Retailers Oversold HP TouchPads, Customers See Their Orders Canceled [Amazon, Barnes & Noble Oversell The Heavily Discounted webOS Tablets, Some Folks Left Without Tablet After The Weekend's Firesale]

Posted on TFTS by Kevin Schram on Thursday, 25. August 2011 under: Computers & Computing, PCs, Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets, xFeatured

The HP TouchPad received mixed reviews, but that didn’t stop people from going crazy when HP and their retail partners started selling the device for just $99 this past weekend. Unfortunately, some retailers were so flushed with orders for the tablets, that they sold more than they had. That means they’re canceling orders now, leaving some customers extremely upset.

The main culprit seems to be OnSale, an Amazon reseller who sells through Amazon.com. There are handfuls of reports of people getting their OnSale/Amazon order for a $99 TouchPad canceled. OnSale apologized with this posting on their Facebook page:

When the price decrease was announced this weekend, our websites and the websites of many major retailers were overwhelmed with customers placing orders for the HP Touchpad. In fact,the [sic] sudden influx of orders was well in excess of the amount of product available. We are now in the process of filling valid orders using all available inventory on a first-come, first-served basis. We will be cancelling all orders that we cannot promptly fill and sending cancellation notices. Thank you for your understanding and your patience as we deal with this unprecedented event.

Here’s a copy of the mail that our own Robert Nelson got from Amazon regarding his purchase of the TouchPad. According to him, he purchased it on Sunday and received the cancellation notice on Wednesday.

Greetings from Amazon.com,
We’re writing to inform you that your order xxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxxxx from onSale has been canceled because the item(s) you purchased were out of stock. Please return and place your order again at a later time.
Our sellers strive to minimize canceled orders. We’re sorry for the inconvenience this has caused. Your credit card was not charged for this order. If you have any questions regarding the cancelation of this order, please contact onSale.
If you’re still interested in this item, please search for it again on Amazon.com.
We’ve included your order details below for reference. We’ve also included the URL for the item you purchased if you’d like to try ordering from another seller.
We value you as a customer and hope you will continue shopping on Amazon.com.

In addition to OnSale, Barnes & Noble also oversold HP TouchPads this past weekend. Some customers who ordered HP TouchPads from the bookseller’s website have received disappointing emails from B&N, citing “unexpected customer demand”. Barnes & Noble, like OnSale, is canceling the orders and refunding any credit card charges.

We know the HP TouchPad did extremely well this past weekend, even outselling the iPad 2. Of course, it was just a one-weekend deal as HP and their retail partners jettisoned their stock of the tablets, but it looks like the $99-$149 pricepoint is extremely appealing for tablets, regardless of the software on there.

What say you? Did you order a TouchPad through OnSale or Barnes & Noble and get your order canceled? Tell us about it in the comments section.

Source

Kevin
My Sunday order was cancelled by onsale almost 4 days later. Since my order was confirmed I stopped looking for the Touchpdad. Now I’m empty handed. What is really upsetting are the people that bought many to resell on eBay.
Sheila
My hubby ordered one for him and one for me from OnSale. The order was cancelled, but not until three days later. They filled orders from those who chose expedited shipping in preference to customers who ordered earlier, according to people who posted on the OnSale Facebook page. This was after customers were being told the orders would be filled first-come first-served. Ridiculous!
Chris
Mine was canceled also, I am currently trying to force amazon to make this right. If I had ordered from any other retailer I would have had it, but waiting 4 days has totally screwed me over. I hate Amazon so much right now, I am pretty sure I am going to hold a grudge for a longggggg time over this.
Armando
Placed three orders on Amazon for touchpads from OnSale. All orders stated “Shipping Soon” for 3 days with no new information then all three orders cancelled. Come to find out that right after all these orders were cancelled, Onsale started taking orders for the TouchPads again on their main site for $357.00 a pop. They stated the item was on back order and would be shipped out when they got more in stock. Funny how they couldnt hold on to my orders @ the $99 price tag until they got more but they sure could take new orders for $357.00.
Andrew
I ordered an HP Touchpad from OnSale on Amazon.com Sunday and also got the cancelled notice 3 days later. I think it is very poor management on the part of OnSale and Amazon to make the sale without the inventory. Also, they charged my Credit Card and I have to deal with making sure the charge is refunded. Worst of all, I can find no way to leave negative feedback for OnSale on Amazon.com. They don’t deserve their 97% positive rating :( !!!
charles
cancelled order then reposted for over 300 amazon does nothing and makes excuses so if your a seller on amazon and you dont like the price it sold just say its out of stock and then just resell it at a higher price this is amazons new policy onsale scam artist beware
Peter
Amazon do not let me leave any negative feedback for OnSale. I called Amazon twice, used their on-line chat and still can not leave any negative feedback for OnSale.
BN and HP and everybody else
Ordered from BN on Sunday, found out Monday it was conacelled, then ordered from HP not 5 minutes after BN order. Would have ordered from some where else had it just said OUT OF STOCK. We cant let them do this. Now they know they can and believe me, they will do it again. Now they have all our info and numbers to market to and sell off. They decieved us about their stock. I consider it Fraud. And the fact that it happened to so many retailers all at the same time is dissapointing. Come on no matter how busy the servers are they can still keep track of an inventory counter. Dont Belive them! They are all lying!
Tin
Placed an order with HP SMB Sunday, August 21, @ 7:30 AM EST and got an order confirmation HTML page on the HP site. 30 hours later (Monday 12:51 PM) received an order confirmation email. Still waiting for shipping confirmation, 5 days later (Friday 1:48 PM)….
NoHP Forme
My Touchpad order was cancelled almost 4 days after I received a confirmation on it (by OnSale). Add to that, that it showed shipping soon for two days, I didn’t think nothing about it since I have always trusted Amazon. I know that the feedback on this seller was good (~98%) and that Amazon keeps strict control over sellers that sell items that they don’t physically have in stock. In fact, I believe it is in the terms and conditions of being a seller on Amazon.
Then comes my cancellation letter, identical to the one posted in the article. Since I received a confirmation email, I stopped looking for it as of Sunday evening. (my order was placed Sunday early morning). Now I have nothing, not even any hope of finding one.
What really amazes me is that the seller (OnSale) is STILL selling on Amazon and that I can’t even leave any feedback about my dealings with the seller over this transaction. What use is Amazon feedback if it is all positive? I don’t want to “feel good” over a seller on Amazon, I want REAL feedback.
At least on EBay and other major sites, I can leave appropriate feedback for a transaction whether or not the item was shipped. Now that I know that Amazon stacks the deck in their favor with regards to feedback for large sellers, I have to look elsewhere for my purchases. This was a very embarrassing situation at the minimum as this purchase was for a Birthday present. Once the order was confirmed, I went ahead and told the recipient that it was on the way!
This seller is a major seller on Amazon and has access to endless inventory, even though it might not be an HP TouchPad. They could have offered a Refurbished iPad 1 for the same or similar price and this bad press would have turned into the greatest press any company could ask for.
Well, I guess I go look on Ebay and some of the other endless e-tailers sites (that I trust). Shame on you OnSale for not making this right, Shame on you Amazon for allowing a seller to still sell on your site after this!
Anon
Onsale is lying when they say orders were filled on a first come first serve basis; There is a messageboard where everyone started putting down the details of when and what they ordered with onsale, and that is how people figured it out. First, they are filling the orders placed directly through their website (regardless of whether someone placed through amazon first) because they don’t have to pay anything to Amazon for those orders. Then, the preference is for those who paid for rush.
Kevin
I also ordered from Onsale and received my confirming email and I thought I was set. Four days later I received cancellation email.
I called Amazon and was told that they had no control over Onsale. Even thought I received confirming email and the canceling email from Amazon. They explained it as they held my credit card information and the didn’t want to release it to Onsale
After talking to a Manager I was still given the same story. They gave me a customer service number for Onsale. I called and was on the line for a half hour and then the signal went busy.
To top all this off I also receive a cancellation email from HP. I tried to get three Touchpads for my grandchildren. I thought I did everything right.
Bruce
Ordered from OnSale via Amazon, they charged me without a problem. Emailed OnSale to get confirmation, no response. Called 4 times a number provided by Amazon never got any answer. 3 days later, finally I emailed Amazon, to finally get a cancelation email. When asked about my refund it took them an extra 2 days. What if I would have never asked? Amazon states the hold would have been for 14 days because of the way Onsale charged customers. Why charge if you never had the product? HHMM…Never again OnSale!!!
Alex
I had my Barnes and Noble order cancelled and my Amazon order through Onsale cancelled. The Onsale order cancellation was bs since they cancelled orders and then magically had more stock to sell at $279 each, but they are now operating as Expert Computers Inc Storefront due to their overwhelming negative user reviews. I am not as upset at BN since they didn’t raise their prices the next day after canceling orders. Shame on Amazon for allowing companies like Onsale to continue operating and changing their name when user ratings are low.
Scott
My order was placed 8/21 at 6am. got conformation of processing.The next day I got a email saying it would ship the 24th and would get on 26th.They canceld it the 25th.If you don’t have them to send don’t take the order in the first place.This not the way you do business or keep it.