The nexus 7 will be sabotaged by google's crappy customer service.
I bought one at 10:37 am the morning they were available. It's 11 days later and there's no communication and no status on when it will ship. For status you are instructed to click through to google wallet. That site also has no status, no expected ship date, nothing. So that's strike one.
Second, I moved this weekend and need to update the billing address for the credit card. The google "contact support" page displays their usual FOAD customer service. You have to click through to yet another page to contact customer support. Of course, they're too incompetent to forward your 37 character order number. So after you compose a message, you realize you have to hit backspace to get the order number. And of course, they clear the message you carefully composed. These people supposedly understand web applications. How the hell does the link from inside google wallet to google customer support not know who I am and my fucking order number?
I still haven't gotten through to customer support and I anticipate spending at least 30 minutes on the phone tomorrow. I'll update, but I imagine that there's another ipad in my future.
This seems like a lot of fuss over 1) an unannounced ship date and 2) a web page that deleted your carefully composed message.
Personal anecdote: I wanted to change the credit card on the order. So I went to the Nexus page[1], clicked "Customer support" in the sidebar, clicked "Managing your order", and called the number they show, 1-855-83-NEXUS. Someone picked up in maybe 30 seconds (and I expected really bad wait times for Google customer support...).
I explained I wanted to change the credit card, and he asked me for my email address + a piece of personal information. He told me he couldn't change the credit card, but could instead issue an order cancellation and I could rebuy the Nexus 7. Not ideal, but I said it was okay (after confirming that they weren't out of stock or anything). He saw that I only had one order on my account, cancelled it for me, and we ended the call. No order number needed; took all of 4 minutes.
Granted, I'm a pretty big fan of Google so I'm definitely biased. And I do agree that Google's customer support sucks. But it's a bit disheartening to see the top comment be such a petty complaint.
"Unannounced ship date" is not the same as "order shows as 'complete', payment is taken, but there is no information anywhere as to when you'll get your device, or if it has been shipped or not. Is it lost in the post? Stolen? Who knows."
Compare this to Apple, who give you fairly accurate ship dates and tracking numbers once shipped.
Actually it shows 'Your order has been sent to Google Commerce Ltd.'
Play shows 'Completed'. Which I assume to mean "the order has been successfully placed, you'll get the product". If I'm really that unsure I can click on 'info' and be taken to the Google wallet transaction.
I truly cannot see why this is confusing to anyone. Yes it's crap that there is no announced shipping date.
I've seen people get so ridiculously worked up over this, you've pre-ordered it, just be patient. It's already stated that you'll receive an email with a tracking number when it ships. Relax, it's coming.
If I'm really that unsure I can click on 'info' and be taken to the Google wallet transaction.
Which is where you started! It says "Google Commerce received your order". How does that help make you certain? You're stuck in a loop between a site that says another site got your order, while the other site says it is "Complete".
I am mostly sure it's coming. I am relaxed. My original point was that this is not a fuss over an "unannounced ship date". People are fine with those, like they are with Apple's "Ships withn 3-4 weeks".
The OP's "fuss" was that the communication here is terrible, and it suggests that Google hasn't taken on board all the customer services issues that made selling Nexus handsets such a disaster for them.
Wow, you're comparing Apple, a company that has had
half a decade or more to setup a decent eStore
to Google who has never personally sold devices
till a few months ago?
The surprise, shock & horror!
Ever heard of the woes (which is a universal law
which affects all businesses at some point) of "early adoption?"
>>>Wow, you're comparing Apple, a company that has had half a decade or more to setup a decent eStore to Google who has never personally sold devices till a few months ago?
And why not? Is the entire process so arcane and mysterious that only Apple can do it? He could have used any other company as an example and probably settled on Apple since it's a top dog right now. But to excuse the incompetency of a multi-billion corporation like Google, which brags about how smart its staff is, is ridiculous. Some things are just so damn basic that not doing them either shows gross negligence or willful stupidity or I just don't know what. Google could have sorted this out well beforehand. There is just no excuse.
Google has been selling devices for years, not months. And, yes, I actually agree it's unfair to compare them with Apple -- but that's what the market will do, and the market doesn't care about fairness.
For $300 I expect order status and a customer service webapp that remembers my info. Amazon, apple, etc all make this happen. Google could if anyone there cared.
But, why? Is the product alone not enough for your money? If you feel so strongly about this, why not wait for it to be released officially before making the purchase?
Google's customer service isn't the issue here. They offered the product for pre-order without making any statements about a shipping deadline. To then turn around and expect them to set one just because you gave them money is foolish.
Google's customer service is the issue here. How a major tech company that focuses on the delivery of data designs a system that can't provide even the most basic of ordering information in 2012 is beyond me. It's what I expect from a small start-up (and even then it would irritate me). Why isn't there an estimated shipping timeline (nothing specific, just what they've also stated in the press, est. 3-4 weeks/subject to change). And why do I have to call to change billing information? I'd expect that from Sears or a behind the times brick&mortar, not the company that has helped define the internet.
I understand there are alot of Google apologists on HN, and Apple get's the lion's share of positive tech press (they also get the majority of negative press too), but they should be pushing Google to be a better company, not insulting first adopters that pre-ordered a Google product.
Wow! This is a very enlightening and entertaining email.
These two quote stand out for me.
>>I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.
In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.<<
>>So I got back up and running and went to Windows Update again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.<<
Funny as hell but very true. A lot of things that I take for granted in the Mac always gives me problems in Windows. Simple things like connecting to the internet either by wifi or ethernet are not always smooth. There is always some obscure setting I have to tweak.
It reminds me of all those support centers that first ask you to key in your account number. Once a person (finally) answers the phone, the first thing they ask for is your account number.
Me: But I already keyed it in!
Them: Sorry, sir, but we don't have access to that.
I used to work at the Dell technical support call center. And they used to tell us that customer service is a part of the product. At first it seemed they were taking overboard with regards to customer service.
But our managers made it clear, customer satisfaction came first. Everything else came next. We would even support calls which didn't even have warranty. Sometimes even teach people how to use computers, like practical tutions. Especially to the elderly. We would even make follow up calls to ensure everything was right.
Soon the results showed. I mean Apple fanboys might laugh at us. But we sold more stuff by good customer service and courtesy than apple would have sold by innovation.
> Soon the results showed. I mean Apple fanboys might laugh at us. But we sold more stuff by good customer service and courtesy than apple would have sold by innovation.
Setting aside for a moment that Apple is clearly winning in the sales department, Apple's pretty well known for good customer support.
I like the intent of your message but the actual details sound suspicious and even wrong. I, too, did some work for Dell contracts (that stuff is sourced out to location) and I can tell you after seeing how that worked I never bought another Dell product and talked everyone I knew out of it as well.
As for your assertion about "Apple fanboys", have you seen how much Apple innovation sells? The last article I saw said Apple makes more revenue from the IPhone than MS makes... full stop.
Innovation sells well and Apple is consistently voted highly on customer service. Odd that you chose to pick on Apple instead of Google who have support so bad that not even Google fanboys try to defend it.
Yeah, I second that. The tablet sounds great, so I placed a pre-order on Jun 28. Never got an estimated ship date then and seeing this post reminded me about it. I checked my order status on Google Wallet just now and it still gives no estimated ship date or any status whatsoever. Sorry, in a world of Amazon and Apple that have this basic delivery status down, this is a failure for Google. I'm hoping it will eventually ship and that it does prove to wow me, but this experience is definitely bad. I'm left to basically hope it arrives someday. If they just said, it'll be 5 weeks or 6 months or whatever, that would be far superior to saying nothing. Setting expectations is a key part of customer service that is missing here.
A $200 tablet isn't for you. I'm serious: You appear to need expensive hand holding. Get an iPad and contact them all you want.
I'm not trying to defend Google here, but they have only pushed the Nexus 7, thus far, to the tech industry. They have been very clear that it is not shipping for two to three weeks. If you're antsy and impatient about it, desperate to see a number counting down, it isn't for you.
I guess my core point is that there are a lot of us who don't need the expensive hand holding. I pre-ordered right once it became available. And then I forgot about it. They don't bill until it ships, so whenever.
That's not "expensive hand holding", it's just basic customer service. Apple does it, Amazon does it, Kmart.com does it. To the best of my knowledge, there is no reputable online retailer that does not do it.
The lack of transparency into Google's ordering process isn't going to the the exclusive downfall of this tablet, but issues like these are clearly something that Google needs to address if they want this tablet to have mass-market appeal.
That's not "expensive hand holding", it's just basic customer service
They said that it would start shipping in two to three weeks. It has been 11 days since the earliest possible orders and already the whining has begun by impatient, the customer-is-always-righteous-in-complaints sorts. Yes, customer service workers answering lines to tell you what you already know are expensive. Why should I bear that cost?
The other complaint is about a billing change -- Google made it very clear on the original order if anything changes to simply cancel the order. Impatient customer doesn't want that, though. They want someone to hold their hand and change details for them so that they don't lose their position in line that they demand a date on even though they know it isn't yet.
Sounds to me what he is asking for, halfway through 2012, isn't unreasonable. Not only isn't it unreasonable, but most large online retailers do just what he is asking, an expected ship date and the ability to revise billing. Why has Google, one of the world's leading tech companies, failed to implement such important and simple features. How much faith am I to have in Google as a retailer of consumer electronics if they can't even get this right? I expected this when I purchased the Nexus One on it's release, but I expect better 2.5 yrs later.
And how asking for these two simple features make him an "impatient, the customer-is-always-righteous" customer is beyond me, unless you happen to be a Google fandroid who believes the company can do no wrong.
Nexus 7 seems to be a great product that many people are excited about, the first truly worthy competitor to Apple's tablet monopoly and why you have to besmirch one such consumer when he points out a weakness in Google's consumer facing service paints you as the self-righteous *ss, not him, imho.
Is this really true? How many "large online retailers" can you name that have been able to pinpoint an exact shipping date months in advance of the actual release of a product? Apple sure doesn't; they get around this by not even announcing a product until they can pretty much release it immediately.
In fact, as far as I can tell, Google is meeting the standards set by the electronics industry. Heck, in the gaming world, I have known people to put in their credit card details and preorder a game that's supposed to be out in six months, and then wait for a full year before seeing it ship.
Yes, for products that have been released already, it would make sense to demand a shipping date. This is not one of those products. They've given him a much better promise than many companies have in the history of not-yet-released electronic items. Once it's been more than three weeks, maybe we can start to wonder.
unless you happen to be a Google fandroid who believes the company can do no wrong
Google does plenty wrong, but that doesn't excuse petty bitchers from groaning and griping about pre-orders of a marketed-only-to-the-tech-industry device. No, I don't expect pre-orders of the Nexus 7 to operate like kmart, and I find the notion rather laughable.
Sounds to me what he is asking for, halfway through 2012, isn't unreasonable
I pre-ordered the iPad 3rd generation the day it was announced. They gave me a rough shipping date exactly as Google has with the Nexus 7. They gave me an actual shipping notice the day it was shipped (actually they kind of faked that and gave me a shipping notice when it started shipments from China which is a supply-chain process that really is irrelevant to me, but whatever). That is essentially the gold standard.
When you pre-order anything from anywhere (or order when it is out of stock) it is the general standard that there is, at best, a rough guess. Exactly as Google did here, and we're still three days before their absolute best promised shipping date. Most sites don't even allow you to order out of stock items because they don't want whining customers crying tears when it isn't expedient.
and why you have to besmirch one such consumer when he points out a weakness in Google's consumer facing service paints you as the self-righteous ss, not him, imho.*
I don't care if the whiner buys it. I am not a Google "fandroid" (jesus...seriously? Engadget ban you?) and I don't care whether someone hops on the train. But honestly I find that sort of self-entitled "where is my shipping date!" bullshit draining and annoying.
I don't feel it's petty to want what in 2012 should be basic information, obviously you do and in that our opinions will differ. I also didn't realize it was only marketed to the tech industry, I must have crossed over from the regular internet to the tech internet by mistake. Do you have to put in your tech credentials when you order? Otherwise how do they keep nubes like me from ordering?
In my experience ordering popular products, when I check back on placed order's not yet shipped, the estimated ship date gets updated (Apple and Amazon both do this). So while new orders may continue to show a 2-3 week ship date, an early order might show 1-2 days. I believe this is what he is asking for. Seems as popular as this product is they are probably back-ordered before they've shipped the first batch. If they aren't updating then the question begs why not? (At least for me and the original poster, you apparently don't care if they ship this today or next year). Is it too much to ask for up-to-date information or when I use Google search should I expect results that were only relevant 2-3 weeks ago? Again, this is Google we are talking about, some of the smartest people on the planet working for a very wealthy corporation. Why can't I expect world class customer service? Is that beyond their means?
Engadget hasn't banned me yet, but then again I don't ever recall posting there. You seem experienced with this internet thing, what should I post to get banned there and what are the advantages of being banned from Engadget (other than no longer having the desire to post on Engadget)? Can I reach Engadget through the regular internet or do I need access to this tech industry internet that you use?
Google Play device orders can't even be cancelled by the purchaser. Not even within 5 minutes of placing the order. The reason I had to cancel it was because they declined my card which I'd been using forever through Google Wallet. Furthermore, they give no reason for the decline (which turned out to be that AmEx needed to authorize the purchase.)
I had to do a phone call with them to get it cancelled. Worst purchasing experience ever!!
"The nexus 7 will be sabotaged by google's crappy customer service."
Dream on. This is just how the Nexus 7 is being sold right now. Best Buy, Future Shop, and Amazon are already putting in their orders and will sell the vast majority of these devices. Google will be a bit player in the Nexus 7 market and their customer service for better or worse will be a non-issue as far as how well overall sales go.
I bought one at 10:37 am the morning they were available. It's 11 days later and there's no communication and no status on when it will ship. For status you are instructed to click through to google wallet. That site also has no status, no expected ship date, nothing. So that's strike one.
Second, I moved this weekend and need to update the billing address for the credit card. The google "contact support" page displays their usual FOAD customer service. You have to click through to yet another page to contact customer support. Of course, they're too incompetent to forward your 37 character order number. So after you compose a message, you realize you have to hit backspace to get the order number. And of course, they clear the message you carefully composed. These people supposedly understand web applications. How the hell does the link from inside google wallet to google customer support not know who I am and my fucking order number?
I still haven't gotten through to customer support and I anticipate spending at least 30 minutes on the phone tomorrow. I'll update, but I imagine that there's another ipad in my future.