Stretch your pound in these recession times! (Littlewoods)

Member Name: jonnynec

Product:	Littlewoods
Date:	29/05/09 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good no-interest periods available and very easy to use and manage

Disadvantages: Delivery times can be long and a monthly payment plan would be good.

Littlewoods Shopping Online.

In short it's a good way to afford those items you would generally be unable to get on your wages alone.
From the £100 trainers to the £1000 television and beyond. With good no-interest payments plans of 20 weeks and 52 weeks or if you want that we bit longer to pay extended payment plans are on offer.

Joining Up;

Its like any other site out there, you go to the home page, at the top of the screen there is a link "login/register" you need to click and then follow the instructions for a new customer. You will fill in all the usual details needed for a credit account, name, address, DOB, some financial details and then they will do a credit check on you and (in my case anyway) you are given a decision in minutes and I was able to shop straight away.
My initial credit limit was £200, which was raised after 3 months then again a further 6 months later, so it is an affordable limit.

Shopping;

The options are endless; it's like an Argos that sells clothes. Everything is on here, from those gifts for Christmas at a tenner to the fashion branded clothes all the way up to Plasma TV's and sofas.
It is quite hard to explain the wide range of items here but to give you an example in my 2 years as a customer I have bought; Toilet and bathroom rug set, Petrol Strimmer, Trainers, Jeans, Cricket bat, Children's play horse, Homer Simpson Bath set and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
The selection of products is really second to none, from cost effective to premium products.

Prices;

I find the prices a little bit higher than the high street, but you can't go into your local JJB Sports and pay your trainers of over a period of 20 weeks or more. The difference isn't great usually a few pounds, football tops generally are around a tenner extra and electrical goods the same, the extra price is easily off set by the payment terms.

Paying;

I don't have many gripes about Littlewoods but this is one of them payment is taken every 4 weeks, as opposed to having a monthly option, for us monthly paid people your four week date can regularly fall a day or before you get paid and Littlewoods then administer a £12 charge for non payment on your account. I think that an option for your payments to be taken monthly should be available and it is something I would like to see in place, it would make life a bit easier for me.
The terms of payment are best kept to the interest free 20 or 52 weeks when possible, but for some of the bigger and more expensive products the longer options can be good, but you will pay interest on it, thus making the product more expensive.
There are also offers from time to time on the site, these vary from a % off selected products or buy now pay later.

Deliveries;

Littlewoods claim to have 48 hour delivery to the UK, but I have never received anything within the 48 hours, I usually have a week to wait; now I am in Northern Ireland, so maybe this has something to do with it. You can nominate a safe place for the delivery team to put your product if you are not there. In the event of you missing the driver they will usually return the next day again to try and deliver to you.
Around Christmas they have a cut off date for certain products to be ordered in time for the big day, again with me I ordered a few days before the cut off date, just to be sure.

Returns;

You have a 14 day return available on all items, I have returned an item after the 14 days before and it was ok, but it would be best to check with Littlewoods first. There are various drop off point around Britain and Northern Ireland for you to leave your unwanted item back or book a collection online (the easiest way) and it will be done the next day, again you can leave the product in a safe place if you're not going to be there.

Customer Service;

Any dealings that I have had with them, I have been completely satisfied, they are helpful and I have never had to wait long to reach someone.

All in all Littlewoods is good for those short on a bit of cash in the short term, but are able to repay in the long term.
Reasonable prices, when in context and good service all round

A few adjustments could be made; deliveries of larger items could be quicker, over 3 weeks for a petrol strimmer is way too long and monthly payment plans for the products would be good also for those who operate on a monthly wage.

That's Littlewoods!

Summary: Good company that I enjoy using and have done for 2 years with only minimal problems.