Great Universal, Trafford that was is one expensive way to shop. My wife first used Trafford in the early 70's when we needed to furnish our first home.
I was at sea at the time and credit, unlike today was difficult to obtain, even more so if you were a serving member of Her Majesties Armed ... Read review
Advantages: Arm chair shopping Disadvantages: Expensive
Great Universal, Trafford that was is one expensive way to shop. My wife first used Trafford in the early 70's when we needed to furnish our first home.
I was at sea at the time and credit, unlike today was difficult to obtain, even more so if you were a serving member of Her Majesties Armed Forces. So we were happy when we stumbled across an advert for a Trafford catalogue which we promptly applied for and used and hurray a free gift ... ...current form, Known now as Great Universal. It has been extremly valuable to us as it has helped us to spred the financial burden of a large young fast growing family.
I cannot fault the catalogue which is a full colour glossy publication for its content which is very comprehesive, including clothing, footwear, furniture and fabrics, garden products, electrical goods, photographic equipment & toys and much much more. The catalogue ... more
Great Universal, Trafford that was is one expensive way to shop. My wife first used Trafford in the early 70's when we needed to furnish our first home.
I was at sea at the time and credit, unlike today was difficult to obtain, even more so if you were a serving member of Her Majesties Armed Forces. So we were happy when we stumbled across an advert for a Trafford catalogue which we promptly applied for and used and hurray a free gift on receipt of the first order became ours.
The catalogue has stayed with us over the years and is now in its current form, Known now as Great Universal. It has been extremly valuable to us as it has helped us to spred the financial burden of a large young fast growing family.
I cannot fault the catalogue which is a full colour glossy publication for its content which is very comprehesive, including clothing, footwear, furniture and fabrics, garden products, electrical goods, photographic equipment & toys and much much more. The catalogue is also enhanced by supplements which are sent periodically such as summer clothing (not needed here in the North East) toys at Christmas, plants in the spring etc.
You can also request free brochures such as Gift time, home update and the Sofa collection to be sent to you post free of course
Also you can shop online at www.greatuniversal.com which has its own search facility, check your account or use the instant gift wizard where you input your budget, who the gift is for and select the gift type and a number of options are found for you in a flash. It also includes a help desk where your questions are answered, such as delivery times and costs , measuring guides etc.
Insurance also features heavily in the catalogue. Car insurance is a phone call away, I had occasion to use this recently but found it to be uncompetitive, that said I have used it in the past and I would certainly look again. Pet insurance is included and I am looking seriously to insuring our new kitten with them as they are definatly better value that Pet Plan. Home insurance is provided, look up your postcode, select the cover you want and your quote is there before you. ( It seems expensive to me ). Another option is Holiday cover which includes medical fees, cancellation or loss of deposit cover, accident an loss of belongings cover. Do you want a loan (Up to £15000.00) want to join the AA or the RAC well you can from here
Now the downside the cost. An example, a Tasco telescope which costs £279.99 is available from Argos for £249.00 now I understand that you get free delivery and that there have to be administration costs but I find the mark up to be exccesive., and someone please correct me if I'm wrong but don't they both belong to the same group. A Pentax Espio738s £79.00 at Argos and £99.99 at Great Universal,. and there are many more not just at Argos but through all retail outlets. I should add that you are given 10% commission in cash on your payments or 12.5% in goods at the end of each month which can be left to build up to a decent amount and claimed when you want.You can if you wish pay over a variable number of weeks starting from 20 upwards. You are also encouraged to buy now and pay later, not a path that I recommend at these rates, but sometimes necessity makes these schemes a must and then the can be a god send. Also to boost your income you can act as an agent for them and take your percentage again from the payments of your customers, this option if you have enough customers may make the catalogue viable to have.
A word of warning now, Do not believe ANYTHING you are told by the accounts department , question everything and stand your ground or you may end up with an even bigger bill.
Advantages: Easy payments, free returns, plenty of choice Disadvantages: see review
...‘John Noble’. This catalogue was great it offered everything you could want, and allowed you to pay weekly.
We did shopping for Christmas and children’s clothing mainly, but then account cleared our three piece suite needed replacing. We browsed the catalogue that seemed to sell everything and spied our soon to be new three piece suite. It arrived and was placed in our small front room, and then things went bad for us financially, I became unemployed ... ...to meet his maker and Great Universal replaced my beloved John Noble book. There wasn’t too much difference and all the goods were still offered. Things were looking better again, and I was in a job again, which I liked and was confident would be until retirement. We began making our correct payments, and soon the debt was cleared.
Now – a - days we have Great Universal in our house, though I don’t use it as much as we did, mainly because the kids ...
dabmim 06.11.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Great Universal
Advantages: friendly staff and easy to use Disadvantages: none
I've been using great universal for about 3 years and so far have had nothing to grumble about, the first and most important thing to me {been quite phone shy} is that the staff are always extremely helpful and friendly, not like some other catalogues where they make u feel like your bothering them when u ask to many questions.
Second thing i love about great universal is there range of payment methods, u can choose the number of weeks u want to ... ...they have recieved them and thats as easy as it is.
This catalogue has a wide range of goods from clothes to beds to gardening toolsand televisions, everything u could possibly need. Thats why i choose to use great universal it seems the easiest way of shopping to me. ...
nikz 07.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Great Universal
Advantages: price changes Disadvantages: same clothes
...week that book was the Great Universal Spring Summer 08 edition allowing you until the 17th August 2008 to make your purchase. "Spread the cost with affordable payment options," screams the green circle of text on the lower left hand side of the page.
Flicking through I am amazed at how expensive catalogue clothes have actually got compared to the same items in the high-street. Never the less I systematically fold over the corners of any page which ... ...compared to those in the Great Universal catalogue.
The front covers are completely different yet the contents - page for page are identical. The key code on the inside is the same and the format is identical.
One thing differs between this book of expensive goodies and the last, and that is the price.
Of my 5 (or 6) selected items from the Great Universal catalogue at the price of £323 the same items on the same respective pages total £283 in ...
carysb 21.01.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Great Universal
Advantages: Great customer service Disadvantages: High prices
...many catalogue shopping companies but Great Universal is one of my favourites. What tempted me was the special free gifts upon my first order and these include goods such as a duvet/blanket set, pan set, etc. I decided to take the 20% off voucher rather as my initial order amounted to quite a large amount therefore the savings using the 20% discount was more than the value of the free gift that I could choose. Furthermore, you can earn 10% in cash ... ...making a purchase) to win great prizes but the cynical in me says that this is just a ploy to tempt people into spending more in the catalogue - common sense says that nobody can make money by giving away lots of prizes and money without having sold anything.
There are 3 factors, in my opinion, that makes a good company and that is service, convenience and price. I rank service much higher than convenience with price in 3rd. So how does GUS fare ...
Manics 05.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Great Universal
Advantages: Great customer service, shopping delivered to your door, Easy Returns. Disadvantages: None
...have been a customer with Great Universal for at least 12 years now, I have several catalogues, but this is by far my favourite. Mainly because of the customer service I have received over the years. In all the years I have been shopping with the company, I don’t think I have had a single complaint to be made against them. Not a single item has got lost along the way, unlike other catalogues I have shopped with (though everyone is entitled ... ...occasionally offer similar schemes, but Great Universal offers this to me on a regular basis, which makes it more enticing for me to buy from them rather than their competitors.
They also offer 100 and 150 weeks repayment which does include an interest charge, but I have never used this, even with the larger more expensive items, as I use their “Buy Now Pay Later” deal, which sometimes combines the 50 week interest free scheme, and I ...
Cymraeg01 16.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Great Universal
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Advantages: cheap prices Disadvantages: long queues
Argos is one of two high street catalogue shops.This is now owned by Gus (GreatUniversal Stores)This is a major catalogue company.
You simply go into the brightly lit shops and browse through a catalogue.
They now do an argos edtion one that has clothing and furniture in it too!!
Then you fill out an order form, and you take it to the till.You will then
pay by: cash,cheque, credit card or debit card.
Finally you wait at a collection point for your goods.
You can return goods within 16 days if you change your mind , unless it's jewellery.
If you have a computer, then you can order on line.It's http:// argos.com.
You will need to have a credit or debit card handy though!!
We have bought the following at Argos and not had any trouble with them:
Microwave, Exercise Bike, Weights and Dumbbells (not mine) Tent ...
galls 15.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Argos (Shop)
Advantages: introductory offer Disadvantages: before catalogues out their
Funnily enough the reason why I have a choice catalogue is because when I was shopping in the high street, their was this women standing in the cold trying to get as many people to sign as she could. So when she asked me I said why not, so I gave her my details and within a week I had my first choice catalogue.
The catalogue is very similar to kays, in fact they are sort of identical, the difference being some products in choice are more expensive and they go under a different name. I have ordered from choice as they were offering an introductory first order offer, of £15 of your first order over £40.
If you like this catalogue and I can’t really say it is my number one choice then I’ll recommend you kays. Wait another discovery I found out about, GreatUniversal is also part of Kays, so if your’e confused now ...
sam123 04.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Choice
Advantages: shop from your armchair, cheap and good quality. Disadvantages: keeping track of credit card transactions.
If you order from greatuniversal catalogue, it is in your financial interest to read on.
I placed my first order from the spring/ summer catalogue and the items arrived quickly on the whole, and returns were easy.
The prices are much cheaper than greatuniversal, which is suprising considering argos additions is provided by GUS! For example a dress in greatuniversal catalogue is £40, and in argos add's it is only £26.
The only difference is a delivery charge of £2.95 for orders under £100 for argos additions, but if you spend over £100, delivery is free, as in GUS.
The problem I found was keeping track of money that seemed to be debited from my credit card for no reason, but I as long as you keep an eye on them, it gets sorted out in the end.
The answer to this is to apply for an argos shopping card, which, unless you have ...
