HQhair update

I posted a couple of months ago about HQhair.com and how their site is not Mac friendly. I bought a gift certificate for a family member's birthday before realising that she can't use it, as she has a Mac at home.
I called HQhair to get a refund, and was told categorically that they don't do refunds on gift vouchers. This was before I'd even explained why I wanted a refund, so once I'd cut through the customer service apathy, the customer service rep said she'd take my number and ask their technical department how to do it.
After hearing nothing for twenty four hours, I called again, and got the same person. For a pretty complex site, I don't think there's a huge customer department. She told me that the site was being updated and as from this week (around the 14th of September) it would be possible to complete payment on a Mac.
Great news! It's only taken them around three years to do something about it, from when I first e-mailed. It's yet to be proved as I really don't need any more stuff at the moment, but I'll let you know when I try it out.

A good egg

For Mr Charming's birthday this year I wanted to get him some trainers he'd oohed over a little while before. I ordered them from Sole Trader on the Monday before his birthday, assured that the delivery will arrive on Wednesday.

That evening, I realised that I'd managed to order the wrong size of trainer! After six years, you'd think I'd know what size shoe he is. So I was in danger of being a bad girlfriend by leaving my man with no proper birthday present, and only peripheral ones.

I trawled the internet searching for those specific trainers (pretty hard to find, actually) and even looked up the couple of specialist trainer shops in Norwich, with no luck. Eventually I stumbled across Alan's Store, a skater/BMXer online shop which sells brands like Vans, Volcom and, inexplicably for me, Nike.

They had the trainers, in the right size and they were even slightly cheaper than Sole Trader, brilliant. I placed the order around noon the day before Mr Charming's birthday, where I added a note:

Hello,

My boyfriend's birthday is tomorrow and although I know it's extremely short notice, I would be grateful if you could send this out as soon as possible. I've been looking for the trainers for months, after he spotted them in a magazine, and know he'd be thrilled with them on his birthday. It would make me look like a good girlfriend as well!

Please call me and let me know if there's anything else you need.
Thanks,
Suze

Around four hours later, I got this reply:

Hi Suze,

Your order has now been despatched via Royal Mail Special Delivery and should be with you tomorrow. Make sure to let your boyfriend think you ordered these weeks ago, and then you'll get more birthday cake :)

best Regards,

Excellent, right? The best thing about it was that they arrived on his birthday, just as we were finishing the present unwrapping - I thought we'd have to keep Royal Mail time of anywhere between 12 noon and 4.59pm for post.

Personal, fast and friendly service - I'd recommend alansstore to anyone looking for skater/BMX stuff that's more individual than Free Spirit. They seem to have pretty hardcore useful stuff too, which I know nothing about, like trucks and grip tape.
Enjoy!