Frequently Asked Questions

For more information visit our About Us page.

You will find our store in the beautiful market town of Stow-on-the-Wold, in the heart of the Cotswolds. Each year Stow-on-the-Wold welcomes over 150,000 visitors, amazingly, over half of them come for one reason only – to visit our stores in the centre of the historic market square.

Our stores stock a unique range of products for kitchen, home and garden as well as a selection of gifts, many of which aren’t featured in the catalogue. We do try to stock all of the products that appear in the catalogue but if you are planning to call in for a specific item, we suggest you phone in advance to make sure that it is available.

We are open 7 days a week:
Mon – 9.45am – 5.30pm, Tues – Sat – 9.30am – 5.30pm, Sun – 10.30am – 4.30pm.
We are closed on the following days over the Christmas period:
25th December – Christmas Day – Closed
26th December – Boxing Day – Closed
1st January – New Year’s Day – Closed

Yes, and more, as we have online exclusives and products that you will not find in your catalogue.

You can track the progress of you order with the tracking number in the despatch email or under the "order history" tab in your account.

If we are unable to deliver a product within a maximum of 10 working days, you will be notified by post.

If you have not received your order and are concerned that it has gone missing then please contact our Customer Services Team giving full details of your name, account number and the items ordered. This can be done through our Contact Us Form by selecting Where Is My Order as your nature of enquiry or on our Enquiry Line 01444 462798

Once we have investigated the details of your missing parcel, any refunds payable will be credited back to you via your original payment method.

We currently accept the following methods of online payment:

If you wish to place your order online all items must be paid for at the point of submitting your order. You can choose from paying via debit or credit card. Alternatively, you may pay via PayPal.

We do accept orders by phone and by post

By Phone –01444 462798

Before calling our order-line, we ask you to please make a note of your order details, have your credit/debit card number and expiry date handy and be ready to quote the customer number and offer code printed on your catalogue. If you are not ordering directly from our catalogue, simply confirm that you are ordering from our website.

We regret that our order-line operators do not hold details of our customers’ orders. We cannot therefore deal with any enquiries on this number.

By Post

If you would like to send your order by post, simply complete the order form found in your catalogue and send it to the address below. If you don’t have an order form, then please make sure that the details you send in to us include the product code and product description. Please include your credit or debit card details, postal order or cheque made payable to Expert Verdict and send it to:

Expert Verdict
Cotswold House,
1 Crompton Road,
Groundwell,
Wiltshire,
SN25 5AW

Please note that for security reasons we are obliged to cash all cheques on receipt of your order.

* All calls may be monitored and recorded for training purposes.

There are several ways to find the product you are interested in. Browse through our categories, search by typing a keyword in the search box at the top of the home page or if you know the product code, then enter those details in the search box.

Once you have found the product you want simply click the ‘Add to Basket’ button.

It is quick and easy to find just what you are looking for by browsing through our categories. All of the items in the current catalogue, plus many more, can be found by browsing through the categories near the top of each page. Select the category or sub-category that interests you most until you reach a page which displays pictures of items in your chosen category.

You can sort the current view of the displayed products by using the sort function ‘sort by’ just above the products or further refine, using the list which runs beside each product page.

The number of items in the list will be shown in the top right corner of the page. You may choose the page layout by clicking on the buttons top right. You can scroll through the pages by clicking on the page number or by scrolling using the arrow buttons below the product listing. When you find an item you like, click on either the image or the product title for more details.

The search facility can be found at the top of every page of the website, and allows you to search for an item using a keyword or if you know it the product code.

A product code is 7 digits long (e.g. 123 4567) and can be found when you are looking at an item on the website or in the catalogue. Simply type the number into the box and click search. A page showing all the details of your product should be displayed. If you are told ‘0 results for’, check that you have typed in all 7 digits correctly. If you still cannot find the item, you could try a keyword search instead or browsing the categories or refer to the menu found on every page of the website.

When searching for products using keywords, use words which are likely to be in the name or description of the item.

Security is a priority for us and shopping online with Expert Verdict is guaranteed safe and secure; we take the utmost care to ensure your personal details remain private. When you enter the sign-in process, checkout process, or account management area, you are taken through our secure server. Our secure server encrypts all of your personal information including your credit/debit card number, account number, name and address, and all other personal information, so that it cannot be accessed or read as the information travels over the Internet.

We use a secure socket layer (SSL) “pipeline” so your data is transmitted directly from your computer to our secure server. SSL is the industry standard security technology used by Microsoft and leading Internet commerce companies it’s one of the most advanced security measures available.

You can therefore remain assured that shopping with us online is safe and secure.

We despatch all products as soon as they are available, so parcels may arrive separately. In stock items are delivered on average within 5 days – although we ask you to allow up to 10 days as some items are despatched to you directly from one of our trusted specialist suppliers.

Please be aware that deliveries to Northern Ireland may be delayed at peak times.

If you place your order on our website, you will automatically receive an acknowledgement and then an email confirmation will be received soon after. We will then keep you informed every step of the way with despatch, tracking and delivery details. Even if you have placed your order on the phone or by post if we have your email address, we will email you to keep you informed. Please keep these emails safe as it includes information should you wish to contact us about your order.

Some items may arrive separately. Although many Expert Verdict products are held in our very own warehouse, certain items are despatched directly from our specialist suppliers. This direct-delivery arrangement helps us to keep our costs down and ensures that our prices remain highly-competitive. Your order may therefore arrive in separate packages and on separate dates. We charge your payment card/method upon receipt of order

Every care is taken to provide accurate information. Within our product descriptions we include approximate dimensions. If you are still unsure, then please email us through our Contact Us Form selecting Product Information as your nature of enquiry.

Products that have a banner reading “VAT Exempt” means these products are available to purchase VAT free providing you meet HMRC criteria.

VAT Exempt orders can only be taken through Customer service calls or Mail orders received through the post.

For more information click here.

All our bedding and bedlinen (including toppers) will fit standard sized beds. All sheets will fit a standard mattress depth of 30cm/12ins unless otherwise stated.

Single - W90 x L190cm (W3ft x L 6ft 3 ins)

Double - W135 x L190cm (W4ft 6ins x L6ft 3ins)

King Size - W150 x L200cm (W5ft x L6ft 6ins)

Super King Size - W180cm x L200cm (W6ft x L6ft 6ins)

Height x Width x Depth

Our furniture dimensions are for the overall piece – the space required for it to fit. E.g. a sofa depth would be for the actual sofa frame and not the depth of the cushion.

Curtain sizing is ungathered and Width x Drop

Please note that sizes are inclusive of any fringing on soft furnishings such as throws and covers.

All items are subject to availability and all dimensions are approximate.

Flat Packed Furniture - Check the contents against the instructions enclosed. Once assembly has commenced flat packed furniture is non-returnable. This does not affect your statutory rights.

Wooden Furniture - Please note where we refer to products as “wooden” they may in fact be constructed in whole or in part from MDF, engineered wood or have a wood board construction.

On 1 July 2007 the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations were implemented in the UK in order to protect our environment. Along with other retailers, Scotts & Co. (Scotts Ltd) have joined the Distributor Take-Back Scheme (DTS) which will allow you to deposit your old electrical/electronic items, free of charge, to recycling points set up around the country.

Visit www.recycle-more.co.uk to find out where your nearest recycling point is. Unfortunately, we cannot accept electrical items back for recycling. Instead Scotts & Co. (Scotts Ltd) has contributed to the funding of an alternative network of UK recycling facilities as stated above.

All electrical and electronic products now carry this symbol either on the product or packaging to help you identify products that are recyclable

Our stores will not accept electrical items for recycling. Instead Scotts & Co. (Scotts Ltd) has contributed to the funding of an alternative network of UK recycling facilities as stated above.

At any point during your browsing and shopping online, you can submit an offer code. If, however you reach the checkout stage and haven’t entered an offer code, then you will see an empty box titled ‘Offer code’. Please make sure you insert your code here to receive any further discount or free gift for which you may qualify. If you have received a catalogue, then you will find your offer code on the order form.

No, only one offer code can be used at any one time. You can however use an offer code and if your order totals £75 or more, then you qualify for FREE Delivery too.

Please note that with the launch of our new websites (May 2023) – you now have to register a new account with each of the Scotts & Co brands (Scotts of Stow, Gift Discoveries, Expert Verdict and Bloom).

If you have registered and have an account on the Expert Verdict website prior to May 2023 then you will need to re-register. This is a brand-new website and won’t recognise your ‘old’ account details. It’s easy to do and will make shopping with us in future easier and quicker.

Please note that you now have to register an account with each of the Scotts & Co brands (Scotts of Stow, Gift Discoveries, Expert Verdict and Bloom). Previously you only had to register once. You can if you wish, use the same details across all of the brands you register with – it is your decision

Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions section on this website where we have tried to cover all eventualities. If you are still stuck, then please Contact Us and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

Cookies allow us to recognise you automatically whenever you visit our site so that we can personalise your experience and provide you with better service. Cookies are short pieces of data that are sent to your computer when you visit a website. On later visits, this data is then returned to that website. Examples of data collected by cookies includes your name and email address. We also use cookies (and similar browser data, such as Flash cookies) for fraud prevention and other purposes.

If your web browser is set to refuse cookies from our website, you will not be able to complete a purchase or take advantage of certain features of our website, such as storing items in your wish list or receiving personalised offers and recommendations. We strongly encourage you to configure your web browser to accept cookies from our website.

The information we learn from you, is either from information you give us, automatic information we have gathered from cookies, email activity or information we have gathered from other sources helps us personalise and continually improve your shopping experience at Expert Verdict.

We are a part of Scotts Ltd, whose brands include Scotts of Stow, Bloom, Gift Discoveries, Expert Verdict and Solutions World. Scotts Ltd respects the privacy of visitors to our sites and strives to provide you with an enjoyable, secure, and personalised experience.

Our websites use cookies, allowing us to identify users and personalise the site whenever possible. The cookies store small pieces of information about visitors, such as names and email addresses. This means that on future visits to our website, we can identify past visitors and welcome them back. In addition, you have the opportunity to register on our website and store address information, facilitating future shopping experiences by making this information easily available. We aim to enhance your shopping experience whenever possible, so please contact us using our Contact Us Form selecting Other as your nature of enquiry with any concerns or questions or write to:

Expert Verdict,Scotts & Co, 110 Faraday Park, Dorcan, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN3 5JF.

We do occasionally make our mailing list available to other carefully selected organisations whose products and services may be of interest to you. We support the UK Charity Sector. If you do not wish to receive any further mailings from Expert Verdict, please use our Contact Us Form selecting Stop Receiving Catalogues as your nature of enquiry where you can indicate which mailings or its associated companies you no longer wish to receive. Alternatively, you can write to the address above.

Security:

At Expert Verdict, we are committed to protecting the security and confidentiality of your personal information by providing you with a safe and secure transaction environment when shopping online.

www.expertverdict.com uses the most reliable SSL. 256-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption is the de facto cryptographic standard that we use for securing data communication between the browser and our website. Digital certificate technology is used to ensure transaction privacy, message integrity and server-side authentication. www.expertverdict.com uses GeoTrust 256-bit encryption to encrypt sensitive data on this site.

This is a 3-digit security number which can found on the back of your credit or debit card. Please only use the last 3 digits of the security number.

*Charges to 03 numbers are the same as standard UK landline numbers starting in 01 or 02. Calls to 03 numbers are often included in bundled minutes and unlimited call packages. Please contact your provider for more information. Other networks and mobile providers may vary. All calls may be monitored and recorded for training purposes.