whsmithonline.co.uk > Reviews > Cheaper than Amazon

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:	Cheaper than Amazon, very people friendly
Disadvantages:	Site needs improvement and expansion

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I’ve had mostly very good experiences with WHSmith.co.uk, though I believe there are some areas on which they could improve. I’ve shopped with them for about six months now and would rate my happiness with their service, overall, at about 90%.

First off, I generally find that WHSmith is cheaper than Amazon. Their p&p costs slightly less and their products are normally (though not always) reduced further. When I am shopping for books/CDs/videos etc on the Internet, I normally have two windows open – one with Amazon and one with WHSmith, so I can compare prices. WHSmith usually always wins.

To buy from the WHSmith website, you need to register as you do with most Internet shops. This is a fairly easy process and it is always easy to check in at the website to monitor your orders by clicking on ‘My Account and Orders’ at the top of the screen, then logging in. Here you are always kept up-to-date on your ‘My Current Orders’ page. This states all the orders you have (ever) placed with them followed by their status. This can range from Invoiced, Being Packed, Dispatched, On Order, Reprinting and many more, which I find very helpful.

However, sometimes I find I have to log in about four times during one session, which gets quite frustrating. This is one stronghold that Amazon has over WHSmith – they ‘remember’ you when you return and you only have to state your password once in order to make purchases and so forth. This, unfortunately, is not the case with WHSmith, though hopefully this might become a feature in the future.

I have found the delivery with WHSmith to be frequently quick. I have only ever had two problems with late delivery with WHSmith.co.uk but they handled both situations very well.

The first was a book I had ordered for my friend’s birthday. I noted from my Orders page that the book had been dispatched the day before her birthday, so it should be arriving on exactly the right day. However, three days later and the book still hadn’t showed, so I emailed their Customer Enquiries address (all of these types of addresses can easily be found on the site) and immediately got a very polite, personal and helpful response. They confirmed that the book had indeed been dispatched, and therefore might be being held at my local post office depot if I hadn’t received it. So I called the local depot and it turns out they had had it all along - they couldn’t fit it through the letterbox, so they took it back to the depot but forgot to leave me a calling card.

The second time was when I had ordered a special edition DVD set, also for a birthday, which was again stated to be dispatched the day before, so all was looking good. However, when it didn’t show on the day of the birthday nor the day after, I logged back on to email Customer Services but an email from them was already there. Again, it was a very helpful, personalised and polite response. It turned out when they had got the product ready for dispatch initially, they had found it to be damaged and were currently ordering in a brand new edition for me. The gentleman was extremely helpful and informed me I should email him personally if I had queries.

An advantage that Amazon does have over WHSmith is the detailed descriptions they have of their products, along with a product image. WHSmith often does not have such detailed descriptions of their products, nor do they usually have images, which is why it helps for me to look at Amazon at the same time. This usually means I can have a look at the product and read about it on Amazon, then buy it from WHSmith where it is cheaper with less p&p!

So, WHSmith.co.uk does have some detrimental qualities. They have problems with their delivery sometimes, but in my experience these have either not been their fault, or they have recitified the situation immediately and in a very helpful way. Their site is not as informative as one would wish, neither is it necessarily as quick or as easy to use. But they have extremely good prices and their p&p is generally lower than a lot of other Internet shops. Also, if you own a WHSmith clubcard, you can enter the details on your account page and you will be credited with points when you buy, just as if you were in the store. They also often have clubcard point deals (my most recent buy was rewarded with triple clubcard points). They may not be as experienced or as technologically advanced as Amazon, but when it comes down to it they are a people’s internet shop who deal with their customers in an earnest, polite and helpful manner and provide what I believe are the best deals around.