Amazon.co.uk > Reviews > Shopping in my pjs :0)

Author's product rating:   

Range of Services / Products	Very complete
Products & Services Pricing	Excellent value
Security & Privacy Statement	Good
Purchase Tracking Function	Excellent
Customer Services Support	Excellent

Advantages:	Wide Selection, competitive prices
Disadvantages:	a few problems with deliveries

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I ventured into town one Saturday before Christmas and to my horror the place was literally jam packed full of people (don't ask me why I was surprised!!). Now I love shopping as much as the next person but I just get really pissed off being shoved out of the way, trodden on, run into with pushchairs and queueing for hours upon end. A brief scan of my shopping list revealed a lot of CDs and DVDs so I decided ordering them online was the way forward and quickly made my way back home to the haven of my apartment.

Which site to use was not a problem, I have been using Amazon.co.uk for about 5 years now and have always been impressed with the availability, price and delivery. Just to point out that products on Amazon are around the same price as most other online retailers, however, having seen one DVD site go bust I feel much more confidant using a big industry name.

So, at home safe away from the mad Christmas crowds I take my coffee to the computer and log onto Amazon at:

www.amazon.co.uk

Now, I have registered as a member and selected the option to remember me, so I am immediately brought into my own personalised homepage. The top of the screen is the same as the standard home page which has tabs for various product categories, as well as books, cds and dvds there are also options such as electronics, home and garden and toys and games.

Further down on my personal homepage there are recommendations of things I may like to purchase. These are found by scanning my previous orders and similar items are displayed as well as items that other members also purchased when purchasing the same items as myself. There are good and bad points to this, good being that for things like a series of books, you are immediately alerted when the new one comes out and it also brings up things I may not have heard about or thought about. The bad thing is when you are purchasing gifts for someone else these are also included in your recommendations which means some of the things shown will not be relevant. You can if you wish click on the item and let Amazon know you are not interested which would remove it from your page, I find it easier to just ignore it!

If you are not a member the layout of the homepage is very similar except instead of recommendations it displays both new products and any current promotions that are running.

Your options then are either to browse through categories, if you do not know what you are looking for, or to search for the product you require. Browsing is simple and very self explanatory. You can explore categories and sub categories and the site is very easy to navigate and usually very quick. If you know what you are looking for the search option is the quickest way of locating this. Just underneath the category tabs is the search option. This is located on everypage you navigate to. Simply type in the name of whatever you are looking for and hit search. You can refine your search further to only search a specific category if you wish. You can search using any part of the name, the author, the singer etc.
This will then display the search results, which I have always found to be very accurate, and simply navigate through them until you have found your desired item.

Once you have selected the item you are taken to that product's page. The page contains factual information about the product such as ISBN numbers for books, track lists for cds, running time for DVDs etc. It also gives you various purchasing options. You can purchase, direct from Amazon, a brand new product at the stated price, there is also an option to buy used versions of the product from Amazons auction which works out a cheaper price. I have never used this option as I personally prefer brand new books and definitely wouldn't buy used items as presents for people! If you do select this option you are brought to a page displaying people who are selling this item and you select from there.

If you choose the buying direct from Amazon you simply select the Add to shopping list button and then proceed to check out. In order to purchase anything you have to register with the site, this is quick and simple. Amazon will then store invoice and delivery addresses for you, and if you choose to do so will store your credit card details in order to make future transactions very quick. For people who do not like using credit card details online there are a variety of payment options they accept Visa, Delta, Visa Electron, MasterCard, Eurocard, American Express, Switch, Maestro, Solo, cheques or postal orders (denominated in Pounds Sterling) and Amazon.co.uk gift certificates as payment.

You have a choice of delivery options including free delivery in the UK and also can choose whether to send out individual items as soon as they are available or group the purchases together.

You receive an e-mail confirming your order and estimated delivery time very soon after placing your order and a further e-mail once the item has been dispatched. Details of all current and previous orders can be viewed and tracked at anytime on the website.

My Experiences:

As I have mentioned previously I have been using Amazon for about five years and over all have found their service to be very reliable. I have never had a problem connecting to the website or with the speed of the website.

Amazon uses Royal Mail rather than a courier which has it's advantages. If you are not home when the delivery is made rather than having to arrange a new delivery time the item is taken to your local sorting office for you to collect or in my case left in the empty hanging basket next to my front door!. This means not having to worry about being in during the day or being there to sign for it.

In my experience 99% of the time the items have arrived within the estimated delivery time and apart from one occasion only a day or two afterwards in the other cases. The one time I am referring to is a recent order that never arrived, cue a few dissapointed looking faces on Christmas day when I didn't have presents for some people! I got in contact with Amazon about this and had a response within a couple of hours asking me whether I would like a refund or replacement order. As they were presents for people I requested the replacement order and this promptly arrived four days later. I was very impressed with their no quibble response, there was no argument about my missing items just a fuss free solution.

I would definitely recommend Amazon as it also works out far cheaper than buying a lot of things in the shops. Your delivery address can be different to your billing address meaning you can send things directly to other people or to another address that is more convienient to you. The service is effcient and people friendly with excellent customer services. All in all a very impressive service