DOWN IN THE BASEMENT (bargaincrazy.com)

Member Name: Shazzy

Product:	bargaincrazy.com
Date:	20/11/03 (214 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: VERY CHEAP, Original Label Products

Disadvantages: You won't be informed of what's happening to your order

Don't you just love a bargain? I'm no Scrooge but I do like to get as much for my pennies as I possibly can. Paying over the odds makes me positively miserable but I don't want rubbish just because it's cheap either. Value for money, that's what I like.

With this in mind I set about doing some online Christmas shopping. Steering well clear of the stores I knew to be well out of my price bracket, I went in search of cut price stores. One such store was Bargain Crazy.


~~ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ~~

On entering the store, the first thing that struck me was the way the design gave the feeling of entering a typical bargain basement, pound land type shop. The red, orange and yellow theme looked tacky but as true bargain hunters are unlikely to be swayed by anything as trivial as colour schemes, I doubt it really matters. When deciding which shops to patronise, prices and service are what matters. A quick look around the home page told me there were undoubtedly bargains to be had and that I'd probably be able to browse without too much hassle. It was pretty fast loading too, which is always a bonus.


~~ WHAT'S IN STORE? ~~

The site's divided into six departments; Fashion & Footwear, Electrical, Garden & DIY, Home, Nursery & Toys and finally, Gifts & Jewellery. Clicking on a department brings up a selection of four or five items along with a list of product groups belonging to that particular department. All this gives the impression that you'll find a huge array of goods on offer at rock bottom prices but don't go getting too excited or you'll likely be disappointed. Fashion has a reasonable selection, with about 50 items under "ladies' fashion" on the day of my last visit but only one product under "perfume". A maximum of ten items are shown per page with the most expensive shown first. There's no sort function.

There are quite a few brand name

s available and most items appear to be of reasonable quality. I ordered an "Adidas" t-shirt, a toddler's "Penn" sweatshirt and a bottle of "Benetton" perfume. All appear to be good quality originals and well worth the money.

From what I've understood by reading the information on the website, stock changes frequently so it's probably a bit hit and miss whether you find what you're after.


~~ WHAT CAN I EXPECT TO PAY? ~~

As the company deal in excess stock disposal, all of the goods on offer have prices comparisons with Great Universal, Choice and Kay's Catalogues. Most items seem to be about half the original catalogue price although a lot have even bigger savings. To give you an idea of what to expect, a ladies' glazed leather coat, available in both black and tan but not in all sizes, is selling at £39.50 with its original price being quoted as £79.00. There's a "Prima" breadmaker selling at £47.99 that's all nice and shiny with lots of buttons and knobs but with an astronomical original price of £119.99, a £40.00 cordless hedge trimmer going for £16.99 and a lovely deluxe cosmetic case containing a plethora or brushes, eye shadows, lipsticks, blushers and all sort of things for the face that I'm sure would make a welcome present for most teenage girls. At £14.99, and with an original price tag of £40, you can't really go wrong.

On top of your total comes a £3.95 charge for postage and packing. A tad on the steep side I thought but when the prices otherwise low, I suppose you can't complain.


~~ IS IT EASY TO ORDER? ~~

Adding products to the basket is simple. Just choose your quantity from the dropdown menu and click the appropriate button. Easy peasy and exactly how things should be.

Your basket will clearly show the products you've added along with your total. It also enables you to change quantities
or delete items. Once your virtual basket is feeling heavy enough you can proceed to the checkout. This, I think, is where online shopping really shines. No queues, baby!!

As a first time customer you'll need to open an account. I've no idea why you'd need to but it's easy enough to do. I can't remember having to give more than my contact, delivery and credit card details (they accept visa, mastercard, delta & switch), after which I believe it was just a matter of hitting "confirm" and then being transported to an order confirmation page. It certainly wasn't difficult, anyway. This is all done properly and securely with encryption and stuff.

Returning customers need only enter their reference number, house number and post code. As I haven't yet made a second order I can't say how well this works but I can't see any reason why it shouldn't. What I will say is that the reference number can only be found on the original confirmation email and isn't particularly well marked. This could've been done better.

The basket can cause some confusion as after completing my order, it was still showing as containing three items whilst browsing whereas the actual basket page said that it was currently empty. I found that annoying.


~~ WAS DELIVERY QUICK? ~~

The company state delivery as being 7-10 days although my order arrived, in part, after two working days. I was pleasantly surprised until I opened the bag and found that only two of the three items I'd ordered had been delivered. The delivery note gave no indication as to whether I could expect the third item and as I'd received no email either, I assumed it had sold out even though it had been marked "in stock" when I made my order.

Although I was impressed by the speed of delivery, especially given the time of the year, they let themselves down on the packaging. My two small items arrived in a
huge 60cm x 60cm plastic mailing sack that, although red with gold stars and looking suitably Christmassy, had been folded and untidyly taped to make it smaller. Inside was a delivery note that was horribly crumpled. Ok, it was still legible and none of this made any difference to the quality of the goods but it's slap dash and totally unnecessary.


~~ WHAT ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICES? ~~

Having "lost" my third item, I decided to send them an email asking what had happened. I filled in the form on the website but once I'd sent it, I decided I'd phone them instead.
According to the website, the lines are open 8am - 10pm weekdays (9am - 9pm weekends) and as it was 9.58pm when I phoned, I didn't really expect an answer. The phone rang once and was immediately answered by a polite young man who explained that their system had crashed and could I please phone back in half an hour. I phoned back at 11pm and got through to the same chap. He was very helpful and told me that my third item had been dispatched and would arrive within the next 7 days. He couldn't, however, tell me why my order had been split or why I hadn't been informed.

The following afternoon I received a response to my email apologising for the order being split and for not being informed and explaining that my item should be with me within the next few days.

My item did arrive within the specified time limit and at least I wasn't charged P&P twice.


~~ WHAT IF I'M NOT HAPPY WITH MY PURCHASE? ~~

As I haven't had this problem, I can't say 100% certain whether they'll honour their promise but they have a returns policy that states that should a product fail to give you complete satisfaction, you can cancel your order either before or after you receive the goods. Following receipt, returns can be made within 14 days for a refund or, subject to availability, replacemment. Obviously, the expect
returns to be unused and in original packaging.


~~ OVERALL IMPRESSION ~~

You know those bargain stores that you find in the High Street that are minimally staffed by people who don't know anything about the products they're selling? This is the online version.
Making a purchase is easy but don't expect anybody to tell you what's happening to your order. They're cheap and if that's important to you, it's worth giving them a try.

My order was received within the stated 10 days but the packaging definitely let them down, even though the P&P was anything but cheap. I was perfectly satisfied with the quality of the items I bought and will probably be using them again.

Bargain Crazy have certainly saved me a few quid on Christmas presents this year. Window shopping's always fun too, so why not have a look around. You never know, you might just make a few savings yourself.


www.bargaincrazy.com



~~+~~+~~

Summary: