It sounds to me that this is a very good company to deal with, but that they have either a very poorly designed or poorly maintained website. Definitely one to call up rather than order from their website.
Flicking around Winwood's website, I must say they do advertise their address and phone number a lot, so I would assume your problems were accidental rather than anything deliberate. They do not seem to be one of the fly by night companies that just wants your money and does not care for customer service.
There are a few companies that take money upon order (whether this is legal or not, I don't know). Fran Cotton's Cotton Traders company is one such company. They freely admit to it if you phone them (consequently, I will not do business with them ever). It seems to me that Winwoods is not one of these, they just have a website not fit for purpose. My definitition of not fit for purpose includes real time stock management - in this day and age, anything else belongs in the stone age. The obvious answer is only ever to buy from them via a visit or the telephone.
It could be worse, it could be the Cotswold website. Don't start me on the Cotswold website.....
