Portable air con units: All sold out

I’m in the market for an air conditioning unit. With temperatures currently hitting heatwave conditions in the UK and much of Western Europe, I think everyone is in the market for an air conditioning unit.

The suppliers of domestic air con are not really plentiful in my neck of the woods. Why would they be? This is England. There is (was) not much of a market here. Looking around for a unit with installation to supply two floors is just plain stupidly expensive. Everything in England is stupidly expensive. What should cost a couple of grand at most is closer to £6,000.

So what does everyone do? They go for portable air con units. They are as cheap as chips. Lidl, a discount supermarket chain, was selling units for £149 and they sold out in a few hours. Yes, I would rather queue up too if I could pick one up for £149 instead of £6,000.

Naturally, one then ventures online to secure a bargain, except no one has them in stock. Amazon to the rescue! I found one which clearly said “in stock” and also said “2.1k sold in the past month” or something like that. Well, it must be “OK” if 2,000 people bought this in the past month alone and left 5-star reviews. They were likely just grateful for a cool breeze hitting their face at a reasonable price, and were in such a good mood that they thought to leave a rave review.

Great, let’s add it to the basket and buy it, even though it is more than double the price of the bargain Lidl one.

Checkout time. All goes well until… “Sorry, we cannot ship this to the specified address”. Why the eff not? I switched the address to the office one and I’m stopped by the same message. And, choosing a click-and-collect option is exactly the same. Well, that’s not much of a Prime benefit, is it? Damn you, then, if you can’t be there for me when I need you the most. And, I suppose, the 2,000-plus people who bought this in the past month were…what? All from outside my general region? Tell me another!

There were other units available at varying prices but delivery between 1st of August and 16th of November! I mean…Yar. That is just pointless then, is it not? Isn’t the Strait of Hormuz open again? There are a few other portable units in stock with reasonable delivery dates, but alas. The profiteering is definitely in full swing. £900 for a 6,000 BTU unit by some no-name brand? No thanks, mate.

All well-known retailers that I checked have that “Out of stock” label slapped all over their products. Argos, Currys, John Lewis, Screwfix, B&Q, etc. Even the smaller retailers have sold out. Going directly to manufacturer’s websites is no help either, as one is immediately greeted with the now-familiar “Sold out” and “Out of stock” stickers on everything.

I finally found one specialist retailer who swears they have units in stock and can deliver by Wednesday. They do tend to sell only the premium brands and that obviously comes along with a premium price tag. At least they have the stock and at least I can (hopefully) get it delivered before the next heatwave. I will then be able to console myself about the price in a cool room.