Reality of christmas - bad customer service with online shopping

It's that time of year again where everything is about Christmas, Christmas music, Christmas "food" related products, Christmas presents, blah blah blah blah blah

It's also a time for where you get let down with your online shopping!

Imagine this...you sit down with your 6 year old daughter choosing some products, She had an operation on her hand about 2 weeks ago so has not been able to do much in case she hurts it or causes more damage, I wanted to make her feel a bit special and try to enjoy Christmas, she has had to give up so much gymnastics, trampolining, dance,dance competitions, swimming at school and private swimming lessons all because of her hand injury, she is slowly beginning some of her after school activities as she can such as dance and gymnastics but she cannot do swimming for quite a few months and she is very upset about, so I wanted her to start getting excited about Christmas again with what she can do rather than what she cannot do...she expresses interest in only one item, you spend over £60 for 8 items, you pay for the whole order, receive a confirmation and payment of your order and then wait to see when it will be delivered.

I hadn't heard anything for a few days so i logged into my account and notice my order has been dispatched...well all except one item! so I do what any normal person would do, I phoned the customer service line to find out what was going on as i hadn't had an email or phone call to state anything was out of stock, id purchased these items 3 days before, they had taken my money as it HAS come out of my bank account so obviously I wanted to know what the problem was. You guessed it the store had over sold on some items and one of mine was out of stock with no chance of it coming back into stock! oh that's ok because the lady thought it was acceptable to tell me she would look to see what stores had it in store and i could go collect it. How awesome with that, I've qualified for free delivery so its included with my order, the item is only worth £5.47 but that's ok you want me to pay £15 petrol, approx £5 parking to travel to my local store that is over 45 minutes away from where I live, when i don't drive so I would have to get someone to take me, that's if that store has it, if further obviously the petrol price will increase not sure on parking as depends on where it is depends on price of parking.

Of course i was annoyed by this and expressed that and the stupid cow laughed at me! never laugh at a customer who is annoyed and upset they have cocked up their order every time you order online and have no customer service skills, talks over you and thinks its funny that you have to be the one to make contact and find out what the hell is going on and not the other way round.

What am i paying for exactly, why do i have to chase up my items from a well known store who is supposed to have a "magical" customer service...that may of given a hint towards the well known-loved store without naming and shaming....well just yet!

Oh i can have a refund of the item that is not in stock, it just took me phoning and asking what is going on to actually get that offer, i should of been notified before me phoning, oh know one would inform me until I actually receive my order as it would be on the dispatch notice that said item was not dispatched and that I needed a refund, again why did I have to chase this, oh she then checks I've already been refunded, whilst on the phone i checked my Paypal nope no refund, don't lie to me it won't go down well, oh she meant it was with the relevant department, that is not what you said, she said i have received a dispatch notice about this item, i check my emails nope I've not even had a dispatch email been sent (funny after the phone call it miraculously gets sent, still does not inform about said item being out of stock and that I would not be receiving it).

So i asked to speak to a manager oh that's right I am not allowed to be passed over i have to wait up to 48 hours to receive a phone call, a bit more annoyed but nothing i can do, i accept this and give 2 alternative phone numbers. I also confirmed a phone number linked to the account when getting through security.

I messaged the Facebook team to see if there was anything else could be done, nope everything was re-iterated, that is not acceptable why should I accept THEIR mishap.

I receive an email from a manager stating he wishes to make contact however I would have to supply a phone number in order to do that....NOW I AM ANGRY...i gave it to your customer service representative on the phone when she put the request in. i gave it to your goons on the Facebook platform so that's twice and now your requesting it a 3rd time! really...what happened to customer service, why should I have to chase everything up, repeat myself hundreds of times to get such incompetent staff!

This was from a manager, the person who is supposed to resolve an issue when someone else cannot, instead he makes it worse, i can see the number linked to my account, i have confirmed this with the customer service representatives but yet I really have to give these details again, NOT HAPPY.

I have had no contact from this manager after a few hours of sending my phone number AGAIN!, getting annoyed with how bad this customer service has been when it should be a magical time with Christmas around the corner.

I'm fed up with companies taking full payment for items and not fulfilling their contract of sale. Why take full payment and accept the order if its not in stock.

The so called manager messaged me thanking me for my number but ignoring everything else and has now stated it will be another 24-48 hours for a manager to contact me...wait...what...I thought this person was the manager as that is how he has addressed himself, so if i went on 48 hours from original request that would take me up to friday evening, now with this add on it will take me until saturday evening.

This store is really starting to grate me...on the plus side I have just received my order and it is stunning

Christmas Eve Box created for my daughter

I was looking on Pinterest at Christmas crafts and I seen a Christmas Eve box, it had a new set of pjs, hot chocolate, a book and a DVD, I thought it was a fantastic, so I got thinking. I started thinking about what my 4 year old little girl would want if she had one and what I would put it in, she loves reading, stickers and lately watching Christmas films whilst eating a little bit of popcorn. We had recently had sky hd installed with a new sky box so I thought the box it came in would be fantastic to store everything in it, I then wrapped it in ebony’s wrapping paper she choose (monsters inc), it was really tricky wrapping it as it had so many different flaps but I managed it. I put in a brand new pink Christmas onesie, a Christmas book, a Christmas sticker book, 2 bags of sweet microwave popcorn, 3 DVDs and I put 4 bags of different chocolate sweet bags in, obviously these aren’t all for her as me and her dad will be watching it all with her, so I have catered for all. This box has a lot of potential such as adding hot chocolate, I would have added hot chocolate with marshmallows but ebony doesn’t like it. I hope this inspires you to create a Christmas Eve box for yourself or even your little one/ones. My little girl has seen hers and is really excited about it, more so than her Christmas presents which I didn’t think was possible! She has shown off her box to all her family and friends, some of which are now considering making one for their child/children. It has been a lot of fun creating this for my daughter and watching her with excitement seeing her box. I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas wherever you all may be, I wish you good health and happiness much love Tasha xxx