Apple misrepresenting iPad Mini delivery times

Thinking of buying an iPad Mini only from Apple, online? Beware. I decided to do just that and, though not happy, was prepared to wait the two weeks for delivery that was quoted on the order. That was on 11 November. As soon as I place the order it came up as 'expected for delivery on 4 December'. Now, that's not two weeks but 22 days (i.e. more than three weeks). I decided not to complain or cancel - what's another week after all? Then, on Saturday, I got the following by text and e-mail [my italics]:

Good news! Items in order [xxxx] have shipped and will deliver by 11/12/2012

So, apparently, it's good news to delay someone's order by another week, i.e. to 29 days from the originally reported 14, without explanation. Well, this time I thought I would complain but guess what? There is nowhere on the website for such a complain to be given and when contacting an Apple Store one is simply told that as the order was made online there's nothing they can do to help.
Lest you think I am just one unfortunate person: three people in the same office block as me have experienced the same levels of service from their orders: dates being missed by weeks!
This is Apple Customer Service? Well, if so, then it's crap and I would seriously think about how you buy an iPad Mini if you need it for Christmas. It seems I have to just part with my money, wait until they get their act together and, at some point, I will get something. I just hope it isn't obsolete by then! I shall certainly think long and hard before buying another Apple product and, at any rate, be monitoring their customer service levels.