Currys website crash wipes out £250-worth of gift cards

I purchased Currys gift cards for £200 and £50 via the Perks at Work scheme to buy an Apple Watch SE. But after attempting to check out online, the website crashed.

When I tried again, the £200 was showing as £0. Currys confirmed there was an issue and that the gift card balance would be restored in between two and 48 hours. This was more than 72 hours ago and the balance is still £0.

To make matters worse the watch is showing as out of stock, so when it does get round to restoring the balance I’ll be left with £250-worth of cards I cannot use on the item I purchased them for. JD, Manchester

You were one of many victims of a surge in demand on Black Friday when Currys PC World’s website crashed and customers saw the money on their gift cards “drained”. The company apologised at the time. In your case, although you had the money restored to the card, the Apple Watch had gone out of stock and the £10 Black Friday discount had also expired.

But better news since. Your gift cards have been topped up and the watch is back in stock. Currys has refunded you the £10 discount you lost out on, along with an additional £30 for the inconvenience.

Currys PC World tells me: “Due to the unprecedented volume of customers shopping online on Black Friday, our website experienced a temporary outage. Unfortunately, transactions made by gift cards were affected. Any customer affected had the funds put back onto their gift cards by 8pm on 2 December. We apologised and offered JD a goodwill gesture, which he has accepted.”

And finally …

Reader HS of Cambridge has some cheery news. “I recently discovered mice had nibbled at the covers on two Graco Junior Maxi booster seats, which I’d been storing for some years and wanted to use again now for my youngest grandchildren.

“I emailed customer service to see if they had replacements for sale. I received a reply in less than an hour to say they didn’t sell them, but they would send me replacements for free. Three days later the covers arrived.”

Excellent service, indeed.

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