For Baby Needs, Supplies, Necessities & To Spoil Them Rotten, This Aunt Loves BabyAnt!
Written: Mar 12 '05 (Updated Mar 12 '05)
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Carrying major names like Brio, Sweet Potatoes, Gerber, Da Vinci, Prince Lionheart and The First Years, the BabyAnt online store gives you more than enough brand names to choose from. If that's not enough then how about Million Dollar Baby, Infantino, Avent and Tiddley Winks. I never bothered to count but I'd have to guess that the site carries well over a hundred different brands of baby items, goods, wares and needs. It doesn’t matter what you are looking for; car seats, strollers, rockers, musical mobiles, swings or even crib accessories, chances are if you want it, the site has it. I came across BabyAnt.com when my sister in law asked me if I would buy some things for her and ship them to her. She had some trouble placing and order and to be completely honest, she isn't very blessed when it comes to using the computer or online shopping.
When I first hit the site I was a little overwhelmed by all the things that they offer but they do break things down into sections so once you get the hang of things you can navigate around the site easily. Since I have tons of nieces and nephews overseas and I love nothing more than spoiling them with gifts, I ordered them a bunch of stuff to try out the site and get the things that my sister wanted too. For the youngest, little Jessica I ordered her some one piece sleepers, a few shirts and some toys. I couldn’t leave out her twin brother Jonathan so he got some bath toys and lots of oversized bottoms [he’s growing like a weed]. For the rest of the kids I ordered the usual assortment of bathroom items, teething gear and of course some cool educational toys. At first trying to find things by specific ages was a real chore but as I said, once you get the hang of using the site, it’s pretty easy to find what you want.
Selection
Is it possible for a site to have too much stuff? Personally I would rather have twenty things to choose from than only two. The site carries everything from diaper pails to bath toys, clothing to blankets, bouncers to bottles and pretty much everything else in between. Most of the stuff is broken down into sections like bedding, activity centers, boys and girls clothing, diapering, feeding, safety and toys. Using these sections it is a lot easier to find an assortment of things rather than looking through the manufactures list of items. On the flip side, if you are looking for a specific item and know the manufacturer, using the main vendor list will make quick work of shopping.
The Big Order
In addition to what I picked up for the kids, my sister had some specific items that she wanted. The Piddle Pad Waterproof Seat Protector [$6.95], Kiddopotamus Baby Cover Up Stroller And Carrier Sun Shade [$12.95] and the Flatopotamus Flatso Security Blankets. She wanted those specific blankets because they have a cute cow design on the outside of them. She is a cow fanatic … how udderly cute. I picked up a few other things for her and then entered the shopping cart to pay. My total order was $229.18, a little less than I expected considering all the stuff I was getting. The total for shipping was about $42.00, not bad for the amount of stuff that arrived and the overall size of what was ordered. Since this was coming from the west coast I didn’t expect it to arrive for at least two weeks via a ground service but I was surprised when there was a knock at my door and several boxes were delivered. The total time from order to delivery, eight business days.
Customer Service
BabyAnt Baby Store
18561 Ventura Blvd.
Tarzana, CA 91356
[866] 609-0410 - toll free
[818] 609-0410 - phone
[818] 609-0488 - fax
comments@babyant.com
For speedy customer service you can use the onsite form to ask questions about orders, make comment or for more information about products. Check out the form here: www.babyant.com/contact.html
Refund Policy
You have thirty days to request an RMA [Return Merchandise Authorization] number from BabyAnt to return or exchange goods. Returns must have this number on them in order to get the refund process going and to ensure that your credit card is refunded properly. For exchanges they make things a little simpler, just return the item to them with the reason, your order information and RMA and they will have a credit waiting for you. Then just place another order and use the RMA number as your form of payment. You will need to pay shipping fees if you are doing an exchange unless it was their error then they will pay the shipping fees for you. Thirty days for a return is the industry norm, it allows most people time to get to the post office or a shipping center. If you are returning anything that is over $50.00 you may want to pay the extra money to have it insured or sent with a delivery confirmation to make sure that it gets where it’s going in one piece.
Payments Accepted
The site currently accepts MasterCard, Visa, American Express and The Discover Card. They don’t accept COD [cash on delivery] orders nor do they accept checks or money orders. I think the problem my sister was having is that she was trying to use a foreign credit card [she said it was a Visa but with her, you never know]. I used my Visa card for the first order and everything went perfectly; no problems with approval or processing and when I received my bill, it showed the same price as what I was quoted at the time of check out and in the order confirmation emails. BabyAnt doesn’t charge your card until an order is shipped so if something is on back order you aren’t stuck paying interest on it while you wait for it to arrive.
Shipping Fees
The site charges you according to the weight of your order, in some cases this is a great deal but if you are ordering large or heavy items you will want to look at the shipping quote that you get in your shopping cart to see if you are going to get a good deal or not. The site does give you some ballpark quotes on what shipping will be but that all depends on how they end up shipping the item out. If they ship it USPS then it might be the same as the chart, if they ship it via a ground service then it might be a little less. I wasn’t really worried about the price of the shipping because I knew that once I got the goods I would have to reship them anyway.
The Bottom Line
If you can get past the initial hurdles of navigation then you have the hardest part completed. The site offers you a lot of choices when it comes to picking out baby needs and it is a lot easier to do “one stop shopping” at a site like this than driving all over town looking for that perfect item. I have no doubt that I will be using BabyAnt again in the near future. As soon as the rest of the family found out what kinds of things the site sells, they started sending me their wish lists and asking me to “pick this up” for them the next time I place an order. My sister in law loved all the stuff that she picked out from the site but it sure would make things a lot easier on me if the site accepted card cards issued by foreign banks. I don’t have a problem ordering the stuff but if I have to fill out one more long U.S. Customs form, I am going to start charging my relatives for paperwork!
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Toys, clothing, baby needs, gifts.
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