Charmed Life...When The Ordinary Just Won't Do
Written: Jul 25 '06 (Updated Jul 25 '06)
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| Full Review |
I am going to go out on a limb here and make a prediction. Charmed Life Jewelry is going to be a huge success as an online retailer. Why? They sell unique charms, necklaces and bracelets at prices that you can’t beat. These make for great gifts and no matter what you are looking for, chances are they have a charm for it. Outside of what they offer you, they ship quickly, offer local residents the ability to pick up their order at a surf shop [Sunny Smith Surf Shop] and stand behind their products once the sale has been made. When I sent this link to a friend I got a rather funny email from them. They wanted to know why there was a charm for the word ‘armor’. This was something that really puzzled me because I’d just been to the site and didn’t remember seeing that word in the form of a charm. Turns out that it wasn’t ‘armor’ but rather ‘amor’, she scanned through the list of charms quickly and misread it. We had a good laugh from it but were rolling on the floor a few weeks later. We’d both decided to order the ‘amor’ charm and sent it to the other … just as a joke. Devious minds think alike. Scary isn’t it? This is a really cute site that carries some very interesting charms; I’ve never seen anything like this in retail stores so if you are looking for something a little out of the ordinary to give as a gift … it is a site that you will definitely want to check out.
Selection
Most of what they sell are the discs and hearts that can be placed on almost any type of jewelry. The chains and bracelets that they sell are really nice but they also have satin cords [thick ones] that you can pick up at the site. I’ve only purchased one necklace and sadly I didn’t get to see it, it was shipped directly to them by the site. The discs that I have ordered have all looked great and were well received when I gave them as gifts. Tag words include the usual words like ‘angel’, ‘hope’, ‘joy’, ‘dream’, ‘love’, ‘spirit’ and ‘devotion’ but they also have sports like ‘football’, ‘swimming’, ‘soccer’, ‘MVP’, ‘gymnastics’ and ‘baseball’. There are some other interesting ones like ‘b*tch’ [spelled correctly, not with the asterisk], ‘destiny’, ‘surfer girl’, ‘tease’, ‘magic’, ‘congratulations’, ‘diva’ and ‘wish’. There are also message charms like ‘get well soon’, ‘happy anniversary’, ‘best wishes’ and ‘thank you’. Some of my personal favorites are ‘goddess’, ‘vision’ and ‘tease’. I did pick up a few of these [‘strength’ and ‘hero’] for the guys at the gym, one of them made a comment about the charms that I had on my key chain and asked me about them. So if you think that these are just for chicks, there are some very large, buff and muscular men that have these on their gym tags.
The words on the charms are all in capital letters, I used the small case so that this would be easier to read. They also sell a blank one, you can use that to have something special put on it but you will have to find a jeweler that will be willing to do the work and wording for you. You can check out the complete list at the site but if you want to just read the text list, click the printable order form at the bottom of the page. This isn’t the complete list of charms that are available but if you are having trouble seeing the images you can at lest get a feel of what they have to offer. From what I have seen at the site, all they sell are silver versions of the charms but I could be wrong. There may be some gold ones somewhere, I just may have never come across them.
Customer Service
Charmed Life Jewelry
P.O. Box 3654
Orange, CA 92857
[866] 369-3475 - orders & customer service
[714] 282-8956 - fax
www.charmedlifejewelry.com
info@charmedlifejewelry.com
Payment Options
They accept MasterCard and Visa as well as checks and cash. There is no mention of other credit card or if they will take a money order so you may want to email or call them to see if there are other options. I’ve used my debit MasterCard for purchases and have never had any problems. Items that were billed to me but sent to others as gifts were handled well and there were no errors or packing slips with prices sent with them.
Return Policy
Charmed Life will accept returns up to thirty days after the purchase, please contact them to get an RMA [return authorization number] and be sure to print out the form that is available at the site. If you make a return after the first thirty days there is a 15% restocking fee. To me that is still a pretty good deal, most sites won’t accept any returns after the first thirty days. Defective or damaged items are also covered under the thirty day time frame. If you have any questions about this, email or call them.
Shipping Fees
Shipping is based on the dollar amount of your order but please keep in mind that if you live in the area, they do offer free pick up at Sunny Smith Surf Shop. Orders up to $100.00 cost $6.95, orders up to $200.00 cost $8.95 and anything over that is $11.95. Express Mail is an option but it will cost you more; those rates are $17.95 up to $100.00 in merchandise and anything over that is $19.95. The shipping rates aren’t outrageous or inflated and in my opinion are at the low end compared to other online merchants.
The Bottom Line
So far I have placed five orders, three of which were shipped to other people. They were sent quickly, the orders were filled correctly and billing was never a problem. This may be a small site but I have the feeling that they are going to see a lot of traffic in the near future. The quality of the items is beyond what I expected and the charms make for great gifts. I may have come across this site by accident but now it is one of the regulars that I hit when I am looking for something special for someone. Shipping rates aren’t obscene, customer service is prompt to answer emails and your orders arrive in a timely fashion. If you are looking for something a little out of the ordinary then Charmed Life Jewelry is a website that you definitely need to check out!
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2006 Freak369
Looking for an unusual, bizarre or out of the ordinary gift?
Check out these websites …
Someone Special
Body Candy
Sanrio
Vampire Wine
Zydeco Gifts
Illuminations
iloveduckies
T Shirt Hell
Recommended:
Yes
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