Just a caution to anyone tempted by the web special offers at www.bill-lewington.co.uk. I appreciate that they are mostly wholesale, but they really could put a bit more effort into dealing with private buyers if they're going to offer individual items for sale like this. A few months ago it took over a week of non-returned phone calls to establish that an item listed was not in fact available. Just recently I ordered a couple of tenor cases. They arrived promptly enough, rattling around in a box 5ft x 2ft x 2ft, accompanied by an insufficient amount of that plastic wrapping made up of air-filled pouches. One case was as described but the other (supposed to be "ex-demo" and with an interior "like new") was secondhand - it actually had one of those cloth school name tapes sewn in! - and with tears in the lining.
They deliver via UPS, who do not collect from private addresses, so the only way to return it would be via the post office, trusting Lewington's to reimburse the carriage. I reckon it would take half an hour to adapt their ludicrous packaging to contain a single case securely, the post office is a 20-minute drive each way. It was only a cheap item and the return postage would probably cost them not much short of £10.00, so I figured it would make everyone's life easier to explain the demands on my time and offer to accept a £10.00 credit card refund and leave it at that.
I spoke to two different people, spent ten minutes on hold at my expense, and was finally told that their standard procedures could not possibly allow such an irregular arrangement, and the case would have to be sent back and inspected. To my mind this is just being inflexible and unhelpful for the sake of it, and I would advise anyone interested in one of their offers to talk to someone who has the item in front of them, and make quite sure it is as described, because you'll not get a very friendly response if it isn't.
They deliver via UPS, who do not collect from private addresses, so the only way to return it would be via the post office, trusting Lewington's to reimburse the carriage. I reckon it would take half an hour to adapt their ludicrous packaging to contain a single case securely, the post office is a 20-minute drive each way. It was only a cheap item and the return postage would probably cost them not much short of £10.00, so I figured it would make everyone's life easier to explain the demands on my time and offer to accept a £10.00 credit card refund and leave it at that.
I spoke to two different people, spent ten minutes on hold at my expense, and was finally told that their standard procedures could not possibly allow such an irregular arrangement, and the case would have to be sent back and inspected. To my mind this is just being inflexible and unhelpful for the sake of it, and I would advise anyone interested in one of their offers to talk to someone who has the item in front of them, and make quite sure it is as described, because you'll not get a very friendly response if it isn't.