12/18/11: Amazon accepting orders again!

[gordonwd]

Another somewhat illiterate and confusing response from Amazon:

I've checked your order and confirm that item's is now back-ordered. I'm sorry about this delay we certainly didn't expect this would happen.

we're not sure about the item when the item we'll be able to get more.

we receive copies, we will be
able to ship it to you. It is not uncommon for there to be a delay
of several weeks between the release and distribution of a new
publication.

"Publication?" Oh, well. This really pisses me off since I figured Amazon would be getting mine out to me right on the official release date or close. I guess I'll see where else I might be able to get one quicker guaranteed and then cancel, but it's kinda too late for a lot of other places, too.

 

[pragmatous]

Meh not looking promising. I wonder what newegg is going to do.

Another somewhat illiterate and confusing response from Amazon:

I've checked your order and confirm that item's is now back-ordered. I'm sorry about this delay we certainly didn't expect this would happen.

we're not sure about the item when the item we'll be able to get more.

we receive copies, we will be
able to ship it to you. It is not uncommon for there to be a delay
of several weeks between the release and distribution of a new
publication.

"Publication?" Oh, well. This really pisses me off since I figured Amazon would be getting mine out to me right on the official release date or close. I guess I'll see where else I might be able to get one quicker guaranteed and then cancel, but it's kinda too late for a lot of other places, too.

 

[Ninjak]

Good evening, gang. I just wanted to let you know that, if you pre-ordered from J&R (perhaps after an Amazon cancellation), double-check your current pre-order item number! Let me explain:

I had, upon seeing Amazon sell out on day 1, ordered the 64GB Grey Prime from J&R whose model number was TF201B1/GY. Naturally, the item shows as backordered. This order was placed on the 24th. Upon browsing the site today, I was curious as to whether J&R had stopped taking pre-orders, so did a search by item number for the Prime. Inexplicably, the TF201B1/GY model number what was associated with the 64GB version now specifically pulls up the 32GB model! Doing a general search for TF201 showed that the 64GB grey model was now TF201C1/GY, the B having changed to a C. When I phoned J&R (with whom I've done business for many years and am pleased with their support), they looked it up and told me that they had to make an alteration to my preorder to update it with the new correct item number. I wanted to pass this info along as soon as I could so that noone is in danger of receiving the wrong version of what they wanted due to this snafu. Also know that it will take likely overnight for the online system to update the record when you login to check your order status, so don't panic if it appears unchanged after you speak to a rep. Give it a day to refresh. Thanks, all! I've no idea what day the model numbers changed after the 24th, so this may not affect preorders placed after a certain date. Here are the current updated item numbers:

64GB grey: ASU TF201C1/GY
32GB grey: ASU TF201B1/GY
64GB champagne: ASU TF201C1/CH
32GB champagne: ASU TF201B1/CH

 

[WildH]

Good evening, gang. I just wanted to let you know that, if you pre-ordered from J&R (perhaps after an Amazon cancellation), double-check your current pre-order item number! Let me explain:

I had, upon seeing Amazon sell out on day 1, ordered the 64GB Grey Prime from J&R whose model number was TF201B1/GY. Naturally, the item shows as backordered. This order was placed on the 24th. Upon browsing the site today, I was curious as to whether J&R had stopped taking pre-orders, so did a search by item number for the Prime. Inexplicably, the TF201B1/GY model number what was associated with the 64GB version now specifically pulls up the 32GB model! Doing a general search for TF201 showed that the 64GB grey model was now TF201C1/GY, the B having changed to a C. When I phoned J&R (with whom I've done business for many years and am pleased with their support), they looked it up and told me that they had to make an alteration to my preorder to update it with the new correct item number. I wanted to pass this info along as soon as I could so that noone is in danger of receiving the wrong version of what they wanted due to this snafu. Also know that it will take likely overnight for the online system to update the record when you login to check your order status, so don't panic if it appears unchanged after you speak to a rep. Give it a day to refresh. Thanks, all! I've no idea what day the model numbers changed after the 24th, so this may not affect preorders placed after a certain date. Here are the current updated item numbers:

64GB grey: ASU TF201C1/GY
32GB grey: ASU TF201B1/GY
64GB champagne: ASU TF201C1/CH
32GB champagne: ASU TF201B1/CH

Did they say anything about a ship date?

 

[Ninjak]

Nothing specific, but I'm afraid he did say he expects it to ship after the holidays.

 

[gordonwd]

I think I'm going to stick with my Amazon pre-order. Yesterday I was considering cancelling and just trying to get one online or in the store from Staples or Best Buy, but decided that I'm not in enough of a hurry to want to pay an extra $40 sales tax!

Besides, I'm thinking that if Amazon hasn't actually cancelled my order as they have with a lot of others, it might mean that I'll get mine sooner than what's been reported.

 

[jubb]

Is amazon just giving up on this because they want people to buy their new kindle?

 

[TheKricket]

Is amazon just giving up on this because they want people to buy their new kindle?

I'm guessing that they simply oversold their allotment of presale units - they don't want to go through another TouchPad fiasco (which just happened a few months ago) - so they figure they'll cut their losses now and cancel the orders that they can't guarantee...

In my opinion - it's lose-lose. At this time (around the holidays), people are pretty antsy to get their gifts in. You take a presale order from a customer and don't fulfill it by the holidays, you're left with an angry customer.

With cancelling the order, at least you let the customer know right up front that they wont be receiving it before the holidays...

I know - there are a lot of people who aren't buying these as gifts and don't care if they come in after the new year - but at this time of year, it's not insane to think that many of those orders were to be gifts.

And who knows what the actual deal is with Asus. Perhaps they couldn't guarantee that another shipment would go out for a while - I can't seem to find much of an official word from them either way...

EDIT - FWIW, I'm still showing a January 6th delivery date (I know - broken record)...

 

[Lock-N-Load]

Kind of amazing, in this day and age, the system cannot see they have 2000 and stop at the 2000 sold - no more orders as no more expected stock. So only way this current scenario could realistically happen is if they were told they would get 2000 by Asus, so allotted that and sold that and stopped (as they did close PO days before the cancellations went out), and then were told "surprise, your only getting 1000" - so in that case, not really their issues if you think about it.

 

[TheKricket]

Kind of amazing, in this day and age, the system cannot see they have 2000 and stop at the 2000 sold - no more orders as no more expected stock. So only way this current scenario could realistically happen is if they were told they would get 2000 by Asus, so allotted that and sold that and stopped (as they did close PO days before the cancellations went out), and then were told "surprise, your only getting 1000" - so in that case, not really their issues if you think about it.

I would venture a guess that that's exactly what did happen. Only who knows if Asus ever contacted them to begin with.

With the TouchPad - what happened was a bunch of retailers heard about the price drop, updated their websites to reflect it, and then just EXPECTED to receive more from HP (this happened with Newegg, Amazon, TD, Best Buy, Zones, Lawsons - pretty much all of the major players). Then, they actually spoke to the manufacturer who said: nope, you won't be getting any more (except for Best Buy and TD - who ended up selling those units in bundled packages).

In the days that followed the TouchPad fire sales, retailers were constantly contacting HP trying to secure more units (even though they had already taken plenty of orders from customers).

Here, Asus announces the Prime will drop on a certain date - and immediately, retailers had them up on their websites. Who knows if they even secured ANY shipments from Asus by that time.

I would not be surprised in the least if the retailers continuing to take preorders (Gamestop, TD, J&R, B&H) eventually send out backorder emails to lots and lots of customers.

I know a lot of people are saying they don't care when they get their Primes - but if 3 weeks after I placed an order I received an email telling me that the units were all on backorder - and I had to wait months to receive it, I'd be pretty PO'd...

EDIT - My guess: Amazon placed an initial order with Asus for x amount of units. They put it up on their website and saw that there was far more interest than they had predicted. They took more orders thinking they would just contact Asus and request more units. Upon that contact, however, they were most likely told that Asus simply wouldn't have enough units manufactured to fill the demand - hence the cancellations.

This is a FAR more likely scenario than some wild conspiracy theory that this is all set up to push the Kindle Fire (which is receiving quite a few complaints)...

 

[kborer22]

Kind of amazing, in this day and age, the system cannot see they have 2000 and stop at the 2000 sold - no more orders as no more expected stock. So only way this current scenario could realistically happen is if they were told they would get 2000 by Asus, so allotted that and sold that and stopped (as they did close PO days before the cancellations went out), and then were told "surprise, your only getting 1000" - so in that case, not really their issues if you think about it.

FWIW when i spoke with the amazon rep he said it appeared that ASUS actually downsized or cancelled parts of the shipment to Amazon. So when this whole fiasco stared Amazon was supposed to get X number of tablets and presumably sold X number of pre-orders. Instead had they were informed that are only getting Y tablets and thus have to cancel some pre-orders.

Not that it really makes the situation any better, but that't what i was told

 

[RoscoeDpG]

so us on newegg are still good right? as of now anyway lol

 

[LSU316]

so us on newegg are still good right? as of now anyway lol

I just checked my preorder on Newegg and at some point this afternoon the ETA change from 12/8/11 to 12/27/11.....just an FYI

 

[pragmatous]

But what does that mean tho. Knowing newegg I'm guess that's the date they expect more in stock to order.

I just checked my preorder on Newegg and at some point this afternoon the ETA change from 12/8/11 to 12/27/11.....just an FYI

 

[LSU316]

But what does that mean tho. Knowing newegg I'm guess that's the date they expect more in stock to order.

I hope you're right.....I guess we will see tomorrow or Thursday. I would assume if they are shipping Thursday that we should see a charge as early as tomorrow.

 

[pragmatous]

I just emailed Newegg to find out what the ship date is. See what happens I guess.

I hope you're right.....I guess we will see tomorrow or Thursday. I would assume if they are shipping Thursday that we should see a charge as early as tomorrow.

 

[RoscoeDpG]

well i did live chat with rep at newegg and yes it has happened......its been pushed back to the 27th

Cheryl: I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. The release date for the ASUS Transformer Prime (item# ******) has been changed from 12-8-11 to 12-27-11.

 

[fran1r]

I'm really torn about what to do. Amazon canceled my preorder, so I preordered with J&R. No clue when or whether that might happen. I went to the local Best Buy and they are not doing preorders in store. The closest Gamestop is 20 miles away and I'd have to go there to put down a preorder deposit, plus go back to pick it up. Not to mention that the Gamestop version has preloaded crap I probably don't want on it and I wasn't planning to root my tablet.

So now I'm deciding whether to try to buy in-store at BB with the J&R as back-up, or rally to Gamestop. Any thoughts?

 

[Rastor]

If you want to have another reservation in place Gamestop seems to be the only company still taking them.

But to be frank if even the legendary Newegg is having issues getting these things then I have little hope for any of us...

 

[pragmatous]

Oh well next year it is

If you want to have another reservation in place Gamestop seems to be the only company still taking them.

But to be frank if even the legendary Newegg is having issues getting these things then I have little hope for any of us...

 

[gordonwd]

I think the word is that Asus is having some production problems on top of having way more orders than even they expected. Nothing wrong with the product -- just a lot of companies going after the same suppliers of chips, LCD displays, etc.

 

[pragmatous]

I guess that makes sense. In the mean time check out this genius product from seagate.

Newegg.com - Seagate GoFlex Satellite 500GB USB 3.0 / WIFI Black Mobile Wireless Storage STBF500101
I so want one but I know it's 300% more of what it should be because of the Taiwan flood.

I think the word is that Asus is having some production problems on top of having way more orders than even they expected. Nothing wrong with the product -- just a lot of companies going after the same suppliers of chips, LCD displays, etc.

 

[GTGD]

I think the word is that Asus is having some production problems on top of having way more orders than even they expected. Nothing wrong with the product -- just a lot of companies going after the same suppliers of chips, LCD displays, etc.

Makes me wonder if any of tablet makers have any idea what the consumers want. Seriously:

First Tegra 3 tablet
Second generation of the Transformer (wildly successful)
Near laptop replacement
Best screen on the market
ICS

I don't understand how they didn't expect it to be such a popular item. The longer it takes to get these into people's hands, the more news on the other T3 tablets that comes out and maybe makes people change their mind.

 

[Hustletron]

I guess that makes sense. In the mean time check out this genius product from seagate.

Newegg.com - Seagate GoFlex Satellite 500GB USB 3.0 / WIFI Black Mobile Wireless Storage STBF500101
I so want one but I know it's 300% more of what it should be because of the Taiwan flood.

That's actually pretty cool, but with an SD or microSD on the prime I don't really see the use, regardless, very cool product.

 

[WildH]

Anyone else thinking this may keep slipping back? Funny how tech products constantly do that. just seems like no retailer can give a firm date...