Our Aims and policy.
| Who are we? Our roots are as a camping shop based in Littlehampton, Sussex, on the south coast of England alongside the beautiful chalk Downs. Our policy has always been to stock spares for the products we sell which originally included camping stoves and lamps. Over time we became the main supplier for traditional stove spares in the South as other businesses moved to stocking gas stoves. In the early 1990's we acquired the entire stove spares stock from a wholesaler who was also moving away from traditional stoves. We built a basic Website and offered parts to customers outside of our local area. We were contacted by stove and lamp enthusiasts all over the World, keen to keep their favorites going or get them back into service again. The spares side of the business moved out of the shop and upstairs to a separate office and store to cope with picking and packing of the orders. Stocking of lamp glass led to inquiries for oil lamp chimneys which were added to the range. This led to enquiries for oil lamp wick which was also added...! Then the local Garden Centre decided to end selling wicks and parts for paraffin heaters and, as we sold wicks already, we purchased their stocks and took over those customers too..! Our range of liquid fuel spares grew as did the Website and an increasing amount of time was being spent on helping and advising customers with traditional stoves, lamps & heaters. Major Town Centre development dealt a serious blow to the camping business followed one year later by the Foot & Mouth disease outbreak which closed campsites, footpaths & holiday centres across the Country. The camping shop was unable to continue despite eighteen months of struggling to survive. After a sale the remaining stock was sold to Ockendens, a 200 year old Hardware business just next door, who turned this into a small camping department in their own store. Behind Ockendens was an unused area with a room right at the top of the building, referred to as 'The Loft'. After the disposal of our shop this became our office and renamed the 'Lamp Loft'. In September 2006 we bought all our stock under one roof with a shop and storerooms in an old bakery building in Littlehampton just off the High Street. In September 2019 we moved the shop & business to Woodston near Peterborough in Cambridgeshire. We managed to find large unit at Alfric Square and settled in with lots of new ideas, sadly the virus outbreak has put all our plans on hold and we do not have the customer counter ready yet. We remain a small family business working hard to help our customers. Our stocks continue to grow though we strongly resist moving far out of our core range of liquid fuel stove, lantern, lamp & heater spares. Our aim and policy:- Our main aim is to provide a complete range of parts for current and obsolete paraffin products with a leaning towards outdoors and leisure. The area of blowlamps is out of our sphere although a number of parts do cross over. Orders are picked, packed and despatched usually within five days, customers are not charged until the package is sent for despatch. The obsolete nature of much of our stock means we cannot just order another fifty 'widgets' for a 1930 'Pump & Splutter patent stove'. Parts have to be sourced, found or made which can sometimes mean they disappear from stock for months or even years..! Our webpages are updated regularly with out of stocks and our 'News' page will give progress on problem items. Surplus or wrongly ordered parts can be returned for exchange or refund, we do not issue credit notes and are glad to get rare spares back for other customers. Postage and packing materials are a major expense and cannot generally be refunded. If the error is our fault, (incorrect picking, packing shortages, faulty parts for example), then we will bear the cost of the postage to correct the mistake. We are as 'old fashioned' as our products, we do not keep customer records on computer, 'hard' copies of invoices are filed for reference, requests for obsolete parts are kept on file. We do not have mailing lists, do mail-shots or provide customer details to other parties We are here to help you, our customer, not make a fast buck and run, do talk to us if there is a problem, (in fact do talk to us if you are happy too..!). The link at the bottom of this page gives all the ways you can contact us. STOVES AND LAMPS ARE DANGEROUS....! We check our stock wherever possible but some original parts can be up seventy years old. Many customers are using or restoring products which are thirty, or often more, years old. We cannot emphasise more strongly the following points:- A) Customers must make sure they fully understand the working of the product they are repairing. B) Always light stoves and lamps outdoors and have a fire extinguisher to hand. C) We cannot be held responsible for the consequences of incorrectly fitted parts or incorrectly used products. Parts sold by us and fitted by customers does not infer that any stove or lantern is then safe to use. D) Several of the products we sell are described as 'antique' or 'collectors items', these items do not conform to current UK legislation. They are offered as 'collectables' and we cannot recommend that they be used as originally intended, if such products are used by the customer it is against our advice and we cannot be held responsible for any result. We completely agree that customers need protection against rogue businesses, however if we have to tie 'Nanny labels' to all our stock saying 'This stove gets hot', 'Do not drink paraffin', 'This glass is sharp if broken' or 'Warning, petrol is inflammable' only one person ends up paying for getting this 'valuable' advice...! Whether you are a 'Stovie', a 'Lampie', a 'Wikkie' or simply someone who appreciates things that are built to last and work well, browse our pages and enjoy. Perhaps, like us, you are from a time when we looked after ourselves with 'good sense' and didn't expect someone else to do it for us..... |
| Last updated 02/09/21 |
| How to contact us...click here....! |
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