27 replies to this topic

[philippe charuest]

i ordered a book at chaters last thursday and still no confirmation no billing no news . obviously they are not amazon in the efficiency and service area. or do they close all december for the holidays ;) .

[bradbury west]

It seems an unfortunate experience, although your details do indicate that you are not UK resident. I have never had a problem with Chaters, either in speed of process or effectiveness of delivery. They hav also always been very ready to discuss any books I have bought, and any alternatives/other titles which they/I have felt suitable/relevant to the subject matter

Regarding Amazon, I have only ordered two books, non motor-sport; one was constantly deferred, although admittedly not available any longer in UK until re-print, and I was able to buy it in New York, and the second keeps going backwards in the anticipated delivery date.

I have found the discount, motor related book people based near Silverstone, name escapes me at present, to be very good indeed, although I always order on the 'phone not on line. They are always very knowledgeable about topics and book quality

Roger Lund

[Gary C]

I've never had any problem with Chaters at all.

[Paul Butler]

I've always found Chaters to be spot on - I assume you've contacted them to ensure that your order has been processed by them?

[philippe charuest]

of course i did e-mail them again .the order is shown in my account on there site .but no answer no processing

[Ted Walker]

I have been dealing with them for over 40 years NO PROBLEMS.I think my first purchase was a copy of one of the Bira books from Clives dad when they had their mobile shop behind the Woodcote grandstand....................long before the advent of awful E Bay.

[philippe charuest]

im no fan of e-bay myself .i buy a lot of book on internet mostly on modern art and first edition litterature and for that ABEbooks is the place they carry the stock of nearly 12000 used and antiques books dealers.but in the motorsport area theres not much choice . the book i want is" first among champions by david venables". after some research i saw that chaters.millhouse and motorbooks uk have the book(new copy) in stock . so i chose chaters , im not sure i did the right choice , that the first time including all the transactions i did with a zillion of small antiquarian book dealers that i have to wait that much

[Doug Nye]

Philippe - I too have always found Chater's completely reliable. They are this country's leading specialist motoring bookshop and have a great tradition to uphold. Have you tried contacting them direct? Call Clive or Eddie on (44) 20 85 68 97 50 or (Fax) 44 20 85 69 82 73. One can only speak as one finds, but they're usually right on top of their game.

DCN

[ensign14]

The only time you ever get delays with Chater's or MHB or Collectors Carbooks or anyone else is at show times.

[Twin Window]

As Doug says, Philippe, just call them - they will be happy to sort you out, I'm sure. I would also recommend them without hesitation.

[D-Type]

The only thing I can think of is that they are swamped with Christmas orders.

[HDonaldCapps]

It has been awhile since I dealt with Chaters, but they have always been spot on in my book. Like Ted, I began dealing with them more years ago than I might wish to admit.

Originally posted by Ted Walker
....................long before the advent of awful E Bay.

Although this might be a minority opinion here, I wholeheartedly agree with Ted. Ebay has become something of a monster in my view, another spawn of the devil. The consequences of its existence have not all been positive.....

[Jeff Weinbren]

Ordered some books from Chaters and Motorbooks mid October, Chaters order arrived one week later, I'm still waiting for the order from Motorbooks!. Presumably they were sent the same way as they both charged me five quid for shipping. By the way I am in Canada.
Jeff Weinbren.

[Arjan de Roos]

It was always great fun to meet the Chaters guys in Holland. They sometimes came to Zandvoort or Utrecht at a large auto jumble. Indeed very reliable with orders. Nowadays I only meet them at Le Mans when this famous race (you know) is on.

[Yorgos]

Originally posted by bradbury west

....................
I have found the discount, motor related book people based near Silverstone, name escapes me at present, to be very good indeed
.....................

Its surely going to cost me... but could someone provide a name or contact details on them?

Yorgos

[David McKinney]

http://www.collector...oks.co.uk/shop/

[Geza Sury]

I had no problems with Chaters so far, however I'm very angry at Amazon (UK)... This is what I posted in January in the Book Prices thread:

I'm amazed at the policy of Amazon.uk. They still consider Hungary as the "Rest of the World" despite its EU membership, so when you order a book form them, it doesn't matter whether you live in Australia, China, or Hungary, you have to pay the same amount for shipping, which is needless to say is lot more than the Western European flat rate postage costs. I suspect they even make a profit on shipping, which is not fair. What's more interesting is, that I even have to pay 5% VAT, because they do realize that Hungary is the member of the EU after all.

The situation is still the same almost 12 months later!

[bradbury west]

Yorgos;

David McKinney is correct to mention Chris Knapman's excellent emporium, but the outlet to which I referred, and whose name I have now found, is,

Motor Media at Towcester.

www.motormedia.co.uk

UK 0845 8380 550

Access available on e mail and online ordering via website catalogue.

Their attraction is that, whilst they offer fewer titles, they are marginally less expensive than other mainstream outlets, and on some titles that is well worth it.

Usual disclaimers etc

Roger Lund

[Herbert]

Chaters were at the Essen Motor Show in Germany in the last weeks, so perhaps they were quite busy. Never had any problems with them. They always take books i ordered with them to Essen so that I can pick them up there. That saves me a lot of money for p&p.

[philippe charuest]

well 5 days now and still no news and im not sure that to run a long distance telephone bill to england will improve my mood. so i thinq i will try to cancel the whole thing and try my luck somewhere else

[d j fox]

I too have been a long time customer of Chaters, and like all who have responded here have found them nothing but helpful. I emigrated from the UK to the USA 7 years ago, but they are still my number 1 motor sports books choice. Eddie is particularly helpful.

[JohnS]

I think you're being a little bit unreasonable.

You ordered last Thursday (first thing or pm?) and it's now Tuesday. So only four working days in the middle of the Christmas rush so far, for an order to another country - seems a bit premature to be complaining about them in public, especially as you appear not even to have telephoned them to query your order!!

I visit Chaters frequently and have always found them to be extremely helpful and friendly.

John

[SEdward]

They are reliable. I suffered an awful cock-up with them at Le Mans this year when my rucksack, containing my wallet and the cards I had used to purchased books, was stolen from the camping site.

They were courteous and efficient in helping me sort it all out.

Edward

[dretceterini]

I've never had a problem with them either.....now, there are others which shall remain namless (located in a big city in Italy) that can be a royal pain.

[Yorgos]

Originally posted by bradbury west
Yorgos;

David McKinney is correct to mention Chris Knapman's excellent emporium, but the outlet to which I referred, and whose name I have now found, is,

Motor Media at Towcester.

www.motormedia.co.uk

UK 0845 8380 550

Access available on e mail and online ordering via website catalogue.

Their attraction is that, whilst they offer fewer titles, they are marginally less expensive than other mainstream outlets, and on some titles that is well worth it.

Usual disclaimers etc

Roger Lund

Thank you Roger, noticed Ed McDonoughs book on the Alfa33, I wasnt expecting it so quickly.

Regards
Yorgos

[philippe charuest]

day 6 . no more answer to my cancellation e-mail that i did yesterday then to the order itself . in the same time yesterday i saw that there was a copy of the book on ABEbook that wasnt there 7 days ago and a good deal so i order it .of course abebook confirm the order right away and less then 6 hours later there was the confirmation of the bookshop itself. the thing is already in process and will be ship today . its a small book shop from england but not one of the usual suspect or any other mention here. i thinq theres a lesson to learn from that story

[Paul Butler]

There is a thought here that Chaters may have a problem that they are unaware of and a quick phone call could sort it out.

The interweb (speaking as one whose career has been in computing for the last 30 years) isn't perfect and mistakes/errors do occur.

[SEdward]

Philippe.

Why don't you just give them a call and sort it out?

Edward