All is not well at the Facebook, Inc. owned virtual reality headset making company Oculus Rift with the company forced to refund shipping fees to users who had pre-ordered the device due to shipping delays, which perhaps worse still are being blamed on component shortages.

The much-hyped virtual reality headset started shipping March 28 but in the week following many users had still not received their order, something Oculus is reported to have said nothing about until sending out an email to affected customers on Saturday complete with an apology:

“We know you’re anxious to receive your Oculus Rift and apologize for not updating your order status sooner. 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, and you should expect to see your order status updated on oculus.com by Tuesday, April 12. 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. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the Oculus support team if you have additional questions.”

Oculus Chief Executive Officer Brendan Iribe took to the Oculus message board on Reddit to answer questions from users and confirmed among other things that the free shipping offer applied to international customers as well as those located in the United States.

Bad start

While it’s too early to call the launch a complete schmoozle, given the lead in time to the launch the problems with shipping do nothing to inspire confidence in the management of the company.

The Oculus Rift has been years in the planning, so having “component shortages” is at best a lame excuse; if it is a matter of receiving too many orders they should have simply cut off pre-ordering or alternatively told people after a particular point prior to the launch that due to the volume of orders they would not be immediately receiving their headsets, it’s not rocket science versus selling 101.

So far the Rift headset itself has had mixed reviews, with SiliconANGLE’s Winston Edmondson recommending that those interested should save their money as the “Oculus Rift isn’t worth the price of admission.”

As pointed out by Edmondson, the price of admission could ultimately be the killer: the headset retails for $599, but, in addition, users require a high-end PC which costs anywhere from $1,500 upwards, meaning the total cost of ownership is higher than $2,000.

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