Nearly everything we sell is built after you order it, in the configuration you have chosen. That is why we can offer the full range of the brands we carry rather than whatever happens to be in a warehouse — and also why a few of the rules differ from an ordinary online shop. They are all set out below, with nothing tucked away.
Delivery
Where we deliver. Throughout the United Kingdom, across Europe and beyond. For the Highlands and islands, and for buildings with awkward access, we quote separately: tell us before you order rather than when the lorry is outside.
Northern Ireland. Deliveries to Northern Ireland follow their own customs arrangements. We handle them, and the quotation sets out exactly how your consignment will be treated, so the position is clear before you commit.
How long it takes. The production time is shown on each product page: it varies by manufacturer and by finish, and runs from immediate despatch to around eight weeks. It is counted from the moment the order is complete — that is, once you have confirmed finish, fabric, dimensions and configuration, because only then can the factory begin.
Transit is added to production, and depends on the method — road, air, sea or express courier — chosen for the destination and the deadline: we state it with the quotation, with its cost and its duration. The actual date is confirmed in writing once the manufacturer confirms the order. If anything slips, we tell you straight away rather than waiting to be asked: bad news in good time can be worked around, a surprise cannot.
How we deliver. Standard delivery is kerbside — the goods are left packaged at the entrance to the building — and it is included in the price. By arrangement we organise delivery to the door, placement in the room of your choosing where access allows, full delivery with unpacking, light assembly and removal of packaging, or professional installation with qualified teams and full insurance documentation. These services are priced before you order and agreed before despatch, never on the day.
Assembly. We work with professional fitters across the United Kingdom. For larger projects we can send our own team from Italy: it costs more, but on a complicated installation it is the difference between a good result and a faultless one.
Assembly assumes the rooms are ready: floors laid, spaces cleared, services finished, and a lift or goods lift where one is needed. If the team arrives and cannot work, the visit is rescheduled and the second journey is charged at the figure quoted in advance.
Before delivery. Where the carrier allows it we pass on the tracking; in any case a delivery window is agreed with you. Tell us in advance about the things only you know: narrow streets, clean air and congestion zones, permitted unloading hours, access permits, small lifts. Those are what send a lorry away again.
What is not included. Electrical connection, fixing to walls, building work, and the dismantling or disposal of existing furniture. If you need any of it we will price it: ask before you order.
If you are not ready to receive. We store the goods and plan partial deliveries around the phases of the fit-out. The cost is agreed beforehand.
Customs, VAT and duty
We ship to the United Kingdom on DDP terms — Delivered Duty Paid. Customs formalities and import duties are handled and paid by us through a carrier registered in the UK, and nothing is payable to the driver on delivery. There is no charges statement waiting for you, and no consignment held until you settle it.
What changes is how VAT is shown. If you buy as a private customer, the quotation includes UK VAT at 20%: the figure you see is the figure you pay. If you buy as a business, the quotation is exclusive of UK VAT: the 20% is accounted for at import by our carrier and invoiced to you with the documentation you need to reclaim it. Which of the two applies is stated on your quotation before you order.
On arrival
Check the consignment before you sign. Count the packages against the delivery note and look at the condition of each one: torn film, crushed corners, damp patches. If anything is visibly damaged, sign with a written reservation — a line on the driver's paperwork saying what you have seen is enough — and send us photographs within 7 days at info@lamercanti.com: the packaging, the damage and the label on the box. After that we take it from there, with the carrier and with the manufacturer. You do not chase anyone.
A clean signature on a damaged consignment makes a claim far harder to pursue, for us as much as for you. It costs a minute at the door and it settles the matter.
Once unpacked, take a moment over the piece itself. Natural variation in wood, leather, fabric, stone and marble — grain, shade, small marks — is a property of the material, not a fault: on a natural surface it is the proof that the material is genuine. If something is not right, write to us with photographs and we will sort it out.
Guarantee
Two things run alongside each other, and they are not the same.
Your rights in law. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the goods we supply must be of satisfactory quality, fit for their purpose and as described. If they are not, you are entitled to have the matter put right — and it is us you deal with, not a factory in Italy. These rights cannot be signed away, and nothing on this page reduces them.
The manufacturer's guarantee. Each piece carries the guarantee of the maker, whose duration and terms are stated on the product page because they differ from brand to brand. It is a voluntary commitment that sits on top of your statutory rights and never in place of them.
Business customers deal with us under Italian law, which governs the contract: defects are to be notified within 8 days of discovery, and the claim period is 12 months from delivery.
In either case the practical part is ours: we open the claim, deal with the manufacturer, arrange the part or the replacement and follow it to the end.
Cancelling an order
Because production begins for you, the position changes as the order moves. We keep it simple and we tell you where your order stands before anything is withheld.
Within 5 days of confirmation the order can be cancelled at no cost, whatever its stage.
After that, and while the order has not yet gone to the manufacturer, there is still nothing to pay. Once it has been placed with the manufacturer, cancellation costs 30% of the order value. Once production has started, and once the goods have been despatched, the order can no longer be cancelled.
Ask us at any point and we will tell you which stage applies. Your right to cancel as a consumer, set out below, is separate and unaffected.
Returns and the right to cancel
As a rule, goods made to order are not returnable for a change of mind: they were built to your specification and cannot go back on a shelf. There is one important exception, and it is the law.
If you are buying as a consumer, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 give you 14 days from delivery to cancel, without giving a reason. A clear email to info@lamercanti.com quoting your order number is all it takes — there is no form to complete.
We refund everything you have paid, including the cost of standard delivery, within 14 days of receiving your notice and by the same means you used to pay. We may hold the refund until the goods are back with us or until you show they have been sent, whichever comes first.
The direct cost of returning the goods is yours. Given the size of the items, and because a return from the United Kingdom leaves the customs territory of the EU, we state the figures rather than leave them vague: around £450 for a chair or a small item, £900 for a desk, a pedestal or a single piece of furniture, and from £1,100 for larger orders. The exact amount depends on volume and collection address, and we confirm it before you commit to the return.
You are responsible for any reduction in the value of the goods only where it results from handling beyond what is necessary to establish their nature, characteristics and functioning — trying a chair is fine, using it for a fortnight is not. We tell you the amount and the reason.
The right to cancel does not apply to goods made to your specification or clearly personalised. Choosing a finish, a fabric, a size or a configuration from the manufacturer's catalogue does not count as personalisation and remains covered: genuine bespoke items are marked as such on the product page before you order.
Additional services already performed — installation, storage, disposal of old furniture — are not refunded.
And if something has gone wrong rather than simply not suited you, this section is not the one that applies: write to us. A fault is our concern, not your problem.