Woolworths Online's disregard for paying customers

I received a call this morning stating that one of the items I ordered is not available. This happened two hours before the estimated delivery time, which is highly-inconvenient. The order was placed last week. (ORDER NUMBER o***)

Now, this is the third such experience I've had with Woolworths Online. Simply put, your online service is shockingly amateur.

As someone with common sense, I envisioned the following when I first started using your online service several years ago.

1. When an order is placed and paid for, it should be reserved for that customer. This means even if it's not in stock, the guaranteed, paying online customer should be prioritised over the POTENTIAL walk-in when stock is received. (I previously received an explanation from the online team, stating that items for online are taken from stores and that's why stock is not always guaranteed. What that tells me is that you don't value your online customers.) 2. Alternatively, if an item is not in stock in a particular store, that should be displayed on the website upfront during the order process. Why allow someone to pay for something you don't actually have, or are not sure you will get? It could only mean that your stock is not updated as often as it should be and hat points to a flaw in your own systems. 3. The practice you are currently allowing is tantamount to me entering one of your stores, putting items into a basket and, just because someone reached the till before me, allowing them to take items out of my basket and buy them. What is the world is that?

You can surely do better than this. It's disgraceful.

I trust you will offer me a full explanation of why your service has been substandard.