Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Branch or home delivery, clubcard points and a much wider range than on the high street . |
| Disadvantages: |
Confusing subsidiary companies, poor site design and mistakes . |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
no |
Introduction
It's just what you think it is… the high street store W.H.Smith available online. Just like your local branch, the online store has the following to offer: books, CDs, DVDs, videos, computer games, accessories, magazines, stationery, hardware, gifts and vouchers. Plus you can use your clubcard and gain points too.
I used to shy away from buying things over the internet as I'd rather see, feel or try things first. More recently I've been ordering
online as I believe the cost of postage is offset by the cost of petrol and car parking charges plus many online stores now offer to refund the item, P&P and your return postage costs too. I live in a rural area and the closest shops are small with little stock and poor choice.
The Site
Boring, dull, unimaginative… is all I can say for the design. The traditional WHSmith blue and white features throughout. On the plus side, the site loads very quickly and navigation couldn't be easier.
Areas of the site include:
Your Orders- to check the progress of your orders using your email address and the password provided with a conformational email following placing an order.
Help - topic sections on ordering, paying, new users, information, contacts and WHSmith Jersey (more later). There is no FAQ section but there is a "Quick Help -Most Wanted" section that answers the questions we all have to ask.
Our Stores - includes a store locator, option to sign up for a clubcard, career information, WHSmith Plc information and also in-store celebrity signings so you can find out where and when to get your
books signed! Personally I think the latter should be a larger feature maybe a link on the home page - they could certainly make more of this. The signings list is updated regularly and lists all those for the current month.
Contact Us - a query page for you to leave a message and get a response. I received a reply within a matter of hours but the site states that it may take up to 48 hours.
View Basket - a quick check of your shopping.
Check Out - when it's time to pay up.
Site Map - not that useful because the site design is so simple. The site map offers the same clickable links as those I have just described that are situated along the top of the page on any page of the site, plus shop areas which are usually down the left hand side on most pages.
Ordering & Paying
There are many areas of the online shop to browse, including top 50 lists for music, books and DVDs. By clicking on an item you are interested in you can view a larger image, read a brief synopsis, see where it is in the top 50, see the price and how many clubcard points you can gain from purchasing it and read about other features of the product. To add it to your basket simply click on the basket icon.
After you've found everything you want you proceed to the checkout area. It fairly simply asks for your details, email address, payment/card details, clubcard number if you have one.
At this point you must select whether you want it delivering to a local branch of W.H.Smith (for free!) or to your address (price varies depending on the item but mainly reasonably priced).
Now they try to confuse you with WHSmith Jersey Ltd and WHSmith Plc. Really it doesn't matter who you're ordering it from but I'll try and explain. WHSmith Jersey Ltd is a subsidiary of WHSmith Plc and if your order is less than £18 it will be dispatched from WHSmith Jersey. If you care to read the small print the reason why WHSmith do this is so that they can offer more competitive prices since goods under £18 are exempt from import VAT. Either way you are still buying from WHSmith, a WHSmith Jersey item cannot however be delivered to a local store only to a customers' address but you can buy items coming from two different places on the same order.
Returns
I have not returned anything to WHSmith.co.uk but their policy states that the item, potage costs and reasonable return postage costs will be refunded in full.
My Personal Experience
While I can not fault the process of ordering online, the site or payment process I have had one long winded, bad experience covering a series of errors on WHSmith's behalf. The bitter taste this has left has put me off future online ordering with them.
I was trying to get hold of a gift subscription to a certain magazine and tried a number of branches of WHSmith. In the fourth I was advised by the assistant that it would certainly be available online.
Sure enough I could order the gift box and decided to have it delivered to my local branch for collection. The main reason for doing this was to avoid the surprise of the birthday gift being revealed too early if it came through the letter box when I wasn't about. As it was a gift, the online ordering process asked for both my details and those of the person the gift was for. I thought nothing of this at the time.
A few days later WHSmith called the person I was buying the gift for, telling them what it was and asking them to collect it. Consequently I was forced to reveal the nature of the surprise birthday gift of a magazine subscription early, I was somewhat disappointed. As I was away, this person went into the branch to collect their birthday present. However, they were informed that without a copy of the conformational email I had received after ordering that they could not have the item. Adding insult to injury they were told that even if they did have proof of purchasing online, the magazine subscription gift box was lost. Shocking, as the branch is so small I don't see how they could have lost it a day after telephoning to say it had arrived.
When I returned I went into the shop, produced the confirmation email and was handed the item. To my disgust the box was torn, tattered and squashed. It was in an unacceptable condition to be given as a birthday gift.
Thorough disappointed, dissatisfied and upset over the failings of my attempt to buy a great birthday present I wrote to WHSmith Customer Services. Quickly I received a letter of apology and £20 worth of vouchers in an attempt to reinstall my faith in the company. Needless to say I'll be using the vouchers in a store and not on WHSmith online!
Concluding Comments
A much wider range of books, DVDs and CDs are available on the online shop. The option to collect it from a local branch is a neat idea that saves you postage and packaging charges and guarantees they'll have what you want in. Just like the high street store, WHSmith Clubcard points can be used or collected when ordering online.
The site is less than inspiring and as I mentioned earlier they don't sell themselves at all. A few years ago WHSmith stopped offering a 10% student discount but I would hope that should they reinstate this, it would also be available online.
WHSmith customer services clearly know how to butter up their disappointed customers with generous vouchers. The letter of apology thanked me for raising this issue so that it can be corrected and should not happen again. I can only comment on my own unfortunate dealings with the online store but I will not be ordering from them over the
internet in future.
