I don't think this is true. An agreement of payment is a contract. If you agree to pay for a specific service, and you do not receive that service but your money is still taken from you as if you had, that is fraud. He paid extra for faster shipping, and didn't get the faster shipping? They shouldn't take/keep his money for it. The bottom line is that he agreed to pay for something that was never provided (even if the reason is that the item was canceled, the service still was never provided).

I would report it as fraud as well. I ordered sneakers once from a website that promised a free return in 30 days. I tried to return them - I reached out in the way they requested in that time period, and I reached out a total of 5 days. After two months of no response, I reported it to my credit card and got my money back. Their advertised service was part of the contract of payment, and they failed to deliver on that service.