Kohl's Reneges Credit on Cancelled PS5 Orders, Retailer Says Sweetener Only Applies to Single Purchase

Oh, no. Is the internet ok?

Kohl's had PS5's? They're primarily a clothing store. How the hell did they get PS5's?

Sorry, you PS5 order has been cancelled. Perhaps you'd like some sweatpants.

@Stuffgamer1 I know, weird, huh? Someone said earlier that they are even stocking them in some pharmacies. Maybe they sell a package together with some NoDoze pills so you can game all night.

@Th3solution Don't forget the Depends!

So here's the deal about Kohl's. Kohl's doesn't have a real-time inventory tracking system. So they took all of the orders and once they processed their inventory afterwards, they cancelled all of the others.

When asked if they could cancel the multiple quantity orders to fulfill additional orders, was told no that they cannot do that.

That's why orders are being cancelled. That's a horrible service model and Kohl's seriously needs to upgrade their ordering/inventory system.

My advice to everyone, use your free Kohl's bucks but never order anything from them again until they fix their stuff.

Oh and btw, there's potential that your money will be tied up for 48 hours to 7 days.

@Stuffgamer1 They've always stocked some toys and electronics, which increases during the holidays. They're generally very overpriced.

@Stuffgamer1 @Deadhunter Strange? Because the Kohl's here in the states are basically like Sears, they have some clothes, but appliances, home supplies, and tools are the main things they sell here, alongside some electronics, movies, and games.

I hope matalan or Primark start selling them over here then. 🇬🇧

Though I’m not super bummed to not get a system right away I only hope they aren’t going to be locked up behind some bot/reseller wall for a year.

By not offering direct cues or abundance Sony and MS are missing out on a lot of drunk holiday sales buys. Still don’t understand why they couldn’t just accept a bunch of direct orders and give a “your console will be shipped on date x an email will be sent to confirm payment” etc

Would seem like a great way to not over produce, save on shipping, appease some of the masses.

Sucks to see all those consoles locked up on eBay and Seller sites for 3x as much, especially when tons of people are tied for cash, stuck at home, or looking forward to some holiday fun.

@KisekiFan7

Nice to see some proper gamers got one instead of them going to scalpers, well done.
Pity I can't find any over here.

@MasterEMFG agree.

If I could order one but be told I couldn't get one for 4 month, that would do for me.

I'd wait, at least I'd know I'd get one. Why you can't order one for definite through your psn account, I'll never know. 🙄

@KisekiFan7 I'm in Maryland...always thought of Kohl's as clothing first. Yes they do have some of that other stuff, but I wouldn't call it their main business. Either way, it's weird they would get PS5's when they're in short supply and other stores would be expected to get first crack.

@Stuffgamer1 Kohls is as much a clothing store as Walmart and Target are. It's a big box department store the sells toys, electronics, self assembled furnute, appliances, etc.

The one Khols I ever entered had basically just home apliances when you entered the store (fridges, laundry machines, stoves, etc.)

So, i'm guessing kohl's is the U.S version of littlewoods?

@Loftimus I'd say more like Matalan with kitchenware and clothing but with some electronics thrown in.

@Stuffgamer1 VA here and yeah Kohl's is definitely more of a clothing/apparel store than anything else. They do tend to have some really good gaming deals Black Friday/Holiday time though especially when you factor in the cash back offers.

This situation happens far too often in gaming. When an item can easily be sold for above rrp, it's best just to sit out and let the madness play itself out.
It's so odd that gaming is particularly susceptible to it.

my order is still in fulfillment. incredibly anxious that it'll be canceled. im in immense pain.

Don't worry. The people with bots will be selling that stock for $800 minimum on EBAY. I mean the really smart people at Microsoft and Sony couldn't figure out the Bots would steal the stock if you didn't have a verification which is sad..
Just put them back in the stores and let people wear masks so the rest of the world can get them too..Oh and instead of apologies take Rainchecks and fulfill the P.O.s that were already placed instead reopening new sales.

@Steve30000 or Poundland!

I'm gonna try getting one from Greggs along with a Mexican chicken bite sandwich. Wish me luck.

Sony can demand that the ones on Ebay be removed or sold at regular price. I'm surprised they have let this go on as long as they have. They lose alot of money on each PS5 sold that they hope to make up for with games sales.

A few years back, I got a Minecraft green Xbox S at Kohl's BF sale. It was a good buy & good price and has appreciated in value. So, yeah Kohl's gets into the game biz for a few weeks of the year.

@Shadowrun78 Only if you’re a moron and use a debit card. Anyone who’s not a moron or living in squalor should use a credit card for all purchases, not only for the superior consumer protection features but for the reward points.

@Tharsman @Stuffgamer1 That bizarre, I've never thought of Kohl's as anything other than a clothing/mini department store like a mini Macy's that's actually financially solvent

Almost entirely clothes, a sizable jewelry counter, bedding and linens, and a modest kitchen department with kitchen electrics, knives, pots and pans and utensils.... Vacuum cleaners..... No cosmetics which is all that kills it from being mini Macy's. And that's about it. But not even remotely a big box general goods store like target or Walmart... It's a hard focus on soft lines.

Near Christmas they do load the midways with other goods, which is probably where this came from... But it's one of those "we stuck pallets of toys and electronics in the midway of our clothing store" things, not normal merchandise they carry.

If they have more general goods stores out there, i wonder where? Major appliances? I've never seen a Kohl's with even one major appliances ever. A toaster and electric griddle, sure. Fridges? decent place to find a sale on shoes, pants, bed sheets, or pay too much for a crock pot, but the carpeted, dimmer mood lighting stores a primarily about mid tier and store brand clothing. Ps5 there is just weird!

@Steve30000 @MasterEMFG I agree. I don’t have time or the flexibility to key eye on stocks at certain retailers and the bots will beat me anyway. So I’m not going to order until there are no shortages in order to avoid disappointment, even if it takes a year.

They could just do a pre-order system but for now, add us to the list and give us an estimate of when it will arrive. It makes no sense that they give all the cards to the scammers and bots to profit while loyal customers get screwed over.

@MasterEMFG there is zero risk of over producing. They have produced and sold over 110 million PS4s in 7 years. They would need to pull one hell of a trick to surpass the demand they have right now.

Scarcity is a tool for products like the PS5. There is a reason why they continue to advertise the console that they cannot provide. Sony doesn't mind the $1500 resales because it essentially days "Wow, the PS5 is a great deal at $500". If you were willing to wait a few months to buy a console, now you might reconsider if you happen to see one at Target or in Best Buy.

That is the sole reason I own a first gen switch. The hype and scarcity convinced me into buying it much earlier than I wanted.

If you are going to get your order cancelled, this doesn't suck. It said they got to keep their Kohls Cash. That's like $180 to spend at the store.

Kohl's handled this very badly they could have done so much more than just cancelling every order because their system is broken. They could have put some people on backorder or rejected the order immediately

@Steve30000 i agree. They are going on Ebay and 5Miles App for almost $1,000 USD. It is insane.

@Stuffgamer1 lol right? I bought a PS4 from Kohls during their Black Friday sale back in 2016. They even had a few PS3 super slims in stock at the time.

My Kohl's order game in today. God Bless that company.

Ridiculous. Why take orders if you can't fulfill them?

What a horribly managed launch. Shame on scalpers and shame on retailers.

Just so we're clear,.scalpers not okay but also scalpers not getting tons of free Kohl's cash for not getting to scalp these systems also not okay?

Sounds like they are scalpers anyway. Don't feel bad for them

@redd214 what part of VA are u from? Im from southwest VA near blacksburg, but moved across the border to wild and wonderful WV.

I would love some of these people using bots to get stuck with 200 ps5's, not that i really care for myself atm because i cant really afford one atm. Just sucks for parents trying to get one for their kids and others just trying to buy one for themselves.

@Stuffgamer1 nope we are way more than that...we carry lots of electronics....

@Shadowrun78 so you know this how? Employee?? I am and that is fabrication of the wildest lol

@NEStalgia btw we have sold cosmetics for a long time in my kohls? Hmm

@Mike1288 blame the vendor not kohls that is where the glitch is

Should we feel bad for the would-be scalpers?

@mkkemt58 interesting. They seem to operate entirely different models in different regions then. There's about 4 Kohl's around here, all opened in the late 90s and none ever had cosmetics.

Weird the same chain doesn't appear to be the same store format everywhere... I've never heard of a chain doing that!

@lolz-123 Any more financial advice for us morons living in squalor?

Ngl, had to Google "reneges"

This should have been done from the start one console a customer till they had more stock.

@ellsworth004 northern, about 40 minutes out from DC.

Yeah the more I read about the scalper situation the madder I get. I ended up selling one of our ps5s (for retail) to a friend as he had so much trouble getting one for his kids. Really hope the can get a big push of stock in the next couple weeks

Kohl’s did not renege! Anyone thinking they could buy multiple consoles that got canceled and benefit $180 for each canceled console, is a moron! No company is that dumb to do that.

@mkkemt58

So nice of you to come here and call me a liar just to defend your crappy place of employment. Just re-affirms the reason why I will not shop at that place anymore.

Btw, the information I provided came from the customer service rep who I spoke to when I called to find out why my order was cancelled. Then again, the fact that you didn't that info or that it wasn't communicated to the rest of the company makes sense given the situation.

But yeah, thumbs up to you Mr.(or Mrs., wouldn't want to upset you snowflake) Kohl's Employee, defend that ***** of a company! I'm pretty sure you'll be greatly rewarded after the bankruptcy with a nice pink piece of paper.

@Shadowrun78 kohl's isn't an electronics store it's a clothing store. Their system will never be able to handle a console launch.

Also who pre-order's from a clothing store and really expects to get a console? They probably got less than 1% of the entire supply of consoles shipped. It's like buying video games at 711.. a stupid idea but they did it for a couple big games and it went horribly wrong for obvious reasons...

Also the internet didn't explode... nobody noticed or cares. 1 person tweeted this site and they wrote an article as if there were a significant number of people who tried to buy it there when that's just not true

Also the gift card was 1 per person, it said that but people ignored it...that's on them.

Lastly no they didn't cancel ALL orders because I know someone who got one along with their gift card.

@Shadowrun78 who are you kidding, you don't shop there lol... They lost zero business because of this. Zero. The ps5 isn't even close to the target audience for the store.

Jesus... You are insanely childish. Oh hey do you think you could post more replies? I don't see enough from 1 person.

lol I'd bet my hands you didn't have a order for a ps5 through them either. You are just whining for the sake of whining.

@Dangerousliason exactly. People are salty because they got greedy and ordered multiple consoles and aren't getting to keep the kohls cash for every order. Kohls could have easily told everyone with cancelled orders to kick rocks and voided it all.

I know people that placed 10+ orders and are pissy because they thought kohls was going to give them 1800 in free money. Like gtfoh.

That said, I got my order in as soon as it went live and mine just shipped last night. I only ordered one and didn't get greedy. Wife was stoked to have 180 in kohls cash to spend on the kids.

@Culjoseth @Brokenpinata I mean, they could have easily limited them to one per customer and prevented this situation entirely.

So, just to make sure I understand. These people are still getting a $180 credit to shop at Kohl's but they're mad because they want more than one $180 credit since they bought multiple consoles... seemingly because they intended on scalping?

Okay Karen.

@NEStalgia "Weird the same chain doesn't appear to be the same store format everywhere... I've never heard of a chain doing that!"

Target by me didn't have a grocery section for a long time. They've had it for awhile now but there are such different size stores - not counting the Target Greatlands or SuperTargets - that it wouldn't surprise me if there was other stuff some stores sold and some didn't.

The Macy's in Herald Square is 11 floors. I'd guess they sell a lot of stuff most other Macy's don't.

@Shadowrun78 pulease....tell me you did't embellish the cs reps answer to you....yeah....that's ok looking at your whining like a 5 year old about " not getting your gaming system", tells me you are probably in your late 20's living in your moms basement. If you really want them when they hit the shelves..pay for a retailbot that specializes in playstations & accessories...I would think mr. Gamerman would know that option.Grow the fxxk up.

@zupertramp True but it’s Kohl’s! Kohl’s is not equipped to sell video games. I get it that they tried to do it and they should reap what they sow and all that. With that said, it’s Kolh’s!!!! Anyone getting mad that they aren’t getting $180 Kohl’s cash per console (that they aren’t getting) should stop whining and grow a pair.

@mkkemt58 @d0x360

Man you people on here are ridiculous. First off, no I did not embellish the CS Reps response. What would I gain from coming on here to provide the information I was given? Absolutely, nothing, but thank you for coming back here to once again insult me. Calling me a five year old while acting like one is kind of funny, so thank you for the laugh. You also do a really great job of representing your employer and once again, cement the fact that it's a crappy company, not only for their crappy software systems, but also for their crappy employees who feel the need to attack people online who've had an unpleasant experience with their employer.

As for the other moron who felt the need to chime in, please don't bet your hands, you need those to continue to make stupid remarks on the internet. And to your point, the obvious reasons was their crappy software. How on earth are you a major retailer at this point and cannot track things real time is beyond me. Also, what their most known to sell is irrelevant. They put a product for sale, took more orders for what they had in their inventory and potentially screwed over others by holding their funds for up to 7 days. That is bad business. If the company I worked for did that and upset customers, I would be ashamed. I sure as hell wouldn't go online to insult them.

Why on earth are you people defending bad business practices? Seriously, what on earth is wrong with you? You wonder why business do this kind of crap, well there you go. They can get away with it and have ignorant people defend them.

@Shadowrun78 you need a life bro

@Culjoseth Yeah admittedly I wouldn't even know what to do with $180 worth of Kohl's cash, much less that amount several times over, as I've never stepped foot in there but whatever it is they were selling, you'd think they'd be equipped with some one per customer capabilities. That seems like some fairly basic GoDaddy storefront type stuff.

@LooseSeal88 The way it seems, since they didn't limit it to one per customer, is they sure didn't mind selling to scalpers but don't want to honor the very transactions they encouraged by making it a free for all.

But true it is Khols and I don't know that anyone who ever shopped there already is even gonna notice this happened.

@rjejr Target and grocery is a bit of a unique case in that their store format didn't change, and it's consistent nationally, they just had to add grocery because that's how Walmart bilt their empire. Both Kmart and Target tried to hack grocery into their stores, late to the game.... Kmart did it half baked, horribly, and had retail people running grocery so it failed. Target took another decade to even start, but hired grocery people to run grocery. But they still shorthorned grocery into the existing format.

But yeah they have a few formats. The "neighborhood" urban mini stores are weirdly scarce. I was hoping they'd move into my old Kmart, since they did one or two others in the area, but no dice.... Shopping is half an hour away at best now. Hail Lord Bezos, our savior! Greatlands is the worst name for stores I've ever heard but yeah I've been in one...i consider it recent.. That was 2001 or so

I've been to a normal one once or twice. They're always inconveniently located here. Not that Walmart is convenient. If there were no delivered Amazon I'd have to go into the woods and live out Walden.

Kohls is the inverse... They started as a grocery chain in the Midwest in the 50s! And yeah, herald square is a pretty unique case of a leftover 19th century store that somehow lives on, but doesn't represent the rest of the chain at all. The rest of the chain is closer to Sears at this point. In fact my remaining Sears is in much better shape than the the remaining Macy's!

Still weird though. Kohls of through and through clothing and kitchen and bedding... Absolutely nothing else other than random type items on endcaps, and definitely a department store environment. Id buy a PlayStation at Kohl's as readily as I'd buy an xbox at bed bath and beyond. Or switch at Victoria's secret... Though Nintendo has done precedent in that area.

@Shadowrun78 welcome to push square. It's better than it used to be......

I actually got a PS5 from Kohl’s - delivered on Friday AND had one of mine cancelled, so I got $360 Kohl’s cash total that I already spent on Christmas gifts lol

@d0x360

Says the one who appears to live on the comment section of a gaming website?

I expect it to mostly be scalpers ordering more than 1 PS5 and scalpers deserve all the worst life has to offer. Throw their Kohl's cash on the bon fire.

@Shadowrun78 I would put my Mensa IQ against yours anyday sir..ignorant lol...I bet you gain lots of IQ points playing Call of Duty. Bottom line " if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." You write stuff on social media than get angry because you get negative responses? Go figure?? Have a good night, I cannot waste another brain cell sparring with you.

I was sad when I got my order cancelled, and I was further saddened when the major things like Sackboy and the PS5 Camera were sold out before I could use my Kohl’s cash on them, however, I get that they can’t be giving out millions and millions. The $180 I got will at least give me a comfortable grip for my switch, some cuphead t shirts and a Christmas present for my brother.

Well it's nice of them to "apologise for any inconvenience caused". I mean, that pretty much makes up for duping customers doesn't it. I would be totally satisfied knowing that they had apologised for causing me 'inconvenience'. Thanks Kohl's, you guys are the greatest!

@JohnnyBastos You must've missed the part where they're giving each customer $180 in store credit to go along with that apology, probably because this article's headline is weirdly focusing on the niche-case negative (that multi-unit scalpers are only getting a single $180 credit instead of one for each console) instead of the very substantial positive that everyone who placed an order is getting, y'know, $180 in store credit.

@Fath Yeah, I read the article. By duping I mean taking far more orders, especially for multiple consoles, than they ever had a chance of fulfilling. Tying up people's time and money. I agree 180 credit is decent compensation, but it's still a shady business practice.

Besides, my main point was how generic 'apologise for the inconvenience' language is practically meaningless these days. I don't believe they are sorry at all. I find weak sauce apologies like that verging on insulting.

@JohnnyBastos The emotional metaphysics of corporate apology are an interesting philosophical subject, I'll grant you that. Who even is the "we" that's sorry, really, since corporations don't have emotions? The PR rep running the Twitter account? The nameless stocking manager who's probably getting fired over this? The CEO? The shareholders?

But expressing emotion is only one aspect of apology as a fundamental concept. Probably more important is that it's an act of social contrition, that allows for the smoothing over and healing of mild grievances in society without formal punishment or revenge by letting the offender ritualistically surrender an indefinite measure of their dignity and power instead.

Invoking the ritual of apology without surrendering anything would be offensive, for sure, but in conjunction with the juicy credit they're offering, and with the understanding that it's purely a social resolution because a corporation can't feel anything, it's... fine, IMHO (and certainly not worth as many words as I've written now discussing it). Sure, the language is a tad boilerplate, but... not getting a PS5 by Black Friday really is just an inconvenience in the big picture. "We're sorry that your joyless days must continue to be filled with non-raytraced suffering for another few weeks, and that your spoiled children might hate you for not handing them the world's most powerful gaming system with a literal bow on it this Christmas" would come off a bit condescending.

So scumbag scalpers with no lives can't buy multiple consoles from Kohls and flip to idiots on eBay? Without cheating Kohls and normal customers of the product what will scalpers do?
I hear toilet paper is finally back in stock. Plenty to sooth butt-hurt scalpers who probably know what its like to have tons of it in the home already!