Late last night at 23.01 I contacted Blacks to tell them that a pair of shoes I had ordered ten days before, as a Christmas present, had still not reached Hermes, the courier company, according to the Hermes tracking number. Somehow customer Care at Blacks managed to get hold of Hermes within 30 mins of receiving my email and sent me the following: "I am very sorry to hear you have not yet received your order as expected and can understand how disappointed you must feel. I have investigated the whereabouts of your parcel and regrettably, it appears to have been lost in transit. I have launched an investigation with the courier to discover what has happened to your order and to safeguard against this happening again. On this occasion, we are unable to offer you a replacement due to lack of stock so a refund has been processed to the original payment method used. Please note, debit/credit card will take between 3-5 days to reach your account depending on your bank whilst PayPal will take up to 24hrs but usually sooner. I am amazed that managed to get an answer that quickly from Hermes. I emailed Blacks to say I didn't want a refund just the shoes but they said it was too late as the refund had been sent. The whole transaction just seems a little weird and of course one person is now out a Christmas present.