BBC NEWS | Business | My online Christmas



By Tim Weber BBC News Online business

Internet shopping is reported to be booming this Christmas, but is it really as easy as claimed?

Oh no. Christmas is around the corner, and I've still got all my shopping to do.

"Cut the queues" proclaim the adverts of an online retailer. But will it work?

Storming the castle

Item number one: a knights' castle. Since visiting too many castles during our last summer holiday, my son just loves knights in shining armour, and a castle is on top of his wish list.

I set out to oblige him on the internet. After a long search across many websites I finally settle on a wooden, easy-to -assemble castle - plus knights, Merlin and a fire-spewing dragon - sold online by the Great Little Trading Company.

Ah yes. It's out of stock, but a notice in red tells me I can still place an order because a new delivery will be in on 28 October.

Catch is, it's already quite a few days into November (and at the time of writing, the website still promises an October delivery. Maybe October 2003?)

Time for the fallback, the call centre

Unlike the website, the human operator knows a bit more about likely delivery dates, an order is placed, and the castle arrives a few weeks later.

Into the online Nirvana

I try again. My wife has dropped heavy hints about certain CDs she wants.

But UK online shops just don't list Ute Lemper's new album "But one day". It's not on sale yet in this country.

The CDs arrive from Hong Kong within three days of order

I finally find it on Amazon's German website (Amazon UK pleaded ignorance). An order is quickly placed (careful, you need to know quite a bit of German to avoid clicking the wrong button), and then the online magic kicks in.

Seconds after pressing "confirm", I receive an e-mail outlining my order. A day later I am informed that the CD has been sent. Not much later it arrives.

Online heaven, especially as the Lemper CD appears to be much cheaper in Germany than it will be in the UK (17.99 euros).

Next stop CD Wow, where David Bowie's Heathen is to be had for £8.99 (free postage) - much less than other online shops.

I indulge myself by ordering the new Nirvana compilation (£8.99). Again, an e-mail confirmation comes within seconds, and the CDs arrive (from Hong Kong!) within three days of order.

I chicken out

My wife wants a bathrobe, but do I really want to buy clothes on the web? I want to see the colours, feel the fabric.

A spam e-mail from Haburi.com persuades me to stray online again - the offer of Calvin Klein bathrobes at a heavy discount is just too juicy.

But when I go to Haburi's website, weird things happen. Unwanted windows open, and I get quickly stuck when I want to investigate the various products further.

I chicken out.

Another visit to the Haburi website one month later turns out to be a much smoother experience. But by then I have been to the High Street for a bit of traditional shopping - and it was nice to see the garment close-up before buying.

Could you wrap this, please?

Personally, I find shopping for far-away friends very tricky.

Once again, Amazon helps out. I order a book and a CD for the three-year-old son of German friends, and throw in a book for the parents.

She is nervous and says 'Will they deliver in time? - I rashly promise that all will be well

Postage is free for orders above 20 euros (Germany only), and I gladly pay extra for having them gift-wrapped.

One minor disappointment. Unlike last year, I don't have a choice between different gift-wraps anymore.

The order confirmation arrives promptly and a couple of days later I am told the parcel is on its way to Berlin.

Disaster strikes

Emboldened, I set out to venture into new territory: online photo ordering.

My wife has bought picture frames to give to various relatives, and wants pictures of our son to go with it.

She is nervous when I say I want to order it online - "Will they deliver in time?" - and I rashly promise that all will be well.

After exploring various web sites I opt for a well-known High Street name, Jessops.

I get an automated 'we will get back to you' reply - I send another e-mail and get another automated response

It's not a particularly cheap service (I probably could get it cheaper at my newsagent), but the original pictures we want are digital, not on film.

I have to download some special software to use the service, but it fully integrates the "My Pictures" folder on my PC and ordering is straightforward enough.

Five days later, a large envelope arrives - but instead of 13 prints, it contains only two. What's gone wrong?

Eight hours later, I get an e-mail.

"Unfortunately, [the labs] had a problem processing 11 of your 6x4 prints and therefore, were unable to complete it. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused by this."

But no explanation of what went wrong. It can't have been a quality problem - after all the picture with the smallest file size was printed perfectly well.

It's now just five working days until Christmas - where do I get a replacement?

We want to see Lord of the Rings before the holidays, but don't fancy being on hold for hours to book tickets

I e-mail Jessops, requesting an explanation for what has gone wrong - and complain that I wouldn't have ordered from them had I known that I'd have to pay the £1.50 delivery charge for just two prints.

All I get is an automated "we will get back to you" reply. I send another e-mail. I get another automated response.

Now, four days later, nothing but silence from Jessops. Not quite the customer service I would have expected.

The picture crisis is resolved by rushing to our newsagent with traditional film, and we pick up the prints on the same day.

Online icing

I don't give up on the net.

The Royal Mail website quickly solves the annual "what's cousin Katy's post code" conundrum.

And finally the icing on my online Christmas cake: we want to see Lord of the Rings before the holidays, but don't fancy being on hold for hours to book tickets.

Through the Odeon website, I secure places in my local cinema within two minutes.

Christmas can come.

This was what Tim found, but what about you? Tell us your experiences of online shopping this Christmas.

Disclaimer: The BBC will put up as many of your comments as possible but we cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published. The BBC reserves the right to edit comments that are published.

I have used Lasminute.com for the last 2 x-masses and have been very impressed by the service recived. I also use the Odeon website and have found it to be user friendly and reliable.
Paul Bains, UK

It's a shame that Tim had problems getting photos online. I have used Photobox many times, any have nothing but praise for them - highly recommended! The main problems I have ordering online relate to the Royal Mail rather than the online companies themselves.
David, UK

I ordered £80 worth of books, CDs and computer games on the 2nd of December at Amazon.co.uk. After about a week I checked my account to see how the order stood, the were showing a delivery date after Christmas. When I e-mailed them they said that one item was outstanding but that they would send the rest of the goods.

Today the 20th I have cancelled my order as there is no sign of any of the goods being dispatched , so I will have to go conventioanl shopping to get the goods, by waiting for amazon I have missed the deadline for other online shops. I will certainly not use amazon again. I have sent about half a dozen e-mails to them asking what has happened to my order without a decent explanation, apology or any offer of compensation.
Derek Law, England

I've had good experiences with both Amazon and CD-WOW. CD-WOW was particularly impressive. Seven CDs ordered on Saturday and they had all arrived by Wednesday.
Kevin, UK

I have completed all of my Christmas shopping on-line. It means you are not having to sacrafice time trudging around time, struggling to find a parking space, fighting for the last 'it' toy and generally having a bad time in the queues.

As for the digital pictures, within Windows XP, you get a choice of Jessops (great for photos onto mugs, mousemats, T-Shirts) and Bonusprint who provide a good quality service for basic photo re-production at a much more competitive price.
Scott Andrews, United Kingdom

I've been shopping online for 5 years, and I think online shopping is generally the cat's whiskers, but in the last few months 50% of my orders have been absolute nightmares.

My worst experience this year has been trying to buy a CD player online. The first company didn't deliver on the right day, after I'd taken a day off work. Then they delivered a CD player that did't work. I couldn't take another day off work, and had to carry it to the office. Then the courier again failed to turn up to collect it. After 4 phone calls, I finally got rid of it and my money refunded. I then ordered exactly the same player from another company. I rang to check the exact delivery date, and again, it didn't show. I rang to find out why, a few days later, and they said that they'd cancelled my order - but not told me. Eventually I got it.

The established online companies like Amazon seem to get it very right, but the ones who have had shops for years and are just starting with the internet seem terrible at customer service, don't answer their phones, and worst of all, can't deliver at the right time. They've got to pay more attention, or customers will go elsewhere. I won't be shopping with either of the 2 companies I tried to get a CD player from again, in their stores or on the web.
Ian Tester, UK

I've done 90% of my Christmas shopping online and none of the sites has failed me. Consequently, I'm Mrs Relaxed this year! What more can I say?
Pauline, England

As usual the American service is excellent the British useless. I ordered several items as Xmas presents on 2nd December from 2 sites, one US, one British. All the items from the US site arrived within 5 days. Despite the fact that the British site from which I ordered claimed that all the items I had ordered were dispatched within 24 hours, today on the 20th of December I have just checked my order and the items still have not been dispatched so I doubt that I shall receive them before Xmas and am already formulating excuses for the people for whom this items were ordered as presents.
Richard Werszner, England


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