Pier 1 Imports-- Satisfactory Shopping--Barely!
Written: Feb 20 '03
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One of the many stores I gave a first look to this past Christmas was Pier 1 Imports. I have always loved their brick and mortar stores for browsing for great home decorations and accessories. Our local store is in close proximity to the mall and parking was impossible so I headed to the online site for some last minute gifts.
Shopping at Pier 1-
So far as I know Pier 1 hasn't hyped or advertised their website much, and I can sort of see why. The site is functional but nothing special at the moment. It's simply navigated by a tab-style design between departments or by a basic drop down menu.
Information about the products is adequate although I've seen much more detail elsewhere. It's the bare basics here. One thing it does include is the country of origin of import. I know this is important to many folks.
Selection is greatly diminished from the stores, especially in the furniture section. Although this may be expected with the bulky furniture, lots of other areas are lacking as well. Overall I had the impression that the site might be just launching or mainly used to showcase ad's and move clearance merchandise.
Clearance is a decent sized section and I picked up quite a few items there to stock up for last minute gifts and hostess gifts for the holidays. I just checked it the other day and found it with a nice variety of items currently, although it said there were 7 pages of clearance and only 5 were accessible.
Checking Out-
New customers create an account for faster checkout with their e-mail address and a password.
Address Book can be created and saved for more timely shopping in the future.
Payment can be made with Visa, Mastercard, Discover, AMEX, or Pier 1 signature cards.
You can also apply for and view the Pier 1 cards online, as well as their gift cards.
Delivery-
My Christmas order was placed on December 10th, and was delivered via FedEx. It was broken into two deliveries and arrived on the last day of the shipping window.
Notification was e-mailed both when my order was placed and when it shipped (the next day). The e-mail had a FedEx tracking link in it, and my account on the Pier 1 website also showed these links.
Condition of the items delivered was fine except for the rather expensive beaded wreath. This was unacceptably just tossed into an awkward cardboard box with no padding or extra care taken. The beaded fruit on the wreath was bald in many spots and the delicate vines were crushed.
Charges were on the hefty side for shipping. They are calculated by order total and begin at $6.00 for a package under $15.99 This makes shopping at Pier 1 one of the more expensive ventures I've undertaken recently.
Customer Service The Good and The Bad-
Pier 1 has a decent return policy allowing for returns with original receipt for up to 6 months! This is far better than most other online merchants. They also allow returns to be made in local Pier 1 stores rather than shipping back. I was thrilled to find this out since I had such a badly damaged wreath. What irked me to no end was that although the product was damaged in shipping, they refused to refund the shipping charges. I can understand this policy when a customer has simply changed their mind, but when there's a defect or poor packaging how on earth is it right to make a customer pay for their error?
All In All-
I do (barely) recommend Pier 1 for an online alternative to their stores. The selection is limited, the shipping is high and their return policy is a mixed bag of good and bad. Weigh the pro's and con's and you might find it to your liking. Myself, I won't be back. There are too many other merchants on the web who do it better, faster, and cheaper.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
erinrounds
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Location: Washington State
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Working on school! Hoping to finish soon.
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