My "Small" Rant About H&M

My "Small" Rant About H&M

I'm normally not a nay-sayer and ruffling my feathers takes a lot, but nothing winds me up more than people who are too lazy to do their job- and not even that, but people who are lazy and don't want to do an easy job.

Especially people in retail. I don't get why they act like their jobs are so damn difficult. 

And trust me, I get it. Retail jobs are mentally difficult sometimes. I used to work in the food service AND retail and I've worked both Black Friday and Christmas. I know what the score is.

So what really fires me up is that I'm not a mean customer BECAUSE I KNOW RETAIL SUCKS SOMETIMES. 

Ok, let me back up a bit before I drift off in space.

I received my package from H&M from my black Friday purchase on December 10th. Considering the holidays were upon us, I can see why a package could take awhile.

So I made my video haul and everything was cool. The problem was when I tried everything on, EVERYTHING was a size too big. To me, it wasn't a big deal- I figured H&M probably redid their sizing and the XL's were just bigger than I thought.

Now like I mentioned before, I hate returning things and I've never returned anything by mail. So I read the instructions inside carefully but I was still like, "uhhh, I don't know." And to top it off, I really wanted my package back before my trip to Disneyland. I really wanted to wear my new clothes. White girl problems, I know.

So I called H&M's customer service and when I finally got a girl on the phone, she was so damn rude! Abrasive even. Her tone literally sounded like, "How dare you call me at my place of work."

"Hi, um. I got my package sent to me, but the sizes were too big- and I've never returned anything by the mail before so I just wanted to make sure-"

"What item was too big?"

"...All of them. They were all too big."

Then it was like this back and forth of her wanting to pull up my order info rather than let me just try to ask HOW TO PHYSICALLY RETURN STUFF.

So finally, I was like, "I just want to return my things and I want the smaller sizes!"

"Didn't you read the back of the order slip with the instructions?"

Her tone was so damn haughty. Like, "What kind of idiot are you that you can't read a packing slip?"

By this point, I was already mad. So I finally get her to explain how it works, and then I asked, "Well, I'd love to have it back before a trip I'm taking. Can I pay over the phone to have my return sent as like a 2 day shipping or something like that?"

"No."

There was a long pause, "Oh, I thought since it's technically a new package I could-"

"We don't do that."

"Um...ok, how long do you think it'll be on normal shipping?"

"10 business days." 

So I did the math and was like, well... ok, it'll still get here before my trip. So I thanked her (like an idiot) and then got off the phone.

I sent my clothes back and time just drifted away. I didn't get an email, I didn't get a phone call. I got nothing.

So finally, I get back from my trip (WITH NONE OF MY ADORABLE H&M SWEATERS) and I finally got mad.

I don't know why it took me so long. I don't know at all. I should have been mad after she was rude on the phone or mad when she basically called me stupid- but no, I was mad because my package took longer than 10 days. That girl promised a time and she was a liar.

So I call H&M (because I'm a glutton for punishment, apparently).

"Hi, I returned an order and I was just wondering-"

"Are you just waiting on your refund?"

I think H&M has some requirement where they make you interrupt your customer and try to fill in the blanks.

"No, I returned an order for a size exchange and I-"

"Whats your info, I'll look up the order."

So I complied with that.

"It just got here today to our warehouse."

I felt my brain short-circuit.

"It just got there."

"Yeah."

"I sent it on the 11th."

"Yes it says that."

"And it's the 23rd".

"We're really backed up."

And then I got mad.

"Yeah it better be."

She said nothing.

"I understand you guys have a holiday crunch, and it's probably packed in there. But I sent my package a very long time ago and another girl from your call center told me the return would take 10 days. I'm going to ask again, and I want an honest answer. How. Long. Will. My. Return. Take."

It's not often I get mad. In fact it's pretty rare. 

My voice gets low and I get very concise and I scare people. 

It's like when you hear a teacher voice. Or your mom's "I'm not kidding around anymore" voice. You get Jesus scared into you. 

That's what I call White Lady Mad.

Suddenly this girl springs into action, explaining every single detail of my order- but then she makes the mistake of adding this little nugget-

"-Unless we don't have your size, then we won't ship it and we'll refund you instead."

"...So I might not get ANY of my things."

"...."

"Ok thanks bye."

I won't even lie, I just hung up. I was done with this nonsense. Honestly it wasn't the fact my stuff wouldn't get here, or that returning things is just a hassle for me- it's that people don't do their jobs. I do not like being lied to, and I do not like people being generally mean when I am trying to be nice because I know retail holiday season suuuuucks.

So not long after I hung up I receive an email stating that H&M received my things and they'll be emailing me shortly saying what ended up being shipped out.

Long story short, that email finally came a few days ago and they're exchanging 1 item.

It's like... I can't even. Why even bother sending me a tank top. Seriously.

I think I'm going to just stick with the brick and motar from now on. I think I learned my lesson about buying clothes online. 

And especially considering how AWESOME H&M staff are in stores, it makes the whole call center blunder especially bad. 

H&M, fire the call center. Just fire them. Clearly you should just hire some badgers- they'd probably be more charming.

-SamanthaK