Art Depot, Palestine

My first purchase with this company went smoothly. I placed an order online and it was actually shipped out the same day. I was very impressed and thus decided to use them again when purchasing some gifts for Chanukkah this year. Unfortunately, success once, doesn't mean success a second time. I placed an order on 11/23/12 for two items that were listed as in stock. My credit card was charged. On 12/3/12 I began wondering what was taking so long and I checked their website to see that my order hadn't even shipped yet. With the first night of Chanukkah approaching, I emailed them and was told that one item was not in stock and wasn't expected to be in stock until after 12/10/12. They then said that they didn't ship the in stock item because they were trying to save money on shipping. Hopefully the in stock item it will arrive before the first night of Chanukkah as they agreed to ship it out, but my Father's gift will arrive late because of this. I wish they would have contacted me after I placed the order to inform me of the out of stock item as I would have cancelled the order and gone elsewhere. Now it's too close to the first night to make other arrangements without getting hit with exhorbitant shipping fees from other merchants. The worst part of all this is that April (customer service rep which I communicated with via email) doesn't seem to think that I should have been contacted by the company and she thinks that it is okay to think that any order placed in November is a Christmas gift, and customers are willing to wait until just before that time to receive the item. Ignorance works sometimes, but this time it turned off a once satisfied customer. If you want to shop at company that makes assumptions about your needs and has poor communication, you've found your place. If not, I'd look elsewhere.