Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow (whsmith.co.uk)

Member Name: opinions4u

Product:	whsmith.co.uk
Date:	04/05/03 (153 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wide range

Disadvantages: Slow Delivery Time

There are times when I just cannot be bothered to get in the car, drive to the town centre and pay £3.50 to park. The internet is a wonderful invention.

Using a link from www.mypoints.co.uk, I have recently made a couple of purchases from WHSmith online.


WHAT DO THEY SELL?

Books, videos, CDs, DVDs, stationery, computer equipment, printer cartridges etc. This is not an endless list, and the range of stuff they seem to be able to get their hands on is excellent. The CD range appears to be much broader than instore.


WHAT WAS I BUYING?

Guilt. I have failed in my duties as a step parent. Having nagged the eldest to revise for his GCSEs, which start in two weeks, it finally crossed my mind that (1) he was not paying the slightest attention to what I said and (2) I had not provided any practical support in the way of revision guides.

So, with the unenthusiastic teen sat beside me, we ordered a range of revision guides. I also decided to take advantage of the free postage if you spend £39 or more offer and tagged on the first 4 series' of Cold Feet on video for the better half.


WHAT OTHER OFFERS WERE ON?

All online purchases with WH Smith qualify for double WH Smith Clubcard points - effectively 4% of the transaction amount. Some of the books I ordered were on 20% discount and printer cartridge refills were on a 3 for 2 offer. All the in store offers appear to be available online.


HOW DID I FIND WHAT I WANTED?

The search engine was the best way and was very good at finding things. It did, however, throw up several possibilities for a copy of the book Kes. The "more detail" option provided only minimal detail and we ended up paying £7.99 for a transcript of the play, rather than the book itself. The lesson I have learned from this is to check out the ISBN number prior to purchase.


WHAT ARE THEIR PRICES LIKE?

My view is
that WH Smith are on the higher side of competitive. Like Boots, they rely on their high street brand and loyalty card to charge at the top end of acceptable. Postage is a flat £2.49 plus, typically, 50p per item ordered. Ordering 5 items would be £4.99. Bulkier items will charge more than an extra 50p.


HOW EASY WAS ORDERING?

Very easy. You can also permanently register your details, including Clubcard, for future use. The site also indicates the likely timescale for delivery, from available now, to 72 hours, to not really got a clue! Payment is by credit or debit card, including Solo. Payments are only charged to your account on despatch, so while you may submit a £50 order, if items are despatched on different days, your card will be charged each time. eg £20 day one, £17 day 2, £13 day 3.


HOW DO I KNOW WHERE MY ORDER IS UP TO?

Again, the site makes it easy. You can check progress online and they also send you emails updating you. My only criticism is that my multiple order has arrived in three bundles, the most recent being nearly 14 days after the order was submitted. Having experienced far superior service from Argos, I was disappointed.


ANY OTHER INFORMATION?

Well, yes. They really piffed me off! The Cold Feet videos were ordered while series 5 was still showing on ITV. The prices varied from a steep £14.99 to £18.99 for each series. The week after the last video set arrived, the prices dropped to £9.99. So I had paid around £28 more than necessary for the set and they refused to refund anything as a gesture of goodwill. So wait for the existing series to end before you order video collections like this!

My email exchanges with them were also slow. Often two working days for a reply. Worth considering if you have a major complaint.


SUMMARY:

Well known name. Wide range of goods. Slow delivery (although this is probably a result of their wi
de range and using suppliers for storage). Slightly pricey. Poor customer communication when there is an issue. Annoying postage costs offset by free postage for larger orders. Well run website, although not enough detailed information about individual items. Oh, and use the link from Mypoints as well. With mypoints, Clubcard and cashback credit card, I have knocked about 6.5% off the transaction value.

I suspect I will use them again. But not regularly.


CONTACT DETAIL:

www.whsmith.co.uk
www.mypoints.co.uk

Summary: