justducks.co.uk > Reviews (1)

When my 12 yr old son asked me for rubber ducks for Christmas I was somewhat surprised, after all in this era of modern technology kids of his age are normally more interested in computer games etc. Nevertheless I made the promise that he would get some. Now, I firmly believe that if you make a reasonable promise to your children you should stick by it so , when he opened his Christmas presents and found there were no ducks in there I was made to feel very guilty (and quite rightly so)...I had completely forgotten about his ducks. I then made another promise that I would get them for him after Christmas.

I thought it would be a simple task of nipping up the town and finding some, not so. There were plenty of cheapy plastic yellow ducks but I didn't want to wast my money on these so I decided to hunt around on the net, that's when I discovered this little gem of a site....JustDucks.co.uk.

"JustDucks is the UK's leading website which specialises in Deluxe and Luxury Rubber Ducks by Bud©, Pamper Packs, Rubba™ Ducks, Royal Ducks, Devil Ducks, Aroma™ Ducks, Lanco™ Ducks, Quackers Ducks, I-Ducks and many, many more ducks and anything else which has to do with rubber ducks. We now also stock Soft Toy Fluffy Ducks by Ty™, Gund™ and Aroma Home™ and many more." (quoted from their website)

SITE LAYOUT AND CONTENT

The site is very colourful and professional looking with the name JustDucks emblazoned in bright colours at the head of the page and a couple of bright and cheery ducks either side. The home page is packed full of information with a general overview of the many different ranges of quality vinyl ducks they stock including details of new arrivals. This page appears to be updated on a regular basis.

The site is extremely easy to navigate and very clear. There are a series of clearly labelled tabs at the top of the page which will take you to their hompage and various other pages including their different categories of ducks.

There are simply too many different sections to list here but I can briefly go through a few to give you a general idea :

CHARACTER DUCKS

These include brightly painted ducks such as "British" ducks, bright blue ducks painted with the Union Jack.

"Devil" ducks, my personal favourites, with devilish eyes and horns, all brightly painted in colours such as red, violet, blue etc.

"Rubba" ducks, large, weighted, specialist designer ducks...all different little characters that come in their own little designer box and a tag around their necks stating the date they were 'hatche' and a unique little verse about themselves, adorable.

There are other delightful character ducks in this section but too many to mention.

BUD DUCKS

These are the more decorative designer ducks by Bud™ by Designroom™. They are large luxury ducks which would look beautiful gracing any bathroom. My favourite being "Clover Patch". This little fellow is bright green, standing at 17cm high with green clovers all over him (not forgetting the trademark 'U' on his neck for "Bud")

There is a varied selection here including little duck keyrings, mini ducks (which are smaller versions of the bigger Bud ducks).

You can also purchase 'sets' of these mini ducks.

BATH DUCKS

This is a great little section including :

"Aroma Ducks", each little duck is impregnated with it's own tropical aroma, as it is impregnated into the vinyl it is claimed that it does not wash off. Available in strawberry, mango, banana and orange..Mmmm

"Bath and Shower" this is the section for bath duck bombs, duck soap on a rope etc and a delightful Duck radio called 'Tranny' !

"Football Ducks" My son's favourite section. Thes ducks are designed specifically for the various football teams you may support. At the point of writing this there are only 5 main teams to choose from Chelsea, Aresenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and West ham, each in the correct colours proudly displaying the teams crest on their chest and wing. My son was a bit disappointed to see that they don't currently do a Brighton and Hove Albion one...maybe one day !

There are many more ducks listed here including LED ducks, massage ducks and little glow in the dark ducks. Also worth noting that there is a selection of racing ducks here which can also be handy as 'Hook a Ducks', so if you are planning a duck race or hook a duck event at a local village fair etc, then this is the place to look as you can bulk buy them at special prices.

OTHER DUCKS

There are various choices here of items that don't fit into the other categories such as 'Beaky' a delightful plush duck fragranced with lavender and filled with a special wheat filling, meaning they can be heated in the microwave and used like a hot water bottle.....'Beaky' comes under the heading beddy buddies....cute !

You will also find duck watches, hot water bottles, coin banks, soft toys and TY ducks.

There really is something for everyone on this site.

ORDERING AND POSTAGE

Placing an order on the site is a very simple process and is simply a question fo clicking the 'add to cart' button, you can check your cart status at any time whilst browsing the site, then when you have finished simply input the address details you want the item delivered to. I had it delivered to my work address so you can have it delivered wherever you like.

Payment is via paypal. Postage is added to your order as you shop so you can see the total cost at all times.

Postage costs do vary according to how large your order is and may seem a little expensive but bear in mind that the goods to the value of £14.99 are sent first class and £15.00 -£21.99 are sent first class recorded at no extra cost.

Some of their typical rates for first class postage are :

Goods value to £6.95 charged at £2.50
Goods value to £6.96 to £14.99 charged at £3.80 and so on.

Please note the prices are all inclusive of VAT and anything above £6.25 P&P is sent next day via courier.

P & P is capped at £8.45 for UK orders and when the postage prices increase in April JustDucks are planning on absorbing the increase !

Prices for the ducks vary greatly ranging from the 9cm character ducks at just £1.95 ea to the more luxurious big ducks on offer at the moment for £12.

99.

I was more than happy to pay these costs as the delivery times are super fast. I placed my order for several ducks on a Sunday evening and they arrived at my workplace on the Tuesday well packaged !

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Now this is where this company excels. On the monday I received a telephone call from a lovely man, David. It appeared there may be a problem with my order as they could not find one of the ducks I had ordered although they knew they had them in stock. He asked if I wanted to wait until they had found it or order another colour instead. i chose one of another colour, then realised I had ordered 2 of them by mistake..no problem he simply deleted the duplicate there and then and arranged an immediate refund to my paypal account. He was extremely helpful and friendly.

I was impressed that they took the time out to telephone me personally rather than just send an E-mail and I was able to sort it all out within minutes.

After receiveing my order I sent an E-mail to them thanking them for their service, I then received another e-mail back from David thanking me and saying they were pleased I was happy !!!

There is no customer feedback link on their site but if you send an E-mail they will then ask your permission to add your comments to their site

OVERALL OPINION

I personally think this is a fantastic little site. There really is something for everyone here. You could order a lovely Valentine's gift for a loved one, such as their special valentines range or one of their 'massage ducks' or one of their gorgeous soft toys or fragranced plush ducks. Or you could find something for one of the little or even 'big' kids in your family.

I ordered a soccer duck (white and decorated like a soccer ball), a snorkel duck (yellow with a snorkel to remind my son of his holiday), a delightful violet coloured devil duck with horns and an adorable little colour change duck (black but when placed in warm water turns a bright orange)

I am very happy with my purchases and will definitely be using this company again.

All the ducks come in various sizes which are listed on the site.

For any further information please take a look at their webiste : www.JustDucks.co.uk or if ducks aren't your thing you might want to check out their sister site www.JustPigs.co.uk