CookingToys.com: Wedding Registry, Outstanding Selection, Free Shipping & More!
Written: Nov 17 '04
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When it comes to kitchen gadgets, baking items and anything that could possibly used to serve food, I have a small but manageable addiction. Baking for the holidays is something that I truly love, but if you don’t have something snappy to serve them on or in, what’s the point? I started looking around for a site that carried upper end serving ware that I could use as gifts for a few friends that were taking the plunge into marriageville. These aren’t exactly the most traditional people, most of them could be considered “alternative” and are only entertaining the thought of getting married because they’ve been with their partners for so long, already have kids and think it would be a good tax write off. So why am I mentioning all this? Because it’s hard as hell to shop for people like this; most of them have every weird household item under the sun and after a while, giving people gift certificates over and over seems like you are taking the easy way out of buying a gift. CookingToys.com is a very nice site that sells both upscale and expensive items as well as mid ranged goods that are unique yet functional.
As with almost every online store, there are good points about CookingToys.com and bad points. The good is that they have a very interesting selection of items, the site is easy to navigate and you get a good bit of information about the items. The bad is that it can take a little time to receive your order since they ship by UPS or FedEx Ground and if you make a return, you will be charged a restocking fee to make up for the postage they spent to send the order out. This goes hand in hand with the free shipping that they offer for orders over $30.00. So, the father that you get into the site the more you start to see the good and bad points of it but if you are careful when you order, chances are it will be a smooth process and you’ll be elated when you receive your items. So far I’ve never had to return anything that I’ve ordered and if I received something that I didn’t like, chances are I’d “turf it” off to someone else [the term used when you take something – new of course - you don’t really care for and pass it on to someone else].
Cooking Toys.com
If you are looking for mid to high end kitchen items then this is a great place to start looking. With company names like Krups, Waring, Cuisinart, Wilton Armetale, Zyliss and Mauviel you know you are going to receive the cream of the crop of kitchen related items. With that said, any site can sell items from these companies under the ruse that they are authorized dealers or that they will be selling you new items. This happened to me when I went to make a purchase at another site and should have known that the espresso machine I ordered couldn’t possibly be new for the price that they were charging – even after I called and asked them repeatedly, they insisted that it was indeed new, in the original box and that they would have no problem accepting it as a return item if I didn’t like it. Things changed when I got the box; it looks like raccoons had been playing with it for a few weeks and the espresso maker was no where near being new – it wasn’t even cleaned after someone attempted to use it. After that fiasco and the three month ordeal to get it off my credit card I swore I’d never deal with these fly by night type of shop regardless of how much money I could save. So far everything that I’ve ordered from CookingToys.com has exceeded my expectation, even items that I purchased as gifts were impressive and being the good gift giver that I am, I had to open the boxes and check to make sure that everything was included, there were no broken parts and it was the correct item.
Purchases
I’ll admit it; I see a lot of great looking things at the site but end up ordering most of the stuff as gifts for other people. The things that I’ve ordered for myself have been rather obscure pieces that caught my eye when browsing the site. One of my favorite pieces is the Wilton Armetale Reggae Bread Tray [www.cookingtoys.com/chris1/images/items/820044.gif] that sells for $32.95 – a complete steal when you see the size of it as well as the detail on the inside of the tray. Another purchase from the Wilton Armetale Reggae line was the very decorative trivet [www.cookingtoys.com/chris1/images/items/820081.gif]. I didn’t see this listed with the other Wilton Armetale Reggae items in the section but rather on the side bar of recommended products. I was really impressed with the design of it when I saw it at the site and thought that it would add a little flair to the dinner table, when it arrived I was even more impressed with it and it’s something that I always get compliments about. Any of the items that I ordered as gifts were well received by the recipients, in fact, most of them flipped when they saw them.
Payment Options
The site accepts MasterCard, Visa, The Discover Card and American Express for purchases. I’ve used my MasterCard for purchases and have had no problems with processing, billing, authorization or being charged an amount other than what was quoted at the time of check out. The site does seem to go above the norm in regards to privacy and protecting your information and so far I’ve gotten no spam related emails as a result of using the site or creating an account there.
Return Policy
You have a thirty day window of opportunity to make a return to the site however you have to know a few key things before you make a return. If you are making a return and requesting a refund for it, it will be subjected to a $10.00 restocking fee – simply put – if you order something in the $20.00 price range make sure that it is something that you really want or can pass off as a gift to someone else, otherwise you are going to get zapped with that rather pesky restocking fee. I could see a 10% fee but $10.00 seems a little steep in my opinion. As I mentioned, part of this comes into play because they offer free shipping on orders over $30.00, they charge the restocking fee to recoup some of the money spent on the original shipment.
Shipping Fees
I’ll be honest here, I have no freakin’ clue what the shipping charges are because I’ve never been able to check out with less than a hundred dollars in my shopping cart. The site offers you free ground shipping on orders over $30.00 with orders being sent out via UPS and Federal Express depending on your location and, I am assuming, which ever carrier offers them the cheapest price. I have no qualms about the length of delivery time with most orders arriving well within a two week timeframe. Since they are offering you free shipping and it is being delivered using a ground service please make sure that you allow for some extra time to receive the goods. Simply put, if you are going to a wedding in a week, don’t order from here unless you want to pay for expedited shipping.
Customer Service
CookingToys.com
3003 Harriett Road
Silverlake, OH 44224
service@cookingtoys.com
support@cookingtoys.com
www.cookingtoys.com
• A live chat module is available at the site however I’ve never been able to catch it when it is live; when there are no operators available you can opt to send them an email from the module window.
Wedding Registry
CookingToys.com also offers you the ability to create you r very own unique wedding registry; a great way to allow people to pick out a gift that you really want! I’ve only used this section once to order a gift for someone who was getting married but the process was easy to complete and all I had to do was enter her name in the search box [she did give me the registry number but I lost it] and it came right up. If you are looking for a registry listing of someone who has a common name like Jane Smith you may have to add a little more information like the wedding date or grooms name to get a more specific listing.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t the type of place that I will shop at on a weekly basis, the prices are great when you consider what you are getting in return but how many serving dishes and plates, food processors, coffee makers, knives and glassware sets can you own? If you are looking for gifts for weddings, showers, anniversaries or just something to spoil the chef in your life then this is without a doubt a site that you will want to bookmark and visit often. I am sure that I will be using this site a lot during the next few weeks while I finish off my holiday shopping and start sending things overseas so they arrive in time. I wish I would have come across this site a few years ago when I really needed to get my hands on some of the serving dishes and food processors – I paid a lot more for the ones that I ended up purchasing and to be completely honest, they weren’t as nice as the ones that they sell at the CookingToys.com site.
As always, thanks for the visit …
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2004 Freak369
Related gift and food sites …
Grill Lovers Catalog
Wilton Online Store
Omaha Steaks
Japanese Gifts
Grill Stuff
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Serving trays, coffee pot, gifts.
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