Friendly CSR's, but needs a better designed website.
Written: Dec 10 '03
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I hate to be the person to write the first review, and have it be negative, but unfortunately, recent experience with the BBC America shop has not been very good.
A few weeks ago, I received one of their promotional e-mails promoting free shipping, and holiday gift ideas. Having several anglophile friends on my gift list, I figured I would give them a try.
My main issue with them is their website. It is a bit cumbersome to navigate, especially if you really just want to browse through the various categories of offerings carried. Clicking on, for example, the video link, gives you an option of their top sellers, but no links to genre subcategories. It would be nice to be able to browse, say all comedy offerings, but the only easily apparent option is to go series by series from a drop down to see if there is anything offered, and the series appearing in the drop down is not truly indicative if there are really any items relating to it for sale.
They also do not indicate on their website if items shown for sale are readily available for purchase and shipping. I had placed an order for 2 items listed on the site, planning on giving them as gifts. It was not until a day or so later when I received the order confirmation e-mail, that I was informed that both items were backordered and would not be available for up to 4-6 weeks. This really is information that should be included in the item description. Had I known their status, I would have searched elsewhere. A subsequent call to their customer service number revealed that their website is not linked to the inventory system, and has to be manually updated. This leads me to believe that it is a small time operation, somewhat poorly run, but with the impression that it is a functioning unit of a large entity (BBC).
Their phone customer service is courteous, so I cannot say anything bad about that aspect of the company. They were willing to offer suggestions about other places to find some of their merchandise, (which I did, and at a lower price as well!) and not the least bit disapproving about canceling an order, unlike some other businesses, so I must definitely give them kudos for their customer service staff.
Overall, I think that it is worth shopping the BBC America shop if time is not an issue, such as holidays or time-specific events, to find some otherwise difficult to find items, but I would still suggest searching other larger sites (such as Barnes and Noble) first.
If they were to retool their website, making it more consumer friendly and intuitive, I would definitely be more apt to shop them again.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Video sets and holiday gifts
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About the Author
Member: R Bates
Location: Chicago, IL
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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