Oculus Rift and HTC Vive struggle with order problems

Both players in the upcoming clash of the VR titans have been plagued by pre-release supply problems.

Oculus has told some customers that there will be a delay in the shipment of their device due to an "unexpected component shortage”. It’s offering free orders to those affected as an apology.

We know you’re anxious to receive your Oculus Rift and apologise for not updating your order status sooner,” the company told customers. We’ve been working through an unexpected component shortage, and unfortunately, that issue has impacted the original shipping estimates for some early customers.

We’re working hard to get up-to-date ship windows. Although many Rifts will be arriving on schedule and in line with original estimates, we’ll be covering shipping and handling costs for all orders placed through today. We’re shipping Rifts everyday.”

HTC, meanwhile, has faced complaints of what appeared to be widespread Vive order cancellations, although it has played down the extent of the issue.

While fulfilling this week’s orders for HTC Vive, a limited number of individuals were affected by auto cancellations due to processing issues with financial institutions,” it explained. We’re actively working to resolve this, and have already reinstated orders for some customers.

We want to assure our customers that we’ll work with them to process their payment so they can receive their Vive when they were expecting it. If you pre-ordered a Vive, we encourage you to contact your financial institution to notify them of upcoming charges.”

Oculus Rift is out now. HTC Vive ships t the end of the month.