Debenhams online shopping? No thank you.

I love online shopping, really i do. Who really wants to trek around the shops with more than one child?  It's a nightmare and you always end up spending more than you should because well little people have puppy dog eyes and me being a complete sucker always falls for it, then you have the fact that online shopping is much easier when it comes to Christmas present buying as you don't need to juggle your bags to make sure nothing can be seen through them and try and get little people to look elsewhere while explaining in a hushed yet stressed voice to the shop cashier that you need to keep the item hidden. 

Anyway i suppose i better start getting to the point soon.

To avoid "proper" shopping, on the 10th i purchased three items using a gift card. One was a present for my youngest. A sylvanian celebration family. It was in stock when i ordered. Within a short amount (less than a day) of time i had an email that said "unable to fulfil"

Fair enough i suppose. It happens. I looked on the website. and it was still showing as in stock. I emailed,  and phoned to see what was going on. I was told on the phone by them that they had sold out and there would be no more. I explained that they should probably stop advertising something on their website when they didn't have it. The person i spoke to didn't seem all that bothered.

Next step would be me ordering something else for youngest or trying to. I picked something, tried putting it through but oh dear i only have £1.17 on my giftcard. There was no refund for the item that they charged me for but didn't have.

Again i contact Debenhams via phone call and email. This time i was told that it takes longer to credit a giftcard than it does a bank card?! but it should be back on the giftcard by Tuesday (22nd) at the latest.

Guess what? Yes still no money on my giftcard..I phoned, was transferred to head office. On hold 9 minutes to be cut off. Getting more and more frustrated by this time and so i complained on Debenhams facebook wall. (i did this before but they weren't very helpful and just passed the buck by giving me an email address that they don't seem very quick to reply to)

I phoned again and was transferred to head office, on hold for approx 10 minutes before a gentleman answered and after explaining everything said that it should be back on my card in 48 hours.To make matters worse he said they actually now have five of the sylvanian families in!  This was after someone told me they wouldn't be getting anymore in.
Now i admit this man was the most helpful out of everyone i spoke to but i still had no apology and what if the next thing i order they are unable to fulfil? Will i have to go through this mess again. Argh.

I love Debenhams products, really i do but after this experience i will never ever shop online with them again. I found them rude, unhelpful the majority of the time and they still have my money and i originally placed the order on the 10th. If the money is still missing in 48 hours i plan to take this up with trading standards as i find this shocking behaviour for such a big named company.