So the news about H&M going online broke a month ago and they even offered a special 20% OFF code for the first flock of people who signed up for their newsletter. The promise was that once H&M Online was launched, these flock of people who signed up will received a discount code. H&M kept their promise alright. I received my discount code, placed my order and was put through a local delivery drama. I posted all of that and what went wrong on my Instagram Stories.

Custom tax, warehouse location and cancelling order

Initially the order I placed sums up to RM1,995.18 and I only paid RM982.22. Happily paid for my order and 10 minutes later as I was going through the invoice sent to my email, I noted the part about custom tax. CUSTOM TAX! How could I forgot about that?! Immediately I called the customer service number provided on the website. It looked like a local toll-free number but once I heard the ringing tone, I knew I was calling an oversea number. True alright. I spoke to someone in the UK. I asked if order placed from Malaysia site, where would the goods be sent from. My heart sank a little upon hearing that their warehouse is in the UK. I asked him if I could split my parcel into two due to the custom tax and the guy on the line said they are unable to do so but he could cancel the order for me if the order was placed less than one hour ago. Now, this is a useful info that you might be interested – credit card will only be charged once the warehouse deliver the parcel out. Therefore there was no issue with refund with the payment provider. In this case, my credit card company.

Packing, delivery from warehouse to local courier

I placed my order on the 14th May. Parcel was only packed and sent out on the 17th May. H&M will email the delivery confirmation together with the receipt. However at this point of time there was no indication on the system. One day later (18th May), another tracking number for local courier under Anchanto was sent to me. It is quite confusing as there was 2 tracking number. I learnt that once the parcel reached Malaysia shore, the 2nd tracking number page will start to have some record on it. On 23rd May, H&M sent another email informing me that my parcel has arrived Malaysia and that it is out for delivery. I waited until 26th May but the courier was no where to be found nor do I know who is delivery. I emailed H&M and they told me to contact Anchanto. Anchanto told me that they will get the local courier to contact me. Then the next day I received a call from Skynet telling me that they are delivering a parcel. They read out my full address and oddly, the lady ask me for my address, after she had read out my entire address. That was when I lose it LOL. They said they will deliver on Monday. Mind you they call me on Friday morning, which means they could easily deliver the same day since they knew where is my location. The reason given? “I just got your phone number”. As I was out and on the way home, I detoured to Skynet office to collect my parcel. Interestingly, I was told by Skynet that all parcel does not have recipient’s contact number. Majority of the parcel are with incomplete address and because there was no contact number, Skynet was unable to contact the recipient. I make sure my details are all correct before placing order and everything was intact on the consignment note itself. All that was missing was my phone number. Skynet is capable of delivery my parcel since my address are fully printed on the consignment note. They feel that they are unable to do so because they didn’t have my phone number.

Editing My Details with strategic contact number placement

I was furious with the whole experience because if I did not contact Anchanto, they wouldn’t get Skynet to call me and my parcel would still be at Skynet but I was more intrigued as to how I can shop at H&M online without the courier drama. How do I get my number on the consignment note? Then, I had an idea.

I put my contact number in the name column. This way, my contact number appeared next to my name and it was the most strategic placement that I could think of. I didn’t want to put it under the address column as the courier company could easily overlooked it.

Here’s how YOU CAN do it too. Just go to My H&M on the top right bar, click on Personal Details tab and add your contact number after your Last Name.

My test order was placed on 28th May. H&M sent out my parcel on 29th May and it arrived Malaysia on the 7th June. An email sent to me said it went out for deliver on the 8th June but since this is Skynet we are talking about, I only received my parcel yesterday 10th June. I received a call yesterday morning confirming my location and my parcel was safely delivered in the afternoon. This time no drama, no delay, no nothing. And I was a happy camper. The only thing that I wasn’t happy is that the item I bought is a running short, which means I got to go out for a run LOL 😛

I believe the 25% OFF one item with free shipping offer is still valid if you sign up for H&M newsletter. I wouldn’t recommend shopping at H&M Online after the first experience but after dabbling with the site and found a way to improvise it, I wouldn’t say no. Have you tried H&M Online?