The Sony PS5 finally went for pre-order in India on January 12, on multiple retail websites including Amazon, Flipkart, Games the Shop, Shop at SC, Reliance Digital, Croma, and Vijay Sales. And the console were out of stock within a matter of minutes at almost all the retailers.
It turned out that Reliance Digital was the one that allowed the most number of pre-orders. But some hopes soon turned sour as the retailer started cancelling the orders of some people and sent them a mail regarding the same.
According to a report by the IGN, Reliance Digital claimed in the mail that, "due to an overwhelming response on limited stocks we are unable to fulfil our delivery commitments”. The retailer is offering four separate coupons worth Rs 500 to the people who had their orders cancelled.
Point to be noted here is that the mail also mentions that the coupons can't be clubbed, hence it's clear Reliance wants to make a bit more profit out of this whole situation. Some people report that they have already received the refunds, while others have been promised that refunds will be processed on Monday.
A few have been rather offended by this whole approach by Reliance Digital and want to take the legal route about it. Apparently Advocate Zafar Antonio is all set to file a lawsuit in Kochi and is offering people to join up with him.
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PS5 India pre-order shenanigans
Keeping with the demand that was seen internationally, the PS5 consoles in India were out of stock at all retailers within a matter of minutes. On Amazon it only lasted about a few seconds before becoming unavailable.
The previous PS4 console had around 4,500 units at launch and lasted about a few weeks before going out of stock. According to reports by IGN, Sony apparently had similar numbers this time as well for the PS5.
Sony commented on the situation saying, "PS5 has met with unprecedented enthusiasm by PlayStation fans in India, resulting in a stockout during the pre-order period. Keeping the current situation in mind, we kindly urge all customers to keep their health and safety first and refrain from visiting any retail store to pre-order a PS5. Please stay in touch with retailers for the next pre-order phase."
According to reports, sources familiar with Sony's plans believe that 12,000 to 15,000 units would have been appropriate for a pan-India launch. While there were some genuine buyers of the PS5 console, scalers got their hands on units as well. Some of these are already up on OLX for higher prices. It remains to be seen how the restocking of consoles take place in India.
