Can I call into your shop / office / warehouse to purchase goods?
No.
We don't currently have any retail outlet (maybe later this year).
Our office is in Ross-on-Wye (between Hereford & Gloucester) and visitors are welcome to view our sample products,
but we usually don't have any available for sale.
Can I order over the phone?
Yes, of course! Please call 01989 763371.
We don't have call queues so you should normally get right through,
if we have another caller on the line you can leave your number and we'll call you back.
I see a xxx on your site. Is it in stock?
Yes.
If its showing on the site it should be in stock, barring errors in our count.
How do I know you're genuine and not a fake?
Look at the evidence until you're convinced:
- The shop has been online since 2004.
- See our About Us page.
You'll see that we have substantial backgrounds, especially in scientific programming for
institutes such as NASA and for the Hubble Space Telescope,
and Alan has published papers.
- Call us and talk to us. Ask us questions and try to catch us out..
- We advertise in Focus, How It Works, and various school publications. Look in W.H Smiths.
- We're mentioned and linked to on the Royal Society of Chemistry's
website.
- We're a member of the Federation of Small Businesses
How can I make a rainbow/spectrum?
The simplest method is to place a prism
in bright sunlight, and twist and turn it to project the spectrum onto a screen (e.g. a wall or ceiling).
Ideally you will be in a room, by a window, so that the wall or ceiling isn't directly illuminated by sunlight.
However, if you want more control - such as not having to wait for a sunny day - you need to understand the optical process.
The light source ideally needs to be narrow in one dimension, and not spreading out.
You can achieve this with a lamp, followed by a slit, then a convex lens (or magnifying glass)
The narrower the slit the sharper the spectrum, but less bright.
Focus an image of the slit on your screen (be it a box, piece of paper, or a wall or ceiling).
Then place the prism or diffraction grating in the beam and rotate it (if prism) till you get the best spectrum.
Our Rainbow Spectrum kit is ideal for experimenting and learning
how to do this.
What\s the difference between the various prisms?
The main factors are:
- Size
- A bigger prism makes the spectrum wider, but not longer.
- Angles
- Prisms typically are equilateral (3 sides and angles are the same) or right-angled (with two 45° angles)
- Material
- Glass has a higher refractive index than acrylic,
which spreads out the colours more and makes the spectrum longer.
Unless stated otherwise, our prisms are acrylic.
One would normally use an equilateral glass prism for colour dispersion (e.g. in spectroscopes) and right-angled for light deviation,
e.g. to shorten binoculars. However, the Discovery prism
does a very good job of producing a spectrum in bright sunlight, and I haven't been able to tell which one is 'better' for that,
though acrylic would be less susceptible to breakage.
Our Rainbow Spectrum kit contains the
glass prism and some diffraction grating and a lens, light source, and instructions
on how to create spectra in the absence of bright sunlight,
which we highly recommend for anyone wanting to gain some insight into the colour composition of light.
Where's my stuff?
Probably at your local Royal Mail sorting office
- At Christmas or during very bad weather (snow, flood, ...) deliveries might take longer.
- The 3-5 working days we quote is based on the Royal Mail's guidelines for second class post. Occasionally they take a little longer.
- Please check if your local Post Sorting Office is holding it for you.
Normally the postie should leave you a note if you didn't answer the door, but occasionally they don't.
- Please be aware that sometimes credit cards are declined, and check your bank account.
If you did not receive any email from us then we probably did not receive your order.
- Here are some more reasons it might not arrive.
Which chemistry set /microscope / telescope / ... do you recommend?
Please see our recommendations page.
Where are you? Why do you sound American?
Our office is in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, and our warehouse is in Cardiff.
Lucy is the one who normally answers the phone,
she's American. Occasionally you'll get Alan who is British.
Do you sell wholesale/trade?
No.
Please can you send me a catalogue?
We don't have a catalogue at this time. We hope to have one soon.
Until then, everything we have is on our website.
Do you ship to the US (or other country)?
Yes (probably).
We are willing to ship almost anywhere (subject to government restrictions). Our
website is not set up to handle delivery addresses outside the EU so if you would like
to place an order you will have to email us the details and we can give you the final cost.
We can then arrange a way to get your bank card details or alternate payment method.
The item you sent is wrong/damaged. How shall I return it?
PLEASE contact us first.
We may be able to solve a problem, or offer a solution that obviates the need to return it, or we'll
give you instructions where and how to return it (always by the cheapest method please).
Do you accept Paypal?
Yes.
We do accept PayPal but don't publicise the fact as their fees are high.
But if you prefer to use PayPal we can accept it.
Our account is orders at curiousminds.co.uk. Please email or call us with your order.
I've got an xxx. Please can you tell me its value?
No.
There are many factors that affect an item's value.
The best way to determine it yourself is to use eBay.
Go to the 'Advanced Search', type in what it is, and check the 'Completed listings' box.
This will show you what items like yours have sold for, e.g.
brass microscope.
My new password doesn't work..
Please be sure to type (or better, cut & paste) the password exactly, including upper & lowercase,
and being careful not to swap '1' for 'l', and 'O' for '0', etc.
To cut & paste (on a PC): double-click on the new password,
right-click & select 'Copy',
click in the password field in our site login page,
right-click & select 'Paste'.
Unfortunately we cannot change your password, the software doesn't allow it.
Why don't you encrypt my address?
Your personal data (name, address, phone, but NOT credit card data)
is unencrypted because we feel it's only really necessary at the credit card stage.
We appreciate that some people don't agree with that. We can agree to disagree or you may tell us why we're wrong.
Basically, we doubt that anyone would find it worthwhile to sniff our traffic for publically available data.
Your credit card data however is extremely secure, that is handled on a secured site.
I couldn't input my postcode
Your postcode is requested in the 6th box on the page order info
- perhaps you overlooked it, or perhaps the address layout could be better -
it may also be why your road name was where the postcode should have been.
We'll look into moving the postcode box down to where it should be..
If you don't have a postcode please input '0000' (4 zeros).
I got 'Page Not Found' errors
Did you mean 'product not found'?
The Recommendations over on the right may refer to some products that are currently out of stock but should be back in soon.
If really 'page not found' please can you give us some examples, as we couldn't find any.
Do you have a Zero Tolerance Policy for Abuse?
Yes.
We believe that our staff should have the right to work without the fear of threats or abuse from anyone,
therefore before using any of our services we ask customers to remain civil when communicating with our staff at all times.
Any abusive language or threats over the phone will lead to the call being terminated.
Similarly any abusive voicemails or emails shall not be responded to.
We have thousands of customers every year and the vast majority are great.
If they have a problem they let us know politely and we sort it out.
But sadly there's a handful who feel the need to come at us with guns blazing.
"You spoilt my child's Christmas/Birthday/Life how dare you!" - for example,
they left it till the last minute to order, and didn't allow for any contingencies such as snow...
Please believe me, we bend over backwards for the polite ones. Good customers really do matter to us.
We're real people (Alan and Lucy).
We don't know you or your children/friends/relatives but we pride ourselves on giving excellent service.
So if something has upset you, please calm down and consider the following possibilities:
- We almost always send out orders the same or next BUSINESS day. If you submit your order late on Friday do NOT expect it to arrive Monday.
- Orders may fail to arrive for any number of reasons, e.g:
- you haven't waited long enough, even if you calculated the stated number of business days correctly - sometimes the mail takes longer, especially at Christmas.
- you gave us the wrong address or postcode. We do NOT change it (except to add or correct the postcode), it goes through exactly as you typed it.
- you didn't answer the door for the post/delivery man. You might not have heard the bell (you were talking/sneezing/...). They DON'T always leave a card. Check with your local sorting office.
- Somebody in our warehouse made a mistake. Their error rate is about 0.5%, i.e. 1 in about 200 orders are wrong. When that happens we try to encourage them to not make that mistake again, but they're only human, they'll find another one...
- We aren't answering you because we're on holiday (e.g. from Xmas eve till January 4th). We aren't ignoring you - unless you were rude or agressive. We WILL sort out your problem, but politeness is a wonderful lubricant! Treat us with respect and we'll do the same for you. We might even take time out of our holiday or weekend to help you!
Please note that a long rant (like this!) is no help (to us) whatsoever.
If you feel better after typing it, fine, but don't send it.
All we need is your order number and a brief factual description of the problem.
Trying to lay a guilt trip on us for your child's disappointment won't help.
Don't leave your Christmas shopping till the last minute - a proportion of those orders that theoretically should arrive in time, won't.
One customer ordered on Christmas Eve and was upset that it didn't arrive by Christmas. No, really!
If you don't find your question here, or you would like further clarification, please don't
hesitate to call us on 01989 763371. We are very friendly, don't bite, and know our products.
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