2600+ amazon or preorder from atari

[TrogdarRobusto]

Our expectation was that items would be shipped based on order date  ... it looks like there may have been some decisions made on the ground based on a desire to ship as many units as possible, as fast as possible, that may have changed that logical shipping order. Still digging into it. Worst case scenario (barring natural disaster) is they go out first week of December.

[Mockduck]

The fact remains that people should absolutely have ordered these from Amazon rather than direct from Atari as the folks who ordered from Amazon have had theirs for almost a week now and I'm still waiting. By the time it arrives it'll feel like I missed the launch. 

[E. King]

12 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

The fact remains that people should absolutely have ordered these from Amazon rather than direct from Atari as the folks who ordered from Amazon have had theirs for almost a week now and I'm still waiting. By the time it arrives it'll feel like I missed the launch. 

Thank you for speaking up on this.

It is nice to know that I am not completely nuts and when a well respected person in the Atari community like yourself says something it really means alot.

I and many others appreciate your voice.

[TrogdarRobusto]

1 hour ago, E. King said:

The big question is if the orders are shipping in waves then why are so many people who ordered on Aug 22 from Atari.com not in the first wave?

 

 

It was our intent that all the early orders would be fulfilled first ... we now know some decisions were made at the fulfillment warehouse that impacted shipping order, and it seems some customers who ordered as early as 8-22 were not at the front of the line as expected. There is a chance you may get a notice that your package shipped in the next 24 hours or so, but if not, it is going to be in two weeks.

[E. King]

2 minutes ago, TrogdarRobusto said:

It was our intent that all the early orders would be fulfilled first ... we now know some decisions were made at the fulfillment warehouse that impacted shipping order, and it seems some customers who ordered as early as 8-22 were not at the front of the line as expected. There is a chance you may get a notice that your package shipped in the next 24 hours or so, but if not, it is going to be in two weeks.

I do hope you are correct and some more people get a shipping notice soon.

 

Thank you for the reply and explanation.

[TrogdarRobusto]

7 minutes ago, E. King said:

I do hope you are correct and some more people get a shipping notice soon.

 

Thank you for the reply and explanation.

All we can do is give you honest answers, and in this case share your frustration. I'm guessing there was some component in multi-product orders that was not ready to go or something like that, and it caused them to change the order in which things went out.

Busiest warehouse time of the year, I suspect the priority became "ship what is ready asap" .. apologies

 

[Mockduck]

I am super sad about it, not just because I am excited but because I was hoping to get in on some of the video making about it. 

When it comes down to it:

I ordered quickly after it became available: 

Tue, Aug 22, 10:27 AM

 

My current order status: 



I was punished for ordering everything as quickly as I could. If I'd followed the link to Amazon I'd have had it last week already. Meanwhile, smaller YouTube channels are getting those giganto press boxes that are beautiful and people are having the fun I wanted to have testing out carts and such. Totally sucks.

[Brad_from_the_80s]

I know this is apparently random and "great for me" or whatever, but I think I pre-ordered from Atari when it was announced or within a day or two.  I think I got notice of a shipment on the 15th or 16th and it actually arrived today.  I'm not unhappy.  So at least some Atari buyers are having a decent experience.  Paddle set came too.  Release date was only this past Friday.  I did get another weird notice that my order would not ship until the first week of December, but I think I also bought a couple of the new cartridges and it may be referring to those.  Still, some lesson to be learned here apparently to have a more consistent experience for everybody.

[SabertoothRetro]

I ordered within the first hour or so.  Mine has been stuck in Azusa with the shipping label printed since Friday.  The rub is that's 40 miles from me.  I would literally drive there and get the damned thing if that were an option.  Interestingly, I received my copy of Mr. Run & Jump on Saturday.  That order was placed separately as I had already ordered the XP cart and wasn't sure I needed the Plaion-produced standard edition.  About 400 orders separated the two. 

[mechanicoid]

9 hours ago, TrogdarRobusto said:

It was our intent that all the early orders would be fulfilled first ... we now know some decisions were made at the fulfillment warehouse that impacted shipping order, and it seems some customers who ordered as early as 8-22 were not at the front of the line as expected. There is a chance you may get a notice that your package shipped in the next 24 hours or so, but if not, it is going to be in two weeks.

I'm not confident a ship notice will come in the next 24 hours (perhaps, but highly doubtful).

 

Is two weeks, an actual two weeks? Or approximately, so more like three weeks.

 

If we continue to wager on the high (slow) side of things, my FedEx Ground Shipping says 2 to 7 so assume another week.

 

My expectation is now closer to a month out from when it should have been shipped. Heck, my gut tells me next year is more possible now given the lack of foresight into the whole situation.

 

Meanwhile, Atari had the ability to create deluxe packaging and get them shipped out to "influencers", even to those abroad and also to make sure units got in the hands of those who would give them more exposure. It seems like the priority was creating buzz and then eventually shipping the product.

 

I don't enjoy whining, and I know I am, it's just overall disappointing, that something as simple as shipping seems to be a monumental task.

[vagabondartist]

My only thing is I’m seeing people post on AtariAge Facebook group getting their systems after buying from Atari dot com last week. Whereas I preordered awhile ago and have to wait until December.

 

It doesn’t really make sense.

 

I’m sure it will get here eventually.

Edited November 21, 2023 by vagabondartist

[82-T/A]

22 hours ago, TrogdarRobusto said:

Lots of questions about shipping here. I don't want to give you any information that is not correct, so let me spend some time this morning digging into the issues and get back to you. 

Our fulfillment partner is shipping orders in waves as product arrives at their distribution center. Unfortunately, in this case, we have more orders than units on the ground. But there are more on the way. If you have pre ordered the Atari 2600+ and have not already received a tracking number, your order will ship in the first week of December (abut two weeks).

I know a) that is not at all satisfying if you won't get your order until December, and b) that does not address issues around partial orders shipping. Let me do some digging.

 

Looks like it was just picked up by USPS early this morning, so it says it's on its way. It says I should receive it in Tampa on the 27th.

[82-T/A]

So I guess I'll just add that I absolutely want Atari to succeed, and for that, I'm OK with some inconvenience on my end in that I get it later than most others do. But I will caution that not everyone feels the way I do.

 

I really REALLY want Atari to succeed in whatever capacity they can, and I continue to support them, whether that's buying a trucker hat, or a whole new system. But there are a lot of people who will feel very slighted when they pre-order and get it later.

 

Amazon has an extremely advanced logistics process the likes of which absolutely no one can compete with. They are the Department of Defense of the private sector when it comes to logistics... they're even better than that, to be quite honest. I'm sure that Amazon probably required a massive back-stock as obligation for their commitment. So I'm sure that Atari was likely faced with a situation.

 

I see the fact that Atari has been completely sold out is a positive, and I'm really happy that they're in that situation... it's better to be sold out than have too much inventory (think 1983). Never the less, I do ask that Atari consider working really hard to prioritize the pre-orders and early-buyers in a pre-release date scenario such as this. I'm bummed... but I recognize that whatever happened, it was likely a tough decision where Atari's hand was forced. I don't think there was some evil individual on the production floor that was like... "Ah haaaa!!! Todd ordered on August 22nd... DENIED!!! HA HA HA!!!!"

 

More than anything, I don't want Atari to lose fandom. You look at any of the threads on here about potentially new systems that come out, and there's always a closet full of dorks that argue everything from semantics to hypotheticals... and they're honestly more concerned about being proven right in the end, than the company getting their products out.

[Flyindrew]

I live in New York City. While the 2600+ package got to Fedex in California, Im now getting a "shipment exception" alert with no delivery date. Oh well. Oddly enough, Berzerk is being shipped with USPS and scheduled to get here perfectly on time.

[zzip]

34 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

Amazon has an extremely advanced logistics process the likes of which absolutely no one can compete with. They are the Department of Defense of the private sector when it comes to logistics... they're even better than that, to be quite honest. I'm sure that Amazon probably required a massive back-stock as obligation for their commitment. So I'm sure that Atari was likely faced with a situation.

Yeah that's critical.   If I want something fast I'll order from Amazon.  When speed doesn't matter, I prefer to support a much less monopolistic company with expectations of slower delivery and more hassle with returns.  A small company like Atari doesn't have anything like the delivery infrastructure of Amazon and is completely at the mercy of 3rd party providers.

 

34 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

but I recognize that whatever happened, it was likely a tough decision where Atari's hand was forced. I don't think there was some evil individual on the production floor that was like... "Ah haaaa!!! Todd ordered on August 22nd... DENIED!!! HA HA HA!!!!"

Yeah,  in all my working life, I've never managed to work for a company where everyone twirls their mustaches and chuckles about how they can screw the customer today.   The last thing we'd ever want is customers to have a bad experience.   It makes us feel bad.  But there are so many ways things can go wrong.    Usually everyone is focused on the thing they think will go wrong, to prevent it from failing again..   And then something completely unexpected that nobody was focused on goes wrong.  Then we have post-mortem meetings on why we didn't catch that, and vow to make sure we catch that next time.   And next time everyone is focuses on that thing...  and something different breaks.   The cycle repeats.   Organizations are reactive, not proactive.   No matter how much they proclaim they need to be proactive, it's easier said than done.

Edited November 21, 2023 by zzip

[TrogdarRobusto]

Our partners at Plaion created those fancy preview unit kits and sent them out to influencers to raise interest in the launch. It worked, but it is not lost on me that it is frustrating to see units out in the wild being unboxed when you are still waiting on delivery. I don't actually have one either, they really are in short supply until the first week of December, and then we should be good for a while. 

[+LS650]

1 hour ago, 82-T/A said:

I see the fact that Atari has been completely sold out is a positive, and I'm really happy that they're in that situation... it's better to be sold out than have too much inventory (think 1983).

I was wondering about that myself.  Do the shipment delays mean that the units sold out faster than expected, and that demand is very high for a second production run?

[Mockduck]

For those who don't want to wait, Amazon is currently shipping them out immediately. Given the US holiday the earliest delivery dates are this weekend. Ordered one late last night and it is expected to show up by Sunday. We'll see which arrives first, Atari's or Amazon's. 

[mechanicoid]

28 minutes ago, zzip said:

Yeah that's critical.   If I want something fast I'll order from Amazon.  When speed doesn't matter, I prefer to support a much less monopolistic company with expectations of slower delivery and more hassle with returns.  A small company like Atari doesn't have anything like the delivery infrastructure of Amazon and is completely at the mercy of 3rd party providers.

 

Yeah,  in all my working life, I've never managed to work for a company where everyone twirls their mustaches and chuckles about how they can screw the customer today.   The last thing we'd ever want is customers to have a bad experience.   It makes us feel bad.  But there are so many ways things can go wrong.    Usually everyone is focused on the thing they think will go wrong, to prevent it from failing again..   And then something completely unexpected that nobody was focused on goes wrong.  Then we have post-mortem meetings on why we didn't catch that, and vow to make sure we catch that next time.   And next time everyone is focuses on that thing...  and something different breaks.   The cycle repeats.   Organizations are reactive, not proactive.   No matter how much they proclaim they need to be proactive, it's easier said than done.

There's a way to properly handle delays with deliverables and then there's what was done.

• They should have limited the number they could sell to what they could meet knowing they don't have the ability to meet the logistical challenges. (It seems they should have partnered and made it an Amazon exclusive in hindsight)
• They could have informed people they were going to be delayed, before mass emailing everyone that everything is shipped on the 17th. (not optimal, but manageable)
• Instead, they knew how much they were going to fall short on but still gave a shipping date and then informed us a delay after the fact, souring the experience.

If you temper my expectations, I can forgive that. I would have enjoyed being able to play the console over Thanksgiving, as this is the last time this year I get a decent break, but I could have said, no problem.

 

They did the opposite and then said "oops, our bad". My copy of Mr. Run and Jump showed up and it's cool to enjoy on my old machines, but the impact is lessened by the surrounding situation.

 

I'm not going to say the 2600+ is a revolution, but in day where the big 3 console makers are only separated by a handful of exclusive titles, Atari could find a nice niche as an alternative to the modern hum drum. This is especially true when you factor in the genius of the homebrew developers. I don't even mind experiencing the growing pains as the console is updated to become a better experience for later adopters or the next iteration.

 

But here we are. At least those who have received their units seemed to be pleased with them.

 

[zzip]

17 minutes ago, mechanicoid said:

• They should have limited the number they could sell to what they could meet knowing they don't have the ability to meet the logistical challenges. (It seems they should have partnered and made it an Amazon exclusive in hindsight)
• They could have informed people they were going to be delayed, before mass emailing everyone that everything is shipped on the 17th. (not optimal, but manageable)
• Instead, they knew how much they were going to fall short on but still gave a shipping date and then informed us a delay after the fact, souring the experience.

They seemed to really believe the preorders would get shipped first, and everyone else would get their unit in December,  they reiterated that several times.   They knew initial stock was limited and was supposed to go to the people who ordered first.   Yet some people who ordered recently got theirs already and some preorders are waiting.    To me, it sounds like someone downstream didn't get the memo or ignored it.

 

I'm suspect they were as surprised as us when it  happened the way it did, which is why there was no advance communication.   There's no good reason to purposely set false expectations as it will only blow up in your face.

 

 

[mechanicoid]

2 minutes ago, zzip said:

They seemed to really believe the preorders would get shipped first, and everyone else would get their unit in December,  they reiterated that several times.   They knew initial stock was limited and was supposed to go to the people who ordered first.   Yet some people who ordered recently got theirs already and some preorders are waiting.    To me, it sounds like someone downstream didn't get the memo or ignored it.

 

I'm suspect they were as surprised as us when it  happened the way it did, which is why there was no advance communication.   There's no good reason to purposely set false expectations as it will only blow up in your face.

 

 

Telling us something multiple times doesn't mean that is how it played out.

 

The buck starts and ends with Atari. Putting the blame on someone doing the shipping going off the reservation makes no sense in a world where shipments are controlled and calculated well in advanced of being delivered, or you're doing it wrong. Atari is acting like they're running a mom & pop out of their garage with hand written receipts by being "surprised" at how shipping is going.

 

If they had the wherewithal to check something like cartridge compatibility, surely they'd have their ducks in a row when it comes to who gets what.

 

As stated above, you can walk over to Amazon and buy and have one shipped in a matter of days and yet no units are available elsewhere?

 

Atari set the false expectations, not those of us who were in on day one.

 

[Mockduck]

They have been shipping these as combined orders in many cases, so presumably someone at the warehouse realized the paddle boxes were not arriving immediately and decided to wait on those orders regardless of order date, at least that's what it sounds like reading between the lines of messages. 

[82-T/A]

44 minutes ago, mechanicoid said:

• They should have limited the number they could sell to what they could meet knowing they don't have the ability to meet the logistical challenges. (It seems they should have partnered and made it an Amazon exclusive in hindsight

 

I would never want an organization to limit their ability to be successful in order to make a few people happy. That hurts the company, which ultimately hurts the fans. But I think what would have been ideal is to designate that "the first 1000 ordered will be shipped in November!" or something to that effect. I think we can all agree they meant well, something just got screwed up... which was probably outside of their control.

 

I don't feel like waiting, so I'm going to buy one of those other Atari systems that just came out... the Gamestation Pro.

 

Ok, just did it... I am impulsive and impatient. THAT'LL SHOW YOU ATARI!!! YOU SCREW UP MY PRE-ORDER SO I'M GOING TO BUY ANOTHER ATARI PRODUCT TO SATISFY MY IMPULSIVITY!!! TAKE THAT!!!

 

[zzip]

1 minute ago, mechanicoid said:

The buck starts and ends with Atari. Putting the blame on someone doing the shipping going off the reservation makes no sense in a world where shipments are controlled and calculated well in advanced of being delivered, or you're doing it wrong. Atari is acting like they're running a mom & pop out of their garage with hand written receipts by being "surprised" at how shipping is going.

 

Ultimately the buck stops with Atari, they contracted the shippers, gave the instuctions and so on.   I'm not saying they hold no responsibility, I just don't think they were purposely being deceptive when they told us their release plan.   

[mechanicoid]

1 minute ago, 82-T/A said:

 

I would never want an organization to limit their ability to be successful in order to make a few people happy. That hurts the company, which ultimately hurts the fans. But I think what would have been ideal is to designate that "the first 1000 ordered will be shipped in November!" or something to that effect. I think we can all agree they meant well, something just got screwed up... which was probably outside of their control.

 

I don't feel like waiting, so I'm going to buy one of those other Atari systems that just came out... the Gamestation Pro.

 

Ok, just did it... I am impulsive and impatient. THAT'LL SHOW YOU ATARI!!! YOU SCREW UP MY PRE-ORDER SO I'M GOING TO BUY ANOTHER ATARI PRODUCT TO SATISFY MY IMPULSIVITY!!! TAKE THAT!!!

 

Limits don't necessarily have to be a bad thing. It worked for the NES Classic and the McRib.