I'm still in limbo and getting pretty annoyed at how hapless Play "support" is. Check out the insipid canned note I got from them today.
Timeline:
* Ordered 16GB Nexus 4 at 12:47 pm EST on Nov. 13. Received confirmation email and Account page said "Shipping estimate Nov. 15."
* Received the mass SOL backorder email on Nov. 15.
* After no communications or change in status, I sent a note on Nov. 19:
Order status has been permanently stuck at "Shipping estimate: November 15, 2012" since I received my order confirmation on Nov. 13, 2012. On the expected shipping date, I received a notice that my Nexus 4 was delayed for up to three weeks.
I'm seeing reports online of more shipments going out, some of which didn't have shipping emails to alert the recipients. (Considering no one I've heard of received the emails announcing the Nexus availability in the first place, this seems plausible.)
In order to ensure someone is available to receive the delivery, it would be helpful if we knew when it was due to arrive. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Later that night, I noticed my status had switched to Pending. Nothing has changed since Nov. 13 in my Wallet account and my CC still shows it as a pending charge.
* Nov. 21 - I received this note from Google. See how many problems it has in it that you can spot.
Thank you for contacting Google. It is my pleasure to assist you today.
If you ordered on 11/13 and you did not receive a backorder notification email, your order is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. If you haven't already received a shipping confirmation email that contains the tracking number, you should receive one by end of day today. However, please note that it can take up to 1 business day for the tracking number to be activated. Rest assured that once you receive your ship confirmation email with your tracking number, it is in the process of shipping for an estimated arrival of Tuesday, Nov. 20.
Did you catch that the canned note missed that I'd said I received the backorder spam AND that it was supposed to have been delivered YESTERDAY? I knew you could. I replied:
It appears that my note wasn't read before the canned reply was pasted in. I did receive a backorder email on Nov. 15 and I noticed after I sent my inquiry that the status was changed to Pending on Nov. 19. Also, considering it is now November 21, saying that it's expected to arrive on November 20, which is yesterday, doesn't really help.
I understand that Google has horribly mismanaged the sale and follow-up of the Nexus launch and you're trying your best to deal with the legions of very unhappy people trying to be patient in the face of Google's combined silence AND contradictory comminiques, but I'd really appreciate a response specific to the circumstances of my issue, not just boilerplate.
Thank you for your attention to this issue.
That was nearly six hours ago and my reply was within 15 minutes of receiving the canned spam and no response so far. I'm not sure what's worse: the fact that Google screwed the pooch at the beginning, can't seem to get their stories straight AND communicated to the customers afterward, or that their CSR drones can't seem to notice they're being useless.
In the meantime, I've been buying stuff on Lightning Deals from Amazon all week without nary a hitch. Granted, they're the 800-megaton gorilla of e-commerce, but the fact that a company of the size, scope and power of Google can't find one person to step up and take point on this debacle is appalling. It's a good thing this isn't their main line of business because they'd be following Hostess down the drain with such shoddy performance.