Oculus won itself the distinction of launching its virtual reality headset first, but it hasn't been all smooth sailing. Even though Rift headsets officially started shipping on March 28th, many customers who preordered the $599 device have yet to receive any shipment updates. Today, Oculus admitted it's having issues getting Rifts out the door on time, with CEO Brendan Iribe posting on Twitter that the first batch was "going out slower than we orig[inally] estimated." In an email to customers, the company elaborated that "an unexpected component shortage" was to blame:

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 12th.

To make up for the issues, Oculus said that it will be covering shipping and handling charges for all orders placed to-date. The company does note, however, that many have received their headsets without issue and on time.

Meanwhile, HTC is having some issues of its own. Some customers reported having their preorders canceled this week. According to a statement from HTC, this was due to issues confirming credit card data. Unfortunately, instead of attempting to re-confirm orders or asking users for another credit card, HTC simply canceled the orders. For its part, HTC has provided a phone number (888-216-4736) to help those with automatically canceled orders, and it says it will attempt to reinstate orders and work with financial institutions to get it all sorted out before shipments start on April 5th.

Thanks, Christian!