Imagine this: you’ve beaten the crowds to successfully secure a pre-order for a next-gen Xbox, you’re counting down the days until release – and then an email lands in your inbox telling you the price has increased by £2000. Wait, what?
This was the situation some Currys PC World customers found themselves in yesterday, as after pre-ordering an Xbox Series X or S they were informed by Currys that the upfront cost had increased to £2449 and £2249 respectively – albeit only temporarily.
“Because demand is so high and to make sure your pre-order is prioritised when orders open online, we’re increasing the upfront cost of the Xbox Series X by £2000”, said the email (which can also be viewed on the Currys website). “But don’t worry. This won’t change how much you pay!”
Customers were told that to finalise their pre-order, they would need to follow a series of extra steps: put the relevant Xbox in their basket, enter their payment and delivery information, and then input their voucher code to receive a £2005 discount, thus allowing them to purchase an Xbox Series X or S pre-order at the regular price (and covering the £5 deposit). There are some caveats to how this works, however, as the voucher codes can only be used once (meaning you have to be ready to pay up when you use it), and customers have until midnight on 18th October to redeem the codes.