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Shark Designs Courses
Courses FAQs

Welcome to our Course FAQs page, on this page we have compiled the most Frequently Asked Questions that we receive and have tried to answer them as best as we can, if we have not covered any points that you feel need addressing please do not hesitate to Contact Us with your question.

Before ‘Contacting Us’ with your enquiry, please read this guide first.

Q: Which payment methods do you accept?

We accept all major credit and debit cards (VISA, MasterCard, Maestro etc.) You can make also payments for courses, via our secure payment interface through PayPal, or by calling us and making a manual payment over the telephone, or you can even send us a cheque Please Note: When sending a cheque as your chosen method of payment for a course, we are unable to make any firm bookings of your preferred times and dates if the course, until the cheque has been received and then has cleared through our bank. Also, we cannot guarantee that cheques will be banked as soon as they have been received, since we do not have immediate access to our bank and cannot make special trips to deposit any cheques that we receive. As such any cheques that we receive may take up to two weeks, upon receipt, to be banked and up to 5 working days to actually clear.

We would strongly advise that you do not send any Credit Card information details via email. Sending information via this medium is not secure.

Please do not send Cash through the post, articles of this nature have a tendency to go missing.

Q: How do I book a place on a Shark Designs course?

Whilst we are able, most of the time, to run our courses at times and dates that are the most convenient for you our client, we do, however, cram our calendar year with a busy schedule of Outdoor shows and Events. These Outdoor show and Events take up a lot of time during the peak seasons (i.e. during the spring, summer and autumn months); during these periods our time is very limited. For this reason, when our course dates are first published they become booked relatively quickly.

Booking Online: - If you would like to book a place on one of our courses Online can you please review the following suggestions:

It is a good idea to review on our Course Calendar pages the times and dates that we have available throughout the year.
Once you see a date that is available, and is best suited to your time restraints,
Go to the course description page of your choice, and select the appropriate ‘Add To Cart’ button for that course. This will immediately reserve you a place in the courses queue, please remember that booking a date is done on a First-Come-First-Served basis.
Once we have received your order booking, which will be time stamped, we will immediately contact you via email and request that you reply with you preferred course date ASAP.
As soon as we have received your reply, we will book the date(s) that you have chosen into our schedule. If for some reason the date you have chosen has already become unavailable, we will contact you via email or phone at your convenience and arrange for a new booking date.
We will then contact you with all of the course details and official course booking form.

Booking By Phone: - Booking your place via our website is the most convenient way of securing a place on one of our courses, however we are more than happy to make bookings over the phone, just call us on 01634 241 049. Booking over the phone will ensure that we can both take your booking and arrange the times and dates that best suit your needs, giving you a firm booking there and then.

PLEASE NOTE: - Whilst the Course Calendar page is as up-to-date as we are able to maintain it, it is not an automated service; as such it is updated as soon as we are able to do this. We are therefore unable to guarantee that you will receive the times and dates of your choice; therefore, to avoid disappointment, we would strongly advise that you chose at least two dates that best suit your needs before you make a booking. If we are unable to oblige you with your chosen times and dates we will, of course, offer you a full refund.

Q: Am I able to get in touch with other course students?

We have strict privacy rule that prevents us from divulging information pertaining to other course students. If, however, you wish to contact another course student you may Contact Us via email with your request and we will pass this information on to the other course students. Should they wish to make contact with you, themselves, it will be entirely at their discretion.

Once the course has begun and you have met the other course students in person you are free to make contact arrangements at your own volition.

Alternatively, you are completely free to create your own blog on FaceBook or Twitter, where you can make direct contact with other course students, publish your thoughts and photos and develop friendships.

Q: Am I allowed to take photos or film the course and publish them?

Please read our ‘Terms & Conditions’ for a full review of our filming and photo policies.

As a quick synopsis, however, we ask that students respect the privacy of other course members and seek permission from your course instructor before any photos are taken.

Taking photos of students who are under the age of 18 years is strictly forbidden without the expresses permission of the student’s parent or guardian.

We do not allow filming of workshop events to take place during our courses, because we reserve the right to undertake this procedure ourselves. Any filming that may take place by Shark Designs, will only be undertake with the full permission of all of the students who take part in the course.

Q: Do I need to buy specialist materials, tools or equipment for any of the Shark Designs courses?

The answer to this question is emphatically ‘No’, since all necessary specialised materials, tools and equipment will be provided for you as part of the course fees unless otherwise stated.

Q: If I need to attend a course with equipment, what equipment do I need to bring on my course?

Any additional equipment that may be required, not already provided for you on any of our courses, will be show in the course description under Additional Course Equipment and on the Course Kit List pages, however, if your course is not listed it is because course requirements may change at the last-minute, so please Contact Us directly if this causes you concern.

When attending workshops, such as our leatherworking courses, you are welcome to bring your own personal hand tools or other equipment that you feel will aid you on the course, but please run it by us first (Please Note: - electric or air power hand tools etcetera are not permitted). However, this is not necessary since all tools, materials and equipment will be made available to you should ever you need them.

Q: How do I find out if the times and dates of your courses are free for me to book?

See our Courses Calendar pages for the times and dates that we have available throughout the year. But please remember that booking a time and date of your pleasing is made on a First-Come-First-Served basis.

Q: Where are your courses held?

Shark Designs hold courses in the United Kingdom. A general area, such as a county (e.g. Kent), should be given on the course description page of our website. Once we have received your booking, for a course, we will send out full course location instructions.

Q: When will I receive the final details of a course?

Once we have received your full payment for a course we will immediately send out all of the relevant information that you will require to attend the course that you have chosen.

However due to a variety of factors, such as weather and travel issues etcetera, which may be beyond our control - final course information may take longer to be released. If you are worried about your plans please Contact Us for with your concerns and we will do our very best to waylay them if possible.

Q: Am I able to find out about future courses that are not yet advertised?

Please check out our Courses Updates pages on our website for any new announcements.

Please feel free to Contact Us with any course date requests that you would like us to consider, however, as a general rule we are unable inform you about the availability of our course times and dates in advance, until they are actually published on our website. For current available dates please see our Course Calendar page.

Q: Is it possible to pay a deposit to guarantee a place for a course not yet advertised?

The simple answer to this question is No. However, if you book a place on a course that has not been advertised at that point you will be one of the first in line once the course has been published. Booking a place on a course that has not been published, however, does not guarantee that the chosen time and date will be available to you.

Q: How do I book multiple places on a course?

In each of our course descriptions pages it usually states the maximum numbers of students who may attend each course. On each of these pages we have added an ‘Add To Cart’ button for each of the choices that we have made available to you. All you need do is select the appropriate ‘Add To Cart’ button to reserve your place or places on each course. Alternatively you are welcome to phone us on 01634 241 049 and make your booking directly over the phone with us.

Q: Can I make a booking for bespoke courses or courses that you are not currently offering?

We are happy to consider any ideas that you may have regarding bespoke courses, or for courses for larger parties. Please feel free to Email or phone us on 01634 241 049 where we can discuss your ideas.

We can arrange special events for large groups of people on a bespoke basis.

Q: How can I change the times and dates of a course that I have already booked with you?

You can easily change the times and dates of any course that you have booked with us by contacting us either by Email or by phoning us on 01634 241 049.

Please Note, however, that there is a £20.00 administration charge for moving course times and dates; and any new dates that you are looking for may not be available to you. Please read our ‘Terms & Conditions’ for more information.

Q: How do I cancel my place should I need to?

If you want to cancel any booking on one of your courses, please Email or phone us on 01634 241 049 as soon as you possibly can. If you are phoning us with your cancellation it would be helpful for us to deal with your request as fast as possible, if you could have with you any payments and or booking details you have made to that point (i.e. PayPal codes, or manual purchase code etcetera and booking forms etcetera).

Please Note that there are strict cancellation rules in relation to customer refunds. Please read our Terms and Conditions for more information.

Q: Do I have to do any Basic courses before attend any of your more Advanced Course?

The simple answer to this question is No, however some of the more advanced courses that we provide may rely of some previous experience of the subject matter, if you are to take full advantage of the course curriculum.

Also, some of our Beginners or Basic courses are there to offer you with a flavour for what might be involved in the more Advanced courses on offer. In other words for those of you who are unsure if a more Advanced course will suit you, you may want to try a less Advance course first. On all of our Beginner or Basic courses you will learn the necessary skills that will enable you to take full advantage of the more Advanced courses, and will, hopefully, whet your appetite for more!

Q: Why have I not received an email from you?

If you have not received any form of booking confirmation from us, by either email or by phone, within 48 hours of your booking, it is probably because:-

We are currently at an Outdoor Show or Event (see our Course Calendar pages for more details).
You may have misspelled your email address, when contacting us.
You may be running an ‘anti-spam’ software filter that has intercepted the message before could reach you.

In any event, we would ask that you be a little patient, and wait at least 48 hours before Contacting Us. We would also like to remind you that your booking records will be time stamped at the exact time and date that you made your booking (if done Online), so your place in any Time and Date booking queue is guaranteed. Please be aware that all booking are made on a First-Come-First-Served basis.

Q: Are deposits refundable?

The straightforward answer to this question is No. Please see our ‘Terms & Conditions’ for more information./

Q: Can I transfer from one course to another?

Subject to time, date and placement availability the answer is, Yes. Please Note, however, that there is a £20.00 administration charge to move course times and dates. See our ‘Terms & Conditions’ for more details.

Q: Do I have to order and pay for my course Online?

The answer to this question is, No. However, if you are concerned about paying for your course Online, or if you do not have a suitable credit card, we are happy to take your booking by Email or over the phone (01634 241 049).

Q: How do I give feedback about one of the courses that I have attended?

If you have attended one of our Shark Designs courses, we would love to hear your feedback on it, whether it is good, bad or indifferent. Please Email us with you feedback where it will be submitted to our Course Reviews page.