There I was - broke but still looking at stuff on ebay (as usual!). I come across a really nice sporran from a company I've bought from before... I'm looking for a black dress sporran and this is a black dress sporran. It's only £17!
I have a quick look at the picture and click "Buy It Now", pay and that's that. I'm feeling happy with myself
It arrives 2 days later whilst I'm in Edinburgh. I return home and it's waiting on me opening it. Seems well-enough packages with a bit of bubble wrap.
I pull it out and...
WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT!
(to say the least)
£17 seemed amazing but the sporran's top looks as though it was thrown together in 30seconds. It's half fallen-apart and the cantle has a lot of scratching and chips into the "metal" which is black underneath. The goats fur is glued at the bottom which forms a massive clump in the sporran which is unmovable (and I'm not going to wash the hair in the shower.... that would be weird!)
The leather beneath the cantle is cut squint and the metal part of the cantle is worse - it is extremely squint with the design being cut off at the left side to make it in line with the other side.
The bottom and main body of the sporran holds together well and is actually well-sewn but I'm guessing that parts pre-sewn.
I open the sporran (from which the metal cantle shown signs of not being attached properly. There is a band of plasticy "leather" around the top of the inside in the shape of the cantle. It's hanging out towards me. I can lift it up to see the bolt which holds on the cantle to the main body. The circles on either side of the sporran with little designs on them have the bolt on the back of them which holds the top of the cantle in-place (with the sides hanging off) and they're actually guled onto the cantle itself.
Lesson:
You get what you pay for.
2nd lesson:
Never trust a dealer from experience of buying one product. I'm sure all of their sporrans without cantles are ok quality like mine... but looking at their pictures of others I can see why theyre so cheap.
I messaged the company with my complaints and they stated that this was the last one of this style of sporran (so it must be a "leave it til the last sucker" one then) and that I can send it back and have my postage refunded also. Their customer service obviously isnt bad but I am very disappointed.
You can very much tell the sporran is cheap from the quality of "metal" and the clumpy fur.
Here's their ebay picture:
My pictures:
Below you can see the inside of the sporran and the plasticly leather bit hanging off. You should also be able to see some of the black chips into the top of the cantle at the bottom of the picture.
You can see the general quality of the metal in this one. Also to the right you can see a lot of the hair from the fur had fallen off.
In this one you should see the cantle hanging off, the low quality of the metal once more and the poor cutting of the leather beneath the cantle.
And finally - the clump in the fur which is completely unmovable.
Bookmarks