Contact information

The contact telephone number forms part of the banner header which is a nice touch, and there is also a clear link along the top for you to send them an email. However, other than this, they are a bit cagey as to exactly where they are based. They do not offer a depot address, and hidden on the about us page they offer information about their local area, which includes Winchester, Harrisonburg, Staunton, Waynesboro, Charlottesville, and Lexington. However, they give the impression that they clearly prefer you to access them remotely, offering to pick up and drop off carts for repair, and deliver new carts to your home, even when you are not in the local area.

Selection of Carts

ValleyCarts.com has an excellent selection of carts and for your convenience you can choose to search on price, those over $3000 and those under, and before you can get further you have to choose whether you want to see gas powered carts or electric powered carts. It would have been nice to see a slightly wider search tool, as maybe you would want to compare a couple of products, or maybe want to look at a gas and electric model side by side. However, when you have decided which limited category you are going to look in, you then get a grid format which has a tiny picture, the year of manufacture, the price, and a short line highlighting features. You can then select the cart that interests you most, whereupon you are taken to a full product page showing limited information, the shipping calculator and several pictures of the cart.

Prices Are Okay

The prices seem about right in terms of what you get. The older models have been discounted appropriately, and the newer carts do not seem over the odds. Having a wide selection of prices on offer from $1695 for the cheapest gas cart and $2350 on a special offer in the cheapest electric cart category, there should be something on offer to suit every budget.

A Ton Of Pictures

There are certainly lots of pictures of the carts on the website, and each cart is shown from many different angles, so in terms of seeing what you are getting it certainly ticks that box. However, sometimes the pictures are overcrowded as they are taken in the yard where all the carts are kept. It would have been nice to see a golf course mock up, with just the cart in question shown on green, and maybe with a couple of loaded up shots so you can see how your kit will fit in.

Site Layout Is Lacking

In terms of layout, this is where the site could do better. Unfortunately the whole site has a bit of an amateurish feel. The text is bog standard, and could have done with changing to something nicer. The search results form is very unwieldy and doesn’t do the products justice. What is needed is a style sheet that sets up each cart in a uniform presentation, as these seriously look thrown on. The shipping quote is clunky and ugly and stuck right in the middle of the site, and whilst it is excellent to see each cart from many angles, a constantly changing slideshow would look neater and save the user scrolling around so much. It would add a touch of professionalism, especially if the advice about the picture styling was followed.

The main navigation bars that appear along the top and sides and follow you everywhere are excellent, and these cannot be faulted. They allow the user to move quickly amongst the sections, so no gripes here. It is just the body of the pages. It lacks any design flair, and it is always disappointing to see bog standard Microsoft issues submit and clear buttons on a form, as it gives the impression the site was put together by someone just learning to program on the web. Which is ok but not for a company this size, who clearly see the website as their main showroom.

Checkout Process Needs Improvement

If you decide to purchase a cart, then you should by now have also used the delivery quote form and have a good idea of your shipping costs. However, that is as far as you can go on this site, which again is disappointing if this is their main show room. You then have to call them or email them to register your interest, and we assume the process is then handled from there. They claim this is an anti-Spam measure, but seriously there are other companies offering just as high value goods with an online secure check out. Again, this looks like a startup company that just isn’t confident yet.

Guarantee/Warranty – Left Out?

In terms of warranty information, this just isn’t on the site which to be honest is disappointing, as you would want to know this sort of thing with any mechanical based item you are looking at. They are quick to offer links to their financing company, and you can get details of rentals, although only after you complete yet another no frills Microsoft form.

Conclusion

Overall this is an easy site to navigate, and is full of products for you to view. However, it is such a shame that it doesn’t have a professional flash style site, as there is a huge potential here. It wouldn’t stop us purchasing from the site, as they are clearly cart specialists with knowledge, but if this is to remain their main showroom then it would benefit them greatly to spend some money on a professional web designer who could use this template and create something a little more high impact, as to be honest this site is boring, messy and as we previously noted, amateurish.

We like the ideas, we love the massive range of products and services; however, each cart could benefit more from a full ‘tech spec’ sheet with more information that could easily include warranty details on top of a more complex product review.

Post from: Electric Golf Carts - Your Online Resource for Golf Carts

Review: ValleyCarts.com Golf Cart Website

From the “About Us” page I find that the founder is Bart Mahan and that he and his team have built the largest supplier of golf cart gear. When people talk about themselves as “the largest” or “the best” I’m always a bit curious as to how they’re measuring that. I’m sure that they have competitors that are stating the exact same thing. But for this review it’s not that important.

The Buggies Unlimited Golf Carts Help

One of the first features that I noticed on the website was that it had an Online Chat option. Personally I am a big advocate for a feature like that and especially when you have a site with more that thousand products. So I thought that I would test the support feature since it said to be “online”.

Within less than a minute I had Angela on the line. She was very helpful and she answered the few questions that I had lined up fairly quickly. I’m not sure whether she is actually working for Buggies Unlimited or she just works in a call center, but she did have a Buggies email so maybe she is an employee. If that is the case it is just an additional plus.

The Selection of Golf Cart Accessories

What may seem as a great feature at Buggies Unlimited is also a disadvantage. I went back to the homepage and wanted to find some accessories for golf carts. Honestly I found that the site was way too crowded. Because it is loaded with tons of categories both in the top menu bar and in the left side navigation bar I didn’t know where to begin or where to end.

For a webshop that is not a great thing. I believe that Buggies already knows this because they have placed a fairly large search box in the very top of the screen. Unfortunately it isn’t as visible as you could want because the huge toll-free phone number is taking up the spotlight.

20 headline navigational menu links (and some of them even have sub categories) and +60 (I stopped counting) categories down the left side is just over the top. I know that Buggies Unlimited wants to show that they have a huge selection of products but doing it this way will only scare people away.

According to expert analysis done the results was that a menu should have between 5-7 links before adding a heading to “break” the layout. Maybe Buggies Unlimited should give it some consideration.

Instead of trying to find a category for accessories I tried to use the search functionality in the top. I decided to search for the term “golf cart accessories” as that was what I was looking for.

Can you guess what the result was? NOTHING!! It seems that the search functionality isn’t working.
From the picture you can see that it seems like the search cuts off the last “s” and that might be the problem but I can say for sure. No matter what that search option is really going to cost them a lot of money if they don’t fix it soon.

Instead I tried to search for “Yamaha Golf Cart Wheel”. Again the result was blank! It is hard to guess on actual figures but I think that it is fair to say that Buggies Unlimited are losing tens of thousands of dollars on this account.

I Finally Gave Up

Could it really be possible that the world’s largest golf cart accessories shop did not have tires for a Yamaha golf cart? I figures that if I tried under the top menu called “parts/maintenance” and tried the sub category called “parts – Yamaha” then there had to be some tires, right? Nope! I was presented with a huge list that I even had to scroll to see the bottom of and still there were no tires.

What started out being a positive impression has left me frustrated and irritated and I’m sure that I’m not the only one. If anyone from Buggies Unlimited should come by and read this I suggest that you hire a webmaster that knows how to design (AND test) a webshop. The shop has a huge potential and I’m sure that they would be able to increase their revenue with 50% – 100% percent (minimum) if they got professional help.

Right now all they have is a huge pile of products that are hard to sort through and me as an irritated “no longer potential” customer. The final verdict is: Not Passed Until Fixed!

Post from: Electric Golf Carts - Your Online Resource for Golf Carts

Review: Buggies unlimited golf carts – Golf cart accessories