A woman is irate after she and her friend learned an H&M Gift Card Giveaway was random, and not for the first 100 shoppers that visited the store during a Grand Opening ceremony, as a promotional email she received allegedly stated.
Niccoya (@niccoya) vented her frustrations, yelling into a camera lens outside the H&M store, in a TikTok. She says she and her friend were the first people in line to get into the store so they could enjoy the $500 value gift cards, arriving outside the location at 7am.
However, upon arriving at the location, the TikToker says she noticed signage that said the first 100 shoppers would receive significantly less money. On top of that, despite waiting for what Niccoya says was “fours hours” in line, she was instructed that she not only wasn’t promised a $500 gift card, but claims she and her friend were given $20 gift cards, while other individuals in line behind them all received $100 ones.
In the clip, she shows a screenshot of an email she says she received from the clothing retailer. A portion of the email reads: “Gift Card Giveaway The First 100 people get a gift card worth a $500 value!”
There was also some verbiage in the message that discussed a “Ribbon Cutting” ceremony.
She also shows the store sign which displays a gift card value amount that is significantly less than the one advertised in the email.
“GRAND OPENING FREE GIFT CARD GIVEAWAYS UP TO $100 FOR THE FIRST 100 SHOPPERS! March 21st @ Noon,” the placard reads.
“This is the sign that says up to $100 and we have been in line for 4 hours. 4 hours so we tell them we’re in line for the $500 gift card they say that it’s random,” she rants. “Anybody could get the $500. Mind you, me and her, first people, first people in line. Why the hell do we get $20 gift cards and everybody behind us has at least $100.”
The TikToker calls out H&M for “false advertising” and claims they sent out a new email which wrote “up to $500.”
“We were the ones that notified them of the fact the email was incorrect,” she says. “They had us emailing the email to them.”
@niccoya Ive been a long term customer and this is so messed up to do to people, this needs to be corrected ASAP!
♬ original sound – Niccoya
In a caption for the video, Niccoya writes that she seems to be particularly upset by this development because of how long she’s been frequenting H&M locations: “I’ve been a long-term customer and this is so messed up to do to people, this needs to be corrected ASAP!”
Numerous people seemed just as angry as Niccoya was about the gift card slight.
“Yea they have to correct their error and give you the $500,” one person penned.
Another wrote, “$20 doesn’t even compensate the FOUR HRS of standing.”
“They could’ve at LEAST gave you that 100 friend,” another replied.
Others were just shocked that the email seemed to outright lie about the gift card situation.
“It literally says the first 100 people too Thats crazy,” one wrote.
There were also TikTokers who believe that the email Niccoya received was grounds for a lawsuit: “Girl sue the courts gon side with y’all!!”
“That’s a costly mistake. I know they probably meant up 2 $500. But they should’ve double checked that email. Lawsuit,” another person wrote.
In a comment, Niccoya wrote that she was able to receive her money as promised.
“Update: they sent the $500 in an email,” she commented.
Many replied under her comment that they were happy she finally received the $500 gift card, with a few replying, “As you should.”
In an email to the Daily Dot, a spokesperson for H&M shared the following:
“We apologize for the confusion at our recent reopening regarding gift card amounts for those customers waiting in line. This was the result of an unfortunate typo. We appreciate customer feedback and have taken steps to rectify the situation with any customers who were impacted.”
The Daily Dot has reached out Niccoya via email for further information.
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