Five stars are not enough! (Majestic.co.uk)

Member Name: SueMagee

Product:	Majestic.co.uk
Date:	03/08/03 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You have to buy 12 bottles of wine.

Disadvantages: You have to buy 12 bottles of wine.

My husband had one of those birthdays that end in '-ieth' earlier this year and a couple of days before the big day I had a phone call from Majestic Wine Warehouses. They wanted to deliver a present. I cursed inwardly, thinking that this would be another whole day that I'd have to write off, waiting for something to be delivered.

"Would it be possible" the man said "to deliver it between 11am and mid-day tomorrow?"

"I'll believe that when I see it" I thought, but a dozen bottles of champagne, packed in a gift case, arrived at twenty past eleven the following day.

"Fluke" I thought.

I'm better-known that I ought to be in the wine department of our local supermarket. Physically carrying bottles of wine is becoming more of problem too, so I'm an easy target for a good online wine retailer who will deliver at a reasonable price. Out of interest I went to have a look at the Majestic Wine Warehouse site at www.majestic.co.uk .

It's a fast-loading site even on my dial-up connection despite the fact that there are quite a few graphics. The background's white though and it's easy on the eye. I've found that the homepage generally tries to be topical ? the Tour de France produced some good offers on French wines in various price ranges. I know that's not particularly original, but it does suggest that this is a site that's regularly up-dated rather than one that's allowed to stagnate.

You'll find the search facility on the homepage (and every other page) too. This is effective but I would counsel against being too specific even if you know roughly what you want. As an example, I was looking for a Lebanese wine which usually sells at something over £7 in my local supermarket. I chose my colour (red), the country and then selected the price band £7 - £10, but nothing was found. As an afterthought I removed the price from the sea
rch and found the wine I was looking for ? at £6.99. Prices are generally competitive, even without taking into account the special offers.

There's quite a range to search from too. Apart from the wines and champagnes there are beers, ciders, spirits, soft drinks and waters as well as glasses and accessories. The ranges of wines do tend more towards the larger producers, such as Rosemount, but if this is what you're looking for then you'll find them at a good price. In the soft drinks I'd like to have seen more of the larger bottles such as Schweppes Tonic in the 1l size, but this is a minor quibble. In the beers there's a good selection, but regrettably not my favourite Chimay!

There is another factor and that's that there is a minimum purchase of 12 bottles of wines and/or spirits, although this can be a mixed case. This is, you see, a warehouse, rather than a shop. The upside of this is that once you've bought your twelve bottles delivery is free to anywhere on the UK mainland. Whilst you might be able to order the odd bottle from www.oddbins.com you will have to pay a delivery charge of £6.99 and even if you order 12 bottles you will still pay a delivery charge of £4.99 on prices which are otherwise comparable.

Before placing an order you'll need to register, but this is quick and simple. The details required are basically those that will be needed to deliver the order. You can also choose how you would like to be contacted to arrange delivery. I've opted to be telephoned as this is quicker, but you can choose to be contacted by e mail. There's an undertaking that information will not be released to third parties.

Security on the site is the industry-standard 128-bit encryption Secure Socket Layer technology. All information is encrypted to make it secure. There is an option for storing credit card details for future use, but I prefer not to do this as I don't always use the same cre
dit card. . Cards taken are MasterCard, VISA, American Express, Diners Club, Switch and DELTA, but not Solo.

So, how was it for me? Well, I can't find a single thing to complain about. I keep going back thinking that this time they're bound to slip up, but they never do. Our deliveries come from the Chapel Allerton, Leeds store and they are superb. Within an hour or so of the order being made on the internet I've had a phone call to arrange the delivery and the call comes from someone who sounds as though they are genuinely interested in arranging a time to suit me.

The first order, for half a dozen bottles of Laurent-Perrier Rosé Champagne and another six bottles of our favourite summer white was delivered on a Sunday, once again within a one-hour time slot. It was about ten minutes into the hour this time. The delivery was made by a young lady in a company sweatshirt and the unopened boxes were brought into the house and neatly stacked. The delivery, not unreasonably, has to be signed for, but I was handed an itemised invoice, which clearly showed all the costs and the discounts from multiple purchases, along with my credit card slip.

This has been the procedure on each occasion. One order was quite substantial and contained a number of different wines and beers. It was delivered with a smile and all was as it should be. I was offered a delivery time of eleven o'clock on Monday morning for this week's order and the doorbell rang at 11.01am! No delivery has been outside the promised time slot and it's always been nearer the beginning than the end.

On one occasion I returned some wine. It was my fault, not their's, as I'd ordered the wrong wine. I wanted an exchange and there was no problem at all. They even delivered it all the next day!

On matters of customer service I have high standards. I expect to pay a reasonable price and to get exactly what I ask for. I can, I know, be Mistress Pi
cky. I can't find any fault with the service I've received from this company. It's up there with the best of them.

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