Waterstones

Terrible Service

This is ridiculous. I received a book token for my birthday which i intended to use to buy a Politics text book required for my course. The book was available at several retailers including Waterstones and WHSmith. I've shopped at Waterstones for years so i attempted to buy the book from there.
Unfortunately the nearest branch that had my textbook in stock is two train journeys away so I decided to buy it online. At this point i discovered that i couldn't use my book token online so i went into the store to see if i could order it in from there. I couldn't, but a lady behind the counter suggested that i buy a waterstones gift card with the token which i could use online.
I followed her advise and using the gift card i bought the book online. The website claimed the book was in stock and that delivery would take between two to five days after shipment. I didn't get to test this as my book was never shipped. Waterstones seems to feel that it is acceptable to sell books they do not have in stock. I recieved three emails over a three month period informing me that Waterstones were attempting to aquire the book from their suppliers.
I recently recieved an email telling me that the book wasn't coming and that the money had been refunded to my card. It is three months down the line, I have no text book and instead of a book token i could spend in a variety of stores i now have a gift card for a shop i no longer have faith in. I am deeply annoyed about the service and feel it is misleading to for a website to advertise a book they don't have in stock.