Bought item that was not in stock - can't get refund

MFCSteve

About 1am on Friday 27th November, I bought a Nintendo Switch bundle online from Currys for £318. As it was for a birthday on Tuesday I selected to collect from store on Monday. I received the confirmation email and all seemed fine. 
On the Monday I never received the 'ready to collect' email BUT at around 8.30pm received an email hoping I was enjoying my new purchase. I called customer services and after 40 minutes got through to an exasperated sounding agent stating there was a delay and I would have it the following day. As that was the day of the birthday it was for, I accepted this. 
When no email came again on the Tuesday, I was eventually told via Twitter DM that the item was not actually in stock. I questioned why I had been sold something that was not in stock and they did not even attempt to answer me. 
We then bought a replacement online from Smyths, which was ready to collect immediately, and I went online to find out how to cancel the order with Currys. The only way to do this was by online form which I filled in and was told I would have to wait 14 days for my money back. 
Wednesday, I got a text (not email as promised) telling me my order was ready to collect. I got back in touch with Currys via DM to tell them I had cancelled the order, to which I was told that they can find no record of it. Indeed, I have had no email confirming the cancellation and when I log in to the site, my order still shows as active. I explained via DM that I desperately need the money back and in the 48 hours since, they have not responded.
Today, as there has still been no confirmation of my cancellation and my order is still showing as active, I have called customer services on an 0344 number. After 49 minutes of being in a queue, this just changed to a ring tone and has been like that for the last 10 minutes and continuing. 
Where do I stand here? They took money for something they did not have. I spent extra money to get an alternative and desperately need my £318 back for Christmas. There are many people in this situation as can be seen on Twitter and Currys are just not being helpful in rectifying it. For me, if they have sold something they did not have in stock, I should be able to get a refund instantly not wait 14 days. However, even the 14 days would be something at this point as they are simply not responding to me now.

Hasbeen

Why do you not wait until the 14th Dec ?

14 days as they confirmed to you?

And then if no refund then complain about it.

MFCSteve

Hasbeen said:

Why do you not wait until the 14th Dec ?
14 days as they confirmed to you?

Two reasons. 
Firstly, they have taken money from me for something they have since confirmed they never had in stock. I genuinely do not think the 14 day rule should apply in this case. If I had cancelled the order through my own volition, then the 14 days would be fine. But they took money from me for something they have since confirmed they did not even have in stock, which is basically theft of my money. 
Secondly, the 14 days is not the 14th of December as they cannot find my cancellation and the order is still active. Since posting, I have filled out a second cancellation form and this has still not worked. I cannot get the cancellation to process so my 14 days has not even started yet.

I was on the phone for 1 hour 8 minutes trying to get the cancellation processed, but have just been cut off. They are holding my money that they had no right to take and won't let me cancel it.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

MFCSteve said:

About 1am on Friday 27th November, I bought a Nintendo Switch bundle online from Currys for £318. As it was for a birthday on Tuesday I selected to collect from store on Monday. I received the confirmation email and all seemed fine. 
On the Monday I never received the 'ready to collect' email BUT at around 8.30pm received an email hoping I was enjoying my new purchase. I called customer services and after 40 minutes got through to an exasperated sounding agent stating there was a delay and I would have it the following day. As that was the day of the birthday it was for, I accepted this. 
When no email came again on the Tuesday, I was eventually told via Twitter DM that the item was not actually in stock. I questioned why I had been sold something that was not in stock and they did not even attempt to answer me. 
We then bought a replacement online from Smyths, which was ready to collect immediately, and I went online to find out how to cancel the order with Currys. The only way to do this was by online form which I filled in and was told I would have to wait 14 days for my money back. 
Wednesday, I got a text (not email as promised) telling me my order was ready to collect. I got back in touch with Currys via DM to tell them I had cancelled the order, to which I was told that they can find no record of it. Indeed, I have had no email confirming the cancellation and when I log in to the site, my order still shows as active. I explained via DM that I desperately need the money back and in the 48 hours since, they have not responded.
Today, as there has still been no confirmation of my cancellation and my order is still showing as active, I have called customer services on an 0344 number. After 49 minutes of being in a queue, this just changed to a ring tone and has been like that for the last 10 minutes and continuing. 
Where do I stand here? They took money for something they did not have. I spent extra money to get an alternative and desperately need my £318 back for Christmas. There are many people in this situation as can be seen on Twitter and Currys are just not being helpful in rectifying it. For me, if they have sold something they did not have in stock, I should be able to get a refund instantly not wait 14 days. However, even the 14 days would be something at this point as they are simply not responding to me now.

Why did you not wait until Currys had stock for your trinket! Instead, your rush to buy the trinket elsewhere has led to your bank holding onto its money while the situation is resolved! 

Caz3121

Is the store far away? could you go and collect it and immediately return it?

MFCSteve

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth said:

Why did you not wait until Currys had stock for your trinket! Instead, your rush to buy the trinket elsewhere has led to your bank holding onto its money while the situation is resolved! 

Because the 'trinket' was for a childs birthday on Tuesday. I ordered on the Friday and it promised I could collect on the Monday. On the Tuesday, they told me that they never actually had the item in stock and did not know when they would have any. As it was for a birthday present, not knowing when I could get one is no good so cancelled. 
Also, how is my bank any part of the issue? I am trying to cancel the order, which I have the right to do even without the fact that they do not possess the thing I paid them for, but they will not let me cancel it to even start the process.

Am I missing something about life here? They took money off me for something they did not actually have, but people are suggesting that I am the one in the wrong. To me, taking over £300 off someone for a promise you know you cannot fulfil is not acceptable. 

DiddyDavies

MFCSteve said:

Am I missing something about life here? They took money off me for something they did not actually have, but people are suggesting that I am the one in the wrong. To me, taking over £300 off someone for a promise you know you cannot fulfil is not acceptable. 

I very much doubt that when they took the money, they knew that they wouldn't be able to supply the goods. What would be the point of that? All it would do is possibly earn them a tiny pittance in interest but would probably cost more for the time taken to sort out the refund.
It's more likely simply a stock holding screwup where their system hadn't been updated quickly enough or incorrectly, leading them to believe that they still had a supply of the bundle available.

MFCSteve

Caz3121 said:

Is the store far away? could you go and collect it and immediately return it?

It is a little over an hours walk and we have considered that but not sure about the full rules over it as could not find them clearly. If we did go up there and collect it, can we just return it there even though it was purchased online? I did not want to get up there and find I had to bring it home and pay to send it back.
Also, there were a couple of people on Twitter in a similar situation who, after getting the text, went to the store only to be told they never actually had it, so had wasted journeys. I have just looked to see if there is a direct store phone number so I could ring to make sure they did actually have it, but all I can find is the Customer Services number that cut me off after an hour.
Thank you for the suggestion though, if it comes to it, I will bite the bullet and walk up there later and just hope it is actually there.

Peter999_2

Currys have got serious issues and have for the last few months.     Similar to you, I ordered something a couple of months ago via click and collect.    I never received the email saying that it was ready for collection and recieved an email the next day apologising and saying that the item was out of stock.   They assured me in the email that no payment had been taken.   When I checked it was still showing as pending in my online banking so I presumed it would drop off.

Couple of days later, it changed from pending to payment actually made.   When I looked online there was no way to contact them, I completed a form, waited 14 days and got nothing.      There was no way I was going to phone and be on hold for hours to get nowhere (it was only £3.49 fortunately) but it means I will not buy from Currys online ever again.

I fully sympathise with you OP and hope that you do get your money back.  I don't blame you at all for getting one from Smyths as it was for a birthday present.

MFCSteve

DiddyDavies said:

I very much doubt that when they took the money, they knew that they wouldn't be able to supply the goods. What would be the point of that? All it would do is possibly earn them a tiny pittance in interest but would probably cost more for the time taken to sort out the refund.
It's more likely simply a stock holding screwup where their system hadn't been updated quickly enough or incorrectly, leading them to believe that they still had a supply of the bundle available.

You are possibly right but from what people have been saying it is not about the interest but something that appears to becoming common. If there is a high demand for something, rather than admit being out of stock, process the order and apologise after but hope the customer just waits for the stock to come in rather than give money to someone else. 
On the day they told me they were not in stock, I checked the item on their site and I could still buy it for same day collection. If the problem is down to a system issue, it needs sorting immediately.

Manxman_in_exile

Not much help at the moment, I'm afraid, but my advice for the future would be that if you are buying an expensive birthday present for a child who is so young that they will be disappointed if they get nothing on the day, then I don't think it's a good idea to wait until four days before the birthday to buy something on the internet in the hope that you will be able to collect it the day before the birthday.