Our Terms & Conditions

Pricing and VAT

All publicly displayed prices include VAT at 20.0%. If your delivery address is outside of the EU you will not be charged VAT and you will see VAT exclusive pricing during checkout.

We accept credit cards, debit cards and payments via PayPal and bank transfer in GBP (Pounds Sterling) only. We regret we do not accept payment by cheque from personal customers.

If you are shopping from outside the UK or EU, place your order and your credit card company will convert the transaction to your own currency. We reserve the right to change prices without notice.

Acceptance of order

The receipt of an order is not confirmation of our acceptance of it. Failure to provide the correct billing address of any credit/debit card may result in the cancellation of any order. We reserve the right to refuse delivery to addresses we regard as incomplete or unreliable in any way.

Some of our products are of high value. For customers' and our security and to prevent fraud we may at our discretion require some further proof of identity before we accept and process any order. This normally takes the form of a scan of an official document showing the name and delivery address of the customer e.g. driving license, utility bill. Customers will be notified by email of this requirement. We reserve the right to cancel and refund any order at our absolute discretion

Payment by debit/credit card

By providing your debit or credit card details when checking out through this website you consent to The String Zone Limited initiating payments against your card for goods and services both now and in the future. The total payment amount will be displayed to you in GBP (Pounds Sterling) during checkout. If your account is in a different currency, your bank will convert the GBP amount to your local currency and may charge you an additional fee to do so.

Lost or undelivered mail

Please note that address labels are generated automatically from the information entered during checkout. We therefore ask you to carefully enter and check your delivery address as we do not accept responsibility for orders lost as a result of an incorrectly supplied address.

UK addresses:

Royal Mail does lose packages on occasion but will not accept any claim for lost mail within 15 business days (3 weeks) of posting. If we are satisfied that an order is lost we will replace it after this period only if we have been supplied with the correct name of the customer (including surname) and full delivery address without alteration, either as contained in the Royal Mail database (from which our address search facility is drawn) or if we are satisfied at our absolute discretion that the address provided is complete. We strongly recommend that our address finder is used to select your delivery address. We do not accept liability for lost mail incorrectly addressed to destinations covered by the UK postcode system.

Regardless of any shipping charge paid when placing the order any packages returned to us by Royal Mail as undeliverable will incur a flat redelivery charge of £3 or the actual cost of postage, whichever is the greater if a duplicate order has been sent or the original order is resent.

International addresses:

Any orders returned to us as undelivered/uncollected will incur a flat redelivery charge of or the actual cost of postage, whichever is the greater if a duplicate order has been sent or the original order is resent.

Shipping & handling

The invoice total plus any shipping charges made at the time of order includes a single delivery cycle only.

Re-sending of mail returned to us:

A charge of £3 or the actual cost of shipping, whichever is the greater will be charged to the customer for the re-sending of any parcel returned to us as undelivered for whatever reason.

We ship via Royal Mail or courier at our discretion according to value, weight and destination. Detailed information about options and charges are on our Delivery Prices page or on the checkout page. Some orders will require a signature on delivery. A tracking link will be provided in our shipping confirmation email. The customer is liable for any costs incurred by us as a result of a failed delivery in these circumstances.

Tracked delivery:

We will email tracking information for all orders shipped via a tracked service. The customer is liable for any costs incurred by us in recovering and/or re-delivering as a result of the courier being unable to deliver.

Delivery schedule

Definition of the terms 'business day' and 'day' on our site: Any day except Saturday, Sunday and UK and Scottish public holidays unless otherwise expressly defined.

Orders are shipped by a method of our choice with the intention of achieving delivery within the time frame indicated according to the choice of delivery rate by the customer. Our delivery times are only targets and not guaranteed. Please refer to Delivery Prices page for full details.

Back orders

Stock levels are indicated against product options. We partially ship orders according to the shipping rate selected. Out of stock items will be shipped as soon as possible. Expected dates of arrival are given by our suppliers and cannot be guaranteed.

Product warranty

All products other than strings are fully guaranteed against manufacturing defects for a minimum of one year from date of purchase. Strings are not guaranteed by the manufacturer because their fitting and use is beyond their control. We always replace strings that are clearly faulty but reserve the right to return strings to the manufacturer in the case of doubt. Any items which we agree to replace must be available for return to us.

Cookie and privacy policy

We respect your privacy. We do not sell mailing lists to other companies, or divulge any of your personal details to other companies or individuals. We only use the information you give us to process your order and provide a quick and convenient service to you in the future. No financially sensitive information is contained within our customer accounts. Cookies are used on this shopping site to keep track of the contents of your shopping cart once you have selected an item. By continuing with your order your accept this policy.

Returns and exchanges

Please note that the suitability of any string for a particular instrument regardless of quality, age or make or player regardless of ability is entirely subjective. Any advice or recommendation given by us in any form is provided in good faith but due to the many variables involved any such advice or recommendation is accepted at the customer's risk. Unless faulty, strings that have been fitted to an instrument cannot be returned.

Correctly supplied items:

These may be returned at the customer's expense for a full refund less any shipping costs originally paid by the customer, within 30 days of receipt. Strings must be unopened with any seal or label either ours or the manufacturer's unbroken. Items which may need to be tried for suitability e.g chin rests, shoulder rests, bows etc. must be complete with all packaging and accessories either ours or the manufacturer’s, show no evidence of wear or alteration and be as supplied and suitable for resale.

Items considered faulty:

These must NOT be returned without prior contact with us in order to obtain agreement on the method used for return which is entirely at our discretion. Items reported as faulty must be available for return to us. Postage costs incurred without our prior agreement will not be refunded.
Please Contact us for details of how to return items under this condition.

Credit accounts

We accept debit and all major credit cards and payment via PayPal or BACS. 30 day credit accounts are available to accredited schools and institutions. To use this service please create an educational institution account here. All account orders are accepted at our discretion and initial orders may only be accepted on a pro forma basis.

Contacting us

If you need to contact us, please email us at sales@thestringzone.com or telephone 01903 942630.