Google announced a fresh assortment of Nexus mobile devices last week, so regular readers know what that means: a fresh assortment of reader complaints about the experience of ordering from Google. As we’ve noted pretty much every time the company releases a consumer-facing product, the company makes great products that consumers want, but still aren’t all that great at dealing with those customers. Tuesday’s release of the Nexus 4 (phone) and Nexus 10 (big tablet) worldwide were no different. Many customers whose orders got through before the Nexus 4 sold out (or did it?) aren’t sure when their phones are coming…if they’re coming at all.

Google admitted that the Nexus 4 sold out in “some countries,” and those customers seem to be the most disgruntled. They even have a change.org petition. Early Nexus 4 purchases are in a strange state of limbo: they don’t know whether the orders actually went through or not. Matt explains:

Our status still shows it will ship by November 15.

I personally know 3 people who ordered well after me who have received their orders yet it looks like the ones who ordered within the first 5 minutes are the ones most stuck in this “limbo” stage.

Calls to customer service get us canned responses and empty promises of shipping status tonight (it’s always tonight)

Google is being silent on this debacle and to make it worse, some of us have actually been charged the money (not just pending payments) with no notice on shipping or that they even have one to send.

Over in the Nexus 10 aisle, but in a similar state of limbo, Richard writes:

I was fortunate, or so I thought, to place an order within seconds of the order button going live. Placed my order successfully and received an email confirmation within a minute. The information presented in the confirmation said to expect two day shipping on the 15th.

Well to date despite numerous emails and phone calls, there has not been a device sent. Google has said persistently each day to expect a tracking number that day but never did it happen. I subscribe to a forum called xda developers and on there I saw many people who had placed orders well after I had receiving their orders. Also on xda I was able to see many others who ordered in those first few minutes who also had not received anything but the initial order confirmation who also had been given the same run around by google CSR.

Google claims they handed off the shipping process to UPS and had no access to the shipping process. By now all the Nexus 10 devices have been sold and we will be placed on a back order list. I asked to cancel and was told I couldn’t without a tracking number and oh I’d be getting that no later than that day I called. My card remains with the charge and Google whom I made the purchase can tell me nothing. I’m having my bank reverse the charge tomorrow and they will work it out with Google.

Very disturbing performance by a company who makes its living on information.

Actually, at this point, we’re curious whether any customer has ever had a positive experience ordering a device directly from Google. We only hear from the unhappy ones.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.