UPDATE: As of September 15, 2022, apparently due to a similar reason as was the basis for my original post where a special Labor Day promotion on the Sabrent website home page main carousel of images appeared to be associated with a loss of clarity on the Rocket 4 Plus G product web page (e,g. 2 TB: https://sabrent.com/products/sb-rktg-2tb) that the product is currently in pre-order status, once again a special promotion on the home page carousel of images, in this case "End of Summer Bundke", appears to be associated with a loss of clarity on the product page regarding pre-order status.
To customers... Before ordering the Rocket 4 Plus G, check the home page carousel 2nd image or see my original "NOTE" below for important information regarding checking with customer service before ordering the product thinking that it's been released and will be shipped immediately.
@Sabrent ,this is a recurring issue of special promotions removing pre-order status information from the Rocket 4 Plus G product web page (e,g. 2 TB: https://sabrent.com/products/sb-rktg-2tb). For our trust in how we as customer interpret information on your website, please consider fixing the issue. Otherwise, at any given point in time we as customers cannot trust that if we order a product it is indeed a released product an avaiable immediately for shipment.
UPDATE: As of today, September 7, 2022, the Rocket 4 Plus G product page (e,g. 2TB: https://sabrent.com/products/sb-rktg-2tb) has been updated to once again display a "Pre-Order' button in place of the "Add to Cart" button once the page has fully rendered thereby clarifying that the product has not been released yet and any order will be handled a a pre-order where the order will be shipped when the product is released. Perhaps this update was due to either this post or my other contect with Sabrent customer service. You can read this post further to understand the issue which was that the "Pre-Order" button had been removed before the product was released resulting in me submitting an order with an expectation that the product would be shipped immediately. I will update or delete this post once I have received my order which will confirm that any order placed will not be handled as a pre-order without notice of pre-order status which was the case with my order. Again, you can read this post for more information.
NOTE: This post contains a statement regarding product availability based on my experience as of September 6, 2022 where availability may have changed by the time you read this. The intent of this post is to recommend that potential buyers of the Rocket 4 Plus G contact Sabrent customer service to inquire about whether the product has been released or is still pre-order before purchasing the product through the Sabrent website. This is due to a lack a clarity on the product web page where the product appears to be available for order and immediatge shipment when in fact it is still in pre-order sttus. I am not seeking to cause Sabrent any loss of sales, simply desiring to set expectations of other customers and save them the experience of having to work through a customer service contact to discover that "Fulfillment Status: Unfulfilled" for their order means that it's in pre-order status and will be shipped when the product is released. I am assuming that Sabrent will update or delete this post when they have either clarified the pre-order status on the product web page (e,g. 2 TB: https://sabrent.com/products/sb-rktg-2tb) or the product has been released amd orders can be processed for shipping.
Details:
For some time the Rocket 4 Plus G web page (e.g. 2TB: https://sabrent.com/products/sb-rktg-2tb) changed the "Add to Cart" button to a "Pre-Order" button whe the web page was displayed along with providing a Sabrent heatsink bundled for free.
Recently the product web page dispay changed such that the "Add to Cart" button is no longer changed to "Pre-Order" and the free Sabrent heatsink bundle has been removed.
It's reasonable to assume that the current web page with "Add to "Cart" indicates that the product is available for ordering with immediate shipment when in fact that is not the case as of this post.
I ordered a Rocket 4 Plus G 2 TB on September 4, 2022 at a time when the "Pre-order" button was no longer displayed on the product web page, instead an "Add to Cart" was and still is displayed, with no indication at the time orf my order that it was still in pre-order status and no indication during checkoout or in the order confirmation email that the order was in pre-order status.
After seeing no change for several days in my order fulfillment status from "Unfulfilled" to something indicating that my order was being processed, I contacted Sabrent customer service who informed me that my order was in pre-order status and that the product wiould be shipped when it's released.
My expectations had been set by the product web page, check out and confirmation email that the product was available for order and immediate shipment with no indocation that the product as still in pre-order status. I invested an unfortunate amount of time seeking to clarify the actual order status and hope to both save other customers from experiencing such confusion and encourage Sabrent to clarify the product status more effectively.
To customers:
I recommend contacting Sabrent customer service before purchasing the Rocket 4 Plus G through the product web page (e.g. 2TB: https://sabrent.com/products/sb-rktg-2tb) to approriateky set your expectations regarding product availability since the product web page and ordering process currently provides no indication whether the product has been released is availble for shipment, having change from a previous state wher the web page clarified that any order submitted would be a pre-order.
If you do seek to contact customer service, before doing so, see my post regarding customer service contact being through email only (https://sabrent.com/community/xenforum/topic/79639/sabrent-customer-service-is-only-through-email).
To Sabrent:
I strongly encourage Sabrent to clarify on the Rocket 4 Plus G web page (e.g. 2TB: https://sabrent.com/products/sb-rktg-2tb) whether the product has been released and is available for ordering and shipment or the product is still in pre-order status.
Although the Sabrent website home page (https://sabrent.com/) displays the following image in the 2nd panel of the image carousel on the top of the page (perhaps in 1st panel during times without a special promotion), a customer like me who is interested specifically in the Rocket 4 Plus G would likely bookmark the product page and return to it for status update information rather than visit the Sabrent website home page or monitor some other resource like an official channel and then return to the product page to submit an order.
