Great site! (boots.com)

Member Name: Mrs-LT

Product:	boots.com
Date:	23/02/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to navigate, good range, free delivery over £40

Disadvantages: Have to go into a store to credit points

Generally, I don't like internet shopping (admittedly because I despise paying the delivery charge). However, I have placed a couple of big orders on the Boots website recently and I have been hugely impressed.

The address is www.boots.com.

The site is clear and easy to navigate. It manages to be very well laid out while not being too busy or complicated. The search function is great and returns very quick results and I love the fact that you can also search by offer (so if there is triple points or 3 for 2 on children's healthcare for example, it will bring up everything you can order that is included in the offer).

Very recently they have introduced the option to collect instore for free when you spend over £25. I suppose this is a way to take advantage of the online offers and escape the delivery charge. However this is not as good as it sounds, mainly because it is not clear which offers are exclusively online (most are also on in the shops), so it would be a disappointment to order online and collect instore to find that you could have got the same offer in the shop anyway. Also, I would rather wait until I had an order for more than £40 and receive free home delivery for convenience.

The best thing I found with Boots.com was when I forgot to log in so that I would get the Advantage Card points credited onto my account. My order was for over £100 so I did not want to miss out on the points but I did not realise you need to log in to get the points. I expected them to ask for these details at some point during the purchase and was gutted when I suddenly got the 'Transaction Complete' page and realised I had not redeemed any points. I decided to call the online customer services expecting them to say there was nothing that could be done, and I resigned myself to the fact that it was my mistake but the man I spoke to was so helpful and said it was no problem at all - I just had to wait for my order to arrive, call back and the points would be credited instantly. I followed these instructions and they were as good as their word. So remember to log in to get Advantage Points credited with your purchase!

How the Advantage Points work with an online purchase is that you log in with your details and 5 days after your order is dispatched you put your card in one of the Advantage Card points they have in larger stores to get them credited. I guess this defeats the purpose of online shopping in a way though.

Boots.com has a huge range and sells some website exclusives that you cannot buy instore, including a pretty big baby store (selling different prams and car seats). However, when it comes to the more usual Boots products (beauty and cosmetics mainly) the online range is nowhere near as wide as what is available instore. Also they do not sell the premium cosmetics (Estee Lauder, Dior etc. online) so you would still have to go to the store for these.

All in all though, it is a fantastic website, especially when you spend enough to get free delivery. I found that my products arrived quickly and packaged really well and when I did not like a pair of straighteners I had ordered I just took them into the store with my delivery note and exchanged them for another pair easily and with no hassle.

I have rated it 4* and the only reason I have taken one star off is because you have to go to an Advantage Card point to get your points credited, which I think is silly.

Summary: My first and last online beauty stop