For the first time since I got my original Motorola Droid more than three years ago I was excited about a new Android phone. I had read enough about the Nexus 4 to feel like I already owned it, and like many other Android fanboys I stayed up late on the night of the 12th hoping it would go on sale after midnight.
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| The precious. |
It didn’t, and it wasn’t on sale at 3AM either. Since Google wasn’t telling any of us when the webstore would allow purchasing I went to sleep and woke myself up around 10AM to check the site. Still not live, but by this time Google had told everyone it would go on sale at noon EST, 9AM PST.
Great! I refreshed the page every few minutes while I worked and was surprised to find the device for sale at 11:30. I already knew from the overseas sales that it was going to sell out in a hurry, so I placed my order immediately and had the order confirmation in my inbox at 11:36AM, making me one of the first people to get their order in. That was on the 13th – launch day.
Then the waiting began. The order confirmation page said it should ship on the 15th and arrive two days after that. The 15th came and went and I hadn’t received the Email notification telling me the Nexus had shipped, so on the 16th I Emailed Google Play support.
No response by the 17th, so on the 18th I decided to call. After a nice long hold I reached a real, live person who apologized for the fiasco and told me that he was escalating my case to a specialist and that they would expedite my order and waive the shipping fees. I thanked him, though I had my doubts. People all across the world have been complaining about delays – someone even started a petition – so I didn’t think a simple phone call would really make much difference.
Today, the 19th, I got my shipping confirmation Email. Moral of the story; call Google Play Support (855-836-3987). You may just get your Nexus 4 that much faster if you do.
Update 11/20: Not only did Google ship it quickly, they sent it UPS Next Day Air, so it arrived this morning!