Brookstone.com is a great online store for speciality gifts and gadgets!
Written: Mar 13 '04 (Updated Apr 14 '04)
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I am pregnant with my third child (due May 16th), and I recently took a 6 hour “road trip” from San Diego CA to Phoenix AZ to visit my husband’s side of the family. Being in my third trimester with sciatic pain from the baby, I am frequently quite uncomfortable when confined in the car. Although I had never purchased anything from Brookstone’s online store before, I have very much enjoyed browsing and buying from their brick and mortar locations. Brookstone offers a wide variety of neat little gadget-type items, and I just knew that they would have something to make my trip more comfortable.
SITE NAVIGATION
Brookstone.com is an easy to navigate website with attractive, quick-loading pages (even with my stinky dial-up service!). From the home page’s top navigation, you can access Catalog Request, Store Locator, Corporate Gifting, Customer Service, shopping Cart, My Account, Order Tracking, and Search by Keyword or Item #. They also offer clickable icons to shop for products by category - Health & Fitness, Home & Office, Outdoor Living, Travel & Auto, Tempur-Pedic, and Hard to Find Tools.
SHIPPING INFORMATION
The cost for standard shipping ranges from $5.95 to $16.95 depending on your order total. For orders totaling over $225.01, the shipping charge is 9% of your order sub-total (pre-tax). Standard delivery is within 5-7 business days, but of course you have the option to pay additional (expensive!) fees for Next Day or Express service. I really don’t think that’s worth it unless you’re in a huge rush, in which case I would probably just bite the bullet and head out to the mall – kids and all.
CUSTOMER SERVICE AND ORDERING INFORMATION
Brookstone.com offers a wider variety of payment options than most online retailers in that they include a few of the more obscure credit cards. You have the option to pay by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Diners Club, Carte Blanche, or Discover. (Your credit card is billed when the order ships, not when you place your order). You can also pay by check or money order. Unfortunately, they do not offer the option yet to redeem gift cards online.
Some neat customer services features of Brookstone.com are their gift wrapping service ($4.95 per item), and the ability to track orders by telephone using your order number (call their customer service line to do this).
Returns are simple with Brookstone.com. They are very confident in your satisfaction, and are not at all restrictive in their return policy. You can make returns either by mail, or at one of their brick & mortar store locations. Within the first 60 days after purchase, you can return for exchange or refund. After 60 days they will still accept your return if you’re not satisfied, but it will only be for an exchange or store credit. Either way, this is a great return policy that assures your satisfaction.
(866)576-7337 orders
(800)846-3000 customer service 7 days a week 8am-1am (EST)
customerservice@brookstone.com
MY EXPERIENCE AND FINAL RECOMMENDATION
My experience with Brookstone.com was flawless. I found an awesome comfort gel seat cushion on their website that fit my travel needs perfectly. The browsing process was fun and simple. Checkout went without a hitch. I received my seat cushion, very well-packaged I might add, within a week of ordering. The shipping charge (based on order total) felt somewhat expensive for the weight of the item, but I knew the charges before I ordered and felt comfortable with the total price. I don’t know when I’ll shop at Brookstone.com again since I don’t spend much money on the types of things they offer, but I am definitely not against it! I would definitely recommend Brookstone.com for unique gifts, gadgets, and home items.
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Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Auto seat cushion
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Epinions.com ID:
denasalazar
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Dena Salazar
Location: San Diego, CA
Reviews written: 159
Trusted by: 66 members
About Me:
SAHM to 3 beautiful children, wife to United States Marine
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