Terms of service

Last updated 1 September 2026.

“We”, “us”, “our” and “Crook and Staple” mean Matthew Petrie trading as Crook and Staple, Ground Floor Office, 2 Pentwyn Close, NP16 6UB, United Kingdom. VAT number GB441266609. Email sales@crookandstaple.com.

These terms apply when you use crookandstaple.com or buy from us. Please read them before ordering. We may update them, so please do not assume the same terms will apply to a future order; the version on this page when you place an order is the one that applies to it.

Making a contract with us

When you place an order you are making an offer to buy goods. We will send an email confirming that we have received it. That email is an acknowledgement, not an acceptance.

The contract between us is formed when we send the dispatch confirmation email, and it covers only the items listed in that email.

If goods turn out to be unavailable, or we have made a pricing error, we will tell you or cancel those items. In that case we do not accept your order, no contract is formed, and we refund anything you have paid.

When we may decline or cancel an order

We may decline an order, or cancel it before dispatch, where we have a reasonable ground to. That includes where payment is not authorised or we suspect the order is fraudulent; where the item cannot lawfully be sent to the delivery address; where a pricing or stock error has occurred; or where an account has repeatedly misused our returns process or been abusive towards our staff. If we cancel an order we will tell you and refund anything you have paid in full.

Ordering and payment

All orders are placed and paid for on crookandstaple.com at checkout, using the payment methods offered there. We do not accept purchase orders, invoicing on account, proforma invoices, bank transfers, or orders placed by email — this applies to everyone, including schools and music services.

Prices include UK VAT where it applies. If you are shopping from outside the UK, the price you see is calculated for your country, and any duties and taxes are shown at checkout before you pay.

Prices are subject to change without notice. We take reasonable care to ensure prices and information are correct when entered, but we cannot confirm the price of an item until your order is accepted as set out above.

If you pay with Klarna, Klarna’s own terms apply to that payment arrangement alongside these terms.

Product descriptions and stock levels

Each item is subject to its product description, which may set out terms specific to that item. We aim to display colours accurately but cannot guarantee that your screen shows them exactly. Many of our products are made from cane, wood and other natural materials and will vary in colour and grain from the photographs — this is normal and expected.

When you place an order at crookandstaple.com you are able to see what stock we have for each product. Stock messages such as “In Stock”, “Backorder” or “Special Order. Usually despatched within 2 weeks” are shown on the product page above the Add to Cart button, in the cart, and in your order emails. We do not send separate emails to alert you to out-of-stock items in your order, as the stock position is shown to you at each of those points. When you place an order we save the stock message you saw on crookandstaple.com, and you agree that you have seen the stock level shown for the products you are ordering.

Lead times shown for backorder and special order items are our best estimate and not a guarantee. If we are unable to obtain a special order item we will tell you and refund it. You may cancel a backorder or special order item at any time before it is dispatched.

Reeds and other natural products

Reeds are made from cane, a natural material. Every reed differs, and the same reed will feel different with the weather, the player and the instrument. Strength labels such as Medium-Soft or Medium are a guide to where a reed sits in a range, not a precise measurement, and two reeds of the same strength will not feel identical. Variation in feel, response or tone between reeds is characteristic of the material and is not a fault. A reed that is physically damaged when it arrives is a different matter and is covered by our Returns & Refund Policy.

Gift cards

Gift cards are delivered by email and can be spent on anything at crookandstaple.com. They cannot be exchanged for cash, cannot be used to buy another gift card, and are refundable only where the law requires. Our gift cards have no additional processing fees and are valid for use for 15 months from the purchase date. Please treat the code like cash: we are not able to replace a code that has been lost, stolen or used by someone else, and we may cancel a gift card that we reasonably believe was bought or used fraudulently.

Discounts and sale items

Only one discount code or discount may be applied per order. Discount codes cannot be used on items already reduced in a sale, or in conjunction with subscription products. A code must be entered at checkout; we cannot apply one to an order after it has been placed. We may withdraw or amend a discount code at any time, and we may cancel an order where a code has been used in a way it was not intended for.

Delivery

Orders ship once a week. Delivery services, charges and estimated times are set out in our Shipping Policy, and the exact delivery charge for your order is shown at checkout.

Delivery estimates are given in good faith, but delivery can take longer for reasons outside our control, including the time your country's customs take to process a parcel.

Please check your delivery address carefully before you order. You are responsible for its accuracy. If a parcel comes back to us because the address was wrong or incomplete, or because it was not collected, we will refund the items less the original postage once it is confirmed back with us, or send it again at your cost if you prefer. Once an order has been dispatched we cannot redirect it.

We may send an order in more than one parcel where it is quicker to do so. You will not be charged extra delivery for this.

All delivery services aim to deliver to the shipping address given on the order. If the delivery service is unable to deliver to that address for any reason, at their discretion they may deliver the parcel to another location such as to a neighbour or a safe place, or hold the parcel for collection.

An order will not be treated as lost in the post until at least 15 working days (Monday to Friday) for items posted within the UK, or 25 working days for items sent to the rest of the world, have passed from the due delivery date. If an order is placed or sent around a major holiday or event, or during severe weather or a natural disaster, a further 5 working days will need to pass before it is treated as lost. Where there is a delay in the postal network that may affect an order, we may reasonably treat it as not yet lost for up to a further 15 working days. In the event of Force Majeure, parcels may be in transit for greatly extended periods and may not be treated as lost for the period of the Force Majeure. Once a parcel is treated as lost we will provide a replacement or a full refund.

While an order is in transit from us to you we cannot recall, cancel or refund it. Once it arrives, the normal returns route applies.

Goods remain our property until we have received payment in full.

Events outside our control

We are not responsible for a delay or failure caused by something outside our reasonable control — for example a postal strike, severe weather, a supplier failing to deliver to us, or a failure of a service we rely on. If something like that affects your order we will tell you as soon as we reasonably can and do what we can to reduce the delay. If it means an order cannot be dispatched within a reasonable time, you may cancel it and we will refund anything you have paid for the undispatched items.

Returns and refunds

Your right to cancel, how to return an item, and the items we are unable to take back are all set out in our Returns & Refund Policy. When a refund is approved it goes to the original payment method and can take up to 10 working days to reach your account, as banks and card processors take time to process refunds.

Subscription orders

Some products on our website have a subscription option. If you select it, we will automatically create and take payment for a new order for you on a recurring basis, at the frequency shown on the product page. In exchange for your regular orders we provide a discount off those subscription products.

When you select the subscription option the “Add to cart” button changes to “Add Subscription to Cart”, and in most cases an informational popup is shown, though this is not guaranteed as some browsers do not support it. By selecting the subscription option you are aware that we will create and take payment for new orders automatically, at the frequency you chose on the product page.

As subscription orders are already discounted, an additional discount or discount code cannot be used in conjunction with them.

Subscriptions may only be cancelled from the third subscription order. If you wish to cancel a subscription order before this, we will refund any monies for non-dispatched items, less the initial order's discount amount and a processing fee of £5 (or local currency equivalent).

To cancel or change a subscription, log in to your customer account or email sales@crookandstaple.com. Please allow at least five working days before your next scheduled dispatch. Full details are in our Subscription Policy.

Age-restricted items: knives and blades

Reed knives, knife blades, razor blades and any other article with a blade may only be bought by, and delivered to, a person aged 18 or over. It is an offence under section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 to sell such an item to anyone under 18, and Part 3 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 sets additional requirements for remote sales.

By ordering any bladed item you confirm that you are 18 or over. You will be asked to confirm your age when you order, and we may ask for proof of age before dispatch. If we are not satisfied that these conditions can be met, we will cancel the order and refund it in full.

We do not send bladed items to any destination where their sale, import or possession is restricted or prohibited. If you are ordering from outside the UK it is your responsibility to check that the item may lawfully be imported to your address.

Reviews

Product reviews on our site are collected through Judge.me from customers who have bought the item. We do not write, buy or incentivise reviews, and we do not remove a review simply because it is critical. How reviews are handled is set out in our Reviews Policy.

Using the site and its content

You may use, download and print content from crookandstaple.com for your own personal use. Our guides, photographs, product descriptions and branding belong to us, and reproducing or republishing them commercially without our written permission is not permitted.

Please do not attempt to disrupt the site or upload anything harmful to it.

If you send us reviews, photographs, suggestions or other material, you allow us to use it in connection with our business. We are not obliged to use it or to pay for it, and we may remove anything that is unlawful, abusive or otherwise inappropriate.

We take reasonable care to keep the site free from viruses and other harmful content, but we cannot guarantee it, and it is sensible to keep your own device protected.

Our site links to third-party sites. We are not responsible for their content or practices — please read their terms and privacy policies before dealing with them.

We will take all reasonable care, so far as it is in our power to do so, to keep the details of your order and payment secure, but in the absence of negligence on our part we cannot be held liable for any loss you suffer if a third party gains unauthorised access to data you provide when using or ordering from the website.

Our responsibility to you

If you are a consumer in the UK: if we fail to comply with these terms we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breach. We do not exclude or limit our liability where it would be unlawful to do so — this includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, and under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 for products that are not of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose or as described. We are not liable for business losses; if you buy for a business purpose, the paragraph below applies to you instead.

If you are a business customer, or a customer outside the UK: to the maximum extent permitted by the law that applies to you, our total liability in connection with any order is limited to the amount you paid for that order, and we are not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of opportunity, or loss arising from your use of or inability to use the site.

International orders

Our products are supplied to United Kingdom and European specifications and are not certified to the standards of any other country. It is your responsibility to check that an item may lawfully be imported to, and used in, your country.

United States. We ship to the US on a Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) basis. US import duties and taxes are calculated during checkout, shown to you there as a separate line item, and paid by us to the US authorities on your behalf. There is nothing further to pay on delivery. The United States suspended its $800 de minimis duty exemption on 29 August 2025, which is why duties apply to orders of any value; collecting them at checkout is how we keep the total predictable. Duty and tax rates are set by the US authorities and can change without notice; the figure shown at checkout is calculated at that moment and is the figure that applies to your order. If you cancel or return an order, the duties and import taxes collected at checkout are refunded with it.

All other destinations. You are the importer of record. Customs duties, tariffs, import VAT, brokerage and any other charges raised on arrival are yours to pay, are outside our control, and are not refundable by us. We are not able to under-declare the value of a parcel or mark it as a gift.

Goodwill gestures

Sometimes we choose to do more than these terms or the law require — for example refund something outside our returns policy, replace an item, waive postage, or offer a discount. Anything like that is a gesture of goodwill for that occasion only. It is at our discretion, it does not change these terms, and it does not mean we will do the same again for you or for anyone else. It does not affect your statutory rights, and it does not apply to discounts we advertise as part of a promotion.

What we say by email or chat

Our team will do their best to answer questions about products and orders by email and live chat, and that advice is given in good faith. It does not vary these terms or the details of your order unless we confirm it to you in writing as a change to your order. These terms, our policies, and your order and dispatch confirmation emails together form the whole agreement between us for an order.

If something goes wrong

Please email sales@crookandstaple.com first and give us a fair chance to put it right — most things are sorted out quickly this way (we can take up to 5 working days to reply). If you raise a dispute with your card issuer or payment provider instead of contacting us, we will respond to it with our records of the order.

These terms, and any dispute arising from them or from an order, are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. If you are a consumer resident elsewhere in the United Kingdom you may also bring proceedings in your own jurisdiction, and nothing here removes the protection of any mandatory consumer law that applies where you live.

To the extent permitted by the law that applies to you, if you are a customer outside the United Kingdom you agree to bring any claim against us individually, and not as a claimant or class member in any class, collective or representative proceeding.

If any part of these terms is found to be unlawful or unenforceable, the rest continues to apply. If we do not insist on a right straight away, that does not stop us doing so later.

Privacy

We do not sell your personal information and we do not pass your details to third parties for their own marketing. Read our full Privacy Policy.

Contact

Crook and Staple, Ground Floor Office, 2 Pentwyn Close, NP16 6UB, United Kingdom. Email sales@crookandstaple.com. Our office is not open to the public.