The Pixel Fold officially launches tomorrow, June 27. Many customers who pre-ordered the first-gen Google foldable were expecting to receive it this week. But instead of a shiny new foldable, some of them are receiving cancelation alerts. The company seems to have canceled some Pixel Fold pre-orders because it couldn’t verify the payment.
“Ordered May 10th and order canceled early this morning because payment couldn’t be verified. Geeze I’m glad a random $2,000 charge won’t go through at 3 am on a Sunday and now I get to wait another month for my fold,” a Reddit user whose Pixel Fold pre-order was canceled by Google posted on Sunday morning. Many others commented, saying that they have received similar cancelation alerts.
Google’s customer support staff told some buyers that the company is aware of the issue and looking into it. The problem is seemingly caused by banks raising fraud concerns over a big payment and holding off the transaction. But a few people who called their banks to clear the payment are also finding that their Pixel Fold pre-orders have been canceled. Some others say the bank didn’t notify them about a failed transaction, so Google could also be at fault here.
Unfortunately, the company’s support staff isn’t giving the same response to everyone. It told some affected customers that their orders would be processed for shipping as soon as it fixed the issue. They don’t need to place a separate order. But it has asked most of them to re-order the Pixel Fold. The problem is that orders placed today have waiting times longer than two months, depending on the color and storage variant.
New Pixel Fold buyers will have to wait until late September to get it
As pointed out by PhoneArena, the 256GB Pixel Fold in Porcelain currently has an estimated shipping date of August 30 to September 8. The same device in Obsidian color will arrive a little early, between August 2 and August 10. But if you order the 512GB variant in Obsidian, you may have to wait until September 21 to get your hands on it. It’s disappointing for these people, some of who placed their orders as early as May 10, the day pre-orders opened.
“Gonna go buy a phone from a company who [sic] can actually take my money,” a frustrated user wrote after Google’s support staff failed to provide them with a satisfactory response on the issue. Interestingly, the company gave one affected customer some Google Play credit for making them deal with all the inconvenience. So if you’re facing a similar issue, don’t hesitate to ask Google for something in return. Hopefully, the company will fix the problem soon, and Pixel Fold pre-orders will reach customers on time.