FAQs

The prices given on our item pages are to hire the item for a standard three day hire period.

This is to give you ample time to set up your equipment and furniture before your event and to pack away afterwards. We never recommend a customer taking delivery of items on the day of the event. There are variables connected to delivery such as traffic, accidents and time taken with previous deliveries which are impossible to legislate for, which make deliveries on the day of the event instantly problematic.

The price does not include delivery, collection or VAT. There may also be additional charges for cleaning and slight damage waivers.

Unless the two person carriage charge has been paid for, deliveries and collections are made by a single driver, who has 15 minutes to deliver or collect your order. They are not allowed to take items up or down stairs, and all deliveries need to be made within 50m of the vehicle. If it takes the driver longer then you will be charged £12.50 per additional 15 minutes. If a driver arrives and delivery or collection is impossible then unfortunately an additional carriage charge will be added to your order.

If there are likely to be issues with regards to location, staff onsite or the size of the order, then it's imperative you advise us BEFORE you place your order. Please note that our vans cannot go off-road onto grass or dirt areas, particularly when it has been wet due to the chances of the vehicle getting stuck.

As our drivers are multiple drop drivers, any issues with your delivery or collection of your order could result in issues for other customers. We ask that you are mindful of this when we are delivering or collecting your order.

It's important when you've received your items to have a quick check to make sure everything is there, and that you set up electrical and gas equipment to at least test as soon as practicable. That way, in the unlikely event of there being problems you can contact us immediately we have the maximum amount of time to fix them.

We do deliver on both Saturdays and Sundays; however there are additional charges. Delivery or collection on a weekend day will cost an extra £20 plus VAT. Availability can also be tight on weekends, so if at all possible it's easier to book a weekday delivery and collection - remember our three day hire period covers Friday to Monday.

While we have no doubt that your charity does sterling work and is running to a tight budget, we must be fair to all customers and as such we cannot offer charity discounts. Coronavirus has placed an incredible strain on the hospitality industry which we have had to deal with while receiving minimal help; consequently we have a duty of care to our own staff first.

The short answer is no. All items go through our commercial dishwashers and are checked to make sure they're perfectly clean before being sent out, however this does not mean that glasses or cutlery will arrive at your venue polished.

The only way to properly polish these items is by hand. As you can imagine given, the prices we charge and the number of items we supply this is realistically impossible. If you're having a formal occasion then we suggest you set aside some time during setup to give these items a little polish, if needed.

Our standard hire period is three days and our most frequent period of hire is from Friday to Monday. However, we understand some customers may need to hire items for longer period of time.

As long as we have items in stock for the dates requested, we can accomodate hire requests for longer periods of time. You can check availability on the product page; simply enter the dates you wish for delivery and collection and the quantity needed and our automatic stock system will confirm if we have the stock required.

Extended hire charges are shown on the product page on a per item per day basis.

The easiest answer to this question is as soon as is practically possible. All stock and drivers are subject to availability, and as one can imagine, at peak periods in the year that availability can get stretched very quickly.

If you require items for delivery within seven days you must contact our office either via our live chat facility or by emailing sales@expohire.com to place your order, so that we can confirm we can fulfil your requirements.

Payment needs to be made when placing an order to confirm unless an account is already in place with us.

Payment can be made by credit or debit card when going through the checkout procedure. Should you select the “Pay Deposit” option, please call us within 48 hours if you have not received an email with payment details. We cannot hold goods if you do not pay us; any unpaid orders will be cancelled and the items released back into general stock.

Please note that while we can look into credit facilities for repeat customers, in every case the first order must be paid for prior to delivery. It can take up to 28 days for a credit account to be put into place.

Payment for orders can also be accepted by card at our secure online portal https//pay.expohire.com

This is a very hard question to answer for us, because the basic fact is that it cannot be up to us what you choose to hire. Like hiring a vehicle, it's imperative you know how to use a piece of hire equipment before hiring it. We have attached manuals to product pages to help people understand how to use equipment; likewise we have listed technical specifications wherever possible. You can use our live chat facility to confirm dimensions or power supply, but we can only offer objective and factual information.

The quick answer is no, they cannot as our insurers will not allow it.

All of our LPG equipment is fitted with a hose and regulator, and attaches to LPG bottles by standard fittings. If you do not feel comfortable attaching or setting up LPG equipment yourself, we recommend utilising the services of a Gas Safe Engineer.

For our larger, repeat customers there is a possibility to set up a credit account.

To qualify for an account, a business must be hiring £5,000 worth of equipment from us per annum, and have filed accounts with Companies House in the last 12 months. A full credit will be undertaken and it can take up to 28 days to set up an account.

Regardless of outcome, we must insist that the first order with a customer is paid prior to delivery even if a credit account application has been made.

Subject to availability, we can amend orders up to seven days prior to delivery.

To make an amendment to your order, please email support@expohire.com with confirmation of your name, your order number and what you would like to amend. Provided we have everything available, we will reply with an invoice which must be paid prior to delivery. Should you wish to amend numbers down, you will be refunded as per our terms and conditions.

It's easy to find out how much delivery will cost. On the home page, there is a carriage calculator - simply enter the postcode of delivery and the calculator will give the standard carriage cost, which covers delivery and collection. This cost is based on a weekday delivery and collection without set times, and is exclusive of VAT.

Weekend and Bank holiday deliveries and collections will have a surcharge of £20 plus VAT.

Deliveries to large exhibition centres and conference centres have a fixed mileage charge from £50 plus VAT, with no additional fees for timed deliveries or collections. However, there is a minimum order value of £500 to most of these venues.

Some larger and more awkward items require two persons to deliver and collect; this charge is itemised when checking out. Likewise, should a morning or afternoon slot be required there are additional charges which will be shown when requested in checkout.

Expo Hire Thames Valley is part of Expo Hire UK, the largest online only supplier of event hire, exhibition furniture and catering equipment hire.

Expo Hire UK has eleven branches throughout the country.

Avon Hire - based in Bristol serving Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Bath and the Bristol area.

Birmingham Catering Hire - based in Birmingham serving West Midlands, Warwickshire and Staffordshire

Capital Event Hire – based in Harrow, serving North and West London

Chiltern Hire – based in Milton Keynes, serving Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire

Cotswold Hire – based in Cheltenham, serving Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire

Midland Hire – based at East Midlands Airport serving Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire

North West Hire – based in Manchester serving Lancashire, Cheshire and Merseyside

Solent Hire – based in Southampton serving Hampshire, Dorset and the South Coast region

South Wales Hire - based in Cardiff serving Glamorgan, Swansea and the South Wales area

Thames Valley Hire - based in Henley-on-Thames serving Berkshire, Surrey and the Thames Valley region.

White Rose Hire - based in Leeds serving Leeds, Sheffield and Yorkshire

From our experience with catering, event and exhibition hire we cannot recommend strongly enough that you book for items to be delivered at least the day prior to your event.

Sometimes things out of our control go awry, and having 24 hours to fix them is preferable to having 24 minutes. We can’t be held responsible for problems with an event if we are delivering on the day of an event itself

Unfortunately not. We're set up only for deliveries and collections.

We can offer morning or afternoon time slots for delivery, which can be selected in the checkout. However, there are charges for these and they can make smaller orders prohibitively expensive.

Our drivers are multiple drop drivers, doing many deliveries and collections per day, and that combined with the legal limit on the number of hours that they can work means that we have to schedule them as efficiently and as economically as possible. This means that it is impossible for us to meet strict times for delivery and collection.

It's imperative to get items dropped off the day before an event, as there are many factors beyond our control that can affect the time we can get to you on the day such as traffic jams, accidents and vehicles breaking down.

We appreciate that this can make things difficult with venues with strict timings; however, from experience we understand how difficult it can be to make those timings and want to be honest about our limitations up front to help you make an informed decision.

The one exception to this is exhibitions, where there are defined set up and breakdown times. When an order is placed for an exhibition, we will email you to confirm the show name, hall number if applicable, stand number, and details for setup and breakdown as well as any specific venue protocols that need to be followed. There may be additional charges applicable for these events; if you are unsure please email support@expohire.com before placing your order.

The short answer to this question is no, as our insurers will not allow it.

In the majority of cases, the customer will need to be present to sign paperwork for hire equipment received. However, if notified beforehand (and given approval), we can liaise with venues with respect to delivery and collection. One of few exceptions to this is when ordering hire for a stand at an exhibition centre; as we deliver and collect directly from the stand during set-up and breakdown we do not need the customer to be present.

Sometimes, problems occur. The most important thing for a customer to do in this situation is to make contact - either by calling 0800 910 1015, support@expohire.com or via our live chat facility. The sooner we are aware of an issue, the sooner we can fix it.

Please be aware that we can only service equipment at the location we have delivered it to.  We cannot be liable for any damage that may have been caused under subsequent transport.

We do not charge a damage deposit when hiring items out. However, some items have a slight damage waiver fee of 2%, which covers normal wear and tear.

Please be aware that should breakages or losses occur then you may be liable for a replacement fee for the item, which is 10 times the hire price as standard.

Items need to be returned to us clean and in a condition to be rehired again immediately.

We require our send it back dirty service to be paid for on some items such as crockery. cutlery and glassware. For these items, we ask that they are free of liquids and food debris and are placed back in their packing crates for us to clean on their return. Other items have an optional send it back dirty service; should this not be taken up we expect them to be returned in a condition to be rehired straight away.

We do not charge a cleaning service for our linen; all we ask that it is returned dry and in the bags supplied. Linen should not be placed in a box with dirty crockery or cutlery.

In theory, yes, but the practicality is that we strongly recommend using LPG equipment at any outdoor event that is using a temporary power supply such as a generator. This is because temporary power supplies are not designed for appliances with high power ratings such as turbofan ovens, fryers and griddles. Using these kinds of appliances on temporary power supplies will cause the supply to trip and the appliance to not work properly or at all.

Please check the power rating of the supply you using, paying attention to the amperage and the wattage allowed. If our equipment is rated higher than these numbers, it won't work on your power supply.

Two Person delivery and collection ensures that the delivery driver will be accompanied by a second person to ensure efficient delivery of heavy or awkward items. In addition, it will increase the allotted time for your delivery and collection from 15 minutes to 30 minutes.

Two Person delivery and collection is required on certain items as they cannot be carried by a lone driver; while we are grateful that our customers offer to help our drivers they cannot be indemnified in the event of an accident or injury, and regretfully we cannot accept this help.

As with anything. the more notice we have for a cancellation the better and the more likely we can do something to help. In all cases, please email support@expohire.com immediately.

Once your order is confirmed and booked we regret we cannot offer a refund should your event be cancelled, postponed or moved. However, we will sometimes offer credit notes to be used against future orders at our discretion.

We cannot offer refunds for part cancellation of orders, or removal of specific items.

We must stress in the most definite terms to all customers that it is vital that you get insurance against your event being cancelled. Your first port of call should an event be cancelled should be with your insurers.

We must also stress that it is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that they are compliant with all local, regional and national restrictions for the entire duration of the hire period.