Gardener's Supply Company provided one of my best online ordering experiences!
Written: May 30 '03 (Updated Nov 08 '04)
| Ease of Ordering: |
 |
|
| Customer Service: |
|
|
| Selection: |
 |
|
| On-Time Delivery: |
|
|
|
| Full Review |
I have some time to garden now, so I recently decided to purchase a raised garden bed. I searched the web and located several retailers that offered what I wanted. Once I had narrowed down the choices, it came down to price and reputation of the merchant. Luckily, I stumbled onto a 20% off code for Gardener's Supply Company on the www.upromise.com site and, with the coupon, Gardener's Supply had the lowest price for what I wanted. This company was really a pleasure to deal with and I am glad I decided to purchase from them.
WEB SITE
The web site has lots of information for gardeners, a very broad selection of merchandise, an outlet for sale items, easy to navigate customer service pages and was just great to use overall.
I should point out that the merchandise is primarily equipment and items for gardens but does not include a lot of the plants that grow in the gardens. There are a few selections but that is not this Company's main focus.
The web pages loaded quickly, even on my old machine, and were visually interesting. This is a fun web site to surf and shop. Locating items was easy and I quickly found my raised garden bed using the helpful search feature.
The purchasing process was easy. I simply selected my item and added it to my cart. The checkout process was streamlined and did not have any unnecessary steps. I only had to enter my address once and the web site quickly processed my credit card on a secure connection.
CATALOG SHOPPING
Gardener's Supply Company also has a catalog that features many of the items on the web site. It can be ordered for free from the web site. Items in the catalog can be ordered on the web site.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Happily, I did not need to interact with customer service. I got an email that acknowledged my order and another email that told me when the item shipped. The communication was timely and helpful.
SHIPPING
It seems that my item shipped about 3 days after I placed my order. In the email that indicated that my item had shipped, there was a link to a UPS site where I could track my order. I was a little nervous because the email indicated that my item was ground shipped. In my experience, that means it could take up to two weeks to arrive. However, my item arrived two days after the shipping email and just under a week after my initial order.
The item I ordered was a raised garden bed that consisted mostly of long planks of wood and hinges and endcaps. It was all packed neatly and securely in heavy cardboard. Everything arrived in perfect condition and the packaging looked tough enough to withstand some rough handling.
The shipping costs from the web site are:
Under $15 …………… $5.95
$15.01 - $25 …………… $7.50
$25.01 - $35 …………… $8.50
$35.01 - $50 …………… $9.50
$50.01 - $75 …………… $10.50
$75.01 - $100 …………… $12.50
$100.01 - $130 …………… $14.50
$130.01 - $250 …………… Add 12%
Over $250.01 …………… Add 11%
The web site has a lot of handy information on shipping including express shipping and shipping outside the U.S. Just click on the "shipping" link on the home page.
STEALS AND DEALS
I found a link to Gardener's Supply on the Upromise.com web site that offered a 20% discount. I clicked on the link, and the checkout process automatically figured out the 20% off my purchase. It was extremely easy because I didn't have to remember some lengthy code.
You can sign up for emails from the company on the web site. I signed up for the emails and just got an offer for 10% off anything on the web site.
Additionally, Gardener's Supply participates in Upromise (www.upromise.com). If you are a member of Upromise and shop through the Upromise site, you can get 5% of your purchase back for use for college. There are some additional hoops to jump through at Upromise so check at the site to find out how to get the rebate.
There is an outlet part of the site where sale items are listed.
CONTACT INFORMATION
www.gardeners.com
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
This is a great web site with a broad selection of items for gardeners. They offer some deals so be careful to seek them out before making a purchase. This was one of the best experiences I have had on a web site.
DO YOU LIKE TO SHOP ON THE INTERNET? HERE ARE SOME MORE REVIEWS OF WEB STORES:
Clothing and Accessories: Talbots; The Gap; CWD Kids; Hanna Andersson; J. Jill; Tote Le Monde ; Blu Pyxie ; Miniboden; One Hanes Place; Nordstrom; Gymboree; Simple Shoes; Sierra Blue; Ebags.
Clothing and Home Goods: Land’s End; Bluefly; Soft Surroundings; Garnet Hill; Sundance; L.L. Bean.
Home and Garden: Smith & Noble; Restoration Hardware; Unicahome; Homeclick; FaucetDirect; Gardens Alive; West Elm; Crate & Barrel; MyKnobs; CB2.
Books and Magazines: Amazon.com; ValueMags; Magazine Values; Dover Publications.
Office Supplies, Furniture and Services: Staples; Officemax; Topdeq; Efax.
Electronics: HP Shopping; Buy.com.
Travel: Amtrak; Hotwire; Orbitz; Hotels.com.
Discount: Overstock.com; Target.
Photo Developing: Shutterfly; Snapfish.
Baby Stuff: Babystyle; Baby’s Here Birth Announcements; Baby Universe; SoZo.
Miscellaneous: 1-800 contacts; Movie Tickets.com; Drugstore.com.
Rebate Sites: Upromise; Ebates.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? raised garden bed
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
modernmarvel
|
 - Top 50 |
|
Location: Basking in the Sun
Reviews written: 504
Trusted by: 340 members
About Me:
Can anyone recommend a western family dude ranch for a vacation this summer?
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.