Online & stores systems do not work.£100's out of pocket

I needed 90 boxes of tiles. Hereford store showed stock of 69 and Gloucester of 29 boxes. I tried to purchase a 'click and collect' as they were unavailable to order for delivery. it would not work. I tried several different debit/credit cards but no joy so I drove 60 miles to the Hereford store which showed stock of 69 boxes.

i arrived at 7:30 opening time and explained i had tried to order them online and was told it was not possible on these tiles. however when I tried to purchase them i could not as a click and collect order for 25 boxes had gone through at 6:50 that morning for another customer. i looked online again and a nearby store was showing 29 boxes in stock. I phoned the store to reserve the 29 boxes and was told they would check the stock and call me back. I went to purchase the remaining stock in the Hereford store. After an hour waiting the Hereford store phoned phone Gloucester and was told they could not find the stock. 29 boxes had gone missing! I tried to purchase the remaining 44 boxes that Hereford said they had but when they brought them out they only had 23 boxes left. A complete wasted journey and 5 hours of my time plus fuel costs.

The next day the awful wickes web site magically managed to perform a click and collect for 55 boxes at Salisbury - another 60 miles away. Although Salisbury was showing 79 boxes I phones them and they did not have that many in so only able to order 55. I drove and collected these OK.

The tiles were now showing in stock online for delivery so I ordered another 30 boxes online and booked the delivery slot for 27 Jan. The day came and went and they were not delivered. I complained to Wickes and they looked into it and refunded my delivery cost and said they would be delivered the following Wednesday and someone would be in touch. I stayed at home again and they did not turn up and I had no communication from Wickes. Again I complained to customer services who then said they had no stock in the stores? But I ordered online when the web site changed from being unavailable for delivery to being delivered. It turns out they just deliver from the nearest store which had no stock.

They refunded my money for the 30 boxes, no compensation, just a sorry. HoweverI am left with 55 boxes of tiles that I cannot use as I now do not have enough and Wickes no longer are stocking them. Two wasted trips and £80 on fuel cost plus two days holiday used up at work waiting for promised deliveries from Wickes.

All in all an awful experience. Never to be repeated. I was looking to purchase a Kitchen from Wickes with there current 50% offer but there is no way I will use them again and I advise anyone else to steer clear. I will be publishing my experience on all review/social media sites available to me. I am very unhappy.