Wedding Gift List - whattogive.com

Redbedhead

jenza8 wrote:

I think quality of service from John Lewis really depends on which store you are using, we had a terrible experience with them when we used them for our gift list see this thread but others on this same thread have had a really good experience. We used John Lewis Sheffield.

To be honest, so far their service has left a lot to be desired. When we have seen them at wedding fayres their attitude has not really been to sell the service, more to assume you will be using them because they are John Lewis.

We like a lot of the things in there and there are JL stores near a lot of our guests, so it would the easiest option, but after the lack of service I don't really want to put more money in their pockets.

zappomatic

I used to work in the Gift List department at the Oxford Street store - it's the single biggest operation of its kind in Europe. Although we had a few hiccups the vast majority of lists went smoothly from start to finish, and customer appreciations outstripped complaints by a massive ratio. Most problems were caused by list holders selecting items (especially china) that they were warned might become unavailable but insisting on keeping them on the list. The weak point in the system was in the delivery, with the occasional box going missing or being delivered to the wrong customer. But compared with other services we were saintly. I personally did many things above and beyond what many customers expected, such as hand delivering bits and pieces to them on my way home from work.

Overall it IS a very good service, and I would not hesitate to use it myself.

matto

Friends of ours put their list on whattogive and it worked great.

I have to say I don't like being forced into buying gifts from particular retailers.

full-time-mum

matto wrote:

Friends of ours put their list on whattogive and it worked great.

I have to say I don't like being forced into buying gifts from particular retailers.

Hear, Hear - I agree entirely. We're going to a wedding later this year with Argos and Debenhams lists - lots of the items can be brought cheaper elsewhere. I can see the advantage of a specific shop list but it really isn't that difficult to organise an OS one yourself - we did!

Personally, I think that wedding lists no longer have the same meaning. I always understood it was a way to help the happy couple set up home and as such a gift list was
1: a guide to the sort of items that were needed
2: a guide to the couple's tastes
3: a way to ensure that you got a matching set of towels/bedlinen etc and not covers and pillowcases that didn't go together.

We didn't get exactly the model of food processor/saucepan etc we listed but were very grateful for all our gifts.

These days, they seem to be an extravagant list of demands.

The couple above seem to be clearing out everything that they already own and replacing with bigger better models. Some item prices go well into 3 figures. I would never have had the nerve!

Redbedhead

matto wrote:

Friends of ours put their list on whattogive and it worked great.

I have to say I don't like being forced into buying gifts from particular retailers.

Thanks for that. I think being able to have a choice of retailers is a big plus.

jamesy_a_2

So Redbedhead - what did you go for in the end? We're thinking of using https://www.whattogive.com so I'm interested in what you decided.

Redbedhead

jamesy_a wrote:

So Redbedhead - what did you go for in the end? We're thinking of using https://www.whattogive.com so I'm interested in what you decided.

We are going with whattogive.

Key downside really is people bringing the pressies to the wedding - but then that was how it always used to be, so shouldn't cause a major issue.

In return I think we are giving the guests more options in terms of what and where to buy, keeping their costs down hopefully and ensuring we have a list full of things we want / need instead of just having things on a list because we can't get all the things we want in one shop.

I will report back. List should be 'live' in about 2 weeks and I am spending evenings loading things on there.

pink_phantom

Amazon do a gift list now which is excellent for couples who have lived together and already have neccessities.

Becles

We did one with Debenhams. However I said to people if they found the same or a very similar item elsewhere for cheaper, to let me know and I'd take the original item off the list.

The free £50 persuaded us. We just spent that in their sale last week!

Redbedhead

Becles wrote:

We did one with Debenhams. However I said to people if they found the same or a very similar item elsewhere for cheaper, to let me know and I'd take the original item off the list.

The free £50 persuaded us. We just spent that in their sale last week!

We did register with them (mainly for the £50 ) but they took so long to contact us we gave up.