Buyitdirect's "Great Giveaway" not so great

Pocket-lint readers disappointed by promotion

5 May 2009 13:00 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Buyitdirect's "Great Giveaway" does not seem to have been too great for Pocket-lint readers.

The promotion has drawn angry comments from readers disappointed that the online retailer's site appeared to buckle under demand at the crucial moment.

Buyitdirect claimed to be offering £50,000 of products absolutely free, ranging from Sony TVs and Acer laptops to Smeg fridges for those who visited the site with a special code at 1.00am on 4 May.

One Pocket-lint reader commented: "This stunt is complete BS. The site is unavailable (surprise, surprise) and all their high value cr*p had miraculously sold out or disappeared before it began. All the other cr*p they're giving away isn't worth the postage", a sentiment echoed by others.

We've asked Buyitdirect for a direct response to these comments, and although we're still waiting to hear back from the company itself, its PR agency tells us there were some technical issues due to the huge volume of traffic received, but state:

"The Great Giveaway was a complete success with huge volumes of free items being snapped up and our highest ever traffic levels recorded on site".

UPDATE: Nick Glynne, the managing director of Buyitdirect, has now got in touch with the following statement:

"Firstly we would like to apologise to anyone who experienced technical difficulties visiting our site. We put in extra measures and staff monitoring the site over the weekend to try and avoid any issues but our site was overwhelmed by the interest in the Great Giveaway".

"As such, our original traffic predictions were blown out of the water and unfortunately some customers who pre-registered were unable to access our site in the early hours of Monday morning".

"The reason for the Great Giveaway was to give something back at a time when many consumers are feeling the pinch as well as freeing up space in our warehouse for new lines. We knew that we'd attract a lot of interest but no where near the volume we saw on Monday morning".

"On a positive note thousands of customers did successfully acquire a free item in the Great Giveaway, we are currently confirming orders and all our customers will receive an email update shortly".

Full tags

Biz, Daily Tech Deal, Buyitdirect