Academy Sports & Outdoors Worst Online Retail Experience EVER

Simple...I ordered a bike on 12/15 to be deivered within 3-5 days.  I paid for expedited shipping to guarantee i had the item well before Christmas.  This was my son's BIG Christmas gift so didn't want to leave to chance.  4 days later I call to check on the order because I hadn't received an email confirming shipping and of course the red flags went up.  I called they claimed the item had been shipped via Fed Ex and they gave me a tracking number.  Satisfied with that i hung up and later that day started entering the tracking number into the Fed Ex tracking system...NOTHING.  I waited till the next day and tried again...NOTHING.  I called them back and they tell me..."it's definitely shipped you'll get it well before Christmas...don't worry".   I wait till day 7...NOTHING. 

I call them back and they say..."hmm?  that's weird...shows it shipped!"  You'll receive it tomorrow.  I wait till day 8...NOTHING.  I call back AGAIN...the tracking number still deosn't show up in Fed Ex...they can't figure out what shipping service was used...they try and put me off AGAIN...they want me to give it ANOTHER day even though it's painfully obvious there is a problem..they have no idea where the bike is, what service was used, and their excuse is because it was shipped straight from the manufacturer!  Needless to say I demanded to speak to a supervisor as we were just a few days away from Christmas at that point.  When I finally did speak to her...she fessed up and said that I probably would not be receiving the item on time!  IF I HAD NOT PUSHED AND CALLED AND CALLED...

What would have happened?  My kid would have been without a Christmas gift.  At that point this "supervisor" apologizes profusely and says I'll send you back to the agent who was helping you and he'll process a refund.  Well...when we start the process he says...ok you should see your refund within 15 days!  WTF!!!???  Really?...Totally unacceptable!  I ask to be connected back to the supervisor and I start laying into her about how HORRIBLE the service has been and how i will NEVER do business with Academy online again...to appease me she says "ok...I will personally watch the account...as soon as your payment has cleared (which it had, but it wasn't showing paid in their system...just another fail on their part), I'll issue the refund myself...I will personally make sure that you have your refund within 3-5 days at most!". 

I didn't really have a choice at that point so I let it go.  7 DAYS LATER...I receive an email with a shipping confirmation saying my bike has shipped!  WTF!!!!!!!!?????  I still don't have my refund, so I call them AGAIN!  The agent has to review the whole "case" to catch up with all the notes and he starts to shuffle me over to a supervisor AGAIN (which by the way takes up to 20 min. because they aren't sufficiently staffed to handle the onslaught of enraged customers who I'm sure are going thru the same hell as I am)!!!!  I don't have 20 MORE min. to wait on hold for a useless supervisor so I ask the agent..."would it take less time to get my money back if I just wait for the item to arrive and then take it back to the store for a refund?" to which he replies "YES!" very relieved!  I said...I'm tired of having to call and wait...I'll just return it to the store when it arrives.  It is now 2 days past the promised delivery date on the confirmation email and I still have no FREAKING BIKE OR REFUND!!!!!  Needless to say...I called AGAIN...the guys looks at his system and says...

"well the order says it was delivered!"...I said "WHEN?"...he says "Well it doesn't say"...  I say send me to the supervisor's supervisor...hey says I need to speak to a regular supervisor and they can connect me with their supervisor...i wait the standard 25 minutes...finally speak to a very nice lady (they're all very nice...just completely powerless therefore useless)...she says "Well I'm so sorry, but obviously your item was lost"...I'm issuing your a refund.  It will be in your account in 3-5 days!  It's like F'ing Ground Hog Day!  This is all I can do to hurt the them way they hurt me!  In total I spent no less than 6 hrs. of my time on the phone trying to get some resolution to this problem!  NEVER!  EVER! EVER! order from Academy Sports & Outdoors online...ESPECIALLY during the holidays...they can't handle it!