One Man Documents His 77-Day-Long Struggle For An Ouya

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.


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