HIRING
- How do I calculate my tablet hire period?
We believe that if you want to hire a tablet for 7 days, then you should enjoy uninterrupted use of it for 7 full 24-hour periods. The clock shouldn’t start ticking as soon as you receive the iPad at some point during Day 1, and you shouldn’t have to cut short Day 7 in order to send it back to us. Your hire period starts at 00:01 on Day 1 and ends at 23:59 on Day 7. We’ll aim to get it to you the day before Day 1, and we ask you to post it back to us the day after Day 7. So if you book a 7-day hire, you end up with the tablet in your possession for longer than 7 days. Do you have a problem with that? We don’t. - Can I extend my iPad hire period?
Maybe. If you want to extend your hire period before it ends, please contact us ASAP and we’ll see what we can do. If there isn’t another customer waiting with a reservation for the then, then we’ll quite happily extend your hire. You just pay the difference between the advertised prices for the original and extended hire periods. But if there is another customer with a reservation, then we’re afraid you’re going to have to return it on the originally scheduled date. - What if I return the iPad late?
Unfortunately, you’re going to have to pay a late return fee. This is 20% of the advertised weekly hire fee, for every day late, as determined by when you post the iPad back to us. - Can I return the iPad early?
Yes, of course. However, you’ll appreciate that we might have turned away other customers because you had the iPad booked, so we can’t offer a refund or credit for the unused portion of your hire period unless the circumstances are exceptional. - Can I hire an iPad for a period not listed on the web site?
Yes, with some restrictions. Firstly we don’t hire iPads for periods shorter than 1 day – the cost and hassle of postage mean it just isn’t worthwhile. (But please tell us if you disagree!) And secondly, consumer credit regulations dictate that the maximum hire period we can offer is 3 months. If you want to hire an iPad for a period that isn’t listed on the web site, please contact us and we’ll work out the price and add it onto the web site for you. - Can I reserve an iPad?
Yes you can. If you want to hire an iPad for 7 days or longer, you can reserve it up to 6 months in advance. If you want to hire an iPad for less than 7 days, you can reserve it up to 3 weeks in advance. When you get to the checkout, there’s a box for you to say when you want your hire to start. We’ll confirm that we have the iPad available on the dates you want it (assuming that we do, of course!), and we’ll send you an email confirming your reservation. We’ll send you a second email telling you when we have posted your iPad. - What is the availability calendar telling me?
The calendar updates automatically every time we accept and confirm an order. BUT it’s not quite real-time. This is important. Even if the calendar is showing that we have a iPad available when you place your order, it’s possible that another customer may have placed an order just before you which hasn’t yet been accepted and therefore isn’t yet showing in the calendar. If your hire period is all green then it’s pretty unlikely that this will affect you. - I’m going on holiday outside the UK.
Can I take an iPad with me? Generally, yes. We need to know where you’re taking it, so please use the ‘Any other information’ box on the order form to tell us. - Can I cancel an order?
Yes you can, so long as we haven’t already posted the iPad out to you. If you cancel an order within 7 days of placing it, there’s no cancellation fee. (This is mandated by distance selling regulations.) If you cancel an order more than 28 days before your hire period is due to start, then again there’s no cancellation fee. (That’s just us being kind.) But if you want to cancel an order more than 7 days after placing it, and less than 28 days before your hire is due to start, there’s a cancellation fee of 25% of the hire charge, rising to 50% of the hire charge if you cancel less than 14 days before your hire is due to start. - Can I hire more than one iPad at a time?
Yes. - Do I get a discount if I hire more than one iPad at a time?
No. - I’m under 18. Can I hire a iPad from you?
Yes, but we’re afraid there are a couple of quite serious restrictions. Our lawyers advise us that contracts are generally unenforceable if one party is under 18. This means that if you forget to return the iPad, there’s not a lot we can do about it. We need to protect ourselves by asking you to leave a deposit equal to the value of the iPad. We appreciate that all this sounds like a lot of hassle, but we’re afraid there’s really nothing we can do about it. If you’re under 18, it might well be better to persuade a parent to hire the iPad on your behalf.
PAYMENT
- Do you charge a holding deposit?
Generally no. We trust you to look after our equipment. Please help us to maintain this policy by repaying our trust. If we can’t satisfy ourselves that a customer is genuine, or if the transaction looks unusually risky for other reasons, then we may ask for a deposit. We do however get a credit card pre-authorization on most orders. - What methods of payment do you accept?
We accept credit and debit cards – MasterCard, Visa, Maestro, Solo, Visa Debit, Electron and American Express. - When is my credit/debit card charged?
When you place the order, we’ll validate your credit/debit card and place an authorization for the total amount of the charge (including a deposit, if necessary). This doesn’t actually withdraw funds from your card but merely holds them for us. We’ll usually charge the card on the day we send the iPad out to you. And when we confirm that the iPad has been returned safely, we’ll cancel the hold on the deposit, if you left a deposit. - What currencies do you accept?
Pounds Sterling only. If your credit card account works in a different currency, the amount you pay will be converted from Pounds Sterling into your currency by your card provider. (OK, we know, that seems to be a rather strange question. But we’re required by law to tell you.) - Do you charge VAT? Do your prices include VAT?
Yes, and no! All our prices are exclusive of VAT, though when you get to the checkout you’ll also be shown the VAT component separately. If you’re a business customer, you may be able to claim back the VAT from HMRC.
DELIVERY
- How does delivery work?
We offer two main delivery options for customers within mainland Britain: Royal Mail Special Delivery (RMSD), or APC. Note that both these services require you to sign for the iPad when it is delivered. If you’re not in when delivery is attempted, Royal Mail will take the parcel to the local depot and you have to collect it from there; APC will try again to deliver it the next day. We’ll send the iPad to you so that it arrives in time for the start of your hire period; for example, if your hire period starts on a Thursday, we’ll send it Tuesday to arrive with you on Wednesday Occasionally we might want to send iPads out early, just to make life easier for us; you’d get it early but you wouldn’t have to return it early and you wouldn’t have to pay any extra for the hire. If that’s the case, we’ll contact you to check whether or not you’re prepared to accept early delivery. - How much does delivery cost?
£15 Each Way - How quickly can I get an iPad?
Ordinarily, you need to be planning a couple of days ahead. Say you place an order on Tuesday evening; we’ll send the iPad Wednesday, you receive it Thursday and your hire period starts Friday. That’s three days. - Do you deliver iPads outside the UK?
Yes, we can. However, there are three important considerations. - What if an iPad that I’ve ordered arrives late?
No delivery service is perfect, and late deliveries can occasionally happen. If it’s really really important to you to have the iPad on a particular date, then we’d suggest hiring it a day earlier than you need it; that way you’ve got a built-in safety margin at little extra cost. But if an iPad does arrive late, you have several options. The first is to go ahead with the hire and return it as scheduled. That means you’ll have had it for a day less than planned, but we’ll make it up to you by refunding two days’ hire charges. (So if you’d hired it for 7 days, but it’s delivered a day late, you end up hiring it for 6 days but paying for 5 days.) Another option is to cancel the hire contract; return the iPad directly to us and we’ll refund all your charges. Or, if there isn’t another customer waiting for the iPad, you can extend the return date so that you end up with the same period of hire that you’d originally planned. Basically, if an iPad is late in being delivered to you, let us know immediately. The sooner we know about it, the sooner we can try to work out a solution for you. (Incidentally, none of this applies if the reason an iPad is delivered late is that you weren’t there to receive it on the scheduled day. We have to judge late deliveries according to the day the postman or courier first attempted to deliver the iPad at the correct address.) - How do I return an iPad to you?
You’ll get full instructions in the box with the iPad. But, basically, first of all:- Pack up all the bits in the box, re-using the original packaging materials;
- Stick the pre-printed return address label on the box, making sure the label showing your address is covered up;
- Tape the box securely closed.
- Then you need to ring the couriers (we’ll give you the number) and arrange a pick-up with them.
- What comes with each iPad?
Every iPad comes with an “Incase” convertible book jacket, charger and instructions. - I’ve never used an iPad before. Can you help me?
Yes. In the box with the iPad you’ll receive a copy of the instruction manual for the iPad. - What if the iPad I want to hire is always out of stock?
First of all, please let us know. We aim to have the iPads you want, when you want them. If there’s more demand for a particular iPad than we’re meeting, we’ll get more copies. But we won’t know about it if you don’t tell us! If you’re really serious about it, we’ll buy an iPad specifically for you to hire. - Do you hire things other than iPads?
Yes. Ipods, Itouches and Sat Nav’s
LOSS, DAMAGE AND INSURANCE
- What happens if I damage an iPad?
Ooh, bad news. The first thing to do is to let us know immediately. If we have another iPad of the same type in stock, and if you want it, and if you’re willing to pay the postage, then we can send you a replacement for the remainder of your hire period. The next thing to do is to send the damaged iPad back to us. We’ll take it or send it off to an authorized service center for repair. When we get it back, we’ll charge your credit card exactly what it cost us to get it repaired (including postage, if any), plus we reserve the right to charge a penalty to reflect the fact that we haven’t been able to hire out the iPad whilst it’s been damaged. The penalty charge is up to 2/3rds of the hire charge that would have been applied for the period whilst the iPad is out of commission. So if it takes us 6 days to get it repaired, we may charge you for up to an additional 4 days of hire. If we have spare copies of the particular iPad or if demand for it is slack, we would not expect the penalty charge to apply. If the iPad is not repairable, we will treat it as if you had lost it. - What happens if I lose an iPad, or if it’s stolen, whilst I’ve got it on hire?
Ooh, even worse news. Again, the first thing to do is to let us know immediately. If we have another iPad of the same type in stock, and if you want it, and if you’re willing to pay the postage, then we can send you a replacement for the remainder of your hire period. We’ll then buy an iPad to replace the one you’ve lost, and we’ll charge your credit card for it, plus we reserve the right to charge a penalty to reflect the fact that we haven’t been able to hire out the iPad which you lost. The penalty charge is up to 2/3rds of the hire charge that would have applied for the period until we can replace the iPad. So if it takes us 6 days to get a new iPad, we may charge you for up to an additional 4 days of hire. If we have spare copies of the particular iPad or if demand for it is slack, we would not expect the penalty charge to apply. - What do you consider to count as damage, as opposed to normal wear and tear?
Whilst we expect you to look after our Ipad as if it were your own, we expect you to actually use it rather than just keep it wrapped in cotton wool the whole time. So we will treat minor marks as the result of ordinary wear and tear. However scratches on the glass, or any dents to the mounting will be considered damage. - Do you offer insurance with the iPads you hire out?
No. You must have your own insurance - Do I have to insure an iPad I hire from you?
Yes; you need to bear in mind that you are liable for the cost of repairing any damage that an iPad suffers whilst it’s out on hire, and the cost of replacing an iPad if it’s lost, stolen or damaged beyond repair whilst out on hire.