The opportunity for our customers to add their own reviews of their purchases was a recent enhancement to our website just a few weeks ago.  Opening up this service was not without some trepidation on our part it has to be said.  Most of the conversations we have with you our customers take place before the toy has been bought and whilst we’ve had many, many compliments over the years we never really know what people really think about their purchases after we have sent them to them.  Unlike a local toy-shop Mail Order can be a bit arms-length (and we used to have a shop so we know) .

We shouldn’t have worried.  The response has been fantastic – approaching 100 reviews across a wide range of products in around 3 weeks and I have to say the majority are very complimentary, and generally enthusiastic.  I won’t highlight any particular ones but I will say a big thank-you to all who have responded so quickly to the automatic e-mails that are sent about 3 weeks after an order has been despatched.

Apart from the help to prospective buyers of particular toys through reading others’ unbiased opinions, one unexpected benefit has been the opportunity for us to respond to a complaint.  One customer was pretty scathing about a very popular product and it just didn’t make sense.  We didn’t publish his comments but we did get in touch with him to find out more and the item was returned to us.  It turned out it was faulty and we gave a full refund (we couldn’t replace it as we can’t get any more of that product, but that’s by-the-by).  I hope I’ve made the point that we read the reviews we’re getting and they’re helping us in a number of ways – so please keep them coming – as a help to you and us.