So I get an email from Waterstones on 16 December saying my order has been shipped. Two days later the tracking number that they sent me is still an "invalid barcode" on the Royal Mail website. After phoning Waterstones customer services to query what was going on it transpires that an email telling me that my order has been shipped doesn't actually mean that it has been shipped only that they have put a tracking number on the parcel and that sometime in the next few days, hopefully, it might be collected by Royal Mail and eventually delivered to me. So I shall go back to ordering books from the Oxford Press as when they tell me a book has been despatched then it really has. As of the morning of 19 December the tracker tells me that Royal Mail still do not have possession of the parcel. So unlikely I shall get the order before Christmas. I will never use Waterstones online service again.