Sur La Table: This One Leaves a Bad Taste In My Mouth
Written: Jul 15 '02 (Updated Jul 15 '02)
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A friend of mine gave me a $25 gift certificate for a store called Sur La Table. She loved this store and was very excited to share it with me. The store, however, is about an hour's drive away. With my gift certificate money burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to see if the store had an website, and what do you know? They did!
On first entering the site, there is a theme. As I write this, the theme is "Go fish." There is a picture of a whole fish with lemon and garnish (I think it's trout, but don't hold me to that. I'm a vegetarian, after all. I don't eat fish.) Beneath the picture is a paragraph describing ways to cook and serve fish. With each suggestion is a link to a product to help you do that.
There is another similar section on "The Big Chill." This lists all kinds of frozen treats and what it takes to make or serve them.
Then comes a section on what's on sale. In this area you will find discontinued items, items with limited stock or seasonal items out of season.
Finally comes the main section, the on-line catalog. This is a web version of the catalog that is sent out in by snail mail. It is possible to search the catalog by category (Appliances, Bakeware, Barware...etc.), by brand (All-Clad, Bodum, Calphalon...etc.), by keyword, or to flip through page by page as one would do with a hard copy. It is also possible to request a hard copy be sent to you. They have made this site incredibly easy to get around. The pages,though graphic dense, do load quite fast.
My problem is not with the website, but with both the website and the brick and mortar store. The problem is prices. Sur La Table has beautiful, top-of-the-line merchandise which they sell at excessive prices. I looked for a cookie scoop for my mother (for dishing out cookie dough.) I can get a Stockel Professional 30mm ice cream scoop at Sur La Table for $24.95 plus shipping of $6.45. A second scoop of the same size raises the shipping to $10.45. Thirty mm ice cream scoops are not that large or heavy that two of them should warrant that price in shipping costs. A similar scoop at another on-line store is available for $12.95 with free shipping. However, in this case, you're paying for the Stockel name, too. Still, the shipping is outrageous. Cookie sheets and jelly roll pans with the same brandname such All-Clad and Doughmaker are the same price at other on-line stores. However, for that price other on-line merchants offer free shipping. Some even offer a bonus silpat sheet. Sur La Table offers no bonus.
Still, I am willing to pay a little extra for really outstanding customer service....and besides, I had that gift certificate. I did opt to get my mother the fancy ice-cream/cookie scoop. Since I had a couple of weeks before I needed the gift, I decided to go with the 7-10 day shipping option. I was told that gift wrapping would be an additional $5.00 per item. Because I was in California, I would have to pay sales taxes, too. By the time I was done, that 30mm ice cream scoop cost me nearly $37. That seems a bit high to send a gift, but I needed something for mom and she's worth it.
Well, after three weeks and four phone calls, the scoop finally arrived today - two weeks late. It wasn't gift wrapped. The invoice was included with the gift.
I've heard other such stories about Sur La Table's web site from friends since using them. This weekend, the friend who gave me the gift certificate took me to the brick and mortar store. It was really fun. I'm sorry to say that using their web site is not fun at all.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Location: Somewhere in Southern California for Now
Reviews written: 1635
Trusted by: 449 members
About Me: He reminded her of a slinky, so she pushed him downstairs.
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