:: Plow & Hearth ::
Merchant Review

The Plow Hearth internet catalog has all the same fun stuff as the print catalog. Yard furniture, garden goodies, neat stuff for the house fill the pages and keep itchy trigger fingers hovering over the buy Now button. There are just too many cute, nice, neat, useful and necessary things there. Dangerous place.

Tabs near the top of the page make it easy to select a category, and Department lists on the category pages allow for selective shopping. This is all very nice, but it makes for a lot of "page turning". I prefer to scroll through the selections, but that is a small annoyance. The pastel and gray color scheme is relaxing and a welcome change from the harsh colors and jangling layout of other web sites, but I wonder if people with diminishing eyesight might have a hard time with it.

Plow Hearth's product range covers items for the indoor and outdoor environment. No plants are offered, but that's what the plantsmen sites are for. Here you'll find stylish furniture for the patio, "rain chains" to hang instead of down spouts, rain water barrels for catching run-off, solar powered fountains, copper bird baths and snake repellent (who knew I'd need snake repellent?).

For all the variety, there isn't too much stuff. I was not overloaded with page after page of clutter and gadgets, and that's a good thing. The small window on the left side of the page that suggests "if you like this product you might also like another one" is quite useful.

Overstocks, stale merchandise and items that looked good at the trade show but just didn't sell are all available at reduced prices on the Outlet pages . There are no huge bargains here, but the savings can add up. This is especially useful when the Christmas items go on sale. Imagine, no driving in the snow, no parking half a mile from the store and having to lug your sale goodies back to the car over the icy parking lot!

Getting shipping information takes 2 clicks. The first one takes you to Customer Services FAQ, and thence to the shipping data. Shipping costs are in line with most other internet retailers, with the nice extra of expedited shipping. International/outside the Lower 48 shipping is available, and Plow Hearth gives a toll free number for this.

Plow & Hearth has a reputation for good customer service, one that I would not expect to have changed any since the last time I did business with them. In all, having Plow & Hearth on line is like welcoming a friend back to the neighborhood. I'm glad they're here.

Click here to visit Plow Hearth's homepage!

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