KIYOSAKI Gooseneck Phone & Tablet Holder,

 This was, beforehand, what I was looking for to use my phone in bed at night as I've noticed that my hands and fingers get sore. The deal price was an incentive. I had read the reviews before purchase, so I knew that the 'cable' was sturdy and hard to maneuver, but it's way harder that expected and I had difficulty moving it around without making an effort. Inserting the ball into the holder head piece was also very difficult for me. 

The  product comes with minimal packaging and no instructions, and looks like a generic product. Nothing wrong with that!, but the lack of instruction leaflet makes  it unnecessarily difficult to set it up. In fact, the holder is easy to set up if you know what to do. Basically, you hold the clip on to you furniture and, to fasten it and/or adjust to the thickness of the edge you're attaching it to, you have to screw/unscrew the tubular body part (see my photo). The holder looks very small, but the lower edge is expandable, so you can adjust it to fit a quite large phablet like mine (see my photo). If used horizontally, I can easily fit a tablet.

I ended returning the product due to the fact that the holding clip is quite wide and cannot hold my narrow bedside table edge, so it falls off. So, my advise to you is to check the depth of your furniture edges before purchase.

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Jungford Wood-cover Cable Management Box

I had a cable mess in my home-office area (see photo). I wanted to tidy it up so that cleaning the area would be easier and the room wood look nicer before a home inspection. This box helped me to get there, but not without a sweat.

The box is made of sturdy ivory plastic and the top is of uncoated wood. It looks great and goes well with the rest of my home-office Scandy style. The lid sits well on the box and it is easy to lift and reposition. I've put small electrical items on it, like my headphones or another plug, and it didn't collapse. Beyond the style, I love that the box has many cable slots, so the cables come  in/out out naturally. Besides, it comes with a set of cable management organisers, so it's great value for money.

The main issue with the box is it's capacity. The box is standard sizing and height for most cable organising boxes out there, and it fits a 4-plug power board, although a bit tightly. However, I didn't fit my laptop cable plug, which is attached to the adapter and cannot be separated from it. Unfortunately, this is the only adapter that my laptop can use, so it didn't fit at all (see my photo). What I did to tidy up things was, I swapped the power board with a 3-plugh one, then I plugged a short extension cable to the laptop plug, and left the adapter on top of the box. Not ideal, but things were looking great. In the end, I ended putting the round adapter plus computer plug (which fits the box perfectly on their own) in another cable box to hide it, and voila, my cable area is unrecognisable, as per my photo.  

Since I  had to try different plugs and cables I have at home, I can honestly say that the box would fit most cables and big plugs, except for those that are like my computer's, which isn't standard.  I wish they made a taller version, because, for the rest, I really like the box style and design.

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Rope Storage Baskets

These are two good quality rope small baskets with a wonderful ivory and black colour that goes with anywhere. They have gazillion uses and they come with a hanger and also with sticky wall hooks. Really good value for money.

Unfortunately the two baskets were vacuum sealed before packaging to fit them in the box, and, because of that, they arrived totally deformed, the round shape lost forever. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to reshape them, because they would really look great if they were perfectly round. Yet, they are not.

The promotional photos are very pretty, but, as you can see in the photos I've uploaded, they don't look as pretty in real life.

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Ikea Australia

THE GOOD
> Ikea offers you anything you need for your home at affordable or very cheap prices. If you are a student, have a budget, are newly-wed, moved cities, moved countries, have and need to furnish your full house right now or buy essential items at good prices, this is your place.
> Cool design and styling. They really have an eye for colour, funkiness, simple functional well-designed items, some of them designed on purpose for Ikea by young designers, while others are replicas of well-known designers.
> Very friendly and even enthusiastic guys in their stores.
> Free metre tapes and pencils to take measurements all over the store.
> Pick up and/or delivery services are fast and very well organised. They are not cheap, but not more expensive than other private services that would do the same for you.
> I specially like some of the basic stuff for the kitchen, bathroom, pot plants area, and some of their organisational boxes. They are good quality, cheap and good looking. And no assembly or very basic assembly is required.
> They have a free concierge service at the exit of their stores, so you can leave your trolley and purchases with the guys there and pick them up when it suits you. 
> They have reward points system with Ikea Family card.    
> I like their meatballs with mash potato at their "restaurant". Guilty pleasure. 

 THE BAD
> They don't pay as much taxes in Australia as they should as evade plenty of taxes with dodgy well-planed evading tax systems. They make millions out of Australians like vulgar predators. 
> They have inflated prices for Australians, for the same items. Booohhhhh.
> Some shops are understaffed, so if you visit during the weekend, you will be fighting for the attention of the guys in the shop.
> No online shopping in Australia except for WA and SA. Pathetic. 
> Pick up service has some important downsides. They only pick up those products that are in their warehouse area of the shop, not in others, even if you buy plenty of them. You have to do that personally. Stupid!
> The delivery is just for bulky items. They don't want your small items. If you push them, they will take them to your place BUT you are responsible if they get broken or get lost. They are not liable. Seriously... Outrageous.
> They don't transfer items from one shop to another. Say you want a chair that is available in shop A but not in shop B, they don't care, you go to the shop yourself, they won't bring it for you to the shop you live close by. 
> If an item is out of stock, you cannot leave your details for them to inform you that the item has arrived. You have to keep checking their website. Of course, you cannot prepay and reserve any item. And of course, they don't tell when approximately is the item going to be back in stock. They give a dam about you.
> Some of their products are cheap and will do for an emergency, but they are crap. If I had the money I wouldn't go to Ikea. As simple as that.
> I hate flat packing, with a passion. But there is no option because if you want your things properly assembled, you do it yourself  or you pay a fortune to other people to do that for you. Bring me the old furniture shops. That was customer service as it should be.
> If you just want to buy a couple of things you have to walk like a kilometre to get to your thingie. 
> The coffee in their restaurants is very cheap, refillable, but you won't want to refill, ever :D.    
> I never experienced the benefits of their rewards card. I got plenty of promotional emails instead, and some of the discounts to members were so ridiculous that bordered  insulting. 

NOTES
+ The assembly service they offer is overbooked most of the time, meaning there is a waiting list or it will take them a while to go to your place. But most people buying in Ikea need those items right now. Buy a proper screwdriver and set of tools, that will get your things assembled faster. Otherwise, assembly guys are everywhere these days, check the yellow pages online. 
= I love their assembly instructions pages, no words. Effective in most cases, but not always. Like they treat us like 3-year-old customers. 
 - So much style and the style of the uniform of the staff is dreadful :O. 

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Bed Bath N' Table (Online Retailer)

 

Online Shop

I love Bed Bath N Table's cover duvets and some of their towels, and I have been buying them in real stores for years. However, my first experience online was very good.

The website is easy to browse, prices and discounts easy to spot, and the pricing is the same as in the shops.

The shipping took about 24 hrs to be dispatched, and my parcels were posted via Australia Post's registered mail.

Shipping is free for purchases over 150 bucks, which is great if you decide to buy a whole set of towels, duvet set or doonas because you will be paying around that money. If you expend less, their shipping fees are still reasonable and affordable, nothing to stop you from shopping. 

You know what a business is made of when problems arise and they have to deal with them. My first shopping online from BBT was affected by the mishandling of my parcels and my parcel got lost somewhere in the Universe. However, BBT's customer service was absolutely professional, caring and hassle free. They launched an investigation with Australia Post and sent my order again for the second time at no extra charge without waiting for the resolution of the case. That is what customer service should be. 

I received the parcel promptly, well packed, and they are the usual gorgeous products that I love from BBT.

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