"I regret to have to post a negative report for Carol Wright Gifts (CWG), as CWG was an excellent mail order company. Like many other once great companies such as Sears & Roebuck, S.S. Kresge, Polaroid, Kodak & Walmart, Carol Wright Company seems to have declined after Carol Wright no longer owned or managed the company. Too often today, company quality dies with the founder. Corporate suits and their internal jockeying for position can replace genuine zest to provide service and value.
I began buying much less from Carol Wright (and Walter Drake), a few years ago, when I discovered a great little California company called Starcrest. Unlike current CWG, Starcrest gives me good prices and reasonable quality merchandise. These days Carol Wright often depicts products as being better than they turn out to be.
I decided to never buy from Carol Wright again. They seem to have sunk to running number games on customers. We can get that from any Automobile dealership, Pay TV\Internet Service provider, or Big Cell Phone Services contract hawker.
As I prepared recently to submit a three item order that totaled $20.XX, I got a shock! There before me was not only a shipping charge still but one $3 BIGGER than the one that was there BEFORE I entered my personal code! There were also two other charges, one for $2.95 ("insurance") and one for "Handling", $3.95! Since I was a preferred customer, I get to pay $6.95 shipping and two additional fees. Nearly $13.00 on three lightweight items totaling $20. That is a 65% charge to get my $20 order to me. This is billing mumbo jumbo & slight of hand that would make a cable TV bundler proud!
!'ve never had a service problem with Carol Wright, other than The speed they get orders out to people is much too slow for today's marketplace. I routinely get products from Hong Kong faster (6-7 days). Starcrest has better products, better prices and when it says free shipping, they do not turn around and add mystery fees that exceed what online sellers demand for shipping.
I advise avoiding Carol Wright Gifts because the Internet market has left this company a mail order dinosaur. Buyers get the efficiency they demand. CWG is inefficient. To top it off, the company seems to have added spin doctors to their billing
department! "
"Wow! I just had the most HORRIBLE experience with CWG Customer Service! While the products have in the past been good to great...they make DOWN (as apposed to make UP) that by providing HALF A$$ED customer service. Issue as follows:
Ordered at their .com, got a Order Confirmation page with a Number. Waited a day or two then checked the Status of my order. System says I HAVE NO ORDERS! Wow, OK, I call Customer Service to inquire as to where my order is and its Status. Girl on phone found it and indeed it has shipped, yesterday as a mater of fact. GREAT! But, what about that thing online that says I have NO orders in my acct?? She transferred me to the WEB DEPARTMENT. There the guy wanted to give me the Status of my order. No, no no no... I have that, I need to fix the fact that order is NOT SHOWING UP in my Order History. Ohhhh, I cannot do that, lemme transfer you to Customer Service. Wel--, ok... away I went. CS girl asked what she could do, I gave the SAME situation to her... Ohhhhh I cannot do that, lemme transfer you to our WEB DEPARTMENT so they --- OK, WAIT! I just did that... so she says she'd put me on hold (ha ha!) while SHE spoke to the WD. And! if that didn't work she'd get her supervisor involved. So, I gave her a way out: let ME speak to the super- and you can get back to your incoming calls. Away I go! Well!! What do you know, after a 25 minute Merry-Go-Round, it came down to their system has been frayed for the last 2 days! When I asked if all the CSR's new of this the SUPERVISOR said, get this: "No." Well, just WOW!! I may NEVER use CWG again due to their INCOMPETENCE! That was just ridiculous! I realize that almost ALL of NJ is flooded, but really!!? Couldn't they just say that within the first 5 or 10 minutes of the call???? HORRIBLE way to conduct business!
ETA
I also NEVER received an email indicating when my order SHIPPED! I have had to call to get a tracking number!! wow..."
"The products I ordered were ok, not impressive,
My Rating for Carol Wright Gifts overall would be a big 0,
This company does everything it can to rip you off,
To be safe from them ripping you off find some where else that is offering you the product you want. BEWARE
"
"Impressed with low prices and an interesting product assortment, I placed an order for about a dozen items from Carol Wright's on 10-14-07. 10 days later (10-24-07), I had received and heard nothing. When I e-mailed them, they stated that they had shipped on 10-23, but to allow 20 days for shipping.
20 days??? Is this a joke?
No joke. On 10-27 I received an autmoted e-mail stating that my shipment had been shipped on 10-26. I guess the 10-23 ship date was not true. It's now 11-2, and I'm sure my stuff will show up before Christmas. I would never order from this scam outfit again.
D in Denver"
"Not a whole lot of information about the product, but it was sufficient for what I ordered. The order process was smooth. They claim "free shipping", but charge "handling" and "priority service" fees which amount to the approximate cost of shipping and insurance. These fees are per order not per item. So, if you order three instead of one it doesn't increase the final bill.
Ordered on the 13th, shipped several days later, received on the 21st. Shipping was via snailmail.
"
"Received my order in good condition Dec. 1. I would rate Carol Wright Gifts as acceptable but not excellent simply because when you order they don't show the 10% off on the order screen. You have to place the order then wait for an email from them to see what you will be charged on your credit card. Plus the email from customer service was not the most pleasant. It was cold and uncaring. All the email said was "you did receive the 10% off on your order". Which I freel was borderline hateful.
I will order again probably in the future. I sure hope they make changes if they want to keep customers."
"Carol Wright Gifts acceptable quality!
Acceptable quality, free shipping & low handling... fees, excellent selection (BIG online selection!- Many catagories!).
I was concerned about the quality, for their LOW price?- Quality was acceptable!
Shipped in a couple of days. Their standard free shipping (slow)- took 10 days to get here.
VERY LOW prices on MANY products (I got Thermal draperies (lightweight/OK), and Genuine Leather Slippers (laces broke in one week- Throw away). "