You keep saying you've got something for me

Remember I thrilled you all with a picture of my poor worn-out old sandals? I searched the shops and the internet and couldn't find any the same, so I bit the bullet and ordered a pair of a different style, but which looked okay. I'm not keen on buying footwear on spec because I've got strange feet and not a lot of shoes fit anyway, and over the past few months my left 'had none' piggy has started randomly going into spasm in certain shoes, feeling as though it's been bent right back and is about to snap off. Then it gradually eases and I'll be able to walk again. So I was a bit dubious about buying without trying, but they were cheap ...

I placed the order on July 20th, and the confirmatory email said they would be released on 24th July, and that they always aim for delivery within 7 days. That was okay - they wouldn't take too long and I'd have some hopefully-comfy sandals for the summer. The days came and went and nothing turned up, and there was no reply to my email, so I phoned customer services, and spoke to a pleasant but brisk and slightly dense young man who told me there was a delay getting them in stock and they now wouldn't be despatched till August 18th. I told him this was very disappointing because it meant I'd have no sandals to go on holiday with (Cropredy being before then) so he took it upon himself to cancel my order. I told him I might as well carry on with the order, but apparently he was unable to reinstate the order and I had to go through the performance again. "We have an offer of either a free bag or a free pair of sandals with every order madam, which would you like?" and put me down for sandals, even though I thought an expandable bag might be useful, and flip-flop type sandals give me blisters. But by this stage I was losing the will to live and left it.

On August 7th I got an email telling me that the free sandals had been despatched and should be with me shortly. By today they hadn't arrived, and a delivery charge had been made to the credit card, so I phoned again to query, and spoke to Gary.

"Oh no, madam, we allow 10 working days for delivery."
"That's not what it says in your brochure or on your website."
"That's our policy."
"That's by-the-bye. Am I going to be charged a second postage fee for the main order?"
"Oh no madam, only the one fee per order."
"Phew, that's a relief. And the main order will be despatched tomorrow as I was told?"
"Hmmm, let me see ... no, there's been another delay and they won't be in stock until September20th."

That's when I told him to cancel the whole damned lot and refund me the postage charge for the bloody freebie I didn't even want. I'll be watching the next credit card statement with interest. And I won't be ordering from them ever ever again.