Negative Online Shopping Experience | Boohoo

Image credit - @byzille on instagram
I decided to put together this post due to my bad experience shopping for the first time at Boohoo.com.au. I've heard others have had this situation happen to them so it seems to be a recurring technical issue that hasn't been resolved by the online retailer, and I think it's always good to make people aware of such situations so it never has to happen unexpectedly to them. I've received items from Boohoo as a blogger and have always loved what they have to offer along with the affordable prices, but my first time shopping with them was really annoying.
 ORDERED 
They had a 20% off everything sale, so I decided to purchase a trench coat that I'd been eyeing off for a while. To get free shipping, I added a pair of loafers to my cart. I checked out on Saturday, paid for the items and received a confirmation email. Boohoo had taken my money for both items.
 SHIPPED 
On Sunday midday I receive an email to say that my ITEMS (plural) have been shipped. Having worked in online retail, marking an entire order as shipped means it's physically in a post bag sent off with the postie on its way. There are no issues.
 ACTUALLY NOT SHIPPED 
At this point I was excited, my items were on their way to me. Until Sunday night, when I receive another automatic email that said "Your returned/cancelled items for order #_____  have now been refunded. The refund was either processed at your request, or we may have refunded you because the item that you ordered is no longer in stock. We're really sorry if this is the case. We've credited $__ to your account. Please allow 3-5 working days for your refund to show on your bank statement." This confused me. My items had been sent off to me, yet I was receiving a refund for one item, and they didn't tell me which exact item?
After the 20% off, both items were around the same price so I had to guess which one was apparently not in the post bag. I guessed it was the trench coat which was the main item I ordered for. I jumped back onto the website to see they still had 20% off running and there was one more smaller size left in the coat. But not knowing exactly what was going on, I didn't want to purchase it again. So I emailed customer service.
 CUSTOMER SERVICE 
On Monday, I receive a response by an actual person. Which if I wrap it all up, basically said that if 15 people are trying to buy the one item, they will take the money of all 15 people and process their orders, even if there's only one item to give out. It's just the way their site works, and better luck next time if you choose to shop with them again. So 14 people have to wait a week to get their money back for something that didn't exist? And the people who bought other items to reach the free shipping threshold have spent more money unecessarily? Not good enough! Last time I checked, online shopping wasn't about "luck". When you spend your money online you should know where it's going. They couldn't even offer me anything to make up for their website issues. Maybe that's why their website is called Boohoo.
Overall I wouldn't recommend purchasing from this store if you budget out your money each week, or if you are counting on an item to arrive for a particular event/date. Seriously so disappointed.
x Vanessa