HTC apologises for auto-cancellation of Vive VR pre-orders, promises to fix issue soon

HTC has apologised to customers for auto-cancellation of pre-orders of its Vive VR headsets. The company has promised those who attempted to place or placed orders for the device that it was working on resolving the issue.

Customers complained that they were facing problems when attempting to pre-order the VR headset online, which reports suggest was caused by a technical issue in processing debit and credit card payments.

The HTC Vive VR headset is scheduled to be launched on 5 April and has been priced at $799 (£560). In a blog, the Taiwanese tech giant said: "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. 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."

Although HTC has reinstated the orders for some customers, the tech giant has refrained from waiving fees. In contrast, rival Oculus, which disappointed some customers with delayed deliveries, has offered to ship its Oculus Rift VR headsets free of cost to those who had pre-ordered the device – including overseas customers.

Post the payment snag it seems like HTC customers – who hoped to receive their VR headsets soon after it would start shipping on 5 April – will have to wait longer to receive their devices.

Given that HTC and Oculus would start shipping the devices within a week, competition would surely be fierce between the two companies. Even as Vive is priced higher than Oculus, reviews suggest that the latter's device has received a lukewarm response. Given its price tag and the delay, Vive customers are likely to expect more from the device.