My Maniac Marni Shopping Experience

It is Thursday the 8th of March, today H&M will sell their Marni collection from 8 am on in selected stores. My clever friend Nina suggests to log-on to the German H&M store www.hm.com/de at 4 am EST - which is 10 am in Germany - to get our hands on some Marni pieces. Pretty early, but better than lining up at 7 am in front of a store, right?

3:50 am EST - My alarm rings and I get up right away

3:58 am EST - I am trying to reach the hm.com/de page but it is down: "Please be patient we are updating our website and will be up again at 10 am CET". That is in 2 minutes. I am checking in with Nina via email who is also up. She confirms that she has the same message on her screen.

4:01 am EST - I am reloading the page. Now the website is telling me that I was placed in a queue, due to the high demand on their site. "Please be patient and try again". Quick check-in with Nina, but she was also placed in a queue.

4:10 am EST - "Please be patient and try again". Patience is not one of my virtues. But I keep on hitting the reload button. Nothing changes. Same message.

4:20 am EST - "Please be patient and try again". I am tired. I have some red bull in the fridge and consider drinking it. 

4:23 am EST - Message from Nina: "I can see the collection now, but I cannot add anything to my cart." Good for her! I am reloading the page: "Please be patient and try again".

4:30 am EST - It is still dark outside. Do I really want to get dressed and take the subway downtown? I am starting to talk myself out of my Marni Mania. Do I really need the dress with the 2 different prints? I will save money if I just go back to bed now.

4:32 am EST - "I just completed  my purchase" - happy email from Nina. I keep on hitting the reload button frantically. Come on now hm.com/de - don't let me hanging.

4:35 am EST - Finally! I can access the page and I see the collection. Yeah! I am adding the 3 items I want to my cart - a black belt, the green print dress that has another crazy print on the back and the skirt with the purple and cream dots.

4:42 am EST - I will have to ship this to my Mum's house in Germany, as H&M does not ship internationally. I enter her address. I enter my credit card. I press the final purchase button - "Credit Card declined". 

4:45 am EST - Great, the German address and the US Credit Card do not work together. Argh, I am so close.

4:47 am EST - I find another payment option. H&M offers to send the bill together with the products. Perfect, I am finalizing my purchase.

5:00 am EST - I am going back to bed. I am glad I didn't drink any red bull.