HTC Acknowledges Vive Pre-Order Auto-Cancellations, Fix Coming
Virtual reality is off to a great start. Well, almost. While both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR have started their journey to consumer's hands, both have also been beset by delivery and pre-order issues. Oculus has just recently released a statement apologizing for delays in shipping, dangling the promise of free shipping to appease discontented buyers. Now it's HTC's turn to say sorry. Addressing reports of pre-order auto-cancellations, the company promised it is resolving to fix the issue but offers no recompense, since, after all, these are still just pre-orders.
There have been reports from various corners that their pre-orders for the Vive headset were inexplicably and unceremoniously canceled. While acknowledge that such was the case for a number of pre-orders, HTC didn't detail the specifics of the problem aside from a general "processing issues with financial institutions". Perhaps HTC didn't count on being bombarded with 15,000 pre-orders within the first 10 minutes of pre-orders, especially considering each on costs $799.
The good news is that HTC says that it is, of course, working on those issues. It has even already reinstated some of those canceled pre-orders. Those that still have theirs canceled are urged to contact their financial institutions to inform them of the charges. And for any other problems, contact HTC Vive's hotline at +1 888-216-4736 or http://www.htcvive.com/support.
Given that problem, those who were expecting to get the Vive when it ships on Tuesday, April 5, might have to wait a bit longer. HTC and Valve's headset is just one of two major non-mobile VR headsets expected to herald the new age of virtual reality. Reviews of the Oculus Rift, that other VR headset, have so far been mixed, at least as far as virtual reality itself is concerned. Whether the Vive gets the same accolades in terms of hardware quality remains to be seen, but it is a battle that HTC can't afford to lose, considering the dire challenges it faces in the smartphone market.
SOURCE: HTC Vive