
As beautiful as PS5’s range of 30th anniversary hardware is, limited edition items such as this inevitably always lead to anxiety. Last week, Sony made the PS5 Slim Digital Edition console available to third-party retailers, which resulted in an influx of pre-orders. Unfortunately, UK retailer Argos has screwed them up.
As spotted by IGN UK and reported by Eurogamer.net, a slew of customers have received cancellation notifications, after the store presumably oversold their allocation. While the good news is no one will find themselves out of pocket here, the bad news is many thought they’d secured their pre-order – and have now missed out on the opportunity to purchase a system elsewhere.
The issue has been compounded by the fact Argos’ customer service has been sending out mixed messages. One staff member told an affected customer that the console cancellation emails had been sent out erroneously, while others pointed out it was a “mass cancellation” and “refunds are being processed as we speak”.
We’ll attempt to contact Argos to get to the bottom of things, but as far as we can see, it looks like anyone who received an email will no longer be getting a 30th anniversary system from Argos.
It’s possible Sony may make more units available in the future, in which case, all hope may not be lost entirely. But it’s a shame these kinds of issues continue to happen: you’d think an experienced retailer like Argos would be on top of stuff like this by now.
[source twitter.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 36
Thats really bad tbh - I know I would have been ###### if I thought i had secured something like this only to be cancelled on. They should have to refund a premium for inconvenience.
There will be restocks I imagine (for everything except the pro). Managed to get a dualsense by using a stock alerts app, they're occasionally popping up here and there
Every time I try and use Argos I am amazed they are still in business. They never seem to have anything I want in stock for delivery and my only option is to travel to the “nearest” store which has it. This is almost never one of the three stores within a 10 mile radius of me. A British staple that I don’t want to see go under but they seem to be getting worse every year.
I’ve had mine cancelled also…shocking tbf!
Got mine cancelled. Sad times
I'd be fuming if that happened to me.
Oddly enough I did get my PS5 which was a pre order through Argos, thankfully it arrived on its release day with no issues
@NEOTDS @Stozza_85 Sorry to hear that!
I hate all this pre ordering online crap we have to deal with these days.
I miss the days when I used to go be able into Game or HMV and put my name down on a list with a £20 deposit to secure whatever the latest console was.
At least then it would stop the scalpers and limit the orders to just one person customer.
Admittedly it wouldn't stop people ordering from multiple different stores / retailers but it still somehow felt a much fairer system
They have stopped taking orders for PS5 Pro as well now. Wonder if they have buggered that up as well.
I wonder how many scalpers just had their pre-orders cancelled by Argos... That'd be pretty amusing if they've already sold their lot on eBay.
@Member_the_game
I remember those days and also you could do the same for certain games.
Remember doing it for GTA V many many years ago.
I'm still baffled sony is only make few quantities for the 30th anniversary!
Glad i kept my ps direct order.
@OldGamer999
I believe Smyth's do still let you do that, I've occasionally pre ordered a game with them and it often comes with a free gift of some sort.
Off the top of my head I remember getting a free Red Cappy hat when I collected my Super Mario Odyssey Pre order.
I doubt you'd get chance to pre order a console in there now though because they sell out their allocation so quickly online
@Member_the_game
They still taking preorders for PS5 Pro at the minute.
@OldGamer999
I was thinking more about Nintendo's next console or looking even further ahead the PS6
I think the Pro is a pretty niche product (mainly due to its price).
Excluding the 30th anniversary editions I doubt it'll be too hard to get to get hold of one
@get2sammyb The thumbnail on your article clearly shows the problem - that looks like one of the PS5 Pros has escaped. How many more have Argos accidentally let loose?
@Member_the_game
I think with the Switch 2 you will have to be very quick preorder wise.
Then again the time Nintendo release the dam thing they should have about 100 million in stock 🤣
@OldGamer999
Yeah the rumour is that it's pretty much all ready to go, just hasn't been announced yet so really no excuse for stock shortages 😂
I guess we'll have to see, I'll definitely be going all out to try to secure one anyway
I have just been in contact with Argos customer service as I too had a cancellation email. They assured me that it was an automated email due to a stock issue which has since been sorted and that my pre order was “Untouchable” and to disregard the email
@Member_the_game
Yep I shall be ready for action to preorder one as long as the release games including some big AAA from Nintendo. Should be a new Mario 3d platform game, it will be a least 7 years and 6 months since the last new Mario 3d platform game.
They don’t make them as quick as they used to nowadays 🤣
@OldGamer999
That's exactly what I'm hoping for, either that or Mario Kart 9
Although preferably both
This would be quite unfortunate for those who get a cancelled order, unless it happened to scalpers.
I will try my best to enjoy my plain white PS5 Pro.
@LowDefAl my closest is also tucked into the back of a Sainsbury’s…it’s a 3 minute drive for me so I would use it all the time if it ever had anything in stock.
@Member_the_game My favourite pre order was the Xbox One from Game. They didn’t accept payment at the time you made it but instead took payment for all pre orders at the same time a few weeks before it released. The thousands of simultaneous charges for the exact same amount triggered NatWests security procedures and all payments got blocked…everyone affected had to contact Game directly to sort it out which I imagine their customer service lines had a ton of fun handling.
As an apology, Argos have offered the choice of an Xbox Series S or a Casio FX-911 scientific calculator and a copy of Balder's Gate 3.
@GeeEssEff
Oh dear, I bet that was absolute carnage.
A simple cash deposit could have avoided all of that
What's bad about this is Argos take payment for pre-orders straight away, so if you've had it cancelled you've to wait a week until you get your money back.
Fingers crossed my 30th DualSense and Pro from them will have no issues. Although I still need to find a disc drive...
Argos has been a mess for years now. I don't know how they stay in business.
Argos are still in business? I thought they went under ages ago.
This doesn't surprise me at all, had a mare trying to get a simple controller from them earlier this year, 2 orders cancelled immediately, one that should have been received, then when questioned why it didn't show another was 'sent' for next day delivery, then cancelled. Ended with a conversation with a manager and a £30 gift card. Won't order anything from them any more, only buy if I'm in store and know they've got it.
Have they updated their website to have a stock updater yet because i remember when there was scalpers galore a few years ago when the ps5 or the Xbox was really hard to get and if you checked to see if they had any stock on their website it would always say it is in stock compared to every other retailer but it wasn't.
I cant imagine the amount of rigmarole and stress a customer had to deal with back then never mind now.
Is the 30th anniversary edition going to be in production for a while to keep up with demand through Christmas?
Always stupid when they apologize for “inconvenience”. Apologies for “disappointment” instead, yeah?
@GeeEssEff Similar experience here. I try and use them for purchases, but never seem to want to do home delivery for anything I want to buy or not in stock locally. Sad to see tbh.
Welp this is not surprising unfortunately
What do you expect Argos is owned by Sainsbury's it went down hill even before then, Argos was the store to be for your Christmas shopping a decade ago but online killed it off and then it wasn't making money and ended up getting bought out by Sainsbury's
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