I've used Kozmo.com (http://www.disobey.com) to order CDs and videos, so why not a birthday present? A few weeks after the online delivery shop launched its gift service, I gave it a test drive. The service's promise: Kozmo.com will deliver a wrapped gift to a recipient in any of 11 cities in about an hour. So while sitting at your computer in San Diego, you can send the latest Harry Potter book to your nephew in Chicago.

But the gift service still has a lot of kinks. My first order was bungled so many times that it became a comedy of errors. When I tried the service again a few days later, Kozmo.com executed almost flawlessly. For my first attempt, I ordered a Polaroid I-Zone camera as a birthday present for my friend Marla. From my temporary Mexico City home, I arranged to have it giftwrapped and sent to her in New York. (Kozmo.com warns that someone has to be at the recipient's address to sign for the delivery. I had to call and make sure Marla would be home, which kind of ruined the surprise. Kozmo.com will make one additional delivery attempt at no extra cost.) I paid $2.99 for giftwrap and a $3.99 gift handling fee. My order arrived about two hours late -- and Komzo.com sent the wrong item. And it arrived unwrapped. A Kozmo.com customer-service representative called my friend and apologized for the company's tardiness. When she informed them of the mix-up, Kozmo.com sent another messenger out with the correct item -- and two dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts, some ice cream and popcorn as, I guess, a peace offering. "We truly regret the foul-up," says Skip Trevathan, Komzo.com's chief operating officer. "It was very early in our introduction of gifting." Kozmo.com performed a lot better the second time I tried the gift service. I sent a Lyle Lovett CD to my friend Robin, also in New York. Kozmo.com sent the correct item and it was giftwrapped. The CD's plastic case, however, was cracked. Kozmo.com's new gift service is a great idea. But the company really has to improve its track record before I trust it with a loved one's gift -- and my reputation as a friend -- again.