Chair covers- to do, or not to do?

Bargain indeed. Is that delivery and setup, or DIY?

Wheres that from SammyJay?

It's a company called Che Decor I stumbled across but I'm actually seriously reconsidering them after I've had a message asking for a "£500 refundable deposit to ensure all covers are returned". Errr, no chance. Something about that screams SCAM to me. Besides, if I had £500 to spend on chair covers to begin with, I'd have had no problem finding a more well established supplier! I found the company on eBay so I've reported it to them in case it is dodgy. Don't want anyone being taken advantage of by a deal that seems - and probably IS - too good to be true.

Back to the drawing board!

I'm not being daft - this is dodgy as hell, right? This is the message I received when I asked if the £500 deposit thing was a typo:

"If you are taking advantage of our setup and delivery service the refundable deposit is £50.

Unfortunately, for security reasons if you require our courier service we have to charge a refundable deposit of £500 which will partially cover the cost of chair covers if not returned."

There are lots of HIBs here who deal with chair covers etc., can you confirm that this sort of request is bulltwang of the highest order?

Seems a bit dodgy to me Id be inclined to think scam I'm afraid x

For those sort of prices - and "deposit" if I was inclined to have chair covers I'd be buying them myself, asking some friends to set them up in the morning, then selling them afterwards.

£500 deposit for 100 covers is certainly more than they cost to replace, I'm sure.

To me, that reads like if you are paying them to do the set-up then they only require £50 deposit as they will be there with the chair covers, but if you are setting up yourselves (and therefore need the covers couriered to you), then they want more as they won't be there to ensure they get them back.

£500 is what they would cost to replace if they were bought from new again.But, it is highly unlikely that 100 chair covers would go missing! The most I have had is a venue throwing 26 of them away as some bright spark put them in black bin liners instead of the laundry bags we provide for them!

I have been doing chair covers for about 5yrs now and will say that there are companies that charge £1.50 to £2.00 per chair cover, they are usually DIY and then they will charge you for delivery, set up & collection. When they arrive they are creased and believe me they look horrendous on the chairs straight from the box, so they have to be ironed. You then have to get someone to put them on the chairs this takes approx 2hrs for 100 chair covers tying bows as well (which is an art form in itself to get them all the same!)

For companies like myself who charge £3.00 £3.50 ( we don't do DIY) per cover & sash this includes all laundering , sometimes 500 a week to do so on average 36- 40 hrs per week are spent ironing, I don't have a team that stand here every day doing them. They are then delivered to the venue by myself put onto the chairs & steamed again to get any creases out. The bows are tied individually.

They are then collected the next day & the process starts again.

So that is 100 chair covers washed ironed, steamed again in situ, bows tied, one round trip using fuel to the venue. Covers are then collected the next day, another round trip to the venue which can be 30-50 miles away so more fuel. Then they are laundered using Gas & Electricity so there you go £3.00 per cover is a small price when you see what is involved in the actual process of making your venue look gorgeous!

See I personally don't like the look of them - they look a bit fussy and it's something I intensely dislike. I can quite happily accept that they are something that some people will like, and want, but I don't like "fussy" decorations - especially the bows! Part of it is that I feel my venue has its own character and although the boring burgundy conference chairs aren't that pretty, chair covers wouldn't be right either... It's all personal taste IMO. Fortunately OH doesn't want them, as I would object quite strongly.

On the plus side, all the more money for the food and my dress!

Lots of good info on covers, our venue is a stunning 100 year old manor house BUT the chairs are terrible! They are the old fashioned lastic village hall type ones! The venue has covers but they are awful chintz flowery things too! I am ideally looking for spindle back banqueting chairs to hire. Any HIB's do this??? Shropshire area? thanks

Sherrie mine are costing £3.25 each & the company dp everything you have mentioned. When people find out where im going they say 'you'll pay for them'. Yes I will pay for them - I wanted this particular company, they do exactly what I want, will style my venue fantastically & I trust them implicitly. I understand budget restraints but this was something I wasnt compromising on.

Before we had even seen the chairs at our venue, I knew i'd prefer the chair covers.

We've paid about £3.50 per cover and we need 150 of them - so again quite a big expense, but makes our room look totally different.

Personally i'd not cover only half of the chairs in the room, i've insisted that even the chair the photobooth TOG will sit on be covered in the next room - haha. If you know my plans you'll know I have a "thing" about Day and Evening guests being treated differently and if I arrived as an evening guest to find the day guests had their chairs covered and I didn't i'll feel unwelcome and like I wasn't worth the expense.

We had chair covers as there was money left in the budget for them. I honestly can't remember noticing them on the day though.

We're not having chair covers for the ceremony as the chairs in the room are lovely and match the decor really well, however in the reception place, we are having covers as the chairs are ugly and old and dont fit in with our colour scheme.

Luckily I found a place that does covers and bows for £2 each (lycra ones - I like the fitted look) and that includes delivery and set up and collection. We're having 80 chairs so it worked out £160.

I am happy with that