About Us
Steph and Kate at Thread Bear would like our customers to have a very positive experience of us and our website. If you have any suggestions or comments please email us at info@thread-bear.co.uk.
Making A Purchase
Making a purchase could not be easier. Just browse our catalogue and click on any items that you wish to buy, to put them into the shopping basket. If you change your mind, you can click 'VIEW BASKET' and take item out of your basket again. After you have finished your selection, click on "CHECKOUT". You will be asked for a few details so that we can satisfy the order. You will not actually have ordered anything until you have clicked the FINISH button on the credit card details page.
Payment
Payment is in pounds Sterling. For overseas customers, your credit card company will convert the transaction to your own currency automatically, as the card is processed.
You are given a choice of payment method at the checkout:
- Credit/debit card - we accept VISA, Mastercard, Maestro, Solo and AmEx. We use secure enryption (SSL) for your credit card details to ensure safety in sending these details online.
- You can email us with your order and send your credit or debit card details by telephone or fax. We DO NOT RECOMMEND EMAILING CARD DETAILS as it is much less secure than ordering online, which is why we recommend you telephone or fax your details.
- Alternatively, you can send payment by mail with a Sterling cheque, drawn on a UK bank, payable to Thread Bear.
We cannot accept other cards, cash, non-UK currency, postal orders, stamps or International Reply Coupons. We do not charge for any item until it is ready to ship.
Credit Card Security
All credit card numbers are encrypted in the software when the order is placed using 128 bit encryption. (The familiar "closed padlock" sign on many sites usually indicates 56-bit encryption. 128-bit encryption is many times stronger than that.) The numbers are only decrypted after they reach our computer, and are not held in clear text on any web site.
VAT
All prices in our web catologue are quoted inclusive of VAT. The VAT standard rate is 17.5%. No VAT is charged on purchases from outside the European Union, so if you are ordering from outside the EU, the VAT will be subtracted from your bill before payment is taken. Our VAT registration number is GB 853 6843 94.
Delivery Schedule and Availability of Stock
We are an independent local 'high-street' shop with a love of all needlecrafts, and we aim to keep a wide range of all items in stock for our customers, but we cannot hold every item from every supplier in stock all the time - we are just not big or wealthy enough! However, our shop customers love browsing through catalogues and we frequently order items in specially, and we felt that on our website you would also like the opportunity to see the enormous wealth of designs that are available to order - many which we will have in stock but others that we may need to order in for you.
If you place an order and the item(s) are in stock, we will post to you by Royal Mail or Parcelforce within one working day of your order. This usually means next-day delivery, but we would advise allowing up to 7 days in the UK (overseas airmail parcels may take longer to arrive).
If your requested item(s) are not in stock, we will contact you within the next working day to advise you of how long an order is likely to take, with the option to cancel your order if you would rather not wait. (The vast majority of items are available to us within 2-7 days). In any case, we will not take payment from your credit card until we are about to despatch your order to you.
Postage Charges
We normally charge 'actual postage' only. We weigh your parcel once it is packed and ready to go, and then use the Royal Mail tables to work out first class postage (or airmail for international parcels) and add this charge on to your bill. We do not normally make any additional charges for packaging or administration - in other words, we simply charge you whatever it costs us to send your order, to cover our costs. As we do not know what postage will be until we weigh the finished order, we do not have any standard charges on our web site, but if you want to get a rough idea of Royal Mail costs, we advise you refer to the tables on their web site (www.royalmail.com).
However, there is one exception - if your order is below £2.00, we may need to add a packaging surcharge of 50p at our discretion, to cover costs of expensive envelopes etc. Normally we don't charge for packaging at all; however, you will appreciate that for some small items at very low cost (eg sale items), the packaging becomes relatively expensive for us, so this is simply to cover our costs.
Returning Goods
You may return your order at any time up to 7 working days from the date you receive the goods. Under almost all circumstances we will be happy to fully refund the full purchase price or issue a credit note, as you prefer, as soon as the goods are returned to us. The exception to this is any special orders that we cannot return to the supplier. This is very rare, but we would let you know the situation in advance of ordering. In all cases, goods must be returned to us at your own expense, unused and in perfect condition.
Of course, if an item is faulty or has any component missing, then we will replace it immediately on its return to us, and refund any postage costs that you have incurred. Refunds will only be made to the original credit/debit card account, or by cheque payable to the signatory of the original cheque.
We keep a record of all items posted and receipts of packages, and we cannot accept responsbility for any undelivered items once they are posted from our shop, nor issue any refunds related to non-arrival of goods we have sent to the address provided. There is a Royal Mail system whereby we can sometimes relaim costs for lost items from the Post Office, and if we are able to do so in your particular case, we would be very happy to pass on any reclaimed costs.
This guarantee is in addition to your statutory rights as a consumer.
Reaching Us
If you need to reach us regarding more information, a complaint, refund, or to return goods to us, please email us on info@thread-bear.co.uk. Alternatively, you can call Kate or Steph on 020 8657 5050 (International +44 20 8657 5050) 9 am to 5 pm (UK time) Monday to Saturday except Wednesdays 9 am to 12.30 pm, fax us (24 hrs) on 020 8657 0873 (standard tariffs apply) or write to us at: Thread Bear, 350 Limpsfield Road, Hamsey Green, South Croydon, Surrey CR2 9BX. We will endeavour to respond within two working days.
Privacy Policy
Thread Bear does not disclose buyers’ information to third parties. Cookies are used on this shopping site, but only to keep track of the contents of your shopping basket once you have selected an item. If you would like further detaills of our Privacy Policy, please click on the link at the bottom of this page.
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