After all, he could have walked to the shop around the corner to buy them.

To begin with, he thought the order for £31 had gone through without a hitch because he received confirmation and was told the coffee pods would be despatched.

On 31 January he received notification that there had been a small delay. A day later the carrier DHL said the order had been received and they were waiting to receive the parcel.

Had Tom know what was to happen next, he wouldn’t have felt so reassured when Tassimo told him his order was on its way, and the carrier confirmed it would be delivered on 2 February.

“Nothing turned up,” said Tom.

On 3 February he received another notification from the carrier to say they had received the parcel and “will deliver on 2 February.” This puzzled Tom greatly.

He rang DHL to point out the error, but couldn’t get hold of anyone. He rang Tassimo who explained that DLH wanted clarification of the packaging.

On 7 February, Tom received updated delivery instructions, but was reluctant to get over excited about receiving the coffee pods in case they didn’t turn up, which they didn’t.

He was further bemused when on 9 February he received an email from the carrier to inform him the parcel was being held at the depot due to a failed deliver and that it would be delivered the following day. Within half an hour of that email, he received another. This time it stated the driver had been delayed and could not deliver. The good news was, the parcel was to be delivered on Tuesday 8 February (the day before he received the email). Not only that, on 10 February Tom got two more notifications that the parcel would be delivered on Tuesday 8 February.

As you can imagine Tom was getting a bit on edge about the delivery when on 11 February things looked promising. He received notification that his parcel was on its way and would be delivered between 12.29pm and 1.29pm on 11 February. Tom breathed a sigh of relief until the parcel deliveryman turned up with his parcel.

“He stood at the office door and refused to hand over my parcel until I had given him the package to be returned,” said Tom. “I told him there had never been a delivery so there was no return package.”

But to Tom’s dismay, the carrier said he was unable to leave the package and took the elusive coffee pods, all beautifully packaged in a cardboard box, away with him leaving Tom slightly miffed.

Later that day Tom received notification that his parcel would be delivered on Tuesday 11th but true to form, nothing turned up.

And then it was Valentine’s Day, 14 February, and Tom had reached the end of his tether. He was promised yet again that the delivery would be on 14 February between 11.38am and 12.38pm but it never appeared.

Tom rang Tassimo and cancelled the order.

They checked their records and said the packaging had been incorrect. However they agreed to cancel the order and give him his money back. The refund will take up to 14 days and as a gesture of goodwill they have agreed to give Tom a £10 credit on his account. But before they can implement this – guess what? – they have to wait to get the package back.

Tom is waiting to find out what will happen next.

“All I wanted was a cup of coffee,” he told Dorset View.