The price payable for the goods we sell will be confirmed at the time you place your order. All our prices include V.A.T. The advertised price does not constitute a legally-binding contract and we reserve the right to change the pricing of incorrectly priced product. Should such action be necessary, you will be informed and given the opportunity to resubmit your order at the correct price, or cancel it. We must receive cleared funds for the whole of the price of the goods you order, plus any applicable charges for carriage, before your order can be released. We accept Access, Visa, Delta and Maestro, subject to security authorisation, which may involve a request for proof of I.D. We also accept direct bank transfer (BACS) payments - details available on request. Cheques can be accepted, but at least 10 working days must be allowed for clearance. Visitors to the shop may also pay using cash, but we cannot accept sums in excess of £10,000, due to new money laundering legislation. No goods will be reserved for a customer unless a deposit / full payment has been received. Ultimately, we reserve the right to decline any order.

Whilst we take every step to ensure that the goods we sell are described accurately, our information is gathered from a variety of sources, some of which themselves may be inaccurate. We cannot therefore guarantee the absolute reliability of our website content. Customers should use our site in conjunction with manufacturer websites to ensure total accuracy of description.

The Legal bit...
Creative Audio adheres to the Distance Selling Regulations 2000, which cover all mail order sales and state that from the time the order is placed up until seven working days from the "day after" the day the goods are received, the consumer has the right to cancel the order. A refund of all monies including any postage and packaging charged on the original order will be made by us within 30 days of cancellation, providing the following conditions are met:

• The customer must inform us in writing, within seven working days that he wishes to cancel
• The goods must be returned to us in 'as new' condition, complete with 'as new' original packaging and accessories
• Any 'free gifts' supplied with the goods must be returned.
• The goods must reach us undamaged - return is at the customer's risk, so we would suggest using an insured courier.
• Return freight charges must be paid by the customer

Please note that the Distance Selling Regulations 2000 do not apply to custom built or personalised products that have been ordered specifically as special orders (e.g. cables). This does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer.

The Basil Fawlty bit...
First and foremost we are a long established specialist shop. We believe that the best way to buy any audio equipment is to sit down and listen to it in a demonstration room. You wouldn't buy a house mail order or choose your bride mail order (OK, well some of you might!) because they are very subjective areas, and so is Home Entertainment. Consequently we deliberately do not have an online purchase facility. We want to make sure that your intended purchase is absolutely right for you and that simply isn't possible if you operate a 'shopping trolley' site. This is why an increasingly large number of manufacturers are banning the sales of their products from organisations that only run mail order sites, without any retail premises. We support that policy.

Our website is one of the biggest audio sites in Europe, with some of the most competitive deals around, but (because we don't allow online purchase) we intend the site to be viewed as an invitation to visit the shop. The obvious way of making sure that something is absolutely right for you is to visit the store and to experience / evaluate / look at the equipment for yourself. If you choose not to visit the shop, we feel that it's only fair that you should take reasonable steps to ensure that the equipment you choose is right for you. We will do all we can to help with this, and often show finishes / give dimensions etc. on our site.

So, if you (like one of our recent customers) buy a pair of speakers in Walnut and then discover that they 'don't match the colour of the cat', or that they 'don't fit on the shelf' (that's the shelf you could have easily measured before you ordered), we will do everything we can to help, but don't be surprised if Basil Fawlty makes an appearance on the phone, when you ring in to request a return!

The Distance Selling Regulations also raise one other interesting point - what is a retailer supposed to do with the goods that are returned by customers?

We want our customers to know that they always get brand new equipment from us - that simply won't be possible if large numbers of customers use distance selling regulations as an excuse to shop irresponsibly. How can any retailer who encourages a 'try before you buy' attitude absolutely guarantee that all the stock he sells is brand new? Would you want something that had already been in someone else's house for a month? Neither would we, which is why we encourage mail order customers to shop responsibly.

The Legal bit...
Many of our Hot Deals include free overnight delivery. This offer covers most mainland UK addresses, but there are some exceptions, notably the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands and Northern Ireland. Some of these destinations can still be catered for, but a surcharge will apply and delivery may take more than 24 hours - please ring / e-mail for details.

However, please note that we no longer ship to the Scottish Islands, the Channel Island or the Isles of Scilly and we do not get involved with export or VAT free sales, at all.

We want to get your equipment to you as quickly as possible, which is why we only use high quality (expensive) couriers. At the time you place your order, you will normally be told whether the goods in question are in stock. Most goods that are in stock at the time of order are shipped on the same day the order was taken, providing the order was received before 12 noon. We offer a 'best endeavour' next day delivery service - most of the packages we send out arrive the next working day (excludes weekends and bank holidays), but this is not a guaranteed service. Whilst every effort (including the supply of tracking information to customers) is made to deliver your purchases on time , we cannot be held responsible for non delivery, or for consequential financial loss due to non delivery. Our couriers do not work to timeslots - delivery can occur any time between 8am and 6pm. We can deliver to work or home, but either way a signature is required at the point of delivery - goods will not be left without a signature. You (or whoever signs on your behalf) will be signing to say that you have received the number of parcels shown on the delivery paper-work and that they are in good condition - if this is not the case, you must make a note of any discrepancies / damage on the driver's documentation. From the point of signing, all risks relating to the delivered goods become your responsibility. All damage / loss must be reported to us within 48 hours of receipt.

The Basil Fawlty bit...
If you come to the shop, you can take away all your chosen equipment with you, which means that you won't have to be exposed to another potential 'problem blackspot' - courier delivery. Every week we put out huge numbers of parcels, most of which arrive on the next working day without incident. However, many freight depots now deal with thousands of packages every day and it is inevitable that there will be occasional slip-ups.

Mail order is popular with busy, active professionals who simply don't have time to go to the shops - the trouble is that they are actually the least suitable people to use the mail order process, because they are never at home to receive the parcels! We all have to accept a degree of responsibility here - if you make a conscious decision to use mail order, then you have to accept that you need to be around when the courier turns up at your door. Couriers are legally contacted to take goods from us to you and get your signature when they're delivered. Whilst we can arrange for goods to delivered to an alternate address, someone still has to be available to sign. Couriers will not just 'leave it in the shed' or 'take it next door' - we are not talking about a crate of wine or a bunch of flowers here, many of our consignments are worth thousands of pounds and must be treated accordingly. Which means that customers who tell us that they're definitely not going to be in at any time during the week, will be politely declined. The same goes for customers who tell us that they will be at one address in the morning and another address in the afternoon, or that they will only be in for one hour a day. As for customers who just think 'I'll say I'm going to be in, then they'll stick a card through my letter box and I'll go and get it from the depot', well I'm afraid an increasing number of couriers have stopped doing that because of potential fraud. Also, it is quite possible for a hub depot to be 40 miles away. General speaking, couriers will attempt to deliver a few times, then return the parcel to us.

But which day will the goods arrive?

In an age where a restaurant can be sued for making coffee 'too hot', it is not surprising that virtually no courier absolutely guarantees next day delivery. Consequently, we can't absolutely guarantee it either (although ninety percent of the parcels we put out do arrive on the following working day). So if you're a brain surgeon 'who can earn £10,000 a day in private surgery' and you take a day off to wait for one of our parcels to arrive, and it doesn't - I'm afraid we're not liable! The same goes if you take it for granted that our equipment is going to arrive on a certain day (but it doesn't) and you've already booked an electrician to come on that very day to install all the cabling!

There are four reasons a piece of equipment might need to be returned to us - if it wasn't wanted in the first place, if it fails brand new straight from the box, if it fails inside the warranty period, or if it fails outside the warranty period. Lets look at each in turn...

Unwanted goods

The Legal bit...
As we have already stated, we adhere to the Distance Selling Regulations 2000 and will refund fully provided the conditions shown in the box labelled 'mail order sales' (top of this page) are met. When a consumer exercises the unconditional right to cancel under these regulations, the legal ownership of the goods in question reverts back to Creative Audio, once the refund has been paid. The Regulations impose a responsibility on the consumer to take "reasonable care" of any goods that have been supplied. This obligation applies before as well as after the consumer has given a notice of cancellation, and continues until we have received the goods back at the shop.

The Basil Fawlty bit...
We seldom get 'unwanted goods' returns, because most of our customers realise that buying a piece of Hi-fi is different from buying a plant pot from their local DIY store. It's a serious purchase that calls for research to be done before any money changes hands. Cancellation is pain for retailers, but it is also very inconvenient for customers, because they have to do a complete 'as new' re-pack, and they have to arrange (as well as pay for) freight. A typical system can weigh nearly 100kg and will cost over £50 to freight back, so the moral of the story is 'measure it twice - cut it once' - do your research before you order..

'Straight from the box' failures

The Legal bit...
When a unit fails 'straight from the box', we would ask customers to contact us immediately, so that we can discuss the exact nature of the fault with them and quickly resolve the problem. Once we have ascertained that the fault is not down to procedural error, we will arrange for uplift of the faulty unit, so that we can quickly examine it at the shop. When this has been done, and the fault has been confirmed, we will arrange for a brand new unit to be shipped to the customer, on a day that is convenient to the customer. This service is completely at our expense and is extended to any piece of equipment that has failed within one month of the purchase date on the sale of goods invoice. The only exception to this rule is for customers who live outside the UK (including those in Southern Ireland), who will be expected to meet all freight charges themselves. Creative Audio is not liable for any consequential losses (e.g. loss of earnings, due to taking time off work) however caused, that result from a unit's failure. We will try to carry out the replacement procedure in a way that is most convenient to the customer, but it is nonetheless the customer's responsibility to be available on both the date of the uplift and the date of the replacement. We appreciate that this can sometimes be inconvenient, so to help, we can arrange uplifts and deliveries to take place at a customer's work address.

The Basil Fawlty bit...
There is nothing more frustrating than what we in the trade call 'dead on arrival' failures. Thankfully, they are more of a rarity these days than ever before. However, transit can sometimes shake circuit boards up, leading to simple faults that unfortunately put a unit totally out of action. We pride ourselves on our after-sales service, and genuinely believe that no other company resolves issues more quickly. However, do bear in mind that if you have chosen to shop via mail order, then even our super-efficient replacement procedure will still involve a degree of inconvenience, because you will have to be 'in' when our courier calls. There is no escaping this - it is a fact of life that comes from dealing at distance.

Warranty failures

The Legal bit...
If a piece of equipment we supplied fails whilst still under warranty, we will repair it free of charge as quickly as possible and return it to the customer at our expense. However, nearly all of our guarantees are strictly 'return to shop', which means that we need to see most things back here (some projectors and screens go directly back to the manufacturer). The cost of getting the faulty goods back to us is borne by the customer. Our offer of free freight back to the customer's home, only extends to people living in mainland Britain. If you live outside mainland Britain (i.e. in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, the Scottish islands, or the Channel islands) you will have to contribute towards the freight charges for the return journey as well as paying all the freight for the incoming journey. If you live abroad (including Southern Ireland) you will have to pay all the freight charges both ways. If we ascertain that the failure is due to customer abuse, or we cannot (after extensive testing) find any fault with the unit, we reserve the right to make a charge for the repair and / or return of the goods to the customer. It is the customer's responsibility to get the unit back to us undamaged, by packing it in its original box (then preferably an additional outer box) and using a recognised courier service, with the necessary insurance. We and most manufacturers strongly advise customers to hold on to all of their boxes in case units have to be shipped for service.

The Basil Fawlty bit...
One of the good things about dealing with Creative Audio is that we offer longer warranties than many of our competitors. However, all of our guarantees are strictly 'return to shop' - please don't attempt to take them to the local dealer who wouldn't match our Hot Deals in the first place - they will probably tell you where to go! The cost of getting the faulty goods back to us must be borne by the customer. If you had bought it from your local dealer, the same would apply, because you would have the expense of taking it back to him. If you live in a far flung corner of the British Isles, then freighting back units for service will be expensive - you need to think about this before you decide to buy your Hi-Fi at distance.

The systems we sell will give years of enjoyment, if used responsibly. However, anything (no matter how good) can be broken if it is taken beyond the limits of 'normal' usage. If our systems are run at maximum volume, used at very high volume for long periods of time, or used in the garden at high volume, there is a high risk of causing damage. Remember, domestic hi-fi is not designed for commercial-type use - it is not a PA system, it is not designed for running in rooms that are as big as halls, it is not designed for running at disco levels, or for running outdoors. We can easily tell if equipment has been abused - damage caused this way is not covered by warranty.

We are obviously as disappointed as you if one of our units fails. It is frustrating and annoying for everyone, but there is no point in 'taking it out' on the unit by packing it inadequately when returning it for warranty repair. Sending us a faulty DVD player in the post, with one layer of bubble wrap round it and no box (which is what one customer did recently), is (surprisingly enough) a recipe for disaster!





Out of Warranty failures

The Legal bit...
We will always attempt to service anything we have sold if at all possible. All we ask is that you give us a quick ring in advance to let us know you intend to bring the unit in. We will then advise you of the prevailing turnaround times (normally about ten days). The charge for repairs is very straight forward. We don't offer estimates - instead, we simply go ahead on anything below £60. If we think the repair is going to cost more than £60, we will ring you first before proceeding. All our repairs carry a three month warranty which covers the work that we have undertaken in the repair. We prefer to see units brought to us for service - if you decide to freight goods, please pack them to withstand a small nuclear explosion and bear in mind that we will have to make a £15 charge to freight back to you.

The Basil Fawlty bit...
Another great thing about dealing with Creative Audio is that we have one of the best service departments in the UK. Not only is this good for our customers, it is also good for the environment. Taking all your bottles back to a bottle bank is pretty meaningless if you then turn around and simply throw away a resource-rich unit like a complex piece of electronics. However, there is a limit to the miracles we can perform. We don't generally service units that we didn't sell in the first place. Also, with the best will in the world, some elderly equipment just cannot be reliably repaired. If in doubt, feel free to call for advice.

If you've read our in a nutshell piece, you will know how keen we are on recycling. Whether you think that global warming is a scientific fact or a clever ruse to raise indirect taxation, it still makes sense for consumers to recycle as much as they possibly can. If we don't, then we are (literally) digging a pretty big hole for ourselves! It is also arguably morally correct that the people who generate and distribute new consumer products should share some responsibility for the disposal of the old products that are being replaced. If you want to know the scale of the problem, click here.

From July 2007, the UK's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations oblige all producers of electrical equipment to pay for take-back treatment and recycling of end of life equipment. In addition, all new EEE must be marked with the 'crossed out wheeled bin' symbol (shown below). This symbol aims to encourage consumers to separate out WEEE, so that it is not included with general household waste.

As a distributor of EEE Creative Audio is obliged to facilitate the take-back of household WEEE from UK consumers. We have decided to fulfil our obligation in this area by joining the Government approved "Distributor Take-Back scheme" (DTS) set up by Valpak (view our certificate). By joining the Valpak scheme, Creative Audio is contributing to the establishment of a network of Designated Collection Facilities (DCF) where consumers can dispose of their WEEE free of charge, for recycling and treatment in an ecologically sound manner. In this way Creative Audio can ensure that WEEE is disposed of by customers in a way that optimizes its re-use and recycling. Because of our membership of the Valpak scheme, Creative Audio will not accept returns of household WEEE itself and cannot accept WEEE returns for recycling: neither do we make arrangements for its collection. Instead, we ask that you take your old piece of equipment to a designated collection facility (DCF) run by Valpak in your area, where it will be processed for free. Please see www.recycle-more.co.uk where you will find details of your nearest recycling depot and more information on the WEEE scheme in general.

The importance of efficient recycling cannot be overstated. Not only does it save on resources, it also ensures that the hazardous substances contained in many electrical goods are dealt with properly and not allowed to harm the environment or human health.

Creative Audio (Shrewsbury) Limited's liability for any damage, injury or loss (other than death or personal injury) in particular consequential loss, arising from the use of any goods purchased from our organisation or from the actual transaction itself is hereby excluded. Any damage, injury or loss arising directly from the negligence of Creative Audio (Shrewsbury) Limited or any of its agents will be limited to a refund of the total price of the goods purchased, plus delivery charges paid.

Privacy We are committed to protecting your privacy. We will only use the information collected from you lawfully (in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998).

We collect information about you for two reasons: firstly, to process your order and secondly, to provide you with the best possible service. The type of information we collect about you includes: your name, address, phone number, credit card details and e-mail address. We will not pass on your details to any third parties.

We will not e-mail you in the future unless it is to respond to any comments or queries you may have.

The personal information we hold will be held securely in accordance with our internal security policy.

If you have any queries or concerns about your privacy please contact us by e-mailing sales@creative-audio.co.uk

Creative Audio (Shrewsbury) Limited will not be held responsible if we are prevented or delayed from supplying or making delivery of any goods by any reason or cause that is beyond our direct control.