Oculus Rift Experiencing Delivery Delays, Shipping Fees Refunded In Apology

Unfortunately for many early Oculus Rift buyers, their brand new VR headset hasn't yet arrived almost a week after shipping began, and, even worse, they've been completely left in the dark about the status of their order since then. The company revealed today that they're experiencing shipping delays, with "an unexpected component shortage" said to be the cause.

Up until now, Oculus has been silent on the issue, leaving customers frustrated at not knowing what's happening or where their order is, as well as the lack of communication. The bad news continues with the fact that early orders that haven't arrived yet won't see a shipping status update until April 12th. This comes from the apology email the company has sent to customers:

"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 12th."

For what it's worth, there have been a number of orders that have been successfully delivered on time — not including the very first customer, who got their Rift delivered in person from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey. However, to make up for the delays, all Rift orders placed prior to now will be getting their shipping fees refunded.

Sadly, the VR headset launch troubles aren't just limited to Oculus. Some early HTC Vive buyers abruptly saw their pre-orders cancelled in the last few days. Customers say they received the message that their credit cards had been declined, with their order either cancelled or placed back in the queue, but no option to retry their payment.

HTC has now forward, stating that "processing issues" at banks have been causing headaches. The company say it's working to process orders correctly based on when they were received, hopefully before shipping is scheduled to begin on April 5th. Those who had their order flat-out cancelled are asked to call HTC directly (888-216-4736) to things sorted.

SOURCE Brendan Iribe/Twitter, HTC