Morning all,

A nice easy question, but I do need an answer fairly quickly...

Mrs. V's favourite perfume is on sale at shop.com and I am tempted, but since I don't "do" online shopping was wondering if any of you guys and gals have any experience of shop.com

Here's a link... LINK!

Anyway... there you go. Any comments/advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks.

JOhn.

I was actually looking for this one - big link!

chemistdirect.co.uk - anyone used them?

Doesn't look too bad tbh, never heard of it though. Obvious care is recommended of course.

Remember though that Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette are different... ^_^

Ladies tend to prefer Eau de Parfum in my experience (it's a stronger smell and lasts longer, good for nights out) but it might be wise to check out what she's got (EdT is less strong and doesn't last as long, but that's because it's designed to be less overpowering and topped up during the evening).

Eua de Parfum is for the winter months, it is a heavier scent, which is more penetrating on cold days and under layers of additional clothing.

Eua de Toilette is for the summer months, a lighter scent, which isn't so overpowering. Goes better with hot weather and light clothes, Parfum would be cloying and unpleasant in such weather.

Considering that "shop.com" doesn't comply with UK Consumer Law (and in fact seem to think they can trade in the United Kingdom without UK law applying to them) I'd give that one a big miss.

Always, where possible, trader directly with the retailer. Trading via third parties creates a hell of a mess legally.

EDIT: I've just checked chemistdirect, who score big brownie points. They mention your rights to return under the DSR, which is good going (and legally required, but hey, don't tell shop.com). I'd recommend them.

How exactly?

The international operations may be in London but they may be like Play.com in terms of shipping from a Channel Island in which case UK (and EU) law does not apply to them

I'm going for a slight retraction here in that shop.com doesn't seem to actually supply anything directly and is merely a price comparison site, therefore a lot of the requirements don't apply.

As for Play.com and Jersey, it's a very special case. You're actually technically "importing" the item, but because Jersey sits inside the Customs Union, you don't pay import tax. If Jersey ever became full a full member then the DSRs would most certainly apply*

*Jersey has also implemented its own version of the DSRs.

Play.com aren't the only ones, Tesco, (some) Amazon and other companies use it for the tax cuts

In the case of Tesco and Amazon they are covered by UK law, being both based and registered in the UK.

Tesco is a seperate company I believe as it's Tesco Direct (or Tesco Jersey or similar)

I suppose it depends where the order takes place. If you order it from Tesco UK then you're most certainly covered.

Well Tesco UK is just a landing page, if you go to direct it goes to direct.tesco.com

Not bothered either way, got caught out by Play.com and a faulty memory card though.... but I got them back in my own way

Do tell.

They got me:
PNY memory card (16gb SDHC class 4) went faulty 6 months after having it (casing separated), they refused to take it back as it was over 30 days old, sorted it with PNY but I had to send it to France (Funnily enough it arrived in a BIG box for a small memory card (about PSU sized) when I used a jiffy bag to send them it lol)

I got them back:
Had a faulty 8gb official Sony Memory Pro Duo for my PSP that I got when I got my PSP, bought the official one from them, switched and returned as DOA for a refund

Nice