I’m taking my baby overseas and has been stressing out on how to carry the stroller on the plane. I’m not keen of carrying my heavy 4 month old around while we’re overseas. I have a Peg Perego Pliko P3 and after searching around, I found that the travel bag specially for it is not available in Australia. After more searching, I found Bebe Care stroller bag which has the perfect measurement. I checked with Baby Kingdom and thank goodness they have it in stock for $49.95 plus $14 delivery. Quite reasonable price I say. I think babyzonedirect has it for much cheaper,  but they’re famous for having items out of stock without telling you  so I wasn’t willing to chance it. I couldn’t be bothered checking with their offline store either. I just wanted it now. I’ve had good experience with Baby Kingdom so I gave my business to them.

It just arrived today and it’s a perfect fit! The bag looks quite tough and has boarded part to protect the wheels. I’m happy now!

Shop: Baby Kingdom
Products: Baby items
Pro: Fast and reliable, great customer service, reasonable shipping cost, wide range of products
Cons: may not be the cheapest out there
Payment Methods accepted:  credit cards

Comments:

While baby kingdom may not have the cheapest price out there, but if you need certain items in a rush, it’s a good shop to go to. I usually would email them to ask if the items I’m after is in stock. I usually get a reply within the same day, even during weekends. Once my order has been posted, I also receive a personal email from their staff saying it has been mailed. The goods are posted within the same day or at the latest the next day.  It arrives very quickly. At the maximum two working days.

When I need baby items, I usually look around at other online shops to check the price but I always end up buying from baby kingdom because I know it will arrive when I need it. The price may not be the cheapest but the difference is minimal. They also have great range of products. I can almost find what I need there.

Overall, it’s a shop you would go for a fast, reliable, and hassle-free experience.

Okay, I have decided I like Deals Direct…when they give me vouchers and coupons hehe.

I bought the vacuum bags on the day when they’re giving away $10 voucher. So using that voucher, I bought a stroller net which costs $14.95 + $6.95 shipping. I found a coupon that gives me $6 off. So in total I only paid $5.90. What a bargain

I received the item today. I love it. Especially for the price I paid. I would have still loved it otherwise but I probably would just buy it from the shop to save on shipping.

The net bag you can attach on your stroller. Very handy. I can already see myself using it a lot. It seems to be of a good quality. Looks strong.

Processing + shipping took 3 days straight. That’s the best about Deals Direct. Super fast!

The net bag came with a tag that says the brand is Minene, a UK brand.

It came in a cute bag

hangs nicely on the stroller. You can actually shorten the strap. I didn’t do it in this picture.

Closer look

Closer look at the strap

PS. The $6 coupon I used is DD6BDAY. Valid until 15 Dec 2010, one per customer. Doesn’t seem to require minimum order.

Ahh, I’m so happy! I finally decided which pram/stroller to buy. I’ve done so much research, changed my mind a million times, finally I came to a decision. And the final choice is………..Peg Perego Pliko P3!

I didn’t want something too big so I stayed away from outdoor prams. I can’t see myself going cross-country with a baby and I’m not an outdoor person. We also have a small car so it needs to be compact enough. My initial choice was MacLaren Techno XLR but after seeing the pram, there are a couple of things that made me uneasy about it. I love how it’s so light and so easy to steer but it didn’t seem very stable and easily tilted to the back. The cushioning also didn’t seem very comfortable and the basket is inaccessible when the seat is flat. It also doesn’t have front bumper. I’d like my baby to have something to hold on to when he wants.

I liked the cuteness of combi strollers and how the handle can be reversed but it was so hard to steer when it’s reversed so it defeats the purpose. Combi strollers feel tiny and low which I didn’t really like.

I also looked at Peg Perego Uno which has bigger wheels and reversible handle. It was a lot more expensive though and the folding mechanism is not as simple as Pliko. I guess Pliko P3 was ‘in between’. It’s not too small and not too big. I’ll be using it for newborn so I wanted something small but stable. There was nothing about it that made me uneasy. My husband was also happy with it. The best thing is, it was on special in Baby Zone Wollongong so I got it for 499.95, down from 699.95! It was even cheaper than Baby Zone’s online shop. I’ve looked around online, I think it was the cheapest deal there is considering it’s going to be brand new (not floor stock) and the latest model.

We also bought Boori Four Drawer Chest. It was a splurge buy. It was expensive and not on special. I initially wanted kingparrot drawers for $100 cheaper but my husband insisted we may as well buy boori to match the cot. Then we found out that Baby Zone would give us 15% off on full price items because we basically bought everything from them. So the price came down to the same price as Kingparrot drawers so I went for it. We also bought the tray to make it a change table but didn’t realise we will also need the pelmet as the tray would stick to the pelmet.

We got the drawers from 594.96 (down from 699.95). I couldn’t find anywhere that sells the drawers for less than 699.95. Initially I was happy to settle with any drawers but after checking furniture shops, the good ones cost almost the same. I may as well buy boori to match the cot and use it as change table. I paid $42.46 (down from $49.99) for the tray. I think I will have to buy the pelmet as well which costs around $40.

So, big purchases today but I’m happy I finally made decisions and the price I paid was less that I initially expected.

We bought this bath stand + tub package from Baby Zone Wollongong today for $79.95. It felt really steady compared to other ones in the shop, the price is very reasonable, too. I like the fact that the top is like a basket and it’s big so it can fit most tub if I ever decide to get anything fancier. The tub that comes with it is good enough though. It’s big, stable, and has the drain feautre. It also has space to put soap/shampoo bottles.

The stand is collapsible comes with anti-slip mat. The ‘basket’ has a rail where you can hang towels. Oh the ‘basket’ and stand’ can be used to store things once it’s not used for the bath.

You can check more of the range here.

I thought that was a good buy compared to the fancy bath + change table in one that I wanted before but refused by my husband because i’s not collapsible and taking too much space. Most of the fancy ones may come with storage but have a lot smaller tub which I’m sure the baby will grow out in few months (and much more expensive!).

Shop name: Baby Zone
Address:  398 Keira Street, Wollongong NSW 2500
Open: Mon-Wed,Fri 9am-5:30pm; Thu 9am-6pm; Sat 9:30am-5pm; Sun 10am-4pm (yes, they open weekend!)
Products: one stop shop for baby needs.
Pros: great price, excellent customer service
Cons: only stocks popular brands, only local to wollongong.

Comments:

I was looking for a local baby shop and came across babyzonedirect.com.au which has warehouse in Wollongong. The website stated that they only open monday to friday so I took a couple of hours one friday and went there. To my delight they told me they do open weekend!

If you look here, the online shop itself doesn’t have good reviews especially in terms of customer service so when I went there, I didn’t expect much out of their customer service. To my surprise, as soon as I walked into the store and looked at a few cots,  I was approached by someone. We were approached by a couple of staff who readily answered all our questions and showed us how things work. One of them is this young lady called Angela. She was impressive. Although she was young, she was obviously knowledgable about the products and passionate about what she does. We came to the store clueless about carseats and prams but she enthusiastically and tiredlessly explained to us everything we need to know about them and showed us how they work. She was also very honest about the pros and cons of different brands and styles. She also told us other customers’ feedbacks regarding the products, good and bad. She encouraged us to not rush into decision and think more about what we want. She didn’t pressure us into making any purchase on the spot.

The shop itself is not overly big but not small either. They stock nursery furnitures (mainly cots, change table, drawers) of popular brands (Boori, Kingparrot), prams and strollers, carseats (mainly safe n sound), baby bath, baby walkers, etc etc.

I was told that the online shop and the physical store are two different departments that’s why on the website it was written that they don’t open weekend (also probably explains the difference in customer service).

As for the price, they will give you whatever the price on the website so if you live locally or not too far from Wollongong, it’s worth going there to check out the product if you see something you like on the website. The price on the website is the cheapest around (I’ve checked). So I wouldn’t even bother checking other shops.

Also, you will know for sure if something is in stock or not when you go to the store and how long you need to wait. You can also lay buy the item so you don’t need to pay until you actually get your item. A lot of people say that if you buy from the online shop, you will still get charged first eventhough the item is not in stock and they don’t really tell you when it’s going to be available.

While I cannot say the same for the online store, I definitely recommend the offline store just for its customer service especially if you’re a newbie like me. It’s going to be my new hangout place over the weekend : P

Okay so these are not online purchases but I did a great deal of online research before I bought them.

Boori Country Classic Cot

in white from Baby Zone Wollongong for $552 + Boori breathable mattress $136

I won’t be getting them for another 5-6 weeks so this is the picture of the display cot in the shop.

I looked around online, this is the cheapest one around and also the shop is local so I decided to go for it. I didn’t want to get a Boori cot initially because the price is more expensive than other brands and also a lot of people say Kingparrot is made by the same company and it’s as good. But when my husband and I browsed the shop, we really liked this style so we went for it. The price is not too bad compared to some other Boori models and it’s $150 more expensive compared to Kingparrot model I wanted. It’s not bad considering Boori is bigger and feels smoother and well, we like the style.

LG 42″ LCD TV 42LD560

We went for LG because it’s  a lot cheaper compared to other brand for the same thing. Most of our electronics are LG so we’re happy with it.

We got it for $1160 + Wi-Fi dongle for $70 from The Good Guys Warrawong. We went to Bing Lee first and the best price they could give us was $1200 for the TV unless we can get a better quote from somewhere else. I never liked how Bing Lee works, it just feels insincere. We indicated we would like to get it today but that was the best they could give us.  We read in some forum that someone bought it for $1159 from The Good Guys so we felt Bing Lee wasn’t really giving us the best price. Also, they didn’t have one in stock in the shop so we couldn’t get it on the spot. So we went to The Good Guys which has been our favourite electronic shop and we were given $1170. After saying we seriously wanted it today they gave it to us for $1160. We were happy with that price and decided to give our business to them for giving us good price. They had it in stock so we can straightaway went home with it which is another plus point.

We have set the TV up and so far very happy with everything. It was easy to assemble and setup. We had old fashioned TV before so this is a HUGE upgrade. It can connect directly to YouTube (once the Wi-Fi was setup), I can connect my netbook to it,  it can stream media files straight from external HD, and of course HD movies look HD in it XD

It has 100Hz refresh rate which is a lot better than the cheaper model but not much difference from the more expensive model which refresh rate is  200 Hz (the guy in the shop showed us the difference).

So far we’re very happy with this TV.