Argos cancelled my order after taking my money

[LEMtheoriginal]

I ordered a Nintendo switch and checked stock Etc for home delivery. All fine. Email received confirming delivery.

I then realised I had sent it to my home not work so needed to change it. Went online only to see this part of the order had been cancelled. Had received no correspondence as such.

Called customer service only to be told the product was out of stock and wouldn't be in stock until after Xmas -errrr!!!!! They said they had already refunded.

I thought ok I'll go to Amazon but better be quick in case it sells.

Then argos say I have to wait 3-5 working days for a refund.

I went a bit mad and after some wrangling a console miraculously appeared in a store 15 miles away. I have to reserve it and go there when it's mental busy when I had paid for same day delivery.

Then was told I will have to pay AGAIN! as they have already initiated my refund. I tried to explain that I can't now afford this as THEY HAVE MY MONEY! fell on deaf ears.

I suffer from anxiety and am now worried sick they won't reserve the item or I will pay again and not receive my refund.

I managed to negotiate a £20 discount but this will only cover a trip to the store. I am sooo anxious now that I might not get it in time for Xmas.

How can they take my money before checking stock?????

A three day waitin refunds is standard. They really should have contacted you first before refunding. Escalate!

They do it lol the time

Amazon at least take the money on dispatch as do Teacos so can't see why Argos should be any different

Unfortunately as the other poster said 3-5 days wait is standard. But they should have notified you beforehand. Don't worry, I think they will give you your refund but I think you should also get it in writing or an email if anything goes wrong. Good luck

I work for Argos and it's getting awful . The system is always messing people's orders up and even fast track in store collections it applies aswell . If u don't get your goods in 7 days they cancel the order and issue a refund , no movement on that .

I worked for Argos 17 years ago and come back this year and everything has changed so much . Mainly for the worse :( shame really .
Hope you get your refund .
I would 100% recommend fast track if buying anything . It's so easy compared to normal buying and waiting in store . We are meant to get goods within 1 minute from you being at counter . Obviously not always possible but we do try it's all kept in a different section to normal stock .

I stopped using Argos click and collect because of this. Twice I paid for expensive items (£300) online but got an email later saying it was out of stock (once they didn't email until hours later so I only found out when they didn't actually have it in the store for me!) and then they took a week to refund my money. Absolutely shocking and underhand way to do business.

That's why I stopped using Argos years ago. Order something, they take your money, and then oops it's no longer in stock.
It's even worse when they have goods that won't be delivered for a few weeks, and so you wait past delivery date to be told it went out of stock long ago.
Then trying to get the money back which was a pita, and CS seemed shocked that you actually want your cash back. Here have a store card. It's gone past the time we can issue a refund, that one was fun.

Resting - I know it sounds daft but how do I escalate? I was in tears to customer service . There are reasons tgat it us really important I get this before Xmas that I don't want to discuss here. I get anxious in crowded places so tgat was why I was trying to avoid the store.

Smyths Toys have loads of these if Argos don't manage to actually produce one.

We had similar issues with Argos last year- waited in for a delivery. Received part of it a day late, and when we contacted them the other part wasn't in stock. I was furious. I would never trust their ordering system again. Surprised they are still in business tbh.