Faucetdirect.com: Try It For Looks, Keep It For Price
Written: Feb 18 '04 (Updated Nov 08 '04)
| Ease of Ordering: |
 |
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Selection: |
|
|
| On-Time Delivery: |
 |
|
|
| Full Review |
Well . . . my housing renovations continue. I wanted to get a kitchen faucet and didn't know where to start. After looking in some local showrooms, I settled on a Grohe faucet. My contractor tried to buy it for me using his discount but the best price he could get was $500 (plus tax). I found the same faucet on faucetdirect.com for $406.35 with no tax and no shipping charges for ground delivery.
MERCHANDISE
Like the name suggests, the site sells only faucets. However, within this narrow band, they have a good selection of brands and styles.
PRICES
Price is the main reason to shop here. The prices here were cheaper than my local showrooms and most other websites I tried. I strongly suggest visiting a showroom to see and touch your faucet before buying on line. The pictures on the site were small and it hard to visualize what the faucets look like.
WEBSITE
The website operation is very quick - mostly because there are very few pictures. Operation is intuitive but it is hard to window shop since you need to keep backing up to the main screen. You will be better off if you know what you are looking for.
CHECKOUT
Checkout was a snap. They did have my pet peeve: I had to choose a password. I shop on the internet quite a lot and now have so many passwords out there - I can never remember any of them. Since I am unlikely to need another faucet in the foreseeable future - I didn't think it was necessary to create an account but I had no choice.
The other thing I noticed is that there was a small box on the very bottom of a page with a box to check if you wanted to receive their newsletters. The last thing on earth I need is more junk email so I really don't want their newsletters. However, the box was already checked and I had to uncheck it. Pretty sneaky and uncalled for.
Other than those two issues, check out was relatively smooth and easy. I got a receipt at the end of the process to print.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
I got an email indicating that they received my order and another email when they shipped my order. My order shipped the same day I placed my order. I received my faucet 5 days after placing my order which was ahead of schedule and fast for ground shipping.
PACKAGING
Packaging was my one big disappointment with this site. My faucet arrived in the manufacturer's box with very minimal packaging. The site itself had added no additional packaging or padding to a faucet that could be damaged or dropped. My faucet arrived in good shape but I had to drop my rating of this site from 5 stars to 4 stars based on the lack of packaging.
SHIPPING
My faucet had free ground shipping. However, ground shipping can take many days. You can choose faster shipping for a small cost.
RETURNS
I didn't have to make a return so I am not sure how the process would work. I think if I did make a return, I would need another box since the one the faucet was shipped in had only the most minimal of packing materials. Here is information from the site regarding returns:
FaucetDirect.com is the best place to buy products online. We stand behind our products and guarantee your satisfaction with every order.
FaucetDirect.com promises to deliver high-quality products, in excellent condition, to your door. If, for any reason, your shipment is not satisfactory, we will gladly replace it or accept a return of the merchandise. Please adhere to the following return policy:
The following items may be returned for a refund:
Merchandise that has not been removed from its original packing.
Defective merchandise.
Merchandise that mispacked or was not shipped correctly.
Merchandise that has not been installed.
A 15% restocking fee will be charged on all returned merchandise, unless defective.
Exceptions
Returns can only be made 30 days after receiving your product(s).
Exchanges can only be made 60 days after receiving your product(s);
restocking fees will still apply.
All returns must be over $15 in total value. Any return for less than this total amount may not be permitted.
STEALS AND DEALS
I couldn't find any deals for this site or any rebates. However, the prices on this site were very low so that is to be expected.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
I had a pretty good experience with faucedirect.com. The prices were very low - the lowest I found on the Internet. However, you definitely lose something in packaging. I strongly suggest visiting a showroom to see what you are getting prior to using this site because the pictures on the site are not great.
DO YOU LIKE TO SHOP ON THE INTERNET? HERE ARE SOME MORE REVIEWS OF WEB STORES:
Clothing and Accessories: Talbots; The Gap; CWD Kids; Hanna Andersson; J. Jill; Tote Le Monde ; Blu Pyxie ; Miniboden; One Hanes Place; Nordstrom; Gymboree; Simple Shoes; Sierra Blue; Ebags.
Clothing and Home Goods: Land’s End; Bluefly; Soft Surroundings; Garnet Hill; Sundance; L.L. Bean.
Home and Garden: Smith & Noble; Restoration Hardware; Gardener’s Supply Company; Unicahome; Homeclick; Gardens Alive; West Elm; Crate & Barrel; MyKnobs; CB2.
Books and Magazines: Amazon.com; ValueMags; Magazine Values; Dover Publications.
Office Supplies, Furniture and Services: Staples; Officemax; Topdeq; Efax.
Electronics: HP Shopping; Buy.com.
Travel: Amtrak; Hotwire; Orbitz; Hotels.com.
Discount: Overstock.com; Target.
Photo Developing: Shutterfly; Snapfish.
Baby Stuff: Babystyle; Baby’s Here Birth Announcements; Baby Universe; SoZo.
Miscellaneous: 1-800 contacts; Movie Tickets.com; Drugstore.com.
Rebate Sites: Upromise; Ebates.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? grohe faucet
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
modernmarvel
|
 - Top 50 |
|
Location: Basking in the Sun
Reviews written: 504
Trusted by: 340 members
About Me:
Can anyone recommend a western family dude ranch for a vacation this summer?
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.