I ordered the 16 zone and flow meter on the morning of 3/20, then filled out the priority email survey and still nothing. This is so frustrating. I’ve been waiting to have my irrigation turned on but they keep screwing us around.
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Ordered the 26th, 8 zone, still nothing.
How nice, I am looking at the rules for posting on this board (yellow box to my right) and it says “Constructive criticism is welcome, but criticize ideas, not people”
OK, well, hey Rachio, the idea that you treat your customers like s*** is horrible. Most people are reasonable and understand that things happen–but over promising, miscommunication, and then just DOING NOTHING for your customers when those things happen is always bad for business in the long run.
Is that constructive enough for you? I(f you even care enough to read this board)
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This is on the Rachio web site: https://support.rachio.com/hc/en-us
Knowledge Base
FAQ
Updated: 4/21/18
Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controllers are just about ready to start shipping! All controller orders will be shipped in the order in which they were purchased starting the week of April 30, 2018.
For reference, you can expect preorders placed March 20 - April 13 to be shipped the weeks of April 30th and May 7th. Preorders placed after April 14 will be shipped the week of May 14th and beyond, based on order number.
NOTE: Wireless Flow Meters are estimated to ship May; dates will be published in early May.
Don’t fret! We’re shipping as fast as we can and we cannot wait to get the new Rachio 3 Controllers into your hands! We truly appreciate your support and patience!
In the meantime, hop into our community and join the conversation! We’d love for you to share your favorite Rachio Insider Tips here and share a product suggestion here.
March 20th - April 13th is a 25 day span. If they have not shipped the March 25th orders yet then wow. It’s quite comical though how they stated they will be shipped in the order they were placed, yet I’ve seen orders from April already go out… surprisingly no 16 zones going out yet.
Don’t worry guys, I just got off the phone with support and they informed me that will send out a shipping update the week of May 7th. I asked about my order on the 25th of March and he informed me that I should receive it some time mid May. I’m debating on challenging the transaction with PayPal and I’ll give them the money when they can ship the item. This has been the worst company I’ve ever had the misfortune of buying from. If it wasn’t for all the glowing reviews from the Gen 2 I would GTFO
Hi all,
Shipping update and statement from Rachio here! Thank you all SO much for your patience. Rachio 3 and Shipping Dates
-Lo 
Laura, Why did people who ordered in Apr already have their order shipped, and some of us who ordered in March (like me!) not?
Why was my credit charged on the day I ordered, instead of 7 days prior to the order being shipped as was expressed – especially when, as you say, you guys were overwhelmed and knew you were behind?
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I too did a pre-order and paid, and they already took the money but haven’t received any shipping info. By the time they ship my grass will be dead or they will be available at home depot. Poor service if you ask me. #launch-failure
Hey @anthony185!
We shipped the limited availability that we had to a few test users in warmer climates.
As for the credit card charge, our plan was to charge when the controller was shipped, but we found out that the authorization expired after 7 days when using Stripe within Shopify (our purchasing platforms). We absolutely should have sent an update with that charge and I apologize that it did not happen.
-Lo
So Laura, If you’re shipping 500 per day, when will you be caught up with Preorders? That will give at least some expectation when we’ll be getting ours.
Thanks,
John
What about, for new customers, the limited timeframe to submit for rebates from local water districts? I only have so many days from day of invoice to submit the paperwork, actual pictures of the device installed, and then possibly someone from the water district to come by to make sure everything is what it should be. I can confirm that I have, and sounds like everyone else that pre-ordered has, been invoiced (I have pre-ordered before and never been invoiced so far in advance of the product actually shipping) so the clock is ticking on submitting everything to get the awesome rebate that my water district is offering. It’s one of the reasons I chose this more expensive device. It sounds like pre-order far exceeded expectations. I’m sure it did when nothing was built from the beginning. I keep getting the feeling that the money needed to be collected from the pre-orders to pay for the components before the builds could be started. I know there was a glitch in the accounting program that was used, those things can and should have been fixed but was at the expense of your customer.
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When should the March preorder shipments be completed? I’m March 25th 16 zones. Sorry to bombard you with questions, but this has been a frustrating endeavor.
We will send an email update next week with an estimated delivery date. 
Did you receive last week’s email with the link to request priority shipping?
Our customers are our main focus in decision making. We would never make a decision at the expense of our Rachio family.
We will send an email update next week with an estimated delivery date.
@wghstephens you said “I keep getting the feeling that the money needed to be collected from the pre-orders to pay for the components before the builds could be started.”
I’m getting that feeling too. If that was the case, I’m not sure if it is “illegal” but it is certainly immoral.
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Laura, thanks for responding.
I’ve used Stripe, and not having the capability for the charge happening 7 days before shipping doesn’t sound implausible. I can see that happening, still…
…not only did Rachio never make the pre-order folks aware of this (as you have apologized for) and it sounds like there were several thousand of them–but they also removed all indication and mention that the delayed charge was ever touted. I looked ALL over on the web site afterwards, as well as on my order and it was no where. I asked in several emails to Rachio, and was never answered.
@laura.bauman I did fill out the expedited shipping last week but not sure that I checked the correct box since it sounds like others that already received shipping notices this week also filled out the expedite but was till shipped ground. Not sure exactly why we would have to give a reason for the request anyway.
Hey @wghstephens- your device should ship very soon if you filled out that form. The boxes were just for our information, and did not change how we prioritized!
@anthony185 I agree we could have made it more apparent that after that issue payment would be taken immediately, rather than when the product ships. I will relay this to the team, as I think it is a good “learning” from this experience!
I noticed that a lot of people that ordered back in March haven’t got theirs yet and I’m sure there is at least +10,000 since my order is #14$$$ I won’t see mine till summer is over. I received email exactly 2 weeks ago and respond to it today to get my item shipped or I am cancelling this order. I have a feeling that this company didn’t had enough capital to produce such a large number of orders and that is why they charged everyone’s CC and just started production. I just found out that Rain machine I as good if not better for the lower price. There is no clear timeframe and it till you guys get it and install it it will be June/July and you will use it for 1-2 months and it will be over. Sorry I hate to say this but I don’t like games.
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I’m glad I’m not the only one whose overly upset with the tactics of Rachio. I only ordered the combo just because it would be cool to see how much water I’m using. I don’t care that much about it, and honestly I’m to the point where I will just enjoy the “dumb” controller I bought WHILE WAITING FOR THIS UNIT! It is personal at this point and if there is no significant shipping update by COB Monday I’m done, cancelling my order and moving on. I really hate to sound like that guy, but I build a lot of multimillion dollar houses and I will bash this system until the day I die.
With all due respect Rachio, I’m happy you will use this fiasco as a learning experience, but I don’t really care. Ship my unit OR refund my money NOW.
Lessons learned are for later, not while you are currently sitting on several thousand dollars, with several thousand customers (suckers) who were gullible enough to believe in Rachio
Please make it right with us 1st