Chain Reaction Cycles - Excellent Customer Service

When I received the replacement package yesterday, I knew I had to blog about them.

Last month when I was in my "lost" world, I bought myself a road bike so I could join my cycling friends on their weekly cycling routine. Most of the time when a cycling newbie like me start on the cycling journey, the bike cost would be the first to hit you. Later on do you realise that it is actually the accessories cost that would run up pretty high, unknowingly.

From my Online US Shopping and Online Shopping Encore posts, you would have realise that I embrance online shopping. Often the prices are cheaper and the range are more extensive. The downsides are:
1) the waiting time,
2) the lack of physical touch (on the actual products),
3) the fear of being cheated,
4) the fear of damaged or wrong goods delivered.

Some of these could be mitigrated. So if you do not need the items urgently, and you have seen or touch or knows exactly what you are getting, the first two downsides are cleared. The third downside could be mitigrated by choosing a reputable online retailer and using Paypal to pay. Why Paypal? Because if you have issues or disputes with the seller/retailer, you could raise the dispute through Paypal who can help you get your money back. I personally have used it before when I won a eBay bid for a toy, paid for it but the toy never came. Raise the dispute ticket with Paypal and they credit the money back to me within 3 weeks.

The last downside is abit of a hit and miss that happens even when you buy at local store. The issue is if the retailer is overseas, you pretty much write off the package since it usually cost too much or is too much of a hassle to ship it back to them for replacements. That was what Arthur and I almost did.

What happen was last month, I found out about this UK online store call Chain Reaction Cycles (CRC) selling heaps of bicycle stuff. The thing I like about this store is, they can display the prices in SGD, enabling easier comparisons with local prices. And if the total orders are above SGD250, they ships for free no matter how big (love this as I ordered a car mount bicycle rack). So I ordered a number of stuffs including two Blackburn Flea lights, one for my friend Arthur. These lights uses USB to recharge so you save on batteries.

The package came fairly quickly but one of the Flea lights USB charger was not working. Arthur took it as bad luck and was ready to write it off. But I felt bad as the light wasn't cheap I actually help him purchase it. So I dropped an email to CRC about the charger. The next working day CRC replied, apologising for the faulty product and said in the same email they are sending a replacement to me. And this was without asking for photos or further information. They send the replacement from UK, no questions asked.

This is what I call excellent customer service. And it is online retailers like this that eliminates the final downside. I would definitely be patronising this site again in future. That BeOne Diablo carbon bike looks so tempting...

Online Shopping Encore

Online shopping is so additive, I just can't stop clicking.

If you been shying away from online shopping, you are missing the attractive benefits. Beside the conveniece of shopping anywhere anytime, you often get larger variety and delivery right to your doorsteps.

But the main draw for me is the price. With the recent strength in SGD, US and Euporean sites offers fantastic pricing especially during their sale.

I wrote a blog post on online USA shopping before and that concentrated on the frieght forwarders that ship the goods bought on USA sites to you. This post expands on that to other options available.

Freight Forwarders like vPost and Borderlinx are ok to use when shipping multiple small items that are packed such that their volumic weight is close to their actual weight. But my recent interest in Lego sets has prompted me to look for alternative shipping. The main reason is most lego sets while doesn't weight much, are usually packed in nice big box, jacking up the volumic weight. So I'm effectively paying to ship air.

Enter Tarazz. They are a USA shopping site that ships for a flat fee for first three kg (also based on volumic weight) and at $6 per kg above that. I find their shipping pretty reasonable compared to vPost and Bordelinx, especially when you wish to ship big lego sets. And they quote the total amount you need to pay in SGD at checkout. If after the item reaches their hub and its higher than the 3kg, they will advise you on the addtional overweight charges. They also offers the option to debox if its overweight by 2kg or more. vPost offers this service too but not Borderlinx. It's an important service as it can subtantially reduce your shipping cost.

They also offer Butler service for sites that do not accept non USA credit cards or refuse to ship to frieght forwarder's address (like Nike.com and Lego.com).

If you are into Lego, you may be looking for loose bricks to do your own creations or just to replace some missing bricks. Bricklink is the place to go for loose bricks. Its a Lego marketplace that is huge and growing.
In there, you are find almost any kinds of lego bricks in another colour even made. And the prices for sets and minifigures are in general cheaper than eBay. And being Lego owners/fans themselves, most of them take the effort to pack the goods protectively.

Bookdepository.com is the place I shop nowadays for physical books. They also have a UK site call Bookdepository.co.uk. I usually check both sites to see which offers cheaper price (due to fx differences). The site offers free shipping to Singapore and they quote their price in SGD so its easy to compare, even with prices of local stores. So far I only had 1 book that arrived in not so good state due to shipping.

iHerb.com offers very good prices for health supplements and baby food. They also gave me a special coupon code "EWU242" to share with everyone. This offers USD5 off for your first iHerb purchase and I get to earn credit too.

Also check out my first post on Online US shopping.

Update 14 Aug 12: iHerb just informed me that the above coupon code is now worth USD10 for anyone shopping with them for the first time, with a minimum spending of USD40. Or USD5 off smaller orders.

Lastly, remember to take into account the 7% GST for any purchases above SGD400, inclusive of shipping cost, overseas sales taxes, etc. Happy shopping!

Update 14 Apr 13: It seems like Tarazz is no longer operational. The last update I saw was that they are away for the Christmas and New Year holiday but they never seem to come back. And now their website url is no longer working.

Chatimals

Many of you using iPhone and iPad might have come across this free app call Talking  Tom Cat. The fun thing about it is it repeats what you say in a funny "cartoonish" manner. Well, we came across the real toy that does that. Its call Chatimals.

We were at Metro Compass Point toy section when we saw a toy hamster that repeats whatever you say, in a higher pitch fast forward manner. On top is a clip of me singing "how much is that doggy in the window, woof woof" to it and recording the video when it repeats.

Its kinda fun and would make a nice Christmas present except its not cheap. Each cost about SGD35.00. Anyway below is a clip of Xavier having some fun with the toy.

Online US shopping

I have a few friends who have asked me how I went about to buy those sales stuff in USA. I'm no shopping expert but here are some tips that I can share.

- Most of the online sites have a mailing list you can subscribe to. So whenever they have promotion or sale, you will be automatically informed.

- Summer sale at the end of summer is probably what you are looking for as USA puts summer clothes on sale.

- Quite a number of USA sites accepts Singapore credit cards (like Amazon, Eastbay and Ralph Lauren) but there are other (like Nike and Finishline) who only accepts US credit cards. For these, either have a friend with a US credit card help make the purchase for you or use the concierge service from Borderlinx or vPost.

- How the concierge services works is you place the order with Borderlinx or vPost and they do the purchase on your behalf. But the store has to accept the order for it to work. So in the above case, Nike refused to accept such services whereas Finishline is happy to take the order.

- Last part is the shipping to Singapore and that's where Borderlinx and vPost comes in. Both provides you with a US address where you can direct your purchases to. The reason this service is popular is because most US online stores ship only within USA. Some, like Amazon, ships international too but I find the rates pretty high. So once you register with either sites, you get your personal USA shipping address. When your goods arrived at their processing centers and you pay for the shipping, it will be on the way to your doorstep.

Now the reason why I only mention Borderlinx and vPost is because I have only used these two before. There are other service provides like Comgateway but I have not used them before so I shall not comment. You need to be a Citibank credit card holder to use Borderlinx though.

There are differences in the service Borderlinx and vPost provides and their shipping rates changes so do your own comparison with their online cost calculators. vPost charges a "base charge" of S$13.40 on top of shipping cost; Borderlinx doesn't. vPost holding period at the warehouse is only 2 weeks before it starts charging; Borderlinx is one month. vPost's concierge service charge a handling fee of 5% of the total invoice value; Borderlinx is free if the value is above USD50. vPost uses Speedpost; Borderlinx uses DHL. I tend to favour Borderlinx more for the reasons above. But vPost views GST differently from Borderlinx, so it has its merits.

GST is applicable when the total Cost of your purchase + Insurance + Freight (both USA shipping and shipping to Singapore) exceeds S$400. What Borderlinx does is it uses the total value of all consolidated packages for GST calculation. E.g. if I bought like a pair of shoes from Finishline at about S$200 and 5 Blurays from Amazon at about S$250, I would need to pay for GST if I ship them together via Borderlinx. Its actually cheaper if you send them via two packages.

vPost practice something which makes more sense to me. Consolidated packages do not incur GST. vPost calculates GST separately so as long as each package total cost + freight + insurance do not exceed S$400, they are not subject to GST even though the total value of all packages is more than S$400. Because they are viewed individually for GST purpose.

So choose your service provider carefully.

Update 26 May 2012: Also check out my post on Online Shopping Encore.

Air Jordan VI Retro

I mentioned last week about over-spending on online US sites and this was the main reason. I chanced upon Nike.com selling Air Jordan VI retro shoes and got all excited.

These Air Jordan VI shoes were all rage during my SJI days when Michael Jordan won his first NBA championship wearing these. I remember quite a number of my rich classmates having at least a pair of these and I often watch with envy as my parents wouldn't buy me a pair. Well I could understand why as these shoes were way too expensive.

20 years later (in 2010), Nike decided to launch a retro version of the shoe and I couldn't help but get myself a pair. And I also got Xavier a matching pair as they were all so cute. The toddler ones looked slightly different for the adult version but the boy version was too big for him. I got him a kid size 10. Hopefully he can wear them for Chinese New Year.

Father Son Polo Combo

Finally got the polos I ordered from Ralph Lauren's summer sale. Xavier and I seem to have a pair of similar looking polos. I didn't realise it as I thought mine would look more "weather" and "faded".

Was hooked to online shopping from US sites last month due to their summer sales and the low USD/SGD rates. And yes I overspent. So no more online shopping till next year.

Takashimaya Baby Fair starts 27 Aug 09

The Takashimaya Baby Fair starts tomorrow 27 Aug 09 to 13 Sept 09. For those parents to be and parents of young children, this fair is not to be missed. Elsie had said before that this is the best baby fair in Singapore. The discounts are genuine and the variety are aplenty. I trust Elsie on it. If there is one person that I know that does more research than me, it has to be Elsie.

So what are stuff to get? For parents to be, you can look at strollers, car seats, breast pump, stream sterilizer, bottles, wet wipes, etc. Do your research and comparison, especially on the stroller. Handle it, push it around, try opening and closing it.

For parents of young children, you would know what you need by now. They also sell toys and educational stuff like flash cards and DVDs if you are keen.

See you at the fair.

Baby Tips 1: Useful Items

Quite a number of friends around me are going to be first time parents or are already parents of a newborn. Xavier is going to be 6 months old in two days time. So I thought I share with you guys some of my experience as a father of a 6 months baby. Do note that I am no expert and the following are thoughts from my personal experience.

I will start of with baby items which are useful:

1) Guardian Underpads - These are waterproof sheets which comes in very handy to contain the spillage or soiling. They come in two sizes: 17" x 24" and 30" x 30". We usually stock up on the 17" x 24" (they seem to be out of stock when we most need it) as we find the size very handy. We use them on changing tops, lay a sheet when we are changing outdoors and let him sleep with the sheet on the lower half of his body. I even used it to put in between a towel and my sofa when I did his naked portraits. It has saved me from dealing with a mess when his diapers fail to contain his output.

2) Pigeon Baby Wipes - This one needs no introduction. One of the popular wet wipes in the market, it does its job well. Wait for offer then buy the 6 large packs for maximum value.

3) Desitin Creamy - The only napper rash cream I trusted and used so far. It helps prevent and heal diaper rash really well. Like recently he had a very red ass from the infant care (dunno what they do there) and we used it extensively over the weekend to help heal it. I literally cream his rash area like icing on a cake.

4) Combi Nail Cutter - We tried a few baby nail cutters before Elsie recommended we try this curved scissor by Combi. The curved shape ensures you do not end up cutting the baby's finger by accident.

5) Beco Baby Carrier - Not everywhere is stroller friendly and there will be times when you prefer not to use a stroller. That is when a baby carrier is useful. Lilian had tried those sling type before but found the strain on the single shoulder too much to bear (especially when Xavier is nearly 10kg). She narrowed down to two which she finds useful, Beco Baby Carrier and Ergo Baby Carrier. Both are similar in that the baby is in a natural sitting position when carried and it distributes the weight between the shoulders and the waist. We settled for Beco as it enables transfer of the baby (from one parent to another) without taking him out of the carrier.

6) LG Baby Playmat - These colourful playmats are developed by LG Chem. Its great as it is cushioned and very colourful, so it becomes a very good play area for the baby. Especially useful for the baby to roam and discover how to move and crawl. Babies need to learn and practice how to move and crawl. It doesn't suddenly just wake up one morning and start crawling. So you need to give him the space to "practice". The link is actually a vendor whom we found from the Singapore Motherhood forum. The design and pricing are available on the link as well as how to order.

7) Attractive toy - Ok this is really subjective but the bottomline is find a toy that your baby really likes. For Xavier, it happens to be the Lamaze First Mirror Lilian bought for him. He loves this mirror so much that you can put it anyway on the mat and he will crawl to it (and attempt to eat it. Maybe he find himself too irresitable). This mirror has been his main crawling "training" tool.

8) Hand me down clothing - The 1st six months your baby is gonna grow so fast there is no point buying him nice clothes. Ok maybe a couple for special occasions but the rest of the time, try to get hand me down clothing. They are soft (due to repeated washing) and very comfortable for babies.

9) Thermometer - Get one which gives you fast and accurate reading. Eric and Elsie gave us the Braun ThermoScan Ear Thermometer and it works great, plus the ear filters are also easily available. Baby have no patience for you to put those under the armpit or in the ass thermometers.

10) Rechargable Batteries - With a baby around you will find that suddenly you will have many stuff around you that uses batteries. Things like fans, cot mobiles, toys, rocker that plays music all uses batteries. And if you want to save money in the long run and be more friendly to the environment, use recharable batteries. I use Sanyo Eneloop. They have cool adaptors which converts their AA size batteries into C and D size batteries.

Hope you find the above items useful as well.