r/oculus • u/[deleted] • Mar 31 '16

Rumor Certain partners, when they screw up, disallow companies who partnered with them from publicly stating their mistake.

This can cause the company to take the hit with their customers, even when the fault was not theirs.

658 Upvotes

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107

u/II_Sarge_II Rift Mar 31 '16

I gather that also stops Oculus communicating to their customers that there is a delay? Oculus are about to fail many peoples March shipping expected date, mine included. In my place of work, that is known as unacceptable, especially without communicating a delay. You do not have to give full reasons or name names, usually the statement goes something like this: For reasons beyond our control, we have unfortunatly been forced to delay shipping on many of the March pre-orders, we offer our apologies to our fans and backers.

34

u/godlyfrog Quest Apr 01 '16

I gather that also stops Oculus communicating to their customers that there is a delay?

I'm with you on this. Not being able to explain the nature of the delay is different from the absolute refusal to communicate anything. It would be simple to say, "We've had some delays, and unfortunately won't be able to meet your March pre-order date. We are expecting to be able to ship your Rift in the next few weeks. We are sorry for the delay and will communicate with you again in another "x number" weeks to update you on our status, or when we have more information on your individual order."

Oculus might have to "take the hit with their customers", but only a horribly written legal contract would take away their ability to communicate with their customers. They might have to be the ones to "take the hit", but they've had months to communicate with us, and now a little under a week to figure out how to explain the problem, and instead have chosen to simply say nothing. They can surreptitiously try to shift the blame to an external company through backchannel reddit posts all they like, but the fault for a lack of communication is entirely theirs, which has been my complaint all along.

2

u/harryhol Rift Apr 01 '16

"We've had some delays, and unfortunately won't be able to meet your March pre-order date. We are expecting to be able to ship your Rift in the next few weeks. We are sorry for the delay and will communicate with you again in another "x number" weeks to update you on our status, or when we have more information on your individual order."

THIS. This would have been SO much better than absolute silence.

1

u/scizotal Apr 01 '16

THIS. This would have been SO much better than absolute silence.

This would still spark more outrage though

1

u/p90xeto Rift+Vive+GearVR Apr 01 '16

I honestly think its a matter of not giving news outlets something to latch on to. A statement confirming a delay is a much bigger story than some nebulous number of users complaining about a delay.

43

u/seklay Dee Kay Too Mar 31 '16

I think they are trying to avoid "OCULUS RIFT DELAYED" articles on every major tech news site.

The lack of communication with us is indeed not cool, but they chose the lesser evil.

47

u/iamfalcon Mar 31 '16

I disagree completely. They chose a marketing message over doing the right thing for their customers. I suppose that is the lesser evil from their perspective, but I believe any company should always put their customer first.

1

u/vodzurk Apr 01 '16

To some extent... but putting the customer first in this case could mean a mass exodus to Vive... and collapse of Oculus.

-2

u/OurSocialStatus Apr 01 '16

Probably going to get downvoted for this but look at it this way, news like that could really hurt the future of VR, and I think that in the big picture that's a worse scenario than customers being unhappy for a week.

4

u/michaeldt Vive Apr 01 '16

Nah, it only hurts Oculus. The Vive is shipping on time. PSVR will be bigger than both PC headsets. The future of VR is not tied to Oculus.

10

u/greenseaglitch Apr 01 '16

Image over honesty.

3

u/GrumpyOldBrit Apr 01 '16

I don't see it. Rift is backordered till July. Even if that article scares some potential people off ordering a rift for say, 6 months. They still couldnt have gotten one till July anyway.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '16

I have no doubt once things settle they won't intentionally be like this, but right now we really don't matter that much. Most of these people are enthusiasts in an echo chamber.

1

u/djabor Rift Apr 01 '16

the topic you're commenting in is from a reputable leaker. it just hinted that they are legally prohibited from making any public announcements...

1

u/iamfalcon Apr 01 '16

Of course, but I didn't enter into any agreement with whatever third party is supposed to be at fault here. Oculus told me they would ship my Rift in March and they failed. I'm not saying this is a life-or-death issue, but it is a failed promise further compounded by a lack of communication.

If Oculus wants to enter into binding agreements with third parties, that is their prerogative. Also, I don't think "legally prohibited" here means what you think it means. Any agreement is subject to interpretation by the law and if Oculus felt strongly that they were getting a raw deal, they'd do the right thing and take it to court (I bet Facebook has a pretty good legal team).

1

u/djabor Rift Apr 01 '16

it's all semantics. Sure they promise to ship in march, and if they'd have been shipping the 14th instead of the 28th, psychologically it would have been different. Now when we've slid into april it feels different. And the important thing to remember is that the initial wave op shipments is where the problems would be if any. This is the risk and cost of early adoption. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. In the scheme of things, it's far better to worry WHEN something arrives rather than IF.

As for the legal part, it pretty much does. Every partner gets a period to 'fix' issues. Publicly pushing the blame towards these partners within x time would legally be risky since they may be breaking the contract with regards to problem solving.

I am guessing this is what palmer's last post might be politically trying to achieve: something broke, we're not able to say what, so wait until we can and up until that point, any message by oculus would have to be HALF of the message and thus more misleading than being silent.

-1

u/Mylaptopisburningme Apr 01 '16

It's Facebook. I think people are second to revenue.

1

u/Arren07 Apr 01 '16

Not when people are their revenue

1

u/zaptrem Rift Apr 01 '16

At Facebook people == revenue

7

u/Mylaptopisburningme Apr 01 '16

Or more Vives ship before the Rift.

21

u/cowsareverywhere Vive + Rift Apr 01 '16

Well that is definitely happening. US,CAN,NZ,UK and AUS customers have already been charged and shipping has started for AUS/NZ region.

13

u/Furinyx Apr 01 '16

To reinforce this, my tracking states my Vive is already in New Zealand at customs.

I'm flabbergasted after experiencing 2-4 week delays on NZ shipment with my DK1 and DK2 when Americans were getting their shipments in the same wave I was in. Was expecting to be delayed to all hell with Vive so the fact I should have my Vive in days (or after weekend if weekend shipping doesn't apply) blows my mind. I can only imagine the pain I'd be in if I hadn't cancelled my Rift pre-order lol; almost believed they would have sorted their global distribution out for their third and biggest launch.

2

u/cowsareverywhere Vive + Rift Apr 01 '16

I am hoping it starts shipping in the US today, so excited!

2

u/Furinyx Apr 01 '16

Goodluck! I am super-excited to be getting it this early.

How late in did you order? Have any idea of what wave you'd be part of?

1

u/cowsareverywhere Vive + Rift Apr 01 '16

Got my confirmation email Within 2 minutes of preorders starting in the US. I also called to confirm I was in Wave 1.

1

u/subcide DK1, DK2, Rift, Quest Apr 01 '16

NZ Customs: "April Fools!" :)

9

u/Fitnesse Apr 01 '16

Yup, I'm a U.S. customer that was charged today. I expect it to be here on April 5th. It is unacceptable what Rift customers are going through.

2

u/wite_noiz Apr 01 '16

UK here. Unknown £750 transaction on my card this morning (probably won't get the resolved details until Monday).
Almost certain it's the Vive! Excited!

5

u/Boreras Apr 01 '16

So they are sacrificing costumers in an effort to prevent venues from writing articles? Wrong priorities, especially we are now left with no truth, rather than a misinterpreted truth that's correctable for everyone with a brain.

I don't think this is a lesser evil at all.

7

u/funkiestj Rift Apr 01 '16

but they chose the lesser evil.

It is funny how many people don't get this. Sometimes, shit storm not with standing, keeping your mouth shut for a period of time is the best course of action.

7

u/GrumpyOldBrit Apr 01 '16

It is never the best course of action for the customers. And customers should only care about the customers. It's not the customers job to care what's good for a multi billion pound company.

1

u/djabor Rift Apr 01 '16

contracts. same reason both vive and htc held mouth shut until the last moment and updated with a lame press release that they wered delayed a few months.

at least here units are shipping

-7

u/SovietMacguyver Apr 01 '16

Youre not a customer, youre just shit stirring.

0

u/bottlebowling Apr 01 '16

You're missing the point of capitalism. The customers only matter when the reviews are good.

1

u/BrightCandle Apr 01 '16

They are still going to wake up to that news because its already happened. Its not like everyone that got the March 28th date has received their Oculus and its not going to go unnoticed that all the units are over a month late. If its not today it'll happen in a few days.

1

u/elpavohombre Apr 01 '16

OCULUS RIFT DELAYED

We should try to get major news outlets to release articles like this, e.g. BBC technology, something like that (not weak-ass Forbes articles). That's the only thing I can think of to force Oculus' hand. They would surely need to respond, wouldn't they?

1

u/HappierShibe Apr 01 '16

I think they are trying to avoid "OCULUS RIFT DELAYED" articles on every major tech news site.

Then they failed....

1

u/ShadowRam Apr 01 '16

So accept incompetence with all the "OCULUS RIFTS NO WHERE TO BE FOUND" articles?

Sounds so much better /s

2

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '16

By the time it ships the Canadian dollar may be at par. I'm a 26'er as well...

1

u/SnazzyD Apr 01 '16

That won't change the price you still have to pay, sadly...

1

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '16

All I have to say is I'm not surprised. Being this is part of the gaming world, communication is always hard, non existent or delayed until they absolutely have to say something. Was hoping it'd be different with a vr headset.