The way the company works, is that you purchase the items that you want on their website (www.all-unied.com)*, and then you choose the date to have it delivered to your University dorm/hall room. You can either choose a "pack" which contains all the items that they think you'd need... such as the 'All Essentials Pack" which has 63 items (various bedding and kitchen items) and costs 95 pounds, or you can select individual items to make sure you only get what you need.
Then after you pick out the items that you need and want, you select the date for delivery (they don't deliver on Saturdays or Sundays), and tell them what University you are at, and your dorm/hall. If you know your room number you can list that too, but if you don't have a room number, they will just deliver it to the reception desk in your hall and you can either pick it up there or sometimes they will bring it to your room (apparently).
I purchased the Essentials Pack for One, which comes with:
(taken from the website)
2 dinner plates: white porcelain, 27cm
2 side / salad plates: white porcelain, 23cm
2 cereal / soup bowls: white porcelain, 17.5cm
2 tea / coffee mugs: white porcelain
2 dining knives: stainless steel
2 dining forks: stainless steel
2 dining spoons: stainless steel
2 teaspoons: stainless steel
2 tumblers: glass mixer (34cl)
2 tall glasses: glass hi-ball (41.5cl)
small saucepan: stainless steel with glass lid
medium saucepan: stainless steel with glass lid
frying pan: black with non-stick coated interior (24cm)
colander / food strainer: 20cm plastic
5 piece kitchen utensil Set: durable black non-scratch nylon (bagged)
- solid spoon
- slotted spoon
- fish Slice
- potato masher
- ladle
3-piece container set: plastic food containers with sealable lids
chopping board: medium sized, anti-bacteria Nylon
paring Knife
utility Knife
chefs Knife
scissors: general purpose
3-way food grater: stainless steel encased in plastic
can opener: stainless steel
multi peeler: durable plastic & stainless steel
measuring jug: clear plastic (2 pint)
2 drying-up cloths: plain cotton
sleeping / night-time
face cloth. cotton, 500gsm (12in x 12in)
hand towel. cotton, 500gsm (20in x 36in)
bath towel. cotton, 500gsm (27in x 54in)
10 coat hangers: plastic with 360° swivel hooks
While I didn't expect to use every single thing that was in the pack, I thought it would get me what I did need at a fairly good price (as far as I could tell, not knowing what would be available in Glasgow and at what price)
This pack was 75 pounds, plus I also got an oven baking tray and two UK plug adaptors. In total, I paid 83.90, and it includes free delivery.
There were a couple reasons why I decided to actually buy stuff through All-Unied:
1. I wasn't sure what would be available in Glasgow
2. I wasn't sure that the stores that were nearby would have things I would need
3. If I'd be able to get to those stores soon after arriving to be able to get the things that I would need, or if I'd be able to get to these stores at all.
4. I also wasn't sure if the prices would end up more expensive or if I'd have a hard time getting stuff like pots and pans back on public transportation.
5. I liked how simple the whole thing was - I picked out what I wanted and then chose when to have it delivered to my hall. I didn't have to worry about getting this stuff.
So! I arrived in Glasgow on September 4th (a Sunday), so I set the delivery of my order to be on the 5th. On the 5th, the package was at the reception desk by the time I got home around 4 or so. Unfortunately I then had to carry it up to the 4th floor but that was inevitable. They didn't put it in my room (like some of the reviews had said) but 1) it arrived after I had already moved in so I wouldn't have expected them to "break into" my room to leave my box there and 2) I was on the 4th floor.
Everything in the box was packed very well - the box was pretty big but not too horrible to get upstairs to my room.
This is the box before I took anything out - Anything that was somewhat fragile was wrapped in bubble wrap, and everything was in packaging and plastic (for some reason I had been afraid that the products wouldn't be new)
Overall, I think my opinion of this company and this service is good. I didn't wind up using the majority of the products that I got but thats because my kitchen was really really horrible and I tried to avoid using it as much as I could. Add to that that some of the kitchen products I never would have used originally - like the fish slicer and a couple other things.
Most of the things that I did use I probably could have found within a few days of arriving in Glasgow. Not really sure about prices, because I didn't check. Also, probably still would have encountered a bit of difficulty getting this stuff back to Cairncross using public transportation. On my first day in Glasgow, we went to one of the main shopping areas and I wound up buying a duvet and duvet cover (and a couple other things) and I had to get everything back on the train. While it wasn't impossible, it was tiring and a smidge difficult to manage the crowds.
I would say that if you cook and use certain things frequently at home, then there shouldn't be a problem buying them. If you're like me and basically just cook frozen things and boil pasta, then its probably best to just get the things that you would need for that (maaaybe a couple other things but nothing super fancy).
I also just want to point out that one of my items arrived broken (the handle was broken off one of the pots). A friend of mine also had an item arrive broken, and when she contacted the company, they replaced it for her. I'm sure that if I had gotten around to contacting the company about my broken pot handle, they would have replaced it for me, but alas.
Also, another thing that I didn't really love about the products, was that all of the dishes that I received had these stickers on them that were extremely difficult to get off. It took me probably a good 15-20 minutes per item to get the sticker off, and even then, there was still residue from the sticker on the plate.
Two plates - one with the sticker still on, one showing the residue left by the sticker (not sure if you can tell very well).
However, I do think the company is offering a very good service. It was very comforting to know that I already had these products on the way to me in Glasgow and I didn't have to worry about finding them.
The only thing is that All-Unied* doesn't really offer any type of personalization (in terms of saying what color towels, plates, blankets I'd want). That probably doesn't matter to some people, but for me, it does - at least in terms of my bed comforter. I didn't want them to send me some random design or color, so I didn't buy a comforter through them, and had to buy one in Glasgow on Day 1. That's not really "their fault", but still.
I was pleasantly surprised, however, that the two mugs that came in my package, were not just plain white mugs, but somewhat fun :)
**Edit 6/17/13: Whilst googling All-Unied to give the link to someone else, I've discovered that the company has apparently changed their name - so now the company is called Click 2 Campus, and the website is click2campus.com. However, if you google All-Unied, the correct/current link will still come up. I'm assuming that the company is still basically the same, just with a different name, therefore the way the company works (and my review) would still be the same. But, obviously, I can't guarantee that how they did things when I purchased from them almost 2 years ago is the same as it is now.**
