Home automation company August launched their flagship Smart Lock today to much fanfare, glowing reviews (well, mostly), and an announcement that the $250 device is now available at Apple Stores nationwide.

There’s just one problem. August, which raised an $8 million Series A funding round last year, took pre-orders on their website from mid-2013 until a couple months ago, but early adopters who committed to pay $199 are still waiting for their locks to ship.

These previously enthusiastic supporters are now being told by August that they won’t have their locks for another four to twelve weeks, despite the fact that Apple Stores across the country are stocked today.

Dozens of upset pre-order customers have taken to Twitter to vent their frustrations, with many receiving the same canned reply from August, along with a link to the announcement:

@AugustSmartLock You’ve got to be kidding me… You haven’t even fulfilled pre-orders yet! — Jim Pruetting (@jpruetting) October 14, 2014

In short: because I had early enthusiasm about the product, I will now be one of the last to actually get one. Thanks @AugustSmartLock. — Chris Ostertag (@videograndpa) October 14, 2014

@csavino3 We’ll send you an email when your order is ready. Plan is to fulfill all pre-orders in the next 4-12 weeks. Hopefully sooner. — august support (@August_Support) October 15, 2014

@maxrogo We hear you – it is frustrating. More on why we made this decision here: http://t.co/nrMmRyRQZY — august support (@August_Support) October 15, 2014

@rizjiwan We hear you – it is frustrating. More on why we made this decision here: http://t.co/nrMmRyRQZY — august support (@August_Support) October 14, 2014

The explanation given in August’s announcement is that they are “backordered due to demand” and that “many of our early supporters have consistently asked for alternatives to a purely-online purchasing experience.”

Interestingly, although August claims to have been shipping pre-orders since August 25th, no unboxing videos have yet appeared online (an Internet staple for early adopters of high-end gadgets like these) and the only evidence so far of anyone having an August Smart Lock in-hand before today has been the articles written by influencers at major tech websites who were sent review units by August.

Pre-order customers did lock in a price $50 below retail and they won’t be charged until their lock ships (whenever that is), but August’s handling of the situation leaves much to be desired, and is turning into a bit of a PR debacle for the fledgling smart home company.

August’s official response to pre-order customers (excerpted from their announcement blog post) is reproduced below.