On Christmas Day I placed an order on Curry's web site for a fridge freezer, the added bonus for purchasing on Christmas Day was free delivery. Part of the order process was that you enter your postcode it then checks stock and then offers a delivery date. All this went without problem. Next you enter your credit card details. I was sent an email around 40 minutes later listing my order. I know the credit card went okay as the next day I was rung by my card companys Fraud Prevention Unit asking if I had made this purchase.

Late in the afternoon of the 30th over five days after the order was placed I was sent an email by currys canceling the order saying they were out of stock at my distribution centre. I rang them and despite speaking to an assistant and a line manager I got nowhere. The assistant said computer error and that centre probably never had stock, the line manager said problem with the credit card it only went through on Wednesday, I know the latter is untrue and as the same item was still on the front page of the site on Monday and Wednesday - without the free delivery flash - I doubt the latter is true.

My take is that they would rather sell at £19.99 more for items not ordered on Christmas Day.