[Update] Oculus Rift And HTC Vive Pre-Order Customers Are Facing Delays And Cancellations

Update: A statement on HTC Vive's website has been posted about the billing issues some customers are facing, and that the team is addressing the problems head on:

A message to our customers:

While fulfilling this week’s orders for HTC Vive, a limited number of individuals were affected by auto cancellations due to processing issues with financial institutions. We’re actively working to resolve this, and have already reinstated orders for some customers. We want to assure our customers that we’ll work with them to process their payment so they can receive their Vive when they were expecting it.  If you pre-ordered a Vive, we encourage you to contact your financial institution to notify them of upcoming charges. 

We apologize for the inconvenience. If you have any questions regarding the status of your order please contact us at +1 888-216-4736 or online at http://www.htcvive.com/support/contactus . 

Thank you,

The Vive Team

Original Story:

With the Oculus Rift now officially launched and Vive on the way next week, VR enthusiasts are eager to get hardware in hand. Unfortunately, both manufacturers are encountering different problems fulfilling orders, leading to dissatisfaction with both Oculus and HTC.

Today many Rift customers received an email warning that the company is experiencing a delay in shipping due to an "unexpected component shortage." The email also noted that pre-order customers will receive free shipping and handling through today, which CEO Brendan Iribe also confirmed on Twitter. You can read the full email from Oculus support below:

We know you're anxious to receive your Oculus Rift and apologize for not updating your order status sooner. We've been working through an unexpected component shortage, and unfortunately, that issue has impacted the original shipping estimates for some early customers.

We're working hard to get up-to-date ship windows, and you should expect to see your order status updated on oculus.com by Tuesday, April 12. Although many Rifts will be arriving on schedule and in line with original estimates, we'll be covering shipping and handling costs for all orders placed through today.

We're shipping rifts everyday. Don't hesitate to reach out to the Oculus support team if you have additional questions.

Even those who received the shipment confirmation email of their Rift headset arriving in one to three weeks, may have also received the delay email.

Yesterday, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey responded on Reddit, saying that he was unaware of when the delayed shipments would arrive: "I am not going to wax poetic about this, since I have done so in the past, but bottom-line: I won’t give in-depth updates on any situation without knowing it is solid, true, and finalized."

For those that pre-ordered the HTC Vive, which releases next week on Tuesday, many have noticed that their attempted orders were declined and then cancelled. However, some customers have been able to fix the issue by calling Valve's support line to replace it with a new order. It's unclear right now what the reason behind these cancellations is.

Our Take
Particularly for the Oculus Rift, Palmer Luckey wrote on Twitter in January that they were experiencing an "extremely high load" of pre-orders. It's unclear exactly what issues Valve is facing in terms of the Vive cancellations, but if some users have been able to fix the issue by calling Valve's customer service, it could just be a technical hiccup or a problem with the customer's credit card when placing orders.