Currys PC world - Xbox series X order cancelled but still taken payment

JagoMotorsport

Hi Everyone, 

Looking for a bit of advice really. The Mrs and I have been scouring the net for places that sell the Xbox Series X, tried on general release day - nothing, tried a few other vendors - sold out in moments, the usual. 

Then we managed to find the console on the 24th of Nov, including additional controller on currys website in stock. so we quickly went through the process of placing the item in the basket and proceeding to checkout and completed the purchase with follow up confirmation email of purchase due to be delivered on the 30th, BRILLIANT ! But that triumph was short lived. A day later my Mrs received an email to say the order had been cancelled by Currys, which was disappointing to say the least (I would assume they over sold on their allocated stock and had to cancel orders they could not commit to) In the meantime Currys had taken payment - Circa £500 and we assumed that the money would be returned........ 

Turns out this is not the case, so after a few days of waiting for the transaction to process and for it to be returned we noticed that the payment had processed and left her account, but with no sign of the money being refunded the Mrs began to call Currys to try and speak to someone to find out the situation and get some clarity as to when we could potentially expect to see the return - we are now on 4th of December. After being on hold for a couple of hours/being cut off several times; Currys have no recollection that the money has been taken from her account and she now has to wait 24 hours to be contacted by another department (Sat 5th). 24 hours pass.... nothing, no call back. Now we are starting to get a little concerned with this. In the meantime we spotted the console on Amazon and made the purchase and the console arrived - but that's not the point.

We are now upto £1000 down with only 1 Xbox, Currys don't know where our £500 is and we have been dealt some substandard service. The Mrs has contacted Watchdog, trading standards and tried Currys multiple times again to cut off before speaking to someone. As I write this (10th Dec) its been over two weeks, does anyone have any advice on what avenues we should look at next? I believe she has also been in contact with the bank.

Thanks for your help.
Jago

williamgriffin

Currys have said they'll honour their Black Friday deal so maybe they'll send when they have stock. 

Aylesbury_Duck

It will get sorted.  There's clearly a (debit card?) transaction that your bank will reverse once it's acknowledged the order wasn't fulfilled.  Worst case scenario is that the xbox arrives and you have to send it back for a refund.

You're not "down £1000", you're down £500.  You chose to spend the other £500 whilst this was all up in the air so whilst it's concerning that you don't know when your refund will arrive, you've put yourself into the position of spending £1000.

JagoMotorsport

williamgriffin said:

Currys have said they'll honour their Black Friday deal so maybe they'll send when they have stock. 

This may be a possibility, but I am doubtful due to receiving an order cancellation confirmation email, but we will see. If it is the case - will send it back for a refund, hopefully this can be done in store.

Aylesbury_Duck said:

It will get sorted.  There's clearly a (debit card?) transaction that your bank will reverse once it's acknowledged the order wasn't fulfilled.  Worst case scenario is that the xbox arrives and you have to send it back for a refund.

You're not "down £1000", you're down £500.  You chose to spend the other £500 whilst this was all up in the air so whilst it's concerning that you don't know when your refund will arrive, you've put yourself into the position of spending £1000.

Yes you are right, £500 in limbo at the moment until it is resolved. What would be a reasonable time to expect this to be completed by taking into account the current situation? Would there be further steps to consider if it does not get resolved? 

thanks for your replies.

born_again

JagoMotorsport said:

williamgriffin said:

Currys have said they'll honour their Black Friday deal so maybe they'll send when they have stock. 

This may be a possibility, but I am doubtful due to receiving an order cancellation confirmation email, but we will see. If it is the case - will send it back for a refund, hopefully this can be done in store.

Aylesbury_Duck said:

It will get sorted.  There's clearly a (debit card?) transaction that your bank will reverse once it's acknowledged the order wasn't fulfilled.  Worst case scenario is that the xbox arrives and you have to send it back for a refund.

You're not "down £1000", you're down £500.  You chose to spend the other £500 whilst this was all up in the air so whilst it's concerning that you don't know when your refund will arrive, you've put yourself into the position of spending £1000.

Yes you are right, £500 in limbo at the moment until it is resolved. What would be a reasonable time to expect this to be completed by taking into account the current situation? Would there be further steps to consider if it does not get resolved? 

thanks for your replies.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55250097
"We will be honouring promotional prices for any customer who placed an order between 25 November and 1 December and received an email confirmation of purchase but then had the order cancelled," a spokeswoman told the BBC.

As the the authorisation that is holding the £500 from your available funds. That can sit there for up to 14 days. Given what Currys have now said they will do, I would not expect it to disappear soon.

Maybe contact (good luck) Currys and say you no longer want the X-Box, of keep it and hope to sell at a profit. Not sure if this is something you could do in store.