Shavers.com Blog

Thankstaking

Okay, I know that is a really stupid title, but how can you make fun of Thanksgiving and somehow tie it in with shavers?
You can't, so instead I'll just do my yearly pontification of what looks hot in electric shavers this year, okay?

We all know that Braun Pulsonic…sorry, I mean the "Braun Series 7" model shavers are by far the hottest thing out there in shaving these days, having whooped the collective asses of Norelco, Remington and Panasonic together. While this fact continues to be the case (Panasonic is the only manufacturer to come out with a new shaver this year (see the Arc IV Model ES8249), that does not mean that the collective scruffy-faces of mankind and their gift-hunting significant-others, should not look at all the possibilities.

So as a reminder and with a callback to past posts of yesteryear, let's be reminded that Remington still offers some really nice, economical options. Especially the rotary series of shavers (the R-1000, R-520, and R-825) have always proven to be excellent alternatives to Norelco's dominance of the rotary style of shaver. The micro screen shavers are also good standbys and the F720 Titanium is a rinseable "lift n' wash" shaver that is nothing to be sneezed at.

Norelco is still penitently offering up its Arcitec line to us, sticking to their guns that this design is definitely the nextgen of rotary electric shavers. Personally, and a lot of customers agree with me, this line of shavers has really gotten a bum rap over their first year of distribution and while Philips fights to get the recognition they deserve, rotary users should not thumb their noses at these shavers. After all, they do give you two months to decide whether you really like it or not. What's to lose?

Panasonic seems to be looking for the Guinness World record for "Most Expensive Shaver, Ever" category. The Arc IV Nano Vortex series of shaver (three words and a roman numeral that effectively mean absolutely nothing) promises the same ol' "best-ever-washable-super-fast-billion rpm-blah-blah-blah" but ultimately looks like every other Panasonic model that has come out over the last three years. Now, I am NOT saying that it is a bad shaver-the verdicts have not come in yet. It may be the greatest shaver ever, but as always, time will tell. They are certainly charging enough so it better have something behind it to justify that kind of price.

Well, here we are again at another holiday season kickoff. Basically the all too rare situations exists where all the major manufacturers have some really good shavers, and more importantly, some really good deals considering this economy.
Have at it…
…and save me a drumstick.

Shippin ' Restockin ' Complainin '

Oh the woes of the endless controversy of "shipping and handling" and the ever-more unpopular, "restocking fee".

Why, what for, who says, how dare, what the, and what gives?

So here we are once again facing the dilemma of balance between the positives of good customer service vs. the tipping scales of negative customer experience with regard to shipping and handling and the restocking fee. Here's our take on it: Shavers.com tries to NOT charge you a restocking fee.

"Huh? Either you charge the restocking fee or you don't. Why the hell should Shavers.com make money if I made a mistake or changed my mind about an order? What are you talking about?"

Actually, boys and girls, the 100% truth of the matter is that we do not make a single cent on a restocking fee. Restocking fee is a modern word for "we have to try and recoup the shipping charge incurred, the cost of the box and packing material and the cost of the labor it took to process, pick and pack the order so that we could get it to you in a timely fashion".

"But wait a second here," answers the angering customer, "you charged me for shipping and handling because my order was under $99.00. How do you explain that?"

I'm afraid that gone are the days where the shipping charge equals the shipping cost. That is the simple truth of the matter. You would think that shipping charges from the carriers (UPS, FEDEX, Pidgeon, etc…) are affected when gas prices change--and they do-they go up, but never seem to come down again. Hmmm?

Sayeth the customer: "I really don't give a rats-ass about your shipping problems or your costs. I don't need this item."

All customers (or potential customers) of Shavers.com should realize one very important fact:

We want your business.

Yes, in these days of waning customer service, we really do strive to NOT charge you a restocking fee on returns. We want you to order another product instead. All past customers who have simply come to us and stated the fact that they need to return something but want to order something, anything, in its place do not get charged the restocking fee. The only exception to this rule is the 30-day money back guarantee from manufacturers, because those should only be returned to the manufacturers as per their instructions.

The inevitability of the situation though, is the fact that once in while you, the customer, do not need anything else in place of the product returned for whatever reason. These are the sad times that we do, unfortunately, charge a restocking fee.
There is good news in all of this though-Shavers.com has REALLY good shipping rates because most of our shipping is free or very inexpensive.

• Any order $99.00 and over is shipped by UPS Ground for FREE!
• Most small orders for parts and accessories are shipped by USPS for only $2.95!
• All the order "in between" the above mentioned criteria ship for $6.95-a price still much lower that most retailers (even "discount" retailers) are charging.

So you see, we really do try to be fair and oriented to the customer's needs. We want you to come back again and again for your shavers, parts and accessories and have a great customer experience like the thousands of customers who have used us since 1995. Let us prove it to you.

--The last paragraph above is unusual as compared to the smarty-pants stint these blog posts usually take. Our Shavers.com president wanted this point really driven home and I agree that it is a very important point to make…
but don't think I'm getting soft on you. :)