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Currys website down as Black Friday shoppers rush to get deals

<p>An error message appeared on the site saying it would be up and running again soon</p> (Currys.co.uk)

An error message appeared on the site saying it would be up and running again soon

(Currys.co.uk)

Bargain hunters have faced online frustration as the website for one of the UK’s most popular tech retailers has crashed on Black Friday.

Currys PC World shoppers have complained of orders failing to be processed and posted screen grabs of “system errors” as they scrambled to snap up deals on one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

The Downdetector website, which tracks outages and customer complaints, suggests issues began just before 2pm.

One frustrated Twitter user posted a message to the company, saying it was “almost as if you didn't know today was Black Friday given your website has crashed during orders.”

Online retailers across the world had been braced for a surge in site visitor numbers as lockdown leaves bricks and mortar stores shuttered up during the annual sale event.

However, a number – including both Currys and cosmetics site Cult Beauty – have proved unable to cope with the surge in demand.

Just before 3pm a message appeared on the Currys site reading: “We’re down for a bit of maintenance… but we’ll be up and running again soon!”

Social media users complained of being unable to contact customer services representatives, as they grappled with payment errors.

One user wrote: “I am trying to contact you but your live chat is unavailable. When I try to contact you by phone you direct me to a link that takes me to the live chat. Please help this is frustrating.”

Another tweeted: “Just tried to order 3 items form your web site. Used vouchers but the transaction failed but the money has been taken from the vouchers. Help! Can’t get to your through to your customer service at all.”

Meanwhile, the Cult Beauty website displayed a message reading: “You’re in the queue!”

It continued: "Sorry for the hold-up, there’s been a rush to the checkout (great minds think alike)! There’s no room at the moment but we’ll make sure you get your turn to shop the world’s best beauty.

“Stay on this page (no need to refresh!) and we’ll let you in as soon as we can. When it’s your turn, we’ll hold your place at the front of the queue for 10 minutes.”

One Twitter user wrote in desperation: “How am I number 20389 in the queue for cult beauty? I just want to spend money.”

Another wrote: “Hi it’s not that I mind about the waiting time, it’s that I could not purchase any of the things I wanted due to the site crashing when I checked out so I haven’t managed to buy anything!”

The Standard has contacted both companies for details on their respective site issues and when customers can expect them to be resolved.

<p>The normally packed streets around Oxford Circus have laid almost empty as lockdown hits bricks and mortar retail</p>Jeremy Selwyn

The normally packed streets around Oxford Circus have laid almost empty as lockdown hits bricks and mortar retail

Jeremy Selwyn

Tech CEO Lars Larsson told the Standard that many retailers had not adequately prepared for the influx of shoppers on key dates such as Black Friday.

He said: “This year has highlighted the importance of ecommerce more than any other, but yet there are still many retailers that haven’t placed enough emphasis on preparing their websites for the rush of online shoppers.

“Throughout the lockdown period we’ve seen examples of websites from high profile retailers crashing when unable to handle spikes in demand – the recent launch of the Playstation 5 being a prime example.

“This Black Friday will likely see record traffic online, and those that haven’t prepared their web servers to handle the rush will simply lose out as impatient shoppers look elsewhere to bag a deal.

“The trend towards online shopping isn’t slowing anytime soon, so those retailers that do fail to convert visits this Black Friday really need to prioritise their web performance for the Christmas season and into 2021”

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