sears shop vac bait and switch

I ordered a shop vac from sears on 7/4/08 via the web site. They charged my credit card right away. The web site still shows the order is in process and will ship in 7-9 days

I contacted sears on 7/30 - they tell me they decided not to sell the item at that price and had internally canceled my order.

They send me no notification and they didn't process a refund to give my money back.

I have called over and over again and emailed asking for the processing of the refund and the best they can tell me is that they are working on it. They are happy to sell me the vaccumm at the higher price.

This is bait and switch - they took my money on a sale at one lower price and now refuse to deliver the item at that price, are pressuring me to buy the item at the higher price, while they delay giving me my money back.

It's not a lot of money, but it's my money.

First of all I believe it's illegal for a company to charge the credit card before they ship the item. Clearly it's once they have agreed to sell the item by charging my credit card, they must sell the item at that price and not demand a new price (which I believe is what they are trying to force me to do) and if I refuse to purchase the item at the new price, they must give my original money back.