Early backers of the OUYA were promised an early unit of the console, before it hit retail, but Giles has been waiting for his unit for 77 days, 54 days after the device was available to the general public in stores. Now, after waiting for a response, he’s decided to publish every single email from his correspondence with OUYA.
The issue began when Giles moved from the UK to Australia. He sent an email off to the correct people informing OUYA of the address change, an email that went completely ignored. That’s when the problems began.
From: Giles
Date: 7 Jun 2013
To: OUYA
Subject: RE: [OUYA Support] Re: address change
Hello, Please see below my confirmed address change. Why are you still shipping it to the UK (order no. 19514). I Live in Australia (again, see below). Please can you rectify this? I sent you an email a week ago regarding this that has gone ignored.
Kind regards, Giles
Ouya responded with this email:
From: OUYA
Date: 24 Jun 2013
To: Giles
Subject: [OUYA Support] Re: FW: #myouyaiscoming
Hi Giles,
We did update your address, and we are investigating what happened with our shipping partner in relation to your order. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we will get your OUYA to you. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
Then the launch of the Ouya came and went. At the time, many backers had still not received the early version of the console they were supposed to receive as early backers of the project.
An email was sent out to all backers who hadn’t received their unit.
I am pissed. Some of you have not yet received your OUYA — and, to you, I apologize. I did not promise to ship to *most* of you before we hit store shelves. I promised to ship to *all* of you. I’ve been reading your comments, and we are working to solve this.
Here is what I know:
We delivered your OUYAs to our partner in May, and since then they have been in their custody. We paid for shipping, yet the deliveries remain incomplete. We know everyone is getting their OUYA, but it is taking longer than we expected.
The email also came with a message from Ken Stephens, Head of Operations at OUYA.
Over the past few months, we encountered and conquered many challenges spanning both hardware and software in order to bring the best product we could to market. We have tried to make sure that the challenges we faced did not impact our early supporters, but unfortunately we came up short.
And then later:
Please accept my personal apology for not yet delivering on our promise.
This was June 25. Roughly a week later Giles sent off another email. Still no sign of his Ouya.
From: Giles
Date: 2 Jul 2013
To: OUYA
Subject: [OUYA Support] Re: FW: #myouyaiscoming
Hello, its been a week. What next?
Then bizarrely a response almost two weeks later:
From: OUYA
Date: 15 Jul 2013
To: Giles
Subject: “[OUYA Support] Re: FW: #myouyaiscoming
Hi Giles,
Following up… have you received your OUYA yet?
Giles responded and by July 17 was yet to hear anything in response. “I was a really early backer and I’m feeling pretty let down,” he said. On the July 20 he was informed that the Ouya had been dispatched. Giles was worried that it had been sent to his UK address, so asked Ouya to confirm precisely where it had been sent.
Four days later he received a response confirming that, yes, it had been sent to the correct address in Australia. “We will ensure that this package arrives at the correct location,” wrote the Ouya rep.
And then incredibly, since OUYA hadn’t heard back from Giles for just over a week they closed his ticket without checking in, assuming that the OUYA had been delivered.
From: OUYA
Date: 2 Aug 2013
To: Giles
Subject: Your support ticket
Hi there.
So it’s been awhile since we last heard from you and your ticket has been pending for several days… so… in order to keep our Problem Solvers focused on answering OUYA’n tickets as quickly as possible, we’re going to close out your ticket and hope that your issue has since been solved.
HOWEVER — if you still have questions or feel that your issue hasn’t yet been resolved, please see our FAQ page (https://support.ouya.tv/home) or open a new ticket with us and we’ll get right on it!
OUYA On.
Ouya on indeed.
One day later, before Giles had a chance to respond, Ouya sent him an email, that had clearly been sent out to multiple backers, with a redeemable code for $13.37. A voucher that could only be redeemed on a console that still hadn’t been received. “If you are annoyed with us,” read the email, “we hope this is a first step to winning back your love.”
“No console and no order tracking code?” Giles wrote in reply. “And now you even have the cheek to offer me store credit for a console I don’t even have yet!
“I have been very polite and accommodating up this point but you’ve worn out all my patience.
“I want a REFUND please.”
Despite the clear urgency of the email Ouya didn’t respond until 13 days later, with this email.
From: OUYA
Date: 16 Aug 2013
To: Giles
Subject: Your OUYA support ticket
Hi there.
Many additional OUYAs, extra controllers, etched plates etc. have either been delivered or are on their way (even if you do not have a tracking number)… and we’ve also released a new software version that has addressed some of the issues that have been reported. In order to keep our Problem Solvers focused on answering OUYA’n tickets as quickly as possible, we’re going to close out your ticket and hope that your issue has since been solved.
HOWEVER — if you still have questions or feel that your issue hasn’t yet been resolved, please see our FAQ page (https://support.ouya.tv/home) or open a new ticket with us and we’ll get right on it!
OUYA On.
Bizarrely, Ouya had closed Giles’ ticket again.
Three days later Giles has yet to receive another email about his missing console and he has no idea where his OUYA has been sent, if it’s been sent at all. In response he has uploaded all of his correspondence with OUYA here, in the hope that someone, somewhere, will take notice.
“It’s been 75 days,” he wrote on his website. “I just want a refund now as you seem completely unable to get me a console.
“I’ve published a webpage of our email correspondence to share with the world what a joke this has been.
“I’ve done this as you don’t seem to be listening to me.”
At time of writing, he has yet to receive a response.
Comments
39 responses to “One Man Documents His 77-Day-Long Struggle For An Ouya”
It took him 62 days to ask for a refund.
More like OhNo, right!?
#Dantastic
Xbone doesn’t seem so bad now
XB1 hasn’t even released yet. They’ve still got plenty of time to cock-up the release.
Pos4 still does though 😛
Pretty appalling stuff – highlights one of the big problems with crowd funding – there is no guarantee creative people possess / have acquired the business nouse to handle a success. I would definitely think twice before backing hardware on Kickstarter… Digi products at least remove the physical distribution issue from the equation.
I concur mate. This has completely put me off ever backing a manufactured product via crowd sourcing, a process I was skeptical of but still inclined to give a go, until now.
Don’t think it’s a crowd-funding issue. My Pebble arrived on time and it’s awesome. They’re already being sold at US retail. The problem is people who knowingly hype the shit out of their project but have no business or manufacturing acumen.
http://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/when-kickstarter-investors-want-their-money-back.html
This is a great article which highlights a big part of the problem. People who are full of ideas but have zero experience making products and have no idea how difficult it is dealing with (usually foreign) manufacturers, distributors, import channels, etc. It’s a big headache, even at the best of times. The big players like Sony or Nintendo have been doing this for decades and have economies of scale to streamline the process but every bump in the road is magnified for these smaller companies.
Yep good points – I think we’re pretty much on the same page, I didn’t mean so much that crowd funding was the source of the issue or that all hardware projects would go awry – just that very much like what you said, it gives people who don’t know what their doing access to funds they otherwise wouldn’t receive. Your average backer (myself included) isn’t going to go and research the project creators business creds to the nth degree (although maybe I’ll do a bit more due diligence now…) – you kind of assume they had to make it through some kind of filter to get on Kickstarter? Maybe this isn’t the case?
True. People should, but don’t do their homework. Kickstarter itself is decked out in disclaimers making it very clear that it’s not a store. People are not buying products, they’re ‘pledging’ or donating money in the hope that it takes off. Yes, Kickstarter could do a better job of communicating, but people should always exercise caution when parting with cash online. If a project sounds like an overambitious or unrealistic pipe dream, if its project founders have zero business credentials, if they sound like snake oil salesmen, then it should set off alarm bells.
I hope this guy gets their OUYA or a refund soon! If not then I am sure that Today Tonight/A Current Affair/60 Minutes/Sunday Night/*insert other sensationalist shows here* would be happy to run the story and force a response
Unless it’s a story about how bad games are for children and how they are training our children to become killers, I doubt those current affair shows will care. This is one dude that hasn’t received his video game console.
This is the bit that amazes me:
“we’re going to close out your ticket and hope that your issue has since been solved.”
O_o
Indeed, no confirmation that the issue has been resolved, no actual reason to close the ticket, just closing it because they want to? Disgusting.
Customer Service 101: Do not close a ticket without first receiving confirmation from the customer that their enquiry has been resolved.
If this is how they’re treating their backers, image how the average customer will be treated post sale.
It’s not that surprising. I’ve had similar experiences with BioWare and their handling of SWTOR. Whenever they realise there is a serious problem within the game, they stop communicating with the player-base. We have no idea if our issue is actually being worked on or if they are just ignoring us until we go away.
A few months ago, they introduced this stupid email security system. Upon login, players were required to enter a code that had been sent to their email. However, the codes were frequently late (sometimes it would take up to 30 minutes for one to arrive) and even when they did arrive, they were often incorrect. We then had to wait another 15, 20, 30 minutes for a replacement code which would also be incorrect. One time, I was locked out of the game for over 4 hours before they finally sent me the correct code (I went through about 20 incorrect ones).
What astounds me is the complete lack of customer service. As Shane pointed out above, they keep closing his support tickets, hoping that he will just ‘go away’, so to speak. However, looking at it from Ouya’s side of things, if they sent this via Australia Post, and there is no tracking number (ie: not registered post), then it’s lost, and OUYA are probably wondering if the guy has infact taken delivery of the unit, and is just saying that he got his. I’ve actually recently lost a package via AUS Post, and they were extremely helpful in telling me that it was delivered to me at my store because “the driver marked it as delivered”. Since I was the ONLY person working in the store, and I didn’t get it, it’s kinda impossible that that actually happened. Maybe this is what happened… maybe.
In saying that, the way that OUYA has treated this individual is extremely poor, and I don’t understand why they have not given him a refund, even just to ‘shut him up’. This press can’t be good for them, despite how critical of the console I have been in the past.
I’ll be honest, this is pretty appalling the way he is being treated.
Even if the item was shipped using an Australian Distribution (eg Australia Post) even Standard Australia Post now offers a Tracking Number for anything valued over $2 shipping fee. So they realistically have *NO* reason to not offer him a tracking number. And an Item of that size would surely have been a Signed Consignment, so without his signature he could not receive the item.
Almost seems like they have the mindset of ‘if we just stick our head in the sand and ignore all the emails, people will just give up.’
Not the right frame of mind to have. And unfortunately this means it will be a long while before we see another ‘independent’ console being made.
The thing I like most about this is that Giles used frames in the webpage he set up.
I hope he gets his money back, ouya ought to be ashamed.
I’ve got a similar correspondence chain with them over a missing controller (finally received last week) and the incorrect power adapter being sent (still missing without any good explanation). Unlike this poor chap though I didn’t even have to move to have things go awry. If there’s still activity here when I get home I’ll post it to shed a little more light on just how much of a farce dealing with them has been.
It just goes to show that their customer support division is horribly understaffed. People fall into the cracks where their issues aren’t ignored so much as lost – a better support department will help this not happen again. I think Ouya’s success took everyone by surprise – not the least of which, Ouya themselves.
Ouya’s… success? That’s incredibly optimistic. All the stories I’ve been seeing about the Ouya are about hardware failures, delivery failures, and the fact that no-one is buying games on the platform.
(Edit: I mean, I expect a little schadenfreude and sensationalism to colour what kind of stories will get run, but this is a console that had a lot of high hopes in the games journalism community and I’d have expected them to grab on to any possible little grain of success and run with it.)
He’s referring to the Kickstarter funding that they recieved for the consoles development.
I assume he was referring to the success of the kickstarter rather than the ongoing success of the console since launch.
That would make a lot more sense, actually. Ta. 🙂
Cheers, Braaains, that’s what I was getting at. I don’t think anyone expected the demand to be so high and the business wasn’t big enough to handle the volume, with all the shipping, manufacture, and distribution issues that come hand in hand with such direct internet sales.
It’s their fault, and an inexcusable mistake, but I can sympathize with Ouya. They’re out of their depth.
He is not alone, myself and many other international backers are still waiting. At least he has had better communication from Ouya than I have.
My OUYA was also missing in action until about a week ago – I had the exact same experience – OUYA closes tickets simple because you haven’t updated it. No tracking details, no evidence they’d even shipped the Ouya until right at the end – and even that suggested it was simply sitting in Hong Kong doing nothing.
Mine didn’t turn up with an Australian power supply, perhaps I should try my luck with another ticket.
Pathetic, just pathetic. OUYA should be naming and shaming this “partner” who was supposed to be in charge of shipping. Possibly even legal action. They would have a contract, they haven’t delivered, they broke their contract.
I’m waiting for a class action lawsuit to be filed against the OUYA devs.
Exact same issue here. Still no Kickstarter Ouya, have opened 3 different tickets as they keep closing them. I’m now at a different address so I guess I’ll never get the damn thing and they have been so slow dealing with me a refund seems like a shot at the moon.
This is not even close to my conversation with Treegloo. It took 1 year for them to deliver me something that was guaranteed in 3 weeks.
It’s not all that uncommon for a support organisation to close out tickets after they have been idle for a while, since most people won’t tell you when a problem has been fixed, only when it persists.
That said, if you’re going to make that assumption you also need to have a standard procedure where you *ask* if the problem is fixed before closing off a ticket. It’s no harder to automate the question than it is to automate the ticket closure, and saves a lot of aggravation.
This guy can have mine if he wants. lol
I got mine allot earlier than backers and have not even looked at it.
I got mine the day before release and even mercifully got my extra controller last week. But I had my share of run in’s with their “support”, they are with one exception bloody hopeless. Overwhelmingly, any support query you submit will be met with a fill in the blanks automated response. Chris from support is especially useless.
I suspect their support staff are both understaffed and more importantly under-trained. Felicia however, totally good.
OK. Home now and hopefully this works (please excuse formatting derps):
Like Giles, I was a backer of the Ouya on Kickstarter and also like Giles, the experience with their support has been less than stellar to put it lightly. In my specific case I didn’t change address but I did notice something was amiss when I received the initial shipping statement.
When I pledged support, I included funds to cover both international shipping to Australia and a second controller. The second controller wasn’t mentioned in the shipping advice prompting me to lodge a support ticket as follows:
To this I got a reply a week later (the Zendesk automated email suggested I’d have a reply within 48 hours):
Believing the issue to be under control I left it at this and closed the initial ticket. On the 25th of June, like all kickstarters of the project, I received the (not overly professional) email stating that Julie Urhman was “pissed” that backers were experiencing holdups in delivery. A few days later to my surprise, the unit arrived… minus the second controller and with the wrong power adapter. This prompted me to submit a new support ticket as follows:
Ok so now at this point I am lead to believe things are under control. Extra controllers are reportedly being sent in a second shipment and the proper plug has been arranged. Just short of 3 weeks later, the lack of communication is getting to me so I ask for an update:
Strangely this got me two replies a few days later. Lucky me.
I let a few more weeks pass because by this point I’ve pretty much put the experience down as a write off. Like Giles and other backers, I received the token credit email from Julie (I found this to be nothing more than a PR stunt rather than a fitting apology). Still no replies to the ticket or goods though so I give them a prod:
I have yet to get a reply to this update but a few days later two things happened; I received the controller (yay cause I still can’t use it without a power adapter) and an unexplained email with shipping advice from the USPS:
Unexpected. Something was being scheduled for shipping on the 13/8/2013. Given I got the controller the on the 13th as well, I suspect it to be the power adapter. For clarification I updated the ticket.
Still no reply nor adapter but unlike Giles I’m too stubborn to demand a refund.
Anyways I can see that I’m not the only backer who has been underwhelmed by the customer service experience (and reportedly the OUYA in general). Hopefully by making this public OUYA might address the lack of support and backers such as Giles can get the resolution they deserve and desire.
This just smells of a tin-pot company with without a communication strategy, dispute resolution process or PR department.
Immature written correspondence at all levels and a lot of buck passing going on.
I had some minor issues with support while waiting for my ouya. Like @hatesyou above, I got an order confirmation telling me I’d only get one controller. I submitted a ticket, got no response, submitted a follow up and within a week or so saying they would ship the second controller separately. I did get a second controller in my box when it finally arrived, though (around a week after “retail launch”).
Poor communication, but hardly a horror story like other people have had.
Here’s something interesting though. After reading this article yesterday, I sent an email off to support with links to this article and Giles’ link to his correspondence, asking them to pay attention to his issues. Here’s what I got as a response a few minutes ago:
…I can’t really complain at credit for nothing. It looks like they’re really trying to make up for their issues. Not sure if it will get them anywhere though. There’s a lot of people burned by this, and I don’t know if they can possibly make up for it all.
Also, no idea what to spend my Ouya credit on. I might purchase Towerfall, but there’s really not much that interests me on this box. But that’s a separate issue.
Amusing that they find the time to respond to your email but not the myriad of open support tickets.
I’m also a early backer and have had an almost comical experience like the person in the article, but haven’t changed my address at all – they just close tickets and _HOPE_ things are ok, without actually doing anything.
Really frustrating, and the poor customer service, the numerous empty and unfulfilled promises has made me avoid supporting other kickstarters (which I’d like to do, but OUYA has spoiled the idea for me).
The sad thing is, I was really looking forward to using it, but If it ever even shows up, I don’t think I even want to unpack it, or even turn it on.