early as today. There is something odd going on, though — it doesn’t appear that devices are being sent out on a first come first serve basis.
Folks who ordered a device during Google’s second round of sales on November 27th are among those said to be receiving shipping notifications and actual device shipments. We’ve also seen reports from a few stragglers who’ve ordered as recently as December 4th who either already received their devices or are set to receive them today or tomorrow.
The problem is that those who were able to get an order in with the initial sale — which took place on November 13th — still aren’t seeing anything from Google. Dozens of said people have been convening in places like this massive 35,000-post XDA thread, and if it’s true that they’re being snubbed in favor of the more recent orders then we agree with their sentiment of disappointment in Google.
We’re not sure how difficult it should be to employ a first come, first serve shipping strategy in a period of low supply/high demand like we’re in now, but we’d hoped Google was taking the downtime to get its issues in order while LG raced to produce more devices. If there really are people who ordered on November 13th still being left in the dark about their orders while more recent orders have been fulfilled then Google certainly has a terrible issue on its hands.
Google has been considerably better, of course, but if you have fresh shipments going out to customers who’ve only ordered within the past few days while those who ordered (and were charged) on day one are still without word then that simply isn’t fair. Unfortunately it’s been tough to pinpoint when, exactly, this madness might end.
Some folks have been given backorder notices of 1-2 weeks, some 2-4 weeks, and some as many as 4-5 weeks. This would suggest that regular supply of the device might not be available until Christmas at best, and that could be as long as some of those who’ve ordered devices on November 13th might have to wait with the way Google’s doing things.
The best thing you can do right now is call or email Google’s customer support line and let them know about the situation. Let them know that people who ordered several days and weeks after you are receiving orders while you’re still in the crowd of original orders forced to wait.
It won’t hurry the production process, of course, but if enough complaints are received then it’ll at least show Google that something is still messed up with its ordering system and they could begin to right the ship sooner rather than later. A perfect situation would be everyone would getting their Nexus 4 devices at the same time, of course, but in this case we’ll have to side with the November 13th folks: it’s only right that the first ones to order are prioritized. Be sure to update us on the status of your order in the comments section below!