I decided to put the meat of the message up top. Apparently, regardless of order origin, or warehouse country, all orders are processed via China. With their much of their economy/labor force being nationalized, it means any orders made close to a holiday will not be processed until after the end of the holiday/s, due to the fact their entire country mandatorily observes many official national holidays in comparison to western official holidays. I was unaware of this until after my purchase. If you have concerns about your order not being smoothly processed, or forgotten, or lost, I would advise you to check this link, and wait to buy the day after the holiday ends, and not a couple week before the next one begins, to allow time for your order to be processed. Holidays Today and Upcoming Holidays in China Pimax could make this observance more clear on their website. I would be willing to say most VR enthusiasts willing to support Pimax are more than capable of accommodating these conditions up front.
My story thus far:
So despite the dozens of negative forum posts regarding shipping, I weighed my love for my 4k with the option of waiting a known 8 weeks for brand X, along with what now appears to be some misleading Pimax marketing in regards to shipping. I came to the conclusion that because the website clearly claimed that the products were: “in stock”, “instantly ships”, “you may receive multiple shipments” and “fulfillment by Amazon” that the wait for my order shouldn’t be long at all. I also thought if I received some of it, it would give me something to play with while I wait for the rest of it. I also read plenty of posts from recent US customers whom received their order in a couple weeks. So instead of waiting for the return of the Artisan (the lower pc spec demanding hmd I actually want, and have been checking the website for what feels like months now) I decided to take a chance with the 5Kplus.
I received an order conformation, and payment was instantly taken on the 29th, a boring Wednesday evening. Thursday and Friday passed, and no update. No shipping, no tracking number, no hint of “hey we are going on holiday, sorry for the wait”, nothing. So I opened a ticket late Friday night, unaware of the information above. I also checked the website, and noticed the 5K plus is now out of stock, and un-order-able like the Artisan. Fingers crossed for a better shipping experience than so many others.
I hope that you like it so much once it arrives, that you will find it worth the wait.
I really like my 8K, even though the Kickstarter delivery was seriously delayed. I too am waiting again, for an 8KX. That’s what I really wanted back when the Kickstarter was announced, but I didn’t want to risk it (and given the 8KX delays, I think it was the right choice for me).
I have no idea how long I would have to wait for a headset that is being sold while the official site says sold out. I would get in line for one if Pimax would allow it, but it appears they have slow manufacturing and logistical issues without handling pre-orders anyway. As far as the 5k plus being outdated, maybe you can tell me how. At face value on the website, it has superior specs. I wanted the artisan because it has less demanding specs than the 5k plus. Also, even if you loose some FOV, it’s still well wider than it’s closest competitor in it’s price range.
My thinking is either the Artisan will come back in stock so I can order it, or, I’ll just do what the rest of the world is doing, and order one from china. There a plenty of glowing reviews of RYKKZ Virtual Reality Store. This way, I won’t have to wait to get my controllers, I’ll have a headest that will almost sell for retail online, and if I like the 5k, and my system is happy with it, I might not need to order an Artisan. Either way, don’t order a headset on a Chinese holiday.
Yeah I was going to go with an Artisan, but ended up going with shelling out more for the 8k+ for the future proofing and mainly the controller bundle. I can always just decrease the settings to help performance issues.
Fun fact for you, apparently the lower specs of the Artisan compared to the 5k+ actually helps picture clarity, because it has smaller screens showing the same either resolution or pixel density, can’t remember which. So you lose some FOV for a better picture.
You could’ve gone for 8K X if you wanted even more future proofing. Since the 8K X runs on native resolution, it requires less supersampling to look good, which saves on performance.
I debated on it, but I was already putting myself in debt for the 8k+, and me and my partner really wanted the Index controllers. Not many ways to get them outside of the US
Yeah, that’s quite true - I ordered my 8KX in the year of the Rooster, then apparently the years of the Dog, Pig & Rat happened to be national holiyears in China, so with a bit of luck I might get mine in the year of the Ox… /s
Well, it’s monday, still no sign of a tracking number or an update. Meanwhile I read elsewhere that people who ordered anywhere from a day to a week before I did, still have not received any word on their order, at all.
At the time of this posting, it’s about 5:30am, Tuesday morning in china, so maybe I will receive an update tonight my time.
If my items were not in stock, and were not available to instantly ship, maybe that claim should be removed from the website.
That’s odd, I ordered from the website pretty much the first day of holidays, and got a tracking number almost straight after the holidays ended. Hopefully they get on to you soon.
Doris Doesn’t read the news letter. Quorra says one thing, Doris says another. One tells me “For those who placed their 5K Plus order before May 1st the logistic team will fulfill the shipment prior to May 15th.” Doris says it may be a week or more before my order is even shipped. I seriously wonder which one is true, or if either of them are. I ordered before the headsets were out of stock. It’s odd to me that they are now unable to ship my in stock order, in the time frame given by an official post.
I think someone is reading this thread. I am thankful for that. The confusion has been frustrating, but maybe now I will get a tracking number. The website is the main problem. It promises such a great buying experience with the claims it makes. If it was just more honest upfront about being in a que for an order, instead of instant shipping and in stock claims, I would have a more reasonable expectation. I really wanted the Artisan to begin with, and if that was available as a back-order product, I would have gladly waited a month after purchase for it.
I work as a contractor for NASA. So when I order something, I have a certain window of time, I can be certain, I will still be at that shipping address. When shipping is delayed for an unusually long period, especially on a sensitive item like a VR headset and accessories, it worries/stresses me because I may have to move/change addresses before my package arrives. I did order this kit with the possibilities of delays factored in, but I was overly optimistic about my confidence in Pimax to deliver. I think I will still order an Artisan if I like the 5k, but I may have to ship it to a safer address first, then have it shipped to me wherever I currently am.
I would like to thank Doris for personally addressing this mistake. She could have just kept it inside her office, and left me to my thoughts. I know company departments may some times not communicate well with each-other. Maybe that is something Pimax will improve on in the future. I think that would increase their efficiency, and customer service satisfaction.
Yeah, lack of communication between departments is a real business killer. It’s good to see they’re getting on it, it’ll help them out in the long run immensely
Strangely, I received the same email message 6 times, within the span of 1 minute. There must be something wrong with whatever automation they are using to assign, ship, and send tracking alerts.
Quorra says one thing, Doris says another. One tells me “For those who placed their 5K Plus order before May 1st the logistic team will fulfill the shipment prior to May 15th.” Doris says it may be a week or more before my order is even shipped. I seriously wonder which one is true, or if either of them are. I ordered before the headsets were out of stock. It’s odd to me that they are now unable to ship my in stock order, in the time frame given by an official post.
