RueLaLa Review - Part 1

I've decided to break this review into 2 parts since I'm still waiting on the second item to be delivered.

Recently, my husband, Jerry won a gift card to RueLaLa.com from their big gift card giveaway, "Rue La La More is More Sweepstakes" from October 2013. Without any hassle, the $75 credit was added to his account. Naturally, as any good husband would do, he allowed me to go shopping!

I browsed through their many products they had available for at least five days before coming to the decision to order some unique items that typically we would never purchase on our own... Not because they didn't seem like good items to order but because I wanted to order something outside of the realm of "normal". Usually, I'm very practical about what I use gift cards for. But with the holidays coming up, I decided to be a little adventurous. I purchased 2 perishables - food items - for our upcoming Christmas Party.  The first, "One 10-pc box Christmas Cookie Set" and the second, "Robinson's Prime Reserve Chicken Tenders".

THE DETAILS

• Please note: This is a Final Sale item. There are no returns.
• One 10-piece box Christmas sugar cookie
• Best if consumed within two months
• Cookies are baked fresh to order and hand decorated by our very own creative team. All goods are kosher
• Contains egg, wheat, gluten
• Made in the USA
• Contents of set:
• Ten sugar cookies: each measures 3in in diameter

Wow! Original price was $40!?! Those better be some damn good cookies! I already feel awkward ordering 10 cookies for $26!  Well, then again, anyone who knows me well.. knows that I do not play around when it comes to Christmas, parties and gift giving!

THE DETAILS

• Please note: This is a Final Sale item. There are no returns.
• Goods will incur a $10 surcharge for shipping
• Fifty up to sixty chicken tenders
• Hand-cut for optimal quality
• Each chicken tender is deliciously flavorful with natural juices
• Approximately 50-60 tenders per bag
• Optimally two to three months in freezer, but can last up to six months
• Made in the USA

Okay! Now we're talking! 50-60 tenders per bag!  That's plenty of delicious protein for guests to chow down upon!

I placed the order on November 11th and we received a confirmation that the items would be delivered on or before November 26th. Imagine my surprise when we received a second email on November 13th indicating the items have been shipped!  Wooo, that's fast!  Two days later, I have a box of cookies at my door.

The box was very large and taped shut all around. Definitely no way any creepy crawly critters are going to make their way inside during shipment, that's for sure!  I did become a little nervous when I noticed immediately the giant sticker next to the shipping label.

Well darn.. if the sticker itself is damaged, I'm scared to see the cookies!

I carefully cut away the tape and revealed a ton of packing peanuts.  This made me feel a lot better, thinking my cookies would be safe!  Little did I know, I was mislead!

Under the packing peanuts was a pretty white box with a green and red ribbon tied into a bow.  I removed the bow so I could inspect the gourmet cookies.  To my disappointment, I noticed immediately that there were broken cookies.  :(

Even though the white box was cushioned well, there was NO protection with the cookies themselves.  All of them were individually wrapped but nothing was packed in with them to keep them from moving around and breaking against each other or the sides of the box.  I've seen cosmetics and teas shipped with more careful thought than this.

Here are the photos of the cookies - both broken and non-broken.

Gorgeous House

Broken cupcake and candy

The second candy was also broken :(

These 2 packages contain 2 cookies each. None are broken but while the left package has a red and green cookie inside - the right package has two green cookies inside.

Pretty cookie lollipops

Aaahh a non-broken cupcake!

Unfortunately, there's a no return policy on this order - probably because it's a food item.  I don't agree with this policy since I've made food purchases online before and when it's been a bad order, I was able to exchange with no hassles.  I suppose the upside is, I now have an excuse to taste the cookies so I know what my friends will be getting.  I do wish the company Custom Cookies, Inc. that RueLaLa.com ordered from would take better care of their packaging of such delicacies.

3 out of 10 cookies being broken is not a good number.  So, buyers - beware - if you intend to purchase items like from Custom Cookies, Inc or through Rue La La, as potential gifts, you might want to open the box first and take out the broken cookies... or just order something else.

**Keep an eye open for part 2 when the other package arrives!