Friday, February 18, 2011

CSN Haul

Last Summer (OMG talk about lagging), I was contacted be CSN and they me and sent me a gift certificate to use at any of their 200+ stores. Well, being the horrible blogger I am, I totally forgot about it. Finally, the day before it expired (at the end of the year), I placed my order. At first, I wanted to get this Bulls backpack but it was impractical since the last time I wore a backpack was in high school. Here's what I did get:

Mr. Sketch markers! This set of 18 markers was the BEST part of my haul. I love, love, love these markers because they all smell totally delicious. The scent even lingers after you've used them on paper. I used to sit around and sniff the markers as a kid and I found myself STILL doing that the other day. =P My favorite is the brown..
I also got the Melissa and Doug Fashion Sticker Collection book for my little sister and me. It's a pretty cool book -like paper dolls but sticker form.
I thought this 8 pack of colorful R.S.V.P pens would be perfect for taking notes in class. While the colors are nice, the grip where I hold the pen really hurts my hand -it's too stiff. I recommend this for the colors and price but NOT when it comes to comfort.

I also got two packs of assorted construction paper (seen in first photo) for crafts and projects. This was a really good deal for all the colors and amount of sheets included.

Now what did I think of the CSN experience? Honestly, I'm kind of undecided. While all the items I bought were reasonably priced and cheaper than if I had purchased them in the store, I felt that lots of items were overpriced. I initially wanted to get a bag or shoes but holy moly they were expensive! But then when I would see something that was reasonably priced and pretty, it was out of stock. I swear, all the good purses were out of stock and that made me mad! I wish they'd just take the product down instead of having me click on it and see it be out of stock. =( All in all, it was a toss up. There are some very low priced items and then so really overpriced items -but I guess you'd find that anywhere.

Another thing I noticed was that while many things were up to date (I saw some Toy Story toys), there were lots of things that were out of date -especially when it came to the shoes and accessories. Also, the whole site is so incredibly random. It's like Forever 21 x100 -just too many items that it left my head spinning! I think that if they chose their products more carefully and left out all the random bits, the site could be really great. BUT, there are some hidden treasures. The search engine is your best friend. That's how I found all my products and I really do love all the products I got (except for the R.S.V.P pens.)

And for the customer service? PERFECT. The order shipped the next day and I got my first package within 2 or 3 days. At first, I was irritated by the shipping costs (LOL I hate paying shipping) but because many of the items were shipped separately, I completely understand why shipping was $8. The items were also packaged with paper/foam packaging peanuts. One thing that did bother me though (not really a customer service issue) was that their website was so slow. Sometimes, it would kind of "crash" and I'd have to open another window. I think the reason behind this is that they just have too many items on there which means more items to load which means more time waiting!

Would I order from them again? I probably would for the school and crafts supplies but I don't think I would for shoes or purses. I also saw some reasonably priced toys so I'd maybe come back for that. I had LOTS of pens on my wish list but I restricted myself to only 2 sets so I'd come back those. Something I'd definitely come back for though is their customer service. Customer service and fast shipping are extremely important to me -I liked that they gave me quick updates and that all my items arrived with lightning speed.

Have a look around their site. If you could order some things, what would you get?

3 comments:

  1. Nice! I was offered the chance too but the shipping is just TOO expensive to Canada. So instead, I decided to give it away. (It ends next week)

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  2. I def agree that csn has too much on their site! It was so hard to get through!

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  3. @ ~Lisa.. Aww.. I think it's crazy how expensive shipping to Canada is -it's RIGHT next to us!

    @ PoorCollegeStudent.. Yea, I like the variety but way too much!

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