to think play.com should have told me they couldn't process my order?

[ThingOne]

Ordered on 16 March, including present for dniece's 7th birthday this week. Everything was in stock, and mainstream, and got confirmation e-mail.

A week later checked account to see what was happening and it said something like "being processed" or "order received". I am not well so not as good as might be at following things up. Suddenly realised last night had still not had order and birthday was looming.

Rang today to be told they had had a processing problem that day and thousands of orders had not been processed. No attempt to even explain why they hadn't told me. Just garbage repeated each time I asked.

Are they always such fuckwits? Should I use them again or assign them to the dustbin of on-line shopping?

They are usually very good. I have used them for many years, from back in the days when they only did DVD's.
Placed an order late evening of 27th March, and got an e-mail 30th March saying it has been dispatched.

Therefore, expect you may have just been unlucky on that particular day. Though I do agree, once they knew there was a problem, would have been nice if they had contacted everyone involved.

I think you have been unlucky - I buy a lot of stuff online and I would say they are one of the most efficient! I have used them on a fairly regular basis for the past couple of years and have never had any problems.

Btw YANBU - they should have told you there was a problem.

I'm still waiting for half of the order I placed with them at the end of Feb. Not too impressed, but I imagine we make up a small percentage, and many orders are fine.