BHS: Brilliant? Hardly So. (bhs.co.uk)

Member Name: collingwood21

Product:	bhs.co.uk
Date:	23/02/09 (279 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good value for money products, Free returns, Feature on greasyplam.co.uk

Disadvantages: Use a poor delivery company, Unresponsive customer services, Returns cannot be exchanged

BHS isn't normally a shop that I use very much, but having been tipped off that they had a range of good value wedding gear I thought it was time to investigate this stalwart of the British high street a little further. I was, at that particular moment in time, searching for a pair of wedding shoes, as my usual footwear (trainers, walking shoes or large and fairly unladylike boots) just weren't going to cut it with a white dress. I've never been all that keen on shoe shopping, and I really wanted something that was either going to be worn again or would be cheap (but not so cheap that they would collapse or make my mother sigh at me on the day itself). My search thus far had been in vain - seriously, have you ever tried looking for bridal shoes? Shoes that would normally be expensive seem to justify becoming laughably overpriced at the very mention of the word "wedding", and the word "practical" doesn't seem to feature in many manufacturers' vocabulary. Evidently wanting something I could walk in was asking too much of most shoe retailers and combining both my requirements of "comfortable" and "sanely priced" was beyond pretty much everywhere I looked. Which brings me back to BHS. They seemed to be a store that would offer me shoes that wouldn't cripple me at a fair price, so were worth investigating. However, it turned out that my local branch didn't stock their wedding range, so it was off to their online presence, bhs.co.uk.


**Website Design and Layout**
The website, like the store, does not have the most thrilling image - it is a functional black white on a beige background. All departments (menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, homeware, weddings, gifts and their high APR credit card that they are very keen to push at you in store as well) are clearly labelled from the home page, and I found it very quick and easy to navigate around, although my one complaint is that the text used on the site is rather small and some users may find it uncomfortable to read. Images are clear and quick to load, and I have not experienced any problems or broken links with the site. There is also the "opportunity" to sign up to a newsletter to receive information about special offers and the like, but I cannot comment on this as I declined to use it - I already have quite enough stuff bombarding my inbox on a daily basis. I think dull but functional sums it up, although I don't mean that as an insult - I would much a rather a website was functional and user friendly than flashy to look at but horrible to use.


**Product Range and Prices**
Bhs.co.uk sells a range of clothing, homeware and gifts (including gift cards) of the "generally not all that exciting, but good value if you find what you want" variety. It was the wedding collection that particularly interested me, however, as despite being small it is excellent value compared with the astronomical prices you can pay elsewhere - it is easily possible to kit yourself out with a whole bridal outfit for under £200 (by way of comparison, some retailers try to convince you that you need to pay at least this much just for shoes alone - I kid you not). The odd items I have bought from their high street stores had already persuaded me that I was going to get something of decent value. The website also offers you the option of a free "order and collect in store" service if you think you are going to have trouble receiving your parcel (and given my experience with deliveries, I heartily wish I had noticed this option in time to use it!).


**My Shopping Experience**
I found just what I was looking for: a pair of ballet shoes, suitably pretty for my needs, comfortable to wear and best of all, in the sale (reduced from £20 to £15). Factoring in the delivery charge (£3.50) and 3.5% cashback from greasypalm.co.uk, I would mean getting my hands on the shoes for an inexpensive £18. I found the ordering process smooth and easy; I chose my size and input credit card and delivery details, and then chose between standard (£3.50) and next day delivery (which costs a hefty £4.95). I got a swift confirmation email and my cashback appeared as "pending" in my greasypalm account overnight, which was a nice bonus.

Four days after placing my order, I returned home to find that a large parcel had been deposited outside the front door of my flat; I find it slightly worrying when delivery drivers confuse "this must be signed for" with "please abandon where anyone could help themselves to it and ignore or forge the signature", but at least it meant I had got my hands on my goods (once I had excavated through the vast amounts of packaging it came in). But there, beneath the mounds of unnecessary padding was a pristine white shoebox containing my pair of beautifully packed shoes. The shoes were just what I wanted and decent quality for the money. Pleased with my bargain, I tried them on...and found that their perceptions of shoe sizes were some two out from mine. Just as well that bhs.co.uk has a fair returns system then, isn't it? This is a rare example of a website that give you completely free returns on purchases - the only downsides being that you have to ring them in office hours to get them to email (or post) you a return label and then reorder your item because they don't do exchanges, only refunds. It really is a minor niggle though, as my phone call was answered pretty quickly and the returns label landed in my inbox within an hour of me making the call. The label has a special "postage paid on delivery" code which is very convenient - as it was free I could just pop the package into my work mail rather than having to take it to the post office to return it. The "no exchanges" policy proved to be more of a problem for me though, as by the time I had done all this and gone online to order a smaller pair of shoes, the sale was over and I had to pay the extra £5 - although at least they handled the refund quickly and accurately.

Order number two proved to be harder to get my hands on. A week after I had placed my order, I still had no parcel - just a "missed second delivery" card from the Home Delivery Network. At this point I swore rather more than is strictly ladylike as I had come across the Home Delivery Network before, and the service was so dire it was beyond me how they were still in business all this time later. I called the delivery people up with a heavy heart and it went something like this:
Me: Hello, I'm calling about a missed second delivery card that I have received from you. I wasn't informed about the first delivery.
Home Delivery Network: Sorry. We can attempt one more delivery.
Me: OK, do you deliver on weekends?
HDN: No.
Me: I'm afraid I can't get any time off in the week to be here and receive it. Could you possibly redeliver to my work address?
HDN: Yes, what is the postcode please?
ME: GLX XXX
HDN: Is that a university site?
Me: Yes.
HDN: We don't deliver to universities.
Me: Can I collect it from you then?
HDN: Yes, our nearest depot is located an inconveniently far distance from you and is only open when you are in work.
Me: Great, well can you just leave it outside my door like you did last time?
HDN: We never leave parcels outside the door - that would be insecure.
ME: But you did with the last parcel you delivered to me....
HDN: No we certainly don't do that, we have to have someone sign for it
Me: Hmmmm. Is there anything else we can do about this?
HDN: We can leave the parcel with one of your neighbours if you can tell us which one would be in between 8am and 6pm on a randomly selected weekday.
Me: I have no idea when my neighbours are likely to be in, but I'll guess number 17. Hey, I can always order my parcel for a third time after all!

Miraculously, a couple of days later the lovely people at number 17 knocked on my door and presented me with another oversized box. I unpacked it to find...a battered and torn shoebox containing shoes with half the packaging missing. It was clear to me that someone else has bought them, tried them on and returned them improperly packed and they had not been checked when they got back to the BHS warehouse. The shoes were thankfully not damaged and fitted me, although I did send an email to BHS customer services pointing out what had happened and how bad their delivery company was - six weeks later I have received no response from them.


**The Last Word**
How should I sum up using bhs.co.uk? Well, I did get what I wanted at a fair price, the free returns system was good (if a little inconvenient - being able to email for a returns label would have been helpful) and new items out of the warehouse come well packed. On the down side, they don't appear to check returns very carefully, customer services decline to respond to complaints and the delivery service they use to support their website lets them down hugely. Some readers may think it is unfair to list the performance of the Home Delivery Network as a disadvantage of using this website, but as it was a component of my shopping experience then I think it is legitimate. Not everyone will want to (or be able to) collect in store and a poor delivery company that makes it hard for me to get my goods would put me off using this website again in future. I think I would have to not recommend this service based on my experience - either buy it in store or do without!

Summary: Decent products let down by poor service