Refund disasters
I recently attempted to place my third order with hot milk and have been increasingly frustrated with their customer service.
Order 1- purchased a single underwire nursing bra. I live in the US, and the item was inexplicably shipped from New Zealand despite shopping on their US website. The shipping was $14.99 USD. It arrived and did not fit, which is fine, but I liked the product so I opted for a store credit refund. They advertise free returns, but it is only free if you get a store credit otherwise it is $9.95. The store credit was processed fairly quickly this time.
Order 2- the bra I wanted to repurchase was out of stock so I picked a different style of underwire nursing bra and a wireless nursing bra. This time my order qualified for free shipping (and I do not recall where it shipped from). When the items arrived I was disappointed. The wire in the wireless bra was much too small for the cups and there was at least an inch of wire channel that was unsupported in the center of the bra and at least a half inch on the outside of the cup, so the bra had no chance of fitting properly even if it was the right size. The wireless bra fit ok, but I found the seams and edge of the elastic straps to be very rough and scratchy. So I packed up my return again, paying $9.95 this time to get part of my purchase refunded to my debit card. The amount I carried forth in store credit from order 1 had to go back to store credit. The items were received at a US return facility on May 20. It is now June 14 and I have not been refunded either my store credit or my debit card amount. I have emailed and was told to allow at least 21 business days to receive a refund, or longer at peak processing times. They do say so on their website but in the same FAQ answer say that store credits are processed as soon as the item reaches the consolidation point, which has not happened. And still, 21 business days is quite steep for a refund. For reference, the entire month of June this year has 22 business days.
Order 3- they had an annual sale running and I decided to purchase the size I wanted of the original bra. A few days after ordering, they emailed to let me know it was actually out of stock and offered the sister size (which was the size that didn’t fit from order 1). So I asked if they could send me the size I needed of the new iteration of this item (obsession to obsession 2.0) and even said I would pay the ~$10 price difference. They said they could not do that. So I opted for a refund. I don’t have much hope of getting that any time soon though.
I understand that a smaller business has a lot to compete against these days with the mega retailers sharing a name with a South American ecosystem processing refunds within hours. But, it has been nearly a month and I’m still out my money. I will not be purchasing again and I will not be recommending their products or business practices.
Besvarelse fra Hotmilk Lingerie - US
Hi Phoebe,
Thanks for leaving us a review, as per our emails I have processed both of your refunds for you already, the funds should appear in your bank within the next few days. As a small NZ run business it is quite unfair for us to be compared to much larger businesses, I do try my hardest to be as fast as I can but we have processes set in place so you as the customer gets our products for a great price. We do ship back and forth from NZ so avoid the current Tariffs, so that you as the customer don't have to pay double the price to get your items.
For context, we are a small team handling a global market - not that this is an excuse but being one person I have limitations. I also do totally understand the frustration around the item out of stock, it does really suck when this happens but sadly sometimes stock is not 100% accurate (as we are humans) which leads to this.
Again, I am really sorry that your experience has been not satisfactory but I do hope that this has bought some clarity to the situation for you. If you ever have any other concerns feel free to reply to my email xx
