I placed my order on September 3. (My order number: 2894491). I received an e-mail confirmation for the order; but nothing after that. I now see that my order under the above number is cancelled. So far, I haven't called Nokia nor chatted online and I don't intend to. I am just gonna wait it out and see what (if at all anything) is going to happen.

shop.nokia.it, since the N900 was marked AVAILABLE I placed the order on 11/21. It was a saturday and I knew that no order will be processed before monday.

Monday, storm of F5 on order details page, at 17:30 no news so I picked up the phone, obtaining this lousy response from nokia customer service:

"everything seems fine, your credit card checked against the amout required, the bill is locked until we send out the package and you will be billed for real. You'll see, tomorrow the package will be out for shipping."

Tuesday (today), storm of F5 on order details page, at 17:30 no news so I picked up the phone... response from nokia customer service:

"everything seems fine, your credit card checked, the amount is locked until we send out the package but looks like we still cannot fulfill the backlog of preorders. Check back with us in a pair of days".

So, thank you again dear intarweb. You make me crazy for stuff, you make me spend buckets of money for stuff (and for express shipping...) and another time again I CANNOT GET STUFF BY TIME for silly "there're too much maaaaany!" issues.

I should clarify, it wasn't as simple as being declined.

My card company said they initially sent a "declined" response to the transaction, but Nokia tried the transaction again and the second was "approved". There were no further requests from Nokia.

Nonetheless, Nokia cancelled the order.

So there may be a fault in processing.

NokiaUSA.com (Brightpoint)

I placed my pre-order for the Nokia N900 on 09/13/2009at the nokiausa.com website. My original order number was 2905395. The order included the free BH-703 Bluetooth headset. I did not purchase the additional insurance.

I paid with AMEX and did not have any issues with the card being declined. However, I did ask for the order to be shipped to another address (Billing and shipping addresses are different).

I received a phone call a few days later verifying if I had placed the order and if Nokia had my permission to send out the order. I was later sent an order confirmation email from NokiaUSA on 9/15/09.

I checked out various blogs, message boards (hofo), and lurked at maemo.org for a few months until I saw the thread where someone stated that NokiaUSA was migrating from an old ordering system to a new one. I also read that the N900 was being released on 11/18/09.

I tried to patiently wait, but my anxiety and curiosity took over and I called NokiaUSA (1-866-596-6542) on 11/20/09. I chose the "track order" option and spoke to a CSR.

After I gave the CSR my order number, she immediately explained that there was a problem with my order being on the old order system and I will need to cancel it and create a new order on the new system. I was asked to be put on hold to be transferred to another CSR, Kim.

She told me that NokiaUSA had already assigned my case to her and that I was on a list that she was going to call the next day (11/21). However, she can help me expedite the ordering process if she can place me on a brief hold. After holding for a few minutes, we were able to create a new order before we cancel the old one.

She also explained that the BH-703 Bluetooth headset is not compatible with the current firmware of the N900, so NokiaUSA is willing offer a 15% discount on the order and charge $1 for overnight shipping as a discount for those who pre-ordered. However, if I still want the original deal with the BH-703, they will still honor it, but it will delay shipping.

I went ahead and took the discount and proceeded to give her my payment info. She suggested that I change my shipping address to match my billing address, so there would be no hold up on the order. I paid with AMEX and had no problems with the authorization.

After she gave me my new order number 175687, she asked my permission to cancel my old order. I was then given a 10-digit cancelation number.

I thanked Kim for taking care of my order and she said, "I wished every customer I deal with can be as wonderful as you."

A few hours after my conversation with Kim, I received a pre-order confirmation from NokiaUSA and then a "pre-order is released for shipment" email.

On 11/24, I received an email from NokiaUSA saying the order is shipped with a FedEx tracking number.

As I'm typing this reply, I'm trying to patiently wait for the FedEx truck to arrive.

Moral to the story:

Make sure your billing and shipping address match.

Use a credit card that does not have to check with you everytime you make a big purchase.

Golden Rule applies even if you're dealing with a company that may have botched a PR goldmine into a PR nightmare. I was surprised when my CSR said she would want every customer to be nice to her as I was. That just tells me everyone who pre-ordered a phone from NokiaUSA are a bunch of whiny little *****es.

[rant]If you treat the CSR with respect and have a great outlook going into the phone call, they will appreciate it. It's not the CSR's fault that the N900 did not ship out on the expected date. They're just being told what to do by the higher ups. If you give them a chance, they will do their jobs and get every one of those pre-orders out. Put a little faith in people to do their jobs, unless you whiny people want to do everything yourselves.[/rant]

I hope this post helps dispells the myth that NokiaUSA has bad customer service.

Ive had about the same experience. After canceling my order due to the "bluetooth headset not working with the phone" (********?) i had to pester nokiausa to release the funds that they were withholding for three days. Finally today they gave me my money back, and i re-ordered with the assumption that i would maintain my pre-order from Sept 21st. Hopefully this is the case. Received order confirmation, CSR said my phone should ship today or friday. Im not holding my breath. Anyone had success with the whole cancel/re-order thing?

A bit more feedback on the process of having to recreate orders:

When I had to recreate my order for the 2nd time (due to the card declined problem - see my earlier post if interested), making it the 3rd order, I was told I would lose my place in the pre-order queue, but it didn't matter because they had enough stock for me, and I could expect delivery in the same time as if I kept my place in the queue.

So I called today, and was told "to be honest we don't have stock and we don't know when it will arrive". Whereas the preorders who didn't get cancelled are receiving devices, or they have been shipped.

Despite waiting over a month since preordering, I now don't know if I'll be waiting another month.

I accept that in a complicated system with a fault my queue place gets lost, and there may be no way to keep it - and really, despite the emotion it is only a few days or weeks - but:

- The person who took my 3rd order could have told the truth, surely? I don't mean to imply any deception, only that surely when placing the new order, why couldn't their order system show my order being assigned stock or shown as pending stock at the time of order?

To be honest, I was going to not bother with the 3rd order if it wasn't ready to ship at that point. So I do feel deceived and wonder if it's policy to say those things. There is room for improvement in getting the right information there.

- When they recreated the 2nd order, back in early November due to them changing model numbers and thus being unable to process the original order, not only did they give me the same discounts as my 1st order, they were also able to preserve may place in the queue - I was told that explicitly.

Why couldn't they do both of those things (keep the price, keep the queue position) the second time, recently? Surely the ordering system hasn't changed so much that the mechanism is no longer available; it seems like a (poor) change of customer service policy?

OK, so ive received and email with an invoice, and another saying my N900 shipped. No tracking info though, is this the norm?

I agree with you that the CSR reps should be treated with respect. With me, they have been very professional and generally have been as helpful as they could have been. Also, it should be kept in mind that they are held hostage to Nokia's ordering system even more than we are: part of their job is to help fix problems, and Nokia's system clearly is not allowing them to do their jobs.


I also agree that it is whiny to complain about release delays, since this is a common issue with consumer product releases. However, I wholly disagree with you when you paint the brush of "whiner" on the folks who are experiencing problems with even placing an order. This is a significant issue where we should not be giving Nokia a free pass. Nokia should not be giving themselves a free pass: because of the hoops some folks are having to go through just to get an order accepted by Nokia's system, Nokia is not only leaving short-term revenue on the table, they could be losing long-term sales as well from the potential customers they failed to convert (and in some cases, customers they frustrated and chased away). Additionally, they are throwing money away (both from a consumer revenue and an operations standpoint) when their CSR reps are wasting man-hours dealing with all of these pre-orders that they know are doomed to failure, while other potential customers are left on hold.


As for me, this has been how my ordering adventure on NokiaUSA transpired:

September 3 - Original on-line pre-order, order confirmation e-mail generated

September 4 - Bank flagged the charge, I called the bank to authorize, and then called Nokia to ask them to try the charge again. Looks like it worked, as the hold showed up on my card

September-November - Saw the regular holds on my card, so I assume that things are okay with my order

Early-mid November - I started reading on this site how Nokia CS was calling pre-order customers, offering a 15% discount on the order due to the BT headset issue (necessitating a cancellation of the original order). I expect a call any day

November 20 (Friday) - I still did not receive a call, so I called Nokia CS. The representative explained the aforementioned BT situation and ordering solution. My order was canceled successfully, but there were problems with the system at the time so they could not place an order for me. The CSR advised me to try again on Monday, and assured me that I would not lose my place on the queue even though I would not have an active order for a couple of days.

November 23 (Monday) - I place the order successfully. I assume it was placed successfully since a confirmation e-mail was generated and a hold was placed on my card

November 25 (Wednesday) - I notice that the hold disappears from my card without replacement or conversion to an actual charge. I call CS, where the rep informs me that the order had been canceled due to authorization failure. I ask how that is possible, since my bank authorized the charge. He explains that the fraud flagging system is very sensitive, and it's possible that my card had been flagged. He suggests that I try the order again with a different card. This time the order fails immediately, again with an "authorization error". At this point, the CSR tells me that there isn't much more they can do for me, other than to try a card with a different person's name. I note the irony that a possible solution to beating the fraud flag is to commit fraud

November 27 (Friday) - Undeterred, I give it another go with speaking with Nokia CS. The CSR rep offered to try the order again, explaining that if the bank actually authorized the charge on an account that was incorrectly flagged by Nokia, it might work the second time. She then prepared the order, and I notice that the total is for a higher amount than my original order. She explained that she could not apply the 15% discount because of the other promotion going on at the time. She did go above and beyond by offering to talk to her supervisor to see what could be done

She calls me back in about an hour, managing to get the 15% discount added to the order. I place the order, only to get the "authorization error" flag again. I offer to call my bank again to see what happened, and the CS rep offers to call me back in about an hour.

I call my bank, and once again, they show that the charge did go through without any problems. I ask them to pre-authorize Nokia On-Line sales, in hopes that might help. I do this for a couple of other cards as well.

November 28 (Saturday) - The CSR I dealt with on Friday was unable to call me back, so I called Nokia CS again. I think I might have reached a supervisor, since he seemed very polished and was very knowledgeable about what was going on. He said that it was not a good idea to try the order again at this point and that it would be best escalate my issue. I ask if I can try to use a card that I preauthorized for Nokia on-line sales and had never been used yet in placing an order with Nokia. He agrees that I could try it, and that he would escalate my issue regardless.

So, another rep called me back in about 20 minutes and prepares the order. Again, we run into the issue of being unable to apply the 15% discount (which still results in a lower price than the current promotion). Additionally, they could no longer guarantee my place on the pre-order queue. I decide not to go through with the order, pending the results of my escalation

Also, interestingly enough. The order that I placed on Monday, November 20 went from being "canceled" to being "in progress". The CSR said to not take that seriously, since they didn't think that the order would actually go through.


So, by my count, I think I'm on my 8th order attempt, still without resolution. I've been using my n800 for a few years now, and I am enthusiastic about maemo and the future of the platform. So, I am not going away. However, I do see how someone new to the platform could get discouraged and walk away after a couple of attempts to order.

I ordered from Nokiausa.com on 11/27 and paid the $569 + taxes and shipping and got an email on Saturday that it ias been shipped. Plus I got a valid FEDEX Tracking URL.

I am in the Dallas, TX area.

If you want this phone, hop over to Nokiausa.com and just order it now. I didn't call as to confuse anybody. I just ordered and the next day boom it was shipped.

Unfortunately you will get put to the back of the queue, like you had never bothered ordering in the first place.

This is nokia's pathetic attempt at an online shop.