Currency British Pounds

Language Deutsch English Español Français Italiano Norwegian Bokmal Nederlands Português Русский язык

Welcome Guest [ Login | Register ]

If my question is not answered here and I get stuck is there someone I can call for help?

Yes. During office hours (9 am – 5 pm Monday-Friday ONLY). Please telephone us on +44 (0)870 745 0982. We try to answer all calls although occasionally we may be out of the office and your message will go to answerphone, if this is the case please leave a message and your telephone number (landline only please) and we will call you back as soon as possible. (Please note if you are phoning from overseas please leave an e-mail address or e-mail us first) If you require a fast response then please e-mail us.
Remember we can sort out most queries by e-mail and do pick up e-mails outside of office hours. Messages left on the answerphone will be checked regularly, usually within 24 hours.

Our Terms and Conditions and other questions regarding our returns policy can be found at the bottom of our ‘How to Order’ document

Making an order

Please also read through our ‘How to Order’ document if your question is not answered here.

I’ve lost my password how do I access my account?

You can go to the on-line store and click the login in the top right of the page. Click “forgot your password?” and enter your email address and the security code, then click “send password”. You will receive a new temporary password by email and further instructions.

On rare occasions (usually local spam filters or your internet providers filters) your new password email may be blocked. If your new password is not received within 12 hours contact us direct by e-mail and we can issue you with a new password. You will also need to provide your name. For security reasons your e-mail address will be verified before a replacement password is issued. If we are unable to verify your details from this we may need to contact you.

Can I add to my order after it is placed?

No, not if the order has been placed and paid for on-line. As an added security we do not receive your card details for on-line order payments, (you deal directly with PayPal) and we are not able to alter the amount you have paid.

I cannot 'log in' to my account what can I do?

If you experience problems logging in this may be because you are entering our site via a 'favourite place' or 'bookmark' on your Internet Service Provider's screen, try entering our site directly through Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox or another browser. If this fails then please contact us by e-mail. If you experience problems placing an order then please send us the order by e-mail so we can reserve the items and then we can send you a PayPal invoice. Please remember that your if your e-mail order is placed overnight (UK local time), it may not be collected until the following morning.

The item I want is not in stock, can I order one?

You will need to e-mail us with the details of the item you require and we will let you know when the item is likely to be back in stock. We can give you more details when you contact us. Please note however that if we do not make the item you require, you may have to wait until we re-order from the manufacturer or until the manufacturer of the item can supply us. (In the case of some hand crafted miniatures this can take several weeks). However, it is our policy that you will only be billed once the goods are ready for despatch.

Note: If the out of stock item you require is marked as Limited Stocks, we are unlikely to have further stocks of that item.

I am a member of a dolls house club, can we place a bulk order at cheaper prices?

Yes but the club secretary will need to organise your order and contact us. A discounted price is only available on certain of our own items, full details and how to order will be sent when your club applies. You will not receive a discounted price for any goods if the order is placed through the web shop as a normal order.

Can you send me measurements of an item before I buy it?

Yes, we can supply full measurements of all items, please e-mail us with the product code (found in bottom left hand corner of the main screen for the product) of the item you wish measured. We are very strict about scale and the item's scale this will be noted on the item on the web shop/catalogue to allow for comparisons.

Is there VAT on the prices?

We are not currently registered for VAT so all prices shown are tax free.

Shopping basket

How long can I leave items in my shopping basket?

The items may remain in your shopping basket for up to 24 hours, but do be aware that items are not reserved for you until your order is placed. For restricted stock items therefore it is still possible for these to become out of stock during this time, so check availability of all items you want to buy BEFORE placing your order. Also be aware that some browsers will delete the items in your shopping basket when you exit the site.

How do I remove an item from my shopping basket?

This can be done by looking at your shopping basket, click on the view basket tab at the top left of the page:

 

This will open a new screen showing the contents of your basket:

You can then delete items by clicking on the X to the left of the photo as highlighted in the top red circle or change the number of items required by changing the number in the box to the right of the X. If you change or delete an item you must click the ‘apply changes’ button at the bottom of the screen or your changes will not be saved.

Can I look at my existing/past orders?

Click ‘login’ at the top right of the screen and if you created a full customer account with a password then proceed to login. (If you did not create a full customer account when you placed your order you have chance to register now by clicking the button below the login and filling out the form this time with a password. Once registered you can access orders you have placed with us.)
Once you are logged in the screen will return to the homepage, but at the top right you can now click ‘Your account’ (highlighted in the photo above). This will take you to a new screen:

There are four choices, click ‘order history’ to find out the status of current and details of past orders. You can also change your password or update your details by clicking the relevant links.

What is the difference between a full customer account and just paying for the order?

The main difference is that you can check all your orders, including current and past orders. You can change to a full customer account at any time by following the instructions in the question above. You do not need to have a full customer account to check on the status of an order placed with us, as you will be notified by e-mail of each change of status of your order. This e-mail will also contain a link which will allow you to check the status of your order as it progresses through the system.

Why does the total in stock remain the same when I add one to my basket?

The stock level will not decrease until you have actually PLACED for your order.

I am having problems entering the security code on the registration page, what can I do?

If you are a Mac user and experience problems entering the Security code, try using lower case (little) letters instead of the capital letters shown, as this has worked for some customers. If you still experience problems then send us details of the items and quantities you require, plus the country the items will be delivered to (in order to calculate postage costs). We will then check stocks, reserve the items, send you a PayPal invoice and once the payment is made (by card or PayPal) your goods will be despatched.

Please note that we may not get back to you immediately, as we do not work 24 hours a day and goods may be purchased by other customers before we can reserve them.

Payment

Can I use more than one voucher at a time?

No unfortunately only one voucher code can be used per order.

I don’t want to pay on-line with a credit card, can I telephone card details through to you?

No, we are no longer able to accept card payments by phone.

Can I pay by cheque?

No, this is no longer possible as many items are ONE OF A KIND and CANNOT be repeated, so we no longer accept payments by cheque or Print order Form option. However if you wish to order patterns ONLY, we may be able to accomodate your payment by cheque, but please check with us BEFORE sending any payment. Due to increasing bank charges we are not able to accept accept cheque payments for orders of less than £10.00.

Prices are in Pounds Sterling (£/GBP) but my currency is Euros/dollars

All payments will be made in Pounds Sterling, but your credit/debit card company will convert this on your payment statement for you. If you wish to convert this to your own currency before ordering to get an idea of what you are paying then click here

Can you accept cheques in a foreign currency?

No, we can only accept cheques in Pounds Sterling drawn on a British Bank.

Can I pay by Bank draft or Bank transfer?

If you wish to pay by Bank Draft or Bank transfer please contact us for details.

I want to pay by cheque/bank transfer, can you reserve the goods for me?

In certain circumstances we can reserve the goods for you, but the items will only be reserved for 14 days. If payment has not arrived within 14 days the items will no longer be reserved. Please contact us BEFORE sending a cheque or you may find the items you wanted to buy have been purchased by someone else.

Can I pay by UK Postal Order?

Please see note under paying by cheque above, but please do not cross Postal Orders under £ 5.00 in value, as we incur high charges to pay these through the bank.

 

Delivery

How long before my order is despatched?

Your order will usually be processed and despatched within 24-48 hours, however orders placed over a weekend or on a Public Holiday will usually be despatched on the next working day. At busy periods (e.g. Christmas) orders will be despatched as quickly as possible and we will try to maintain our normal delivery schedule whenever possible. Orders paid for on-line will always take priority.

How much does delivery cost?

We have tried to keep delivery charges as low as possible and we only ask for a small contribution from customers towards postage and packing costs. Full details of these costs can be found on our ‘Postage Rates' page.

Who will deliver my parcel? How are Overseas shipments made?

In the UK all parcels are sent out via Royal Mail and will require a signature on receipt. We are not able to add delivery instructions to the parcels, so please do not tell us to ‘leave the parcel in the shed’ for example.

Overseas parcels will be sent via Air Mail and may take between 7-10 working days to reach their destination.

Can my order be sent to my work address or to a friend?

This is not a problem, enter your home address in the 'invoice to' and the address you wish your parcel to be sent to in the 'deliver to' section. If the order is to be sent as a present and you wish to add a greeting to your friend please add this in the comments section. We will not send a delivery note with prices on to your friend, just a packing note minus prices.

General questions

Do you do a catalogue?

No we no longer have a mail order cataogue, as many items are one of a kind. All items currently for sale are shown on this web site

Can you make needles in different lengths/sets of 5?

Yes. Although there are optimum lengths for all knitting needles, we can make needles to suit customers. The knitting needles we make are made to standard lengths as it has become apparent most people find these sizes convenient and longer needles unwieldy to knit with. We are also somewhat limited by length the steel wires we use to make the needles from.

Which is better acrylic or wool?

This is purely down to personal preference. Most beginners start out with acrylic wool as it is more cost effective and allows more practice attempts to get used to miniature knitting. This topic is covered more fully on our blog pages.

Can you match colours to yarn I bought from you previously?

It depends how long ago you bought the item from us. Dye lots of yarn, as with full sized yarns, can vary and in some cases where colours are popular we may not be able to match yarns bought more than a few days ago. Therefore our best advice is to make sure you buy sufficient yarn/wool to complete your project at the time.

Why does Appleton's yarn look thicker than DMC yarn?

The yarns are the same thickness but the DMC yarns are spun much tighter than the Appletons yarns. Both are designed for tapestry work and are therefore very strong.

Can I buy instantly downloadable patterns?

Yes, some of our patterns are now available as instant downloads, but these are not available on this web shop. 

Our blog has full details of how to buy the pdf's, which are exclusively available on Ravelry

Are patterns available in other languages?

Patterns are currently only available in English.

 

I have sent you an e-mail but have received no reply, why is this?

Yahoo!, Hotmail, gmail, AOL and most other free email providers, are using overly strong spam-blocking filters that will most probably stop you from receiving any emails from us.
Unless you set up your spam filters to allow emails from us, i.e "@buttercupminiatures.co.uk"  we can NOT guarantee you will receive an email back from us.
If you do not receive an email from us within 24 hours of sending yours, please make sure you check your bulk/spam folders first before sending us another message.