Delivery

If you are unable to collect items from our Design Studio or if they are too big for your car we will do our best to deliver to you.

How will my order be delivered?

To deliver your order we use professional couriers such as UPS and FedEx as well as Royal Mail & Parcelforce. Normally parcels will require a signature on delivery.

In recent years couriers have become increasingly concerned by no-one being home to receive parcels. So some couriers now will not deliver to residential addresses and others raise surcharges if they cannot deliver in 2 attempts. Some couriers offer local drop off points (often local convenience store or petrol station) as an option instead of home delivery.

How much does delivery cost?

Delivery by courier in the UK (mainland) usually costs £13.50 per parcel for fabric on the roll, and £9 per box of wallpaper. On larger orders we aim to absorb this cost for you.

Anything over 150cm long unfortunately attracts surcharges from our couriers; this affects boxed rolls of velvet and some wide width fabrics. Some products that are warehoused in the USA or France also incur higher delivery charges. We will make the cost of delivery clear in our quotes.

Where do you deliver to?

We routinely deliver in the UK and across Europe. We can also deliver worldwide. But delivery within the British Isles is not always as simple as it may seem. Because of the distance & time involved most couriers charge more to cross water to Isle of Man, Channel Isles, & Scottish Islands etc. Also delivery to remote parts of Scotland can be a problem; several of our standard couriers will not take rolls of fabric as they are classed as “large”, so we have fewer delivery options.

Delivery to Northern Ireland, post Brexit, is not a problem for us – although there are one or two exceptions.

You may be surprised that we can deliver to New York faster than the Hebrides!

The good news is that couriers like UPS and FedEx have a truly comprehensive global network. This is usually fast and reliable, unless over-zealous customs officials decide to intervene.

Outside the UK, we’ll always quote a delivery charge on a case-by-case basis.

What happens when I receive my order?

Normally you will have to sign on delivery. Then you you’ll be ready to start your project with beautiful fabric or wallpaper.

When you get your delivery it is your responsibility to check the goods before you sign. In the unlikely event that there is visible damage you must get the courier to log this or you must sign as damaged. If external damage is not visible but damage is noticed when you open the packing you must report this to us immediately and certainly within 3 working days. Please take photos of the packaging, the labels and the damage and e-mail them across to us along with a detailed description of what has happened.

If you do not inspect and report a problem immediately, it is impossible to know whether a problem arose in transit or after delivery. Sometimes fabric may not be used by a curtain maker or upholsterer for weeks after delivery and it may be stored in uncontrolled circumstances. In this situation any claim for replacement/repair will be unsuccessful unless any problem is identified immediately on delivery.

If no-one is available to sign for the delivery, it may be taken back by the courier to their distribution centre and you will usually receive a card through the letter box. A second delivery may be attempted or you may need to collect the parcel from a local point such as a UPS Access Point, or your local Post Office for Parcelforce. Eventually, the parcel will be returned to sender and if that happens you will have to pay surcharges for the parcel to be re-booked again with a courier. If you are not going to be available to receive your goods (perhaps you are on holiday) you must notify us before we despatch.

What is the tax situation on exports?

We normally charge UK VAT (currently 20%) on all our prices where delivery is in the UK and in the EU. (There are certain exceptions.) To other countries we do not charge VAT but it becomes your responsibility to pay local taxes and import duty if applicable. In certain circumstances we will charge you UK VAT and then refund it to you once we have documentary “proof of export” to a location outside the EU.

How will my order be protected in transit?

Wallpaper is usually shipped in protective cardboard boxes holding up to a dozen rolls. These can be up to 70cm long and weigh up to 15kg. Wide width and panel style wallpapers come in sturdy protective tubes up to 150cm long.

We ship fabric rolled on a cardboard tube to minimise creasing – this makes a parcel about 150cm long. Some sensitive fabrics are packed on a suspended tube inside a larger box. These can be unwieldy and are often 160cm long. Large rolls can be heavy, weighing in excess of 20kg.

Curtains and blinds are wrapped in plastic and then shipped in cardboard boxes.

Fabric treated with Fire Retardant usually is first sent to the treatment works before being shipped to you or your upholsterer, so please note that this can add ~ 10 working days for processing. Also note that treated fabric can be significantly heavier than the raw material.

Chairs are delivered wrapped in heavy duty plastic and protective wrapping applied to legs.

Paint tins are delivered in special protective cardboard boxes, but large orders will be delivered on a small pallet.

How quickly will I receive my order?

Our standard deliveries are not timed services. In certain situations express services are available for additional charges.

The fastest way of getting items to you is to ensure that your parcel is signed for on first delivery. Since deliveries are normally 9am-5pm Mon-Fri there is a real benefit having a delivery made to a registered business address where there will always be someone to sign. Often it will be cheaper to deliver to a business address.

With fabrics we try to minimise the handling involved in shipping and we prefer to arrange delivery to your curtain maker or upholsterer, if appropriate. If you want us to send it there please provide the delivery details, including a delivery phone number and (very important) some sort of job reference. Without a job reference the recipient may not realise that the fabric is intended for your beautiful new curtains or sofa!

We can take no responsibility for delay in the courier chain caused by (for example) bad weather, customs, Christmas overload etc.

How do you deliver furniture?

We use a specialist courier for home delivery of furniture. Unfortunately this is neither cheap nor fast but ensures that your beautiful new chair arrives safely. To keep the cost of furniture delivery affordable our chairs normally take two steps to reach you; firstly from factory to a hub and then from a hub to you. Depending on your location and the timing of your delivery, this can take up to 14 working days.

Finally

I hope this doesn’t put you off having items delivered. We only work with professional couriers who will give you the sort of service we’d expect ourselves.

If you have any other questions, please contact us by phone or via our online form. We’ll do our best to help you.