Not Quite on Target

Today I received the following email:

hello Andrew,

We just found out about an unexpected delay that affects your order (Order #xxxxxxxxxxxx) placed on 12/13/2015. We're sorry, but we may not be able to deliver your item(s) by the estimated delivery date you received with your original order.

If you still want your item(s), you will need to approve the new estimated delivery date(s) by visiting your order detail page. We will do our best to fulfill the delayed item(s) from your order, but if we can't, we will let you know as soon as possible.

If we don't hear from you, your item(s) will be canceled. You may also visit your order detail page to cancel item(s) if they are backordered or if you no longer want them.

Remember, you will not be charged for any item until it ships. If items need to ship separately, your shipping charges will not increase.

Thanks for shopping at [Reputable Retailer].
Team [Reputable Retailer]


I feel that the default behavior -- what would happen if I took no action -- is wrong.

If I'm reading things correctly, it means that, because of an unexpected delay, unless I do something, my order will be canceled.

Here's what I would have expected:
[Retailer]: Hey, that item you ordered and we said we could get you by Friday... yeah, we're out of that. We'll get it to you as soon as we can.

To which I'd reply either:
Customer: Ok. Thanks for letting me know. I look forward to getting it when it's available.
<OR>
Customer: Oh... well, I really can't wait. I guess I'll have to find another way to get it. Can we cancel that order?
[Retailer]: Sure thing. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Customer: That's ok. No big deal.

But here's what the email I got feels like:
[Retailer]: Hey, that item you ordered and we said we could get you by Friday... yeah, we're out of that. We assume you don't want it anymore. If that's not the case, you'd better tell us that.

If I was ordering something time sensitive, like a pizza or flowers for a wedding, I could see not necessarily wanting my shipment days later. I clearly would have had to make different arrangements. But, for a video game? Sure, I'd like to start playing it next week, but I won't suddenly "not want to play it" the following week.


I sent the above to [Reputable Retailer] in an email. I actually tried using live support chat, but that was like two ships passing in the night. I think I'll post that here, too. We were definitely on different pages. Oh well.