You have the option of waiting for a reship or getting a credit. I'd have worked my way up the customer service chain on the nonsense of the credit. That should have been immediately refunded. There's no excuse and some idiot customer service person should be fired for making that excuse.

As for removing the antitheft tag, it all depends on the tag. Usually it's just a matter of having the tool that can pull on the right part of the tag retainer with out damaging the product or dispensing the ink that some of the tags have.

Just let it be known that it isn't limited to mail order. A friend of mine bought a suit at a store when we were travelling. I have no idea how she managed to get it out of the store, but when she put it on later I pointed out to her that the security tag was still on the back of the jacket.