Shocking Service at H&M Online

I was absolutely delighted when H&M set up an online store, it was something I'd been waiting to happen for a long time. Little did I know that ordering from them would turn into the most stressful, drawn out ordeal I've ever experienced. Here's the whole sorry story of my experience...

Checkout

I found the checkout procedure quite unclear, with options to 'pay later' via various methods, and the box to 'pay now' hidden underneath. What really confused me is that during checkout it stated whether an item was in stock and if not, when to expect it. Most shockingly of all, some of the expected arrival times were in a few months time. I ordered in September and I was being told I could expect some items in November. Since when do shops allow customers to purchase items that aren't in stock? It makes no sense. If they're selling things that won't be available for yonks, what's to stop them adding their summer stock now?! It's ridiculous. 

Delivery Options

In short, there aren't any. According to H&M, customers will receive items 'around one week after we have received your order but during busy periods it may take longer'. There are no options for express, standard or saver delivery. P&P is simply £3.90. For those who are unfortunate enough to have ordered something that's not in stock along with an item that is available, you can choose whether to have everything arrive together (in 2-3 months time in my case) or you can choose to have your orders arrive as soon as they're in stock, but this means you're charged £3.90 P&P each time. So the 7 items arrived in about 5 different parcels. And no, it didn't matter that I had to wait a quarter of a year to receive my items, I still had to pay for separate postage.

Delivery Time

I ordered 7 items back in September. I waited patiently and received a few items. It then became time to turn my calendar page to December, and the last of my items had still not arrived. A couple of days in and I received a note from H&M in the post saying there would be a delay in the delivery. No reason was given, there would just be a delay and I could expect them at the end of December. As if waiting 3 months isn't long enough, there's even more delay! I'd had enough by this point and wanted to cancel the remaining orders but as this isn't an option online I rang customer services and did it that way. It was a relief to have it all over with.

Logging In

Most online shops simply request you enter your email address and a password you've chosen to access your accounts and orders. Not H&M. You are given a 9 digit customer number and a 4 digit password - which they choose. When it came to logging in I wasn't even aware they'd picked a password for me, and so I had to trawl through my emails to locate one. I actually couldn't find an email they'd sent with the password and so I requested a new one. To request a new password you need to send them your customer number. More trawling to locate this. And if you don't have your customer number or your password? Well, you won't be logging in anytime soon.

Tracking Orders

When I did actually manage to access 'My Page' on the site to track my parcels, a page of German appeared. I may have got an A at GCSE level German but that does not mean I want to try and put it to use when shopping. When I was lucky enough to have the page load in English on a separate occasion, there was simply no information about the whereabouts of the parcel.

Returns & Refunds

After waiting a ridiculously long time for (some) of my items to arrive, I didn't like a few of them. I was all set to return them to the store when I read the invoice and it stated you can return in store, but don't expect a refund. Only credit notes are offered. I wanted a refund so I had to purchase large plastic envelopes ready for posting. At the Post Office, one of the packages went through without any problems. However, with the package containing a pair of boots, the man weighed it and said it would cost me £5.00 as the label H&M had provided didn't state free P&P. Very annoyed, I took the parcel back and later rang customer services who asked me whether the boots had arrived via a Hermes courier or DHL. I didn't know. Forgive me if it's difficult to recall which of my 5 different deliveries arrived with a regular post man and which arrived via courier. She said I'd need to arrange for a courier to come and collect the boots, and this would be done in around 3 days time. So depending on how H&M send your item, you may be required to arrange a pick-up with a courier rather than simply popping it back in the post. After this long ordeal, I then discovered it takes them up to 30 days to refund the money!

Needless to say, I won't be ordering from H&M online again. It's not worth the fuss. I honestly cannot believe just how bad this experience has been. I've mentioned it on Twitter and I'm not the only one, it seems a lot of people have had a shockingly bad experience.

How was your experience with H&M online?