Items advertised as "in stock", then waited, followed up, got a reply that the supplier doesn't have the item anymore

Good day All

I've been buying from Loot the past 3 years or so because of Momentum Multiply which offers Loot discounts and of course there have been instances where Loot were cheaper than Takealot.

Most of the times I ordered, I just accepted the fact that Loot will take minimum 2 weeks to process my order, check with suppliers for stock and send the request for pick up after that time frame.

My biggest problem with Loot is that they don't carry much stock so most of the stock on their website is of some suppliers list that they have (definitely not updated); I do understand most of the online retailers doesn't carry much stock, but jeez, keep your stock levels updated. I've ordered a lot of items then after 2-3 weeks I get an email:"Oh sorry, our supplier doesn't have this anymore, here is your refund". Ok great, thank you for the quick refund in a sense, but how is it possible that it takes 2-3 weeks to hear from a supplier if he has the item or not?? Takealot tells you that the item will be ordered from the supplier so expect 2-4 weeks for it (BEFORE I order and pay for the item), I'm fine with that, but don't tell me the item is in stock and then close to a month after the original order I get an email stating that the supplier doesn't have the item... Then you falsely advertised for an item and I need to miraculously get an essential item close to Christmas (in this case a Microwave which is kind of a necessity in a household).

My previous order took almost 3 months to complete cause Loot miscalculated (doesn't keep updated stock levels, AGAIN) how many books will be sold after it was released on the website. If they kept updated stock levels or just a ball in the park figure from their supplier, then they could've easily just sold those many copies and updated their website...