Feel Like You Are Carrying The World? You Need A Tote Le Monde Bag!
Written: Aug 04 '03 (Updated Apr 27 '04)

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I saw a really cute tote bag in Lucky Magazine and really wanted to own it. Lucky provided a link to the manufacturer's site (www.totelemonde.com) so I had to check it out.
THE MERCHANDISE
The only merchandise on this site is the tote bags and other merchandise made by this company. In addition to a considerable variety of bags, they also had placemats, coasters, diaper bags and a few other things. The selection of Tote Le Monde products on this website is probably the best you would find anywhere, but the site doesn't offer any other products.
The web site does a great job of showing the bags and different colorful patterns that you can purchase. However, the web site does a very poor job of explaining the material that the bags are made out of. The material is basically woven plastic in bright colors. I bought a market bag so I could be chic at our local farmer's market. The material would clean off very easily with some soap and water so it would be a great container for things that could stain such as produce from the farmer's market, picnic items, beach items or kids' dirty clothes. The placemats would be great on an outside table. The best thing about this product line is that the colors and styles are very appealing. With kids, I always need totes around to haul stuff and this fun, washable bag makes a nice addition to the collection.
WEB SITE
There isn't much to the web site. It only shows the company's products and there is one page that briefly explains how the company was formed. The web site loads quickly as there are not too many pictures.
The web site does not have a membership option - they don't send promotional emails.
CHECK OUT
Check out was processed by yahoo shopping. I had to provide a password and an email address that was not from a yahoo account. Since I use a free yahoo account for all of my mail orders, this was annoying because I had to use my business email to complete the offering. Yahoo also stored my credit card information although I did not want them to (I found this out later when I purchased another item through Yahoo and found the computer already knew my credit card number).
SHIPPING
My tote bag arrived in a box secured with tape. There was no additional packaging around the bag although the item could not break so that is acceptable. The only other thing in the box was a receipt.
SHIPPING INFORMATION - FROM THE WEBSITE
All in-stock items are shipped within 72 hours.
Shipping and handling charges for standard delivery (within 7-10 business days) are:
Purchase amount Add for shipping
Up to $50 $5.95
$50.01 to $150 $8.95
$150.01 to $250 $11.95
$250.01 + $13.95
Add $15 to the standard shipping and handling charge for shipments to Hawaii and Alaska
For express delivery (within 4-5 days), add an additional $9.95 to the standard shipping and handling charge.
PRICE
I paid $37 for my tote bag including shipping. I think the price is on the high end compared to other totes I have purchased and considering that the bag is made from woven plastic. However, I really love the bag and have already found many uses for it.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
I got an email when the order was received. I also got an email when the item shipped which was the same day that I placed the order. The item arrived three days later. Customer service was perfect.
RETURNS
Returns would not be easy. The only thing in the box besides my new bag was a paper receipt. There were no instructions on how to return products. There was no return label to facilitate returns.
STEALS AND DEALS
I used the code Luckymag to get 25% off my order total. I looked around for other coupons and couldn't find any.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
If you like Tote Le Monde bags or are looking for a fun and colorful tote - this is a great website. The processing was fine, although I suspect returns would be rather difficult. Still, the product was good and the transaction was smooth so I am going to recommend this 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; Blu Pyxie ; Miniboden; One Hanes Place; Nordstrom; Gymboree.
Clothing and Home Goods: Lands End; Bluefly; Soft Surroundings; Garnet Hill; Sundance; L.L. Bean.
Home and Garden: Smith & Noble; Restoration Hardware; Gardeners Supply Company; Unicahome; Homeclick; FaucetDirect; Gardens Alive; West Elm.
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.
Miscellaneous: Babystyle; Shutterfly; 1-800 contacts.
Recommended:
Yes
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