USC appears to have a lot in common with a great many retailers, in that its staff are driven by good intentions which unfortunately have little or no backup and attention to customer satisfaction.
I received the item I had ordered within a reasonable timeframe, but if I had used the eBay listing instead of buying online direct, I would have saved myself 20% of the postage cost!
The only reason I purchased via the USC website was because USC had placed confusing pictures on their eBay listing, and I did not want to run the risk of receiving the wrong item anyway. Lesson learnt.