CREDIT CARDS WHEN YOU PAY FROM THE WEBSITE

We cannot accept cards over the telephone, we accept cards online only.

SUMMARY

When you have finished selecting your items and choose "Pay by Card" (credit card or debit card) you will be forwarded to the credit card company to pay. You will never be asked to enter your card details onto this website.

We use HSBC (the 'Acquiring Bank'), the actual forms you fill in are Actinic Payments (the 'Internet Gateway'), and the verification of your card is through Credit Call. This is how paying by card works on the internet, no website has direct access to your credit card.

IS IT SECURE?

All credit card systems are ultimately controlled by a handful of banks, though the companies that run the systems don't advertise this. Our bank, and the ultimate 'enforcer' should anything go wrong, is HSBC, the third-largest bank in the world.

The 'system' that takes your order (the forms you fill in with your card details) is by Actinic, one of the most common Shopping Basket systems on the internet, with the highest levels of security.

Actinic not only take your details and link to the banks, but they also forward your details to Credit Call for verification.

We refer to these three companies, together, as "the credit card company".

DELIVERY ADDRESS AND CARDHOLDER'S ADDRESS

The address you enter ("Invoice Address") must match the address to which the card is registered. So please type the address exactly as it appears on your credit card statement or the card will be refused. This is the most common reason for credit card transactions failing, so please type the address carefully. If necessary, find a credit card statement and copy the address exactly, even if there are spelling mistakes.

In addition to the Invoice Address you may, if you wish, enter a the Delivery Address. In most cases we will only send the goods to the cardholder's address. But it depends. There are four possible scenarios.

Scenario 1: you have only one address, you enter it as the Invoice Address, it is the address to which your credit card statement is sent, it is the address to which you want the goods delivered. Tip: do it this way if at all possible, keep it simple.

Scenario 2: the goods are for you, personally, at home (where your card is registered) but you work during the day and would like the goods delivered to work. Action: sorry, we must deliver to the cardholder's address. Tip: you can use our questionnaire (when you order) to enter Special Delivery Instructions, e.g. "If there is no reply leave at No.25" and then forget about using a separate delivery address, we will write your instruction on the packet. But please be sensible, some customers have been asking the postman to ring the doorbell, and if there is no reply, to deliver the item to an address a few streets away - the postman is not going to do this.

Scenario 3: the goods are for a small company and you are the boss, but your card is registered to your home address, so you enter your home as the Invoice Address, with Delivery Address as the business address. Action: sorry, we must deliver to the cardholder's address. We can, however, make the invoice out to the business, just ask. Tip: if this is a problem you have regularly, change the registered address to the business address.

Scenario 4: the goods are for a branch (of a large company) but payment is always from Head Office. Action: if we know you, we will check with Head Office that this is OK. If we don't know you, we will ask why, and we will be eager to deal with you and will want a list of branches that will be buying through your Head Office. But first we will check that both your branch and Head Office are listed in the telephone directory, and that the company is well-known enough to get dozens of 'hits' on an internet search, and if there is any doubt, we will not enter into negotiations, we will refuse the order. Tip: get your Head Office to clear it with us first, it saves embarrassment when you think your company is 'big' but we can't find any trace of it, or when different branches have different trading names.