If the popularity of the NES Classic was any indication, this year’s SNES Classic, a mini Super Nintendo with pre-loaded games, will be a hit product well into the holiday season. Yet customers who thought they had placed pre-orders at Walmart learned that the device they were expecting won’t be coming. Their preorders were canceled. [More]
preorders
Plastc Smart Cards Raise $9M In Pre-Orders, Won’t Ever Ship
By 4.21.17
A few years ago, universal payment cards were a mini-fad online. The idea was that you carried one “smart” card which stored the numbers of all of your other credit cards. The most popular was Coin, which was ultimately acquired by Fitbit and shut down. Another card was Plastc, which has brought in $9 million through pre-orders since 2014, but has yet to ship — and is now out of business [More]
Clearly Canadian Promises Remaining Preorders Will Ship… Eventually
By 4.5.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Two years after fans of Clearly Canadian helped crowdfund an effort to bring the beverage back from the dead, and more than a year after the company finally started shipping out preorders to those who backed it, some customers say their orders still aren’t complete. [More]
Clearly Canadian Promises Remaining Delayed Preorders Will Start Shipping Next Month
By 7.15.16 — Updated: 4.3.17
Back in 2015, fans of Clearly Canadian were excited to learn that the 1990s sparkling soft drink would be making a comeback. So excited, in fact, that a crowdfunding campaign by the brand’s new owners brought in tens of thousands of preorders. But more than a year after Clearly Canadian reached its funding goal, many customers still don’t have their drinks, and they’re not happy about it. [More]
We Warned Target That Some Customers Wouldn’t Get ‘Fallout 4’ Pre-Orders, But They Didn’t Listen
By 11.20.15
It’s one thing for a retailer to screw up an order because it changed the customer’s payment method, or because someone in customer service was misinformed. But when that retailer is given weeks of advance notice and still manages to leave that customer empty-handed, there’s no excuse. [More]
Apple Online Store, Some Carriers’ Sites Get Glitchy With Start Of iPhone 6 Preorders
By 9.12.14
We’ve got a sneaking suspicion that whoever was in charge of handling Apple’s livestreaming announcement for its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus earlier this week might’ve been at the helm of the company’s online store early this morning, after frustrated customers trying to preorder the phones were unable to do so when the clock finally hit the designated hour. [More]
I May Or May Not Have Preordered Samsung Galaxy S4 From Best Buy
By 4.18.13
Trevor might be getting a Samsung Galaxy S4. He might not. His order went through fine the first time, but it turned out that he made an error, and had asked for the wrong phone number to be upgraded. Oops. He called to cancel the order, but didn’t have a credit card handy to place a new one. That is how his saga began. A saga of trying to place a preorder that Best Buy apparently doesn’t want to accept. [More]
T-Mobile iPhone Preorder Customer Rewarded With Getting Her Phone Next Wednesday
By 4.12.13
Today, the iPhone goes on sale from T-Mobile, which is something that many of our readers are very excited about. After years of being with the only major carrier without the phone, who can blame them? While people who line up in stores today will walk away cradling the precious, precious phone in their hands, some people who got a jump on ordering will have to wait for a while. [More]
Four Days Until The T-Mobile iPhone Goes On Sale…How Are Those Pre-orders Going?
By 4.8.13
As you most likely know, T-Mobile will begin officially selling the iPhone on Friday, without a subsidy or required contract. That’s the good news. Excited customers could start placing pre-orders last Friday, a week before the official launch. How’s that working out for them? Reader Richard filed this report from Pre-order City. [More]
Kmart Pretends I Gave Them Wrong PayPal Address, Is Now Out Of Wiis
By 11.30.12
Did you preorder a Wii U from Kmart? Chris did. Well, he tried to. He paid using PayPal, and Kmart now tells him that he typed in an incorrect PayPal address, and they’re sold out of them. The funny thing is that they must have had his correct address at one point: when he first placed the order, they debited his account or put a hold on it initially. So that’s weird. [More]
Fitbit Doesn’t Seem To Understand How Preorders Work
By 11.9.12
Andy was really excited about the new Fitbit One. He placed a pre-order back when the activity-tracking gadget was first announced, and waited patiently for the projected “early November” ship date. November began, and the new Fitbit began to show up on the shelves of virtual and real-life stores, but not in his mailbox. Why, he asks, does any random person wandering through Best Buy get their Fitbit before early orderers like him? [More]
If You Want The Next iPad This Week, Don't Order It Online
By 3.12.12
Last week Apple revealed its next iPad would be available Friday, but that doesn’t mean everyone who orders them online will get them on day one. Apple has moved back its shipment date to Monday, March 19, presumably because it’s sold out the first round. [More]
Why You Should Think Twice Before Pre-Ordering Stuff At GameStop
By 1.19.12
New and used game retailer GameStop is well-known for its culture of encouraging pre-sales. Employees convince customers to reserve copies of future products by paying all or part of the balance in advance, pleasing their corporate overlords. Sometimes things don’t go as planned, and in rare cases customers can get stiffed. [More]
GameStop Can't Get Promised Preorders Bonuses To 'Enslaved' Players
By 10.11.10
GameStop dangled a comic book and t-shirt as incentives to get gamers to preorder Enslaved: Odyssey to the West during a promotional period, but when the game came out last week, the retailer couldn’t provide the goods. [More]
Amazon 'Pricing Error' Leads To Graphics Card Preorder Cancellations
By 10.1.10
Online deal-hunters are furious that Amazon priced a graphics card at $175, only to be so overwhelmed with pre-orders that it canceled them and hiked the price to above $250. [More]
Verizon Worker Says There's No Incentive To Hold Back Droid Xs For New Customers
By 7.20.10
A Verizon sales rep takes issue with our tipster who said he pre-ordered a Droid X and was denied the superphone because a Verizon sales rep said he was holding back stock for new customers. [More]
Sony, Live Nation Are Conspiring To Keep Me Away From The Lilith Fair
By 6.24.10
Kevin is big enough of a man to admit he needs to get his Lilith Fair on. He was so pscyhed about getting his tickets as early as possible that he pre-ordered a Sarah McLachlan CD just to get a pre-sale concert code that gave him access to early tickets. [More]
AT&T Kicks Business's iPhone 4 Order To The Back Of The Line
By 6.17.10
Tyler tells Consumerist that he and his family, like every other person in the United States (or so it seems) tried to pre-order the iPhone 4. Since they were ordering three phones for their small business, they dealt with the business sales department over the phone. Their order went through: and then everything went horribly, horribly wrong and the entire iPhone pre-order system went down in flames. Now Tyler and family’s order has been pushed back, and now their order now comes after those placed after their call. [More]
