bargaincrazy.com

I hold my head in shame….as the Shopping Category Assistant, I am guilty of the charge of not having written a shopping opinion since June 2002! Its not that I haven’t been shopping, its just that I have been doing TOO MUCH shopping and not enough opinion writing! Ah well….I hope to rectify that situation today with what I feel is a little gem of a site…and its just got better!

IS IT LIKE POUNDLAND THEN? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bargaincrazy.com is part of CBS (Catalogue Bargain Shops) which is a part of ARG Equation Limited. Now I am not completely sure who these people are (having searched the web I have drawn a blank) but apparently they also have stores on the high street (again called CBS, details of which can be found on the site) but unfortunately nowhere near Norwich! They are also something to do with Great Universal, Choice, Kays (where I think most items originally appear) and possibly Argos Catalogues but I’m not too sure. But unlike a catalogue, you don’t have to join anything or keep getting junk mail through your door, you can just purchase a one-off product from their website and that’s it!

It’s their prices that make the site particularly appealing and some of the stuff is top name, high discount goods. They must source their products very cheaply from suppliers (either old or excess stock) as the prices in some cases can be mega cheap.

WHATS ON OFFER THEN? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There are several different sections to the site (it’s a bit like a fruit machine believe it or not, there are areas where you can gamble or just take what’s on offer at the time!). I will leave the browsing to the individual but here’s a brief guide to what the site has on offer:

· Price Plunge ~ the most exciting area of the site for me! Items can be reduced by up to 90% (I think this is based on the Kays Catalogue price). But you have to ‘gamble’ on not many people taking up an offer, and see if the price decreases even further. One advantage of this system is that the prices can become very cheap, however if you dare not risk delaying your purchase and buy at the current level of discount, there is the risk of it dropping even further (and you will still have to buy at your higher price!). I would also recommend checking out the ‘real’ prices for goods on a price comparison site as you can sometimes get the goods cheaper elsewhere if they are still only on a 40% discount.

· Rock Bottom ~ this is a new addition to the site that has only been around for about a month and again I am quite excited about this feature (sad!). Do you need a pair of shoes for a wedding? Take a look as there are some crazy prices to be had (leather boots from £7.99, strappy shoes for £4.99 etc!). The choice is very limited and mainly clothing (Women’s, Men’s and Children’s), and if you have the old Kays etc catalogues you can check the products out in there as well, but there are some excellent prices to be had).

· Deal Of The Week ~ is nothing particularly special and can usually be found elsewhere on the site, so I wouldn’t bother as they only display one product at a time.

· The Categories ~ these are good, in fact sometimes very good! There is also the advantage of not having to gamble on a price, or it disappearing too quickly. The categories are; Home & Leisure, Garden & DIY, Audio & Electrical, Nursery & Toys and Gifts & Jewellery. One of the best and widest ranges can be found in Home & Leisure that is again split up into sub-categories (Kitchen, Living Room etc).

And that’s it!

WHAT ARE THE PRICES LIKE THEN? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Again, do your homework and see if you can in fact get an item cheaper elsewhere (using a price comparison site like Kelkoo) first but you can get some real genuine bargains. At the time of writing this there is a Sony DVD Player for £66 and a 3 seater sofa for £120 (both in Price Plunge). In the categories there is an Adidas watch for £17.99 and Dyson Vacuum’s are all cheaper that the shops (starting from £149.99).

ORDERING & DELIVERY ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You are able to order online or by telephone. I used the online ordering facility, which is SSL Secured. As per norm you just add to shopping bag and you can pay with most major debit and credit cards.

There is a standard delivery charge of £3.95 regardless of how much you order. So if you are after that £4.99 pair of shoes the delivery charge could bring the price up quite a bit. Whereas if you are ordering a Dyson, the charge is very reasonable. I ordered a gas cooker a couple of months ago and I would challenge you to find a cheaper delivery charge for a cooker! The items are usually with you in about 7-10 days, which again isn’t bad for a gas cooker (other cooker suppliers were telling me over a month!). They do ring you first if the item is bulky and unfortunately they only deliver to the UK. They provide you both with an e-mail and telephone number (which is open until 10pm) should you wish to query your order/delivery).

MY EXPERIENCE ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I needed a gas cooker urgently when I moved into my new house, and I also needed a relatively cheap one (due to planning on having a new fitted kitchen within 6 months and hence having to buy another gas cooker when the time came). I looked at getting a secondhand one (which I suppose is a bit dodgy when buying gas appliances) and even most of those were around the £100 mark. Then I remembered a site that I had previously browsed around before: www.bargaincrazy.com

I looked in the Kitchen section and nothing, then looked in Price Plunge. My Fairy Godmother was obviously looking down on me…for there was a New World gas cooker for £150! I used a price comparison site and found that I couldn’t get the cooker any cheaper than £240 elsewhere and it would also have taken several weeks for delivery.

Now if you bear in mind that already I had been living off microwaved meals for the past couple of weeks, £150 was a complete bargain! I didn’t know whether to risk waiting an extra day to see whether my cooker would drop any further in price but I did….and sure enough there was the cooker for £131 the next day! I couldn’t risk it anymore and decided to put the plastic to good use! I ordered online (it tells you whether there is still stock available) and within the matter of a few hours later the item was shown as sold out! PHEW! Not only was I am happy bunny, I was also a relived bunny! So with p&p my cooker was costing under £135! I received a confirmation e-mail which served only for reassurance that I hadn’t ordered a pair of curtains instead!

A couple of days later someone from their customer service team rang me and arranged delivery which incidentally is quite a lengthy morning timescale (so don’t plan on going out between 8am and 1pm!) but I could chose roughly the day that it arrived (no Saturdays though). The cooker was delivered 6 days later and arrived fully packaged and just like it would had Comet or anyone else had supplied it; brand new with a years manufacturers guarantee.

I arranged connection independently (do not DIY with a gas cooker!!) and was even more chuffed when my gas installer told me that I had got a complete bargain too, as even at trade prices, he wouldn’t have been able to purchase the same cooker for less than £200! I was over the moon with Bargaincrazy!

MY RECOMMENDATION ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I cannot sing enough praise for this site as I well and truly came away with an absolute bargain, they were fast with delivery and with it only being £4 ~ I was very impressed! I would recommend using this site if you are on the look out for something but aren’t particularly fussy over specification or brand. They do often have some top name digital video cameras (a Sony one for £300 was available last week) and some excellent widescreen TV deals but you will have to check back on a daily basis for availability.

I would also check out other places on the net (and Kays Catalogue if you have one) if you are unsure of product colour/design as you only get about a maximum 4 inch picture of the product.

With Price Plunge, which is certainly my favourite area of the site, you have to place a gamble ~ do you buy now or risk waiting for a lower price…..in my case it paid off, but you could be left disappointed. The site is updated throughout the day so if there is something you want and are prepared to wait, check back every couple of hours as there will be plenty of others waiting to snap up that very same deal should the price drop very low!

Hope that this opinion has been of some use, sorry for the length but I am just so enthusiastic about the bargains that can be had from this site!

Thanks

© moose