Disappointing

My order (an air rifle) was confirmed and paid for on 15 Aug 2022. It arrived 35 days later. It was seen as an "available/in stock" item, but my confirmation email stated a "10-12 working days" processing period as Defcon have to order from their suppliers. I accepted that delivery window. After 14 days I sent an email to follow up. There was no response so a few days later I sent another email and this was responded to by a guy named Stefan who apologised and said that he hadn't seen the first email. He said he's awaiting his supplier's response and will revert to me as soon as he gets feedback. That was the last I heard from him. After 4 weeks I called Defcon and spoke to a young woman who is the reason this review is 2 Stars and NOT 1 Star. She was actually sincere and genuinely apologetic, making me feel important, if only for this conversation. Her exact words were "Wow, you ordered this a century ago!", acknowledging the ridiculous delay. She said they expected it to arrive at the end of the week and should then be delivered to me the following week (19 Sep 2022). And so it arrived, 35 days after order confirmation and 38 days after payment was made. This rifle was meant as a gift for someone, which I stated from the start in my emails. Their birthday came and went, with nothing but empty promises from me, which I resented. If I didn't follow up, would the average customer be expected to just sit patiently and wait for 35 days before receiving a (relatively expensive) order without a single email or call made? I don't believe so. The only way to worsen the situation would be to charge a R150 delivery fee, which they do. The only way to help the situation would be to waive the R150 delivery fee, which they didn't do and I shouldn't have to ask. If I was in charge, as a nice gesture, I would have offered to scratch the fee, unless I'm completely out of line and this type of delay is commonplace? I was initially recommended to buy from Futurerama, now that's exactly where I'll try next.