Disclosure: I was given a £50 voucher free of charge by Chemist Direct in order to review their site. However, as per my PR info disclaimer, this review is my unbiased honest opinion of the service.
Product: Chemist Direct
Price: varies per product
Age Range: varies per product
Manufacturer’s Description: ChemistDirect.co.uk is the UK’s number 1 online retailer* of pharmacy medications, specialist skincare products, everyday essential toiletries, vitamins, supplements and we even stock a dedicated range of products to keep your pets happy and healthy. By shopping with us you can browse a larger range than your average High Street pharmacy whilst still being able to fulfil prescriptions via our team of GPhC registered pharmacists and all from the convenience of your own home. Shop top brands such as Regaine, Nannycare, Panoxyl, Nicorette, Almased.
Rating:
Review: We were invited to review the Chemist Direct website & service, and given a voucher to spend on the site. We had to spend over the voucher amount in order to use it, and so we spent £50.34 on a box full of supplies for our family.
I thought that the website had a good range of products, although I did feel some areas were lacking, for example they stock baby and adult bath bubbles and soaks, but I couldn’t find any children’s bubbles like Matey. They do have some good brands and I was pleased to find my favourite Aussie shampoo & conditioner in stock so I ordered plenty of that to keep me going.
We chose a fairly wide variety of items, including some co-codamol tablets from their pharmacy service, wet ones wipes and pocket packs of tissues for my handbag, haircare products, radox bath soaks, and colourful plasters for the kids’ scrapes. I got a Schwarzkopf detangling spray for Georgie’s hair as her curls get really snarled up sometimes, and that has been a real hit – it definitely helps to brush out her tangles, and Georgie loves the way it smells.
I found the site quite easy to browse, and the basket and checkout easy to use. The design of the site is clean, easy to navigate, and easy on the eyes. The search facility isn’t amazing – for example if you search “bubble bath” the search results include two Radox bath soaks, but the site actually stocks several more from the same range, that I think should be included in the results.
Unfortunately our delivery was delayed as one of the items in our order went out of stock before despatch. This meant that the entire order was delayed by over a week for the sake of one single £1.39 item. This was frustrating as it meant I had to go to the supermarket and buy some of the items I needed urgently, because the order didn’t arrive in time for me to take them to BritMums Live as planned.
When the parcel arrived, it turned out that item had just been cancelled from the order without me being notified. Not impressed! I didn’t realise this straight away as I was so tired when I unpacked my order, but looking online and at my despatch confirmation, I can see that the quantity was reduced to 0 for that item, without a refund being issued or any contact made.
Chemist Direct offer free shipping on offers over £40, which is good, and below that shipping costs £3.49, for arrival within 5 working days. The good news is once the order was despatched it did arrive two days later, via Hermes with no significant delays. I placed my order on 10th June and it arrived on the 22nd.
As far as prices go, they aren’t amazing, and a lot of the products are the same price or cheaper at our local supermarkets and pharmacies. I would have liked to seen better deals given the site is so specialised.
Overall I wasn’t completely bowled over by Chemist Direct; although the site is easy to use and checkout fairly simple, the prices aren’t mind blowing and the delivery delay wasn’t good, with their vague emails not really giving any indication of when I would get my order. It would be sensible to have a policy to part despatch what they have and send any missing items out later, in my view. Cancelling one of my items without informing me, offering a replacement item, or a refund, wasn’t great either.
I don’t think I would bother using them again, based on this experience.
We give Chemist Direct 2 stars.
The post Review: Chemist Direct appeared first on Mama Geek.