LL Bean

Full review
ORDERING PROCESS
I've been getting the L.L. Bean catalogs for awhile and finally decided to order something from them. They were one of the few places I was able to find an infant life jacket so we could take our 4 month old out in the canoe this summer if the weather was good.

I went on-line to make my purchase and since I had initially found the product in the catalog, it was really easy to enter the product code into the search and go right to the product I wanted to order. The information available on the website matched the catalog description, with the addition of ratings. Though the particular item I ordered was a brand new item, so no ratings yet.

It was also really easy to browse for other products by using the search bar or going through the categories at the top of the page. Hovering over the main topics brought up more detailed categories to take you right to the area you wanted to get to.

SHIPPING/CUSTOMER SERVICE
When I ordered, it was noted that it was back-ordered, but since it was only estimated to be a week before new stock was in, I decided to still go ahead with my order. However, it was getting close to the weekend I was going to need the life jacket and it hadn't yet shipped (it was now about 3 days later than the original estimated ship date). I called customer service and they did estimate it would still be in that week, so I had the shipping address changed to my parent's home since that is where we'd be spending the weekend. They even changed the shipping to priority at no charge. (And this was after I had used a coupon to get free standard shipping originally!)

However, the life jacket ended up being further delayed then they expected, so when it still hadn't shipped when we returned from our weekend trip, I called again and had the shipping address changed back to my own.

In the meantime, they had also sent a postcard noting the delay. I've dealt with other companies that don't bother with this, so the only way you know it's delayed is keeping an eye on the order status by logging back into the website.

THE PRODUCT
I did finally receive the life jacket and it's exactly what I needed for my daughter. Great quality product and actually fits.

THE FINAL THOUGHTS
Even though I had a number of shipping delays, the upbeat personalities of the people I always talked to in customer service and their best effort to get a great quality product to me where ever I was definitely makes me want to order from them again!