[jdhooghe]

I haven't read through the entire thread yet but you have to remember what BlackBerry went through with the Z10. They made a crap load of Z10s and many of them didn't sell. Maybe BlackBerry was too conservative this time around but give them a little break. Every company has supply issues no matter the demand. You'll have your passport soon enough.

[Stomps01]

Sorry.. what's wrong with the spacebar!???

Posted via CB10

There are threads about it. It just doesn't have the same feel as the rest of the keys and you have to press in the middle of it to be sure it registers....or press it 2x harder than the rest of the keys....

Posted via CB10

[VictoriaPa1]

You can't get an iPhone for $600...hehehe

Posted via CB10

Very true. Maybe after a year.

[SBrowne823]

Hoping to get in my order next week *fingers crossed*

[kyoiskyo]

half-brained marketing scheme it is. everyone who heard of the 25% discount jumped on it, pulling more people in, including iPhone users, and then it's gone. BB now have collected a ton of cash for products that was never in their warehouse. The trick to steal market shares from Apple was nicely pulled off.

I am sure 200K devices sold is stealing market share to a company that expect to sell 189 Million Iphones in 2015. LOL

[kyoiskyo]

Just when I think BB turned the corner, they never fail to disappoint.

I tried time after time to purchase a Passport on BB's web site, but the "Buy" button was never visible. I also signed up for the "Notify me when back in stock" notification under several email accounts - never heard a peep. Eventually, I purchased a backordered Passport through Amazon.

A few days passed. Then a week. This Friday, it will be two weeks.

All this time, no email from BB or from Amazon. Therefore, I'm left sitting here wondering - was BB really this stupid? Could they have launched a new product with only 200,000 items??? Or, is this part of some half-brained marketing scheme? Why am I wondering this? Because nobody has contacted me and told me anything. Not even a generic "Thanks for ordering - we hope to have your shipment by ___ date" email. I'm serious, I'm completely dumbfounded. I can't honestly believe they were this stupid to not have more items available for consumers to purchase. Every day that passes, I think of other ways I could spend my $600 if I cancel my order.

Call it whatever you want - but 10 days in and you can't provide a product to a paid customer or you don't even reach out with an information update? That's called a failure.

I understand how you feel. I wish we could place orders and they can tell us that the item ships between x days and x days like the Iphone 6, which is sold out everywhere, but orders are open and they give you a x days to x days shipping dates.

[scootnyinzer]

My best friend is an iPhone fanatic and I asked him, "is this what it feels like to to be an iPhone user?

I found myself getting checking the web 10x a day, and calling daily. I had to step back, cancel the order for my own sanity

I have a feeling that BlackBerry was overwhelmed with a sunami of orders. Deep breath. Exhale.

Posted via CB10

[world traveler and former ceo]

Lol..... you were right! Blackberry was overwhelmed by a tsunami of orders...

With good reason... Passport is amazing!




Posted via CB10

[alternator77]

So I am a IT manager with purchasing power to buy 200 Blackberrys for my company. Should I be limited too? Think not. And don't you believe in a free market system?

If your in IT buying 200 phones I seriously doubt that you'll be sitting at the shop BlackBerry homepage refreshing the screen to buy more units. You'd be buying a bulk order at a discount from one of their corporate sales reps.
So yeah there should be limits on their reseller website.

"I love when people boast about their phones...like its a pissing contest"

[bornagainBB]

I currently have an iphone which i want to trash. I had put my email address to be contacted when back in stock. Never heard a peep. But since i love this phone, i kept hitting the BBstore and finally was able to place my order (for a few hours the site was taking orders last Friday). Got the order confirmation, invoice. But then got a message on Sunday saying it was on back order. Have not heard a peep since.
I will be patient because i do want this phone and i want BB to succeed. However, the lack of information from BB will hurt it more than help. IMHO, they will be better off coming out and sharing what is going on (high level). Something like - great interest, low supply, fixing it, expect phones to start shipping Oct 10th (something like this). No information is poor service and there is a buzz around this phone.
I did speak to the support person at Digital River and was told that the phone will ship on Oct 6th and i paid for express delivery. Nothing yet ;-(
Beautiful phone though - cannot wait to get my hands on it.

[rcab]

Actually, if I was a BlackBerry stockholder, I would be happy since it means they sold more than expected and the stock would rise!

Posted via CB10

strangely, the stock has been dropping since launch. I think because AT&T not confirming when they will be selling it

[boss_hog]

I just want to see the camera in action in my hands

Posted via CB10

[anon(3732391)]

You want "Frustrated?????"
I'm still waiting for the Pay Phone to make a comeback and not a word!!!!!!!!!

[Crazed_BB_Fanatic]

Oh the irony that those with Passports or just ordered a couple days ago preach patience.

I did order when it was available on September 26 but it was put on backorder without communication. I have had no communication in almost two weeks (tomorrow). Is that acceptable that two big companies leave customers in the dark for nearly 2 weeks?

I am not asking for much but I do ask for an estimation. It doesn't matter of they give me an estimation for tomorrow or two weeks down the road. It is absolutely horrendous that in this age of technology a company can not give an estimated delivery date. BB must know how many Passports are on backorder. How hard is it to communicate to their resellers an approx date of shipping?

Are they communicating with each other via horse carriages?

And why are they selling Passports with coupons when there are backorders still to be filled? And why is BB not stepping up and says: we have this many on backorder and this how we are going to solve it.

And nobody tell me about the Z10 and that busted inventory. I have a Z10 and a Z30 . I am a BB owner for almost 10 years and I own stock in BB. I am very well aware of what happened. I am not asking them to manufacture 1 Million units and stock them. Just asking for communication and an estimation.

This hoopla about the Passport demand in the first two days will dissipate rather quickly if it goes public how BB currently handles backorders. And it will go out somehow eventually.

And let's stop with this 'demand is sooooo great' because they had 200,000 orders through shopblackberry.com and Amazon. We don't even know if they had that much stock. As much as I know I may be counted as a sale already and I didn't get mine. How about we get some shipped numbers?

And why do you sell Passports with coupons if you still have backorders? I don't get that part at all.

Communication is all I am asking for.

[stooy leown]

Ditto ditto ditto

Posted via CB10

[anon(5818411)]

this passport launch is sounding more and more like a disaster, who ever is in charge of stock should be fired...

This type of thing happened with the Z3 as well

BlackBerry has always been terrible with communication, with it's customers and within the company. Chen hasn't changed it one bit like everyone thought he would. Try calling BlackBerry, it's worse then calling any internet/cell phone provider (that is hard to accomplish) it's brutal. In Canada, you're better off bringing your BlackBerry to the Apple Store to get it fixed...

[southlander]

I'm always perplexed by people who apply this logic to life:

"I have to wait a bit for what I really want and what I will use every single day, so I'll instead buy something I DON'T want simply because I can get it today with no waiting"

Imagine if people bought cars and houses or chose their spouses that way. Oh, wait..........

Lol. There are many business models that are built around that specific human failing -- impatience.

[deltact]

this passport launch is sounding more and more like a disaster, who ever is in charge of stock should be fired...

This type of thing happened with the Z3 as well

Armchair quarterbacking takes on a whole new level with the anonymity of the Internet.

Posted via CB10 on Z10

[anon(5818411)]

Armchair quarterbacking takes on a whole new level with the anonymity of the Internet.

Posted via CB10 on Z10

haha it's true. It's like BlackBerry doesn't want to sell their phones...

Maybe they are trying to use reverse psychology to p*ss people off just to make them want it more? I have no idea..

Z3 was such a mess that we heard nothing about sales after the launch week after it was out of stock 2 times in a row. BlackBerry refused to say how many Z3s sold in 2015 Q2 earning report on Sept 26th. They released it to 2 countries with insane amounts of people: India (2nd world population) and Indonesia (4th world population) and we heard nothing.

If you were a stock holder, wouldn't you be worried?

It was a terrible launch and that's a fact. No armchair CEO required. Delusional crackberry fan boys are pretty funny, i'm trying to be on your side but sometimes it's hard with delusional remarks. I have a better chance understanding Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing

200,000 Passports sold on Amazon and ShopBlackBerry alone in 6-12hours is great. But much like the Z3 launch it will fade if BlackBerry keeps pissing off customers.

[deltact]

I'm just saying that it's easy for us to say how they screwed up because they did not produce enough units to satisfy demand. Hindsight is always better than 20/20. It was not clear, not even here on the CB Passport sub-forum (where there is the highest concentration of fanboys), whether the Passport would be well-received because of concerns:
1) About size.
2) That there would be no interest beyond the hardcore business communicator.
3) That the pricing would be premium.
4) On how long it would take for carriers to begin offering it.
5) That it would be overshadowed by the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launch.

Fortunately, these concerns turned out to be mostly moot. But for BlackBerry, having lived through the very poor reception of the Z10, probably took these concerns seriously and played a very conservative game. If the company plan is to restore profitability, the last thing you need is another large inventory write-down.

So now the harsh reality is that it may take a few weeks to get production started. If I held stock in the company, this would be a better alternative to another write-down.

As for patience, I too have to wait until Christmas when I pick it up from my sister in the US. Of course, she gets to enjoy using it in the meantime

Posted via CB10 on Z10

[Bobert_123]

BlackBerry dropped the ball! As for what to do with your 600 dollars, get an iPhone.

Posted via CB10

Good luck getting an iPhone 6 for 600 bucks lol

Sent from my awesome White Z30!

[Nharzhool]

Ok... as I posted earlier my order was canceled even though DR had already charged my credit card - not to be confused with pre-authorizing the amount.

A day later they told me they had a system error and that I would have to re-order the VIP Passport version, albeit its no longer available on their website.

Being completely over DR I wrote a pretty stern email that, honestly was extremely critical of their lack of service and how I would rather cancel my order than to deal with them one more minute. Well interesting enough my office in Vancouver called to tell me that a package will clear customs tomorrow morning - none other than from DR. Yes, DR sent me a phone that they supposedly canceled, even though they charged me, that was out of stock, and yet I have zero updates from them only to find out that its now sitting at the boarded.

The best of it all... I just landed in Los Angeles this morning and won't be going back to Van for another week and half. Go figure.

That really sucks for you...but it's still pretty funny.

[Northernmax]

Sorry but DR is killing sales of this product. I too have been a long time BB fan and lurked on the sidelines here for a long time, but after placing an order with DR I can see what the complaints are about. It's not that the phone is backordered (That's good for BB) its the misrepresentation of stock and the billing of peoples credit cards without shipping or even being able to provide a ship date that's most damaging. DR's own shipping policy states that they will not bill the customer until the item has shipped, and while I can wait for the phone I can assure you I will not finance DR.

[anon(5818411)]

I'm just saying that it's easy for us to say how they screwed up because they did not produce enough units to satisfy demand. Hindsight is always better than 20/20. It was not clear, not even here on the CB Passport sub-forum (where there is the highest concentration of fanboys), whether the Passport would be well-received because of concerns:
1) About size.
2) That there would be no interest beyond the hardcore business communicator.
3) That the pricing would be premium.
4) On how long it would take for carriers to begin offering it.
5) That it would be overshadowed by the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launch.

Fortunately, these concerns turned out to be mostly moot. But for BlackBerry, having lived through the very poor reception of the Z10, probably took these concerns seriously and played a very conservative game. If the company plan is to restore profitability, the last thing you need is another large inventory write-down.

So now the harsh reality is that it may take a few weeks to get production started. If I held stock in the company, this would be a better alternative to another write-down.

As for patience, I too have to wait until Christmas when I pick it up from my sister in the US. Of course, she gets to enjoy using it in the meantime

Posted via CB10 on Z10

yes but good business' always ask themselves, "What if?" type questions. There should always be a back up plan especially when it comes to sales. BlackBerry isn't in the position like Apple is to screw up every launch. Nor Thor or Chen for the opposite reasons has achieved a back up plan.

I agree, it's better having too less(Chen) than too much(Thor) but Chen needs to get his team communicating to customers. All a customer wants is, "sorry the shipment is going to be delayed for a week" or something. When the customer has to contact them only to not get a straight answer, that's when it becomes an issue and customers get angry.

[Feeldak]

What is very surprising is that BBRY seems to not control its outsourcing partners concerning the production's lines.
At this level, BBRY should be aware of the total units that each line can produce per day. Then, BBRY can communicate to wholesalers and retailers about an estimated delivery time.

The current situation just suggests to customers that BBRY even doesn't know what happens within its outsourcing partners... which may be the worst situation.

I've taken my chance and sent an e-mail to John Chen to express my disappointment about the lack of communication from BBRY. I don't really attend a reply from him though.

EDIT: There's maybe a quality problem on the production lines that could delay the production and then the delivery.