Bookster Customer Service

[Davros]

I've just received an email from Bookster saying they are bankrupt and cannot fulfil my order. I would like to know the contact details of the tailoring firm they use so I can attempt to purchase from them my suit in whatever state of completion it is in. Can anyone help?

 

[rodaman]

!!!

I've been trying to get in touch with them re: a waistcoat that was supposed to be delivered end of June. Are they offering you a refund or...?

 

[cassini]

Bookster has gone bust. It was what I feared - given the huge wait entailed in getting my order through. Now I'm left with a jacket that is kind of servicable but doesn't fit preoperly...

They blame a number of angry customers for their demsie - I guess I may well have been one of them - although I can't see how I can have pushed them over the edge by merely asking for them to perform their business in the way they promise, albeit after a wait of 32 weeks. It's a pity on all counts, for me stuck with a jacket that needs alteration probably beyond what is realistically possible, certainly for the collar area, and for Bookster, which promised to be a decent semi-bespoke online English traditional tailoring business...

I shall see if I can't salvage what I have by alteration - shoulder pads may help with the jacket shoulders being designed for squarer shoulders - the collar I'll just have to take advice on, though Bookster didn't seem convinced there was much leeway for alteration there...

They do say that they will be trying to return money to customers, so there is some hope out there for anyone with anything in the pipeline.

Sorry for the bad news.

 

[cassini]

Ah, didn't see the preceding posts...


Bookster use a variety of tailors I understand - you'd have to track down which one - assuming they've even started your jacket yet - after all, they had my order for 32 weeks but I expect didn't even start on it until the 30 week mark.

 

[Nimh]

I just got that e-mail too. Had an order in for a jacket and a waistcoat. Money drawn from my account. I can only hope that the writing on refund is legit.

I was really looking forward to that set of tweed though. Miserable day.

 

[rodaman]

I haven't received any email of any kind in re: to my waistcoat...I, as well was looking forward to my waistcoat...

 

[rodaman]

is there an email I should be using to contact them more efficiently? besides the info@bookster?

 

[cassini]

There is Peter King's email, which off the top of my head is [email protected], but I wonder whether he will be answering anything just right now?
My sympathies to you folks who paid up front via debit cards or Paypal, I'd have been in an unsecured position too if I hadn't complained on here a few weeks ago and started Bookster into action. Not that I have quite what I wanted, but there is some hope I can get my jacket tweaked into better shape, whereas I see a number of people here have uncertainty about what, if anything, they will receive in compensation.

I think there is a lesson here for everyone - there were those that took the view that Bookster could take as long as they wanted to deliver their goods and those who disagreed were just impatient, but as I pointed out in a previous post, it simply doesn't take that long to deliver a jacket even if you have elves making it after midnight only on the full moon...something was up at Bookster and I recognised the signs of a company that was in some sort of distress...

The only reason I had anything delivered at all before this bankrupcy I believe was because I went public on Styleforum, so thanks to Styleforum for the platform anyway.

 

[cassini]

By the way, it would appear there's a good chance that Bookster used www.Bespokemears.co.uk as their tailors in case anyone thinks their order might be with them. My own view is that they don't look like the sort of people that tinker around with a jacket or waistcoat for six months so they may never have had the order through from Bookster in the first place, but that's a guess...

 

[cassini]

Ah, rereading the note from Bookster, the only functional email address now is :

[email protected]

 

[Equus Leather]

Sad news here for all concerned, Bookster made some nice things for me over the years..

 

[steverooney]

hi all

sw this post and had to reply as i was in the same position. cassini is correct, i have contact bespokemears http://bespokemears.co.uk/ (01922 476930) and they had my order, they are also in the same position, however i have been speaking to them and they are being really helpful!! i suggest you give them a call, they might be able to help

steve

 

[Messkit]

Yes they coordinated (but did not make) great suits and are lovely people. With hindsight their fundamental problem is that they were way, way under-priced - they were just middle-men so how could they run a successful business selling suits for less than if you bought them direct from the tailor? Of course they couldn't but their business model whereby everyone paid up front meant it would take some time for this to become clear. The tailor of customer A's suit needs a little bit of customer B's money. Then the tailor of customer B's suit needs a bit more of customer C's money and so on with each suit taking a bit longer to deliver. It is a bit like pyramid selling and eventually it all collapses with nobody getting any suits.

I'm even more of a sap than anyone because in my heart I realized this when my second suit still had not arrived after 8 months and many phone calls. Also, the change of location was a telling sign; I visited their previous location near Ross-on-Wye and there was clearly no reason to change it. However, at the end of ApriI my suit finally arrived - not perfect but pretty good. I then spoke to Peter a couple of times - he was very plausible and persuasive and I stupidly believed his story that all the problems were behind them, or wanted to believe more like, because the suits were great. So in the middle of May I placed an order for two more and parted with £1,660, which probably meant that some lucky bugger who paid for his suit before Christmas got his order completed! Charitable donation? Caveat emptor.

I suppose I'm really more angry with myself than with Peter, though I'm pretty angry with him too and he should certainly never be allowed near any kind of business again. To me the weasel words in his email make matters worse. How dare he blame "the banks" or "the government" (i.e. taxpayers) for failing to support badly run businesses indefinitely! For all the waffle about "serious discussions" and "strenuous efforts being made professionally" there is not a single real fact in the email. All of us who have paid for non-existent suits will just be unsecured creditors and in my experience any money left in a business like this will all go towards secured creditors, i.e months of unpaid VAT and PAYE. As for "in the meantime we would ask that you contact your order payment provider to issue you with a refund" the wretched man is in never-never land. I paid by Paypal and they do not cover custom-made items and in any case a claim has to be submitted within 45 days of payment. At least we should rejoice that banks and "payment providers" are not subsidising such loss-making businesses!

It was not worth 1,660 quid to write this, but it helps!

 

[Grammaton Cleric]

^ That sucks.

 

[JLibourel]

You did have to wonder about their pricing. They were selling English-made clothing made from fine British fabrics for appreciably less than what you would pay a second-tier Hong Kong tailor for similar product. Admittedly. their stuff was fused, but still....