No Shopping Time? Try Voucher Express... (voucherexpress.co.uk)

Member Name: blonde_girl774

Product:	voucherexpress.co.uk
Date:	31/07/09 (181 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to Use, Reliable & Wide Range of Vouchers.

Disadvantages: Strange Search Options & Some Vouchers can't be bought on the Site.

I'm one of these people that would always rather have money for my birthday. It's not that I don't appreciate presents, it's just I'd normally have rather had something else - ideally something I wanted. Now I base my shopping habits on this principle and ask people what they want for their birthday, if they don't specify what they want then it's their own fault if I get them something they don't! Last Mother's Day my mum couldn't think of anything she wanted and with only three days left to go and no chance to shop I opted for vouchers. As I didn't even have time to get to my local shopping centre I reverted to the internet to see what I could find.

I came across a site called Voucher Express which is exactly what it sounds like, a site where you can get hold of a range of vouchers quickly. The site is owned by Hemingways Marketing Services which is based in North Yorkshire. The Voucher Express site was launched back in 1999 with the aim of providing a convenient and easy one stop shop for retail gift vouchers. The site is responsible for the sale of a huge number of gift vouchers including for companies such as Argos, Boots and House of Fraser to give you just a taster. They also offer you the opportunity to purchase confectionary and the company is responsible for Cadburys Gifts Direct too.

The homepage of the site is rather overcrowded in my opinion although it is quite clear to see a menu and search option on the left hand side of the page and a further menu running along the top of the page too. The central area of the site are devoted largely to advertising; it showcases two of the current retailers on the site along with a medium sized picture while below this is devoted to text showcasing more of the current retailers. Overall the majority of the homepage is devoted to advertising and trying to gain both your attention and your custom, it's not hugely effective in that it's not very visually captivating but all in all it does the job I suppose.

There are two main ways to find what you're looking for on Voucher Express, you can either use the three step drop down box search facility or just directly click on an advertising link. The drop down box facility offers you three boxes to help narrow down your search; firstly you need to select the shop from a list of about one hundred and fifty different shops, then select the category from a list of about thirty options and finally you can type in any additional information and then search for your voucher which is a step that to me seems to add very little value.. The search facility is really easy to use and takes a matter of seconds to complete your search.

So what do I think of the search facility? Well it's really easy to see what shops they provide vouchers for using the first drop down box; however the second drop down box where you are asked to choose a category is not quite as straightforward. Categories include things like "Fashion Gift Vouchers," "Pharmacy Gift Vouchers" and "Restaurant Gift Vouchers." Now obviously if you select a store such as BabyGap it's going to be pointless searching for "Pharmacy Gift Vouchers" as it's not even relevant. My advice would be to click on the third category down which is "All Gift Cards and Vouchers" as this will stop you receiving any error messages.

There are a huge range of brands and shops on the site including Amazon, Arcadia, BHS, Burton, Comet, Halfords, HMV, Lakeland, Next, Selfridges and T J Hughes. In addition to these shops there are a number of restaurants such as Bella Italia, Pizza Hut and T G I Fridays to choose from too. Finally there are several leisure places too including Legoland and Warwick Castle. My only issue is that when you click on the restaurant or leisure brands you'll simply be told to visit their own individual site to enquire about vouchers so it seems like it's slightly misleading on this site as you can't actually buy vouchers for Pizza Hut, Warwick Castle, etc.

When you've found a shop that you want to order vouchers for you simply need to scroll to the bottom of that page and you'll see a small black button with "Order" written on it, note this option is not available for restaurants and leisure companies. A small pop up window will then open in the top right hand corner of your screen where you'll be asked to choose the voucher amount that you want, these are set by the actual stores and range from £10 up to £250. Once you've clicked on "Buy Voucher" you'll be taken to your shopping basket where you can either choose to continue shopping on the site or check out and pay for what you've got so far.

If you decide to proceed to checkout you'll be asked to choose a gift card. There are currently three options to choose from which are all quite cute with one being particularly designed for birthdays. Once you've chosen which gift card you want you'll be asked to either log into your account or create a new account. To create a new account you need to enter your details and you also have the option to enter the delivery details if you want it delivered directly to the recipient. If you choose this option you can select a delivery date (as long as not less than two working days) and add a delivery message too. Finally you'll have to enter your payment details.

The whole payment process is incredibly straightforward, much more so than the searching for vouchers process! With regards to costs the site will charge you £1 for orders up to £30, £2.95 for orders up to £99 and £4.95 for orders up to £250. As I tend to only buy vouchers for either £10 or £20 having to pay a £1 charge does not really bother me, it's certainly cheaper than going all the way to my local shopping centre and purchasing a voucher from there by the time I use petrol and pay for parking. It's an ideal way to get hold of a voucher if you don't have time to go shopping and it's ideal that it can be delivered directly to the recipient.

As for my thoughts on the website well I really like it. It's quite a small website in that there are several different pages on the site such as the Home area and the About Us area, the rest of the pages are simply devoted to advertising each of the different stores the site promotes. The site is really easy to navigate and the search facility on the homepage will take you to any area you want. The shopping process is quick with each page quick to load meaning that you won't be sat for ages while your card details are processed, they also take all major bank cards and hve VeriSign Secure on the site meaning you will be asked to verify your details.

I've used this site twice in the past and each times have found the whole shopping experience to be hassle free and that the vouchers turned up on time at the given delivery addresses. The search facility is a little confusing when it asks you to select the voucher category but I have learned to ignore this and simply search for all gift cards and vouchers. It's a great site to use when you've not got a lot of time, the second time I used it I had my voucher ordered and paid for within about three minutes in total. The fees, especially when you're spending under £30, are quite minimal so I don't really mind spending them and there are no additional postage costs.

So next time you're short on time try Voucher Express!

Thanks for reading.

Summary: An online shopping site allowing you to purchase vouchers for high street and online stores.