I would have been upset as well. I have had that happen in the past.

My seller obviously found out that he did not have the book in stock??? I don't know; he had a LOT of sales going and maybe didn't have a good inventory count???

Anyway, it was a diet book that took him a week to ship (I was using a borrowed copy from the library until my copy came in!) and then he used Media Mail. By the time I received the book 3 weeks later (!), I was no longer interested in the diet!

I could tell that something happened on his end but he never contacted me (and also didn't add any cool freebies like yours did!!!). I gave him a Neutral.

I think that a Positive was a good call in your case and yes, that was sneaky of your seller!!! I also think that good communication is key... no matter the excuse, let your buyers know what is going on.