Google's Pixel 9 phone appears to be made of pure unobtainium if the experience of some O2* customers is anything to go by.

Despite the Android smartphone arriving on August 22 and pre-orders excitedly placed, customers have complained their new devices have yet to arrive following tech woes caused by an O2 warehouse migration which has left devices stuck in the mobile operator's processing queue.

As a result, customers remain empty-handed and unable to cancel their orders.

Why O2 would plan a migration the same week as the release of a hotly anticipated device is beyond the comprehension of at least one Register reader who told us: "I basically ordered my phone on launch and expected it on the release date.

"Still not received it, had zero contact from O2 with me needing to ring them and they still can't confirm when the phone will arrive. It is very frustrating as I always looked forward to a new Pixel on release day and O2 seems to have royally fucked this up.

"The annoying thing is lack of communication and that staff know it's a warehouse migration issue but can't tell me when it will come and I also can't cancel it to order from elsewhere as the system has it as processing."

An O2 spokesperson said in a statement sent to The Register:

“We are aware that a small proportion of customers are experiencing delays with their orders and we apologise for any inconvenience. This has been caused by some IT issues we encountered during the migration of our warehouse.

“The vast majority of orders are being processed as normal, and our teams are working tirelessly to resolve the problem and deliver all handsets to impacted customers as soon as possible. We will discuss appropriate goodwill gestures directly with customers.”

Our reader is not alone. A thread on the company's community forum, running to eight pages at the time of writing, is a litany of woe as users share stories of customer support and theories about where their devices might have got to as well as the cause of the delay.

The leading explanation is that O2 has experienced a labeling issue, but workers didn't realize the system was malfunctioning before the orders passed the point of no return and went into processing. Instead of canceling, the advice is to contact the payment provider (such as a bank or credit card) and try to get a refund that way if patience has run out.

Although some Reg readers and writers might fail to appreciate the cachet of owning a new device on release day - long and bitter experience has taught this author that it is always best to leave anything, be it hardware or software, for some time until someone else has found the problems - the frustration of prospective owners is palpable.

The Pixel 9 includes Google's AI assistant, Gemini. We asked the web version why the phones hadn't been shipped. After a good deal of waffle, it told us delays can happen and that we needed to be patient.

* - O2 merged with Virgin Media in 2021 but we are told by company reps that this shipment issue pertains only to O2 and its warehouse. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/09/02/o2_google_pixel_9_delays/