Savon Drugstore Online - Great Selection and Prices.
Written: Sep 03 '02 (Updated Oct 15 '02)
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Savon (which you say like Save On) is an online drugstore and similar to other online drugstores like CVS and drugstore.com but a little different in many ways. Sav-on has a long and complicated history which I would not even try to explain (or even understand without a major brain strain). Basically, Sav On is a combination of some brick and mortars with food and also drugs including stores like Albertson’s, Osco, and Skaggs with a 1999 website that was sav-ondrugs with the dash and now just http://savon.com/ which is an odd website URL with no www at the start.
If your head is spinning a bit after reading about the basics about this online store, then it still will be when you visit the site. I’ve never seen such a strange website. They have all manner of frames that lock you in to scroll all over the place. Some of the clicks take you out to pages that list by alpha order but without any indication about what you are shopping for. There is a little up-and-down click to the far right side for “characteristics” that pulls up an info box that does something I can’t figure out. When you sign in, you don’t see your name. They must know who you are, but you don’t know who you are at this site. Overall, I wonder if the people who set this site up ever looked at web sties.
Don’t grab your mouse and run for cover . . . yet.
I’ve been shopping at Sav On for a long time, and I’ll keep shopping this oddball site. They have a huge selection of products, great prices, and go the extra mile on customer service.
When I compare Sav On to other online drug-type stores, they have more types and sizes of products. As far as the selection, they have a huge inventory. It’s like going to Wal-Mart and seeing everything right in front of you (if you can click around and find the vast selection at Sav On). They have things that you expect at the drugstore and then food items that you may not think about and may not click and find. At some on-liners, you are stuck with the small size at the higher price or the jumbo and more than you can use of an item. I’ve had better luck getting size variations at Sav On though have to work to find what I have in mind.
The prices really are tops at Sav On. You won’t find every item you want at the lowest price, but many do come out better.
I asked my college class to compare four online drugstores—Sav On, CVS, drugstore.com and Mother Nature dot com. The idea was to see how various stores write up the product details and how the sites work from the user perspective. Some of my students were experienced online and some were not. All students had different ideas about what they wanted online and about how they wanted a web site to work for them. Though Sav On did not come out on top as far as the vote (drugstore.com had that honor), the students that looked hard at prices went with Sav On. That fell in line with my findings. Sav On was best on prices, drugstore.com for ease of use, CVS for mainstream products prices (size not considered), and mothernature for alternative stuff.
The thing that really sold me on Sav On was the customer service. I ordered some candy bars when I had a free shipping coupon code. The candy bars ran 33 cents each. That is much lower than I can buy bars in this area, so I got several. I live in NC, and that was earlier this summer when it was mega hot. The bars melted and were gross when they arrived. The dollar amount was small, so I emailed and mentioned the problem but said that I didn’t need any follow up. I wasn’t packing up melty candy to send back and pay more to send back than they cost. I just told them they might want to know that the candy did not travel well to send by UPS with no cool packing like some of the other drugstores add to a hot southern state.
Sav On emailed right back and said they would take care of the problem. This was about the time that my hard drive blew out (and I was offline for a while). They sent the candy I ordered with a “cool” packed box while I was offline. When I got back on, they had emails offering to credit my Visa but could not get in touch as my Visa had run out on the date (and they did not have the new date). This total was under $5. They had sent more candy and were still trying to pay me back. I did not ask for and get more money back when they went the extra mile (don’t mess with web sites that are trying hard). I would suggest that they coordinate a little better. It seems that my email went to more than one person, and one sent more candy, one tried to credit my Visa and one wanted to give me credit for a future purchase. I was a little blown away, but I did appreciate that they were on top of comments to the site by email.
After 4 years online, I would think that Sav On would be a little more net savvy. The site is hard to use, and the URL is hard to remember. The employees don’t seem to coordinate on things though they are nice and helpful. With the great prices and the improvements (like the cool packs for candy), I still favor this site. My thinking is that they need to put a little more money into the net end of retail though that might raise prices a bit. They could be a key player in the online drugstore market. Right now, Sav On is mom-and-pop where you can get great deals and where you will hear back if you email. I like that, but I worry that they will go under or get bought out when they do not seem to be very net knowledgeable.
If you are good with hunt and search online, then give this site a try. They are a little wacky and do take more time, but it’s worth it for the deals (to me). If you like a site that is well organized, then skip this one. You will pull your hair out trying to figure this out if you don’t enjoy a scavenger hunt.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Cyndi
Location: out in the yard grilling
Reviews written: 1176
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About Me: The first and greatest commandment is, don’t let them scare you. Elmer Davis
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