Following its announcement in May, the Google Pixel Fold is finally shipping today (June 27), but not everyone who put in a pre-order will be getting the phone as expected. As well as some users expectedly having to wait longer for delivery, due to high demand, there’s a more troubling issue – as some buyers report that their pre-orders have been unexpectedly canceled.
A fairly lengthy Reddit thread (via Android Central) is full of people claiming that their pre-orders were canceled, with many of them being told “your payment information couldn't be verified."
That doesn’t seem to be the only error people are encountering though, with at least one being told "your order was canceled because it doesn't align with our Sales Terms." Still, others simply had their payment method declined, and after contacting support, a number of the posters on this same thread were informed that the issues were simply caused by a bug.
Sadly though, their orders couldn’t be reinstated. Rather, they were told to place a new order, which then put them at the back of the queue; in some cases delaying when the phone would arrive. And worse, sometimes these re-orders were also canceled too.
A bad start for a great phone
Buyers in both the US and the UK have reported this issue, and it’s an unfortunate state of affairs, especially as the Pixel Fold itself is a very good phone, achieving 4.5 stars in our Pixel Fold review. So this is easily one of the best foldable phones and one of the best Pixel phones.
Still, the Pixel line isn’t immune to problems, so perhaps it’s no surprise that Google’s store is also buggy.
We’ve asked Google for comment on the store situation, and we’ll update this article if we hear anything. Presumably the company is aware of the issue though, so hopefully it will be resolved soon.
In the meantime, if you’ve been struck by this problem or are yet to place your order, you might want to try ordering through a third-party retailer or a carrier instead, or simply buy one in a physical store, as this issue only seems to be affecting Google’s own online store.
