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Should Oculus say sorry to it's loyal customers and backers by means of compensation?

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee
Just an idea because a lot of people seem unhappy on the forums and other companies have apologized this way before too. Like Sony with their PlayStation. 

I think it would be a good idea if they gave discounts or 1-2 free games to everyone who pre-ordered in the first month. It could work something like this. But this is just an idea. It could work other ways too, such as discounted Touch Controllers for everyone that pre-ordered within the first month or two.

I read these forums every single day and I see a lot of unhappy people. I read peoples comments on Reddit and Facebook and else where too and so it just seems right that they should offer some kind of compensation to their loyal customers and backers to apologize for all their mistakes.

I think this would go a long way. Once everyone is gaming with their Rift I reckon everyone will be happy and half way ready to forgive Oculus for their mistakes, but to ensure that everything is forgiven and forgotten I think this extra effort on their part would go a long way in redeeming customer confidence and keeping loyal backers keen to purchase future products & software from Oculus.

Whats everyone else's thought on this?
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!
70 REPLIES 70

Anonymous
Not applicable
Most certainly, they should have said 'sorry' more often. Words are free, but go a long way towards soothing ruffled feelings.  If I'd had more communication from Oculus simply apologising for the delays, they would probably still have my order. Free games? I'm not so sure. If Rift really is being sold at close to cost, Oculus need to sell a lot of games to start making money.

Anonymous
Not applicable

notsram said:

Most certainly, they should have said 'sorry' more often. Words are free, but go a long way towards soothing ruffled feelings.  If I'd had more communication from Oculus simply apologising for the delays, they would probably still have my order. Free games? I'm not so sure. If Rift really is being sold at close to cost, Oculus need to sell a lot of games to start making money.


If they wanted to sell more games, then they should have opened up Vive support on day 1. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

Nobbs66 said:


notsram said:

Most certainly, they should have said 'sorry' more often. Words are free, but go a long way towards soothing ruffled feelings.  If I'd had more communication from Oculus simply apologising for the delays, they would probably still have my order. Free games? I'm not so sure. If Rift really is being sold at close to cost, Oculus need to sell a lot of games to start making money.


If they wanted to sell more games, then they should have opened up Vive support on day 1. 


I'm sure they have their reasons. But, as I've said before, if they chose not to support Vive, people will simply pirate the games and run them using the Revive wrapper.

JED44
Rising Star
@zsciaeount You put it better then I could

@felixm477 Additionally, I believed I have expressed this alot, but it really confuses and angers me that people seem to think that all of that is ok, that we aren't owed the time of day by Oculus and that somehow they can do no wrong. or that one apology, albeit one that was half taken away, is sufficient when they just keep making the same mistakes over and over. 

Lemming1970
Rising Star
I'm sure there is a cancel button on the order page for anyone that is sooooo unhappy with the way the have been treated. 1ST world disaster at it's best.
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Anonymous
Not applicable

JED44 said:

@Percy1983  A sign of ignorance is refusing to acknowledge issues right infront of your face.

1) Quote Irebe - "  
First set of Rifts are going out slower than we orig estimated, so we're giving free shipping for all pre-orders, including international." - keyword giving, nowhere does it say that our expedited shipping (the only option ever given) would be taken away. We originally paid for that shipping, so no rational person would think. well I guess free shipping means they aren't going to go with only method we have been told they are using so far. 

EDIT - The email says "
we'll be covering shipping and handling costs for all orders placed through today." covering meaning they will pay the bill we already had. meaning we keep our expedited shipping

2) Even then, they didn't inform us that they would be changing shipping to ground until people starting noticing and called them out. 

3) We were told we would get shipping dates 'soon" after preorders opened, March 28th no shipping dates. 

4) We were told pre orders and kickstarters would be shipping out friday and monday the 28th, well, except for that one guy in Alaska. that didn't happen. 

5) We were told literally at the 11th hour on the 27th that preorders would not go out until later that week. 

6) We weren't told about the component shortage or stock issues until a week or more after launch. When this is information they definitely had prior to the 28th and could've communicated to pre orders before everyone got upset because they didnt know anything about their march estimated $600+ order. 

7) how about the fact we got more information from reddit then oculus about what was going on? 

now, you can address any one of these concerns, or continue to ignore it like you all do. Once I was actually told about what was going on I was ok with it. April 12th I was fine with the news I wouldnt get my rift till June. All I ever wanted was some communication and transparency as to what was going on. and thats the real issue. I don't care that it is delayed or that they downgraded shipping to make it free. I care that they didnt say anything or communicate that this was happening until it was absolutely necessary to do so. That is not how you treat your customers. 



This is pretty much why I cancelled and went with Vive. I pre-ordered mid-March (after all the rumours of Rift problems) and got an estimated date of May. My card was charged and my Vive arrived the first working day in May. No fuss, no excuses, no delays. And I don't regret changing sides on bit.

JED44
Rising Star
@notsram I actually ordered my vive as an afterthought. I thought let me get it so I dont have to decide which is better. Though I would have never thought that I would get my vive first. Even after I had CC cancellation issues. I still got my vive within two weeks. I can say I was really ticked off about that as well. HTC wasnt communicating well on that either. But they delivered in a reasonable time frame and I have to say I am enjoying it much more than I thought I would. I originally thought roomscale was a gimmick. 

Percy1983
Superstar
I will say here in the UK, it was just £30 shipping, no option for faster/slower and no more detail given for shipping, maybe it was different for others.

As for them taking a few days to report the shortage, I do genuinely believe there was hope of getting it shorted up until they made the announcement, by which point they knew it wasn't recoverable. It could have gone either way, report it and find a solution then you have reported a non issue people kick off, wait until your certain you have a problem, people kick off.

I really don't see any failings in the communication at any point, but I wasn't holding my breath waiting for updates was I.
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JED44
Rising Star
@Percy1983 I can understand that, however alot of people were very excited and for other reasons (vacations, work, moving, monetary issues) were expecting to get their rift when it was estimated to ship. A lack of information on such a big purchase is naturally going to upset people. 

I also think they still could've kept people in the loop as to their shipping process. They knew the demand months in advance and knew how much stock they had and could produce. Even being conservative they had an idea of baselines. They had to have had them. So while I do think they were trying to solve it ( and we dont really know what it was so further speculation is just that), I really do think much more couldve been communicated to keep people in the loop and content. 

I can certainty say that if they had come out and said, "we are still planning to begin delivering on the 28th, however this is how we are allocating stock and roughly how fast we expect to fulfill orders. This may mean that some orders will be fulfilled later then originally thought, but we are working on getting them out the door as fast as we can, so you can enjoy it, thank you for your patience" or something along those lines. either before or right after launch. I don't think anyone would have been as mad or vehement as they were. We all understood that this is bleeding edge tech and we cant expect a perfect launch. but it just felt like there was a blackout for far to long, and when we were given information it was half truths or otherwise unhelpful or dismissive of peoples concerns. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

JED44 said:

@notsram I actually ordered my vive as an afterthought. I thought let me get it so I dont have to decide which is better. Though I would have never thought that I would get my vive first. Even after I had CC cancellation issues. I still got my vive within two weeks. I can say I was really ticked off about that as well. HTC wasnt communicating well on that either. But they delivered in a reasonable time frame and I have to say I am enjoying it much more than I thought I would. I originally thought roomscale was a gimmick. 


If you're going to meet a delivery target, then you don't need awesome communication. I received an email saying my card was about to be charged, then another saying my Vive was about to be despatched, then tracking details. Like I said, no fuss, drama  or delays.

IMO, Vive is amazing. So glad I cancelled my Rift order. The controllers make any game feel SO much better, and I can't wait to move into a bigger room so that I can try proper roomscale 🙂