Picaboo: Ordered calendars from them for the first time. Quality is AWESOME! They don't have a lot of selection sizewise which is a bit of a drawback - you can order a small or a big. I ordered big. The top of each page is laminated which is a nice touch - it keeps the photos from getting damaged. The back is not laminated (this is where the calendar is printed) so that you are able to use it to write on. I liked the option of adding photos to the calendar blocks. Instead of writing "Keith's Birthday" I was able to put his photo in the block instead. Watch for sales in the fall to help keep the prices reasonable - for example I was able to place an order during their "2 for the price of 1" deal. Their free shipping offers never seem to apply to Canada so always be aware that you'll be adding shipping costs on at the end. Shipping times are reasonable...about a week or so.
Shutterfly: Ordered calendars from them as well for the first time. One was ordered before Christmas and the other one was ordered just after Christmas. I still don't have either. Their shipping is NOT SPEEDY. Ever. Be prepared to wait for your stuff. I can't comment on the quality of what I ordered obviously because it's not here yet. They always have lots of promotions on the go though and they just emailed me a $20 voucher to thank me for the business I gave them this past year. Nice!! So I'll keep using them but knowing that I will have to wait....and wait...and wait. ;-)
Amazon: Amazon.ca is hands down my favourite company to order from. Their service is FANTASTIC. It can't get any better then what it is. I placed three separate orders. The first order was at the beginning of December, the second order was about a week before Christmas and the third order was on Monday this week. In all three cases, I chose the free super saver shipping option (available when you spend $25 or more). They say that your order may take an additonal 3-5 days to ship out of their distribution centres and then an additional 2-6 business days after shipping, to arrive. However, each time, my order arrived within 24 hours of the order being placed!! Seriously. Next day Mr. Fed Ex guy is on my doorstep! Sure beats driving out to the Future Shop to get these items and generally paying a couple of dollars more on top of it all.
Grand River Toys: This was a new website/company for me. We bought the highly anticipated "Lazer Stunt Chaser" for Max that he was so excited about. I ordered it a week before Christmas and it arrived on my doorstep about 3 days before Christmas. Perfect! Their website is easy to use. They offer lots of really cool products and they have a flat shipping rate of $4.99 for orders of $100 or less across Canada. For orders above $100, just add 1 cent to that shipping rate. Very reasonable.
Max was one excited little boy when he opened his lazer stunt chaser on Christmas morning:
It worked awesome. However, we ran into a snag when we went to charge the low batteries. The charger cable end snapped and came apart. So sadly, we can't use it. I put it on hold over the holidays because we were so busy. This week I had a chance to contact Grand River Toys. I wasn't quite sure what to expect and how they would handle this. It's always a gamble especially when you've ordered it online. They took down the information over the phone and then told me that they were shipping out a new one to us right away. I didn't even have to bother mailing back the problem stunt chaser. How's that for fantastic customer service?! I'm very impressed!!
I think that about wraps up online shopping reviews. I did order a bunch of things through Sears but ended up returning them. I don't know if it's just me, but I don't have much luck with them. Things never seem to work out or turn out to be what I expected. And just in case it appears that I'm an on-line shop-a-holic...not true! I just made use of my resources available at home instead of driving back and forth and all over the place trying to track down the same items. Now that the holidays are over, I'm on-line shopping at my library. Ha! ;-) I order all my books online and they send me a quick email when they're available and waiting for me at my branch. Love it!
I leave you with this little encouraging quote for the day. It's so true...
His Perfect Plan
Every experience God gives us, every person
He puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation
for the future that only He can see.
~ Corrie Ten Boom
No comments:
Post a Comment