How Hiring Works
This is a plain-English guide to how an Itchenor Sound hire works in practice, written to save you wading through the small print. We’re a small local business, not a national rental chain, so a hire is a friendly, personal process — the more you tell us about your event, the better we can help.
Who we are
Itchenor Sound is a trading name of Rigg Williams Limited — audio, PA and DJ equipment hire based in Itchenor, West Sussex. You can reach us any time at info@itchenorsound.co.uk.
Step by step
- You tell us what you need, when, and where — the easiest way is our hire enquiry form.
- We send you a quote. If you’d like to go ahead, you accept it online and send us two forms of ID.
- We prepare your hire agreement and document pack for you to review and e-sign — signing forms the contract.
- Once it’s signed, we send you an invoice. The full balance, including a refundable security deposit, is due two weeks before your hire.
- You collect the kit, or we deliver it if that’s what we’ve agreed.
- You use it, and you keep it safe and dry.
- You return it on time, clean, complete, and with the cables coiled.
- We check it over, refund your deposit, and say thank you.
What we need from you before the hire starts
- Two pieces of ID — one government-issued (passport or driving licence) and one utility, bank or council document showing your name and address. This is a firm requirement of our insurer, not us being fussy.
- Who’s going to operate the kit — you don’t need to be an expert, but whoever runs it should be reasonably comfortable with audio equipment. Our setup guides cover the essentials, and we’re glad to answer a quick question before you book. If you’d rather not handle it yourself, just ask — we can set it up and break it down for you for an additional fee.
Things that genuinely help us (and keep your deposit safe)
The points below are the things that cost us real time and money between hires if they go wrong, so please take them seriously. They’re also the usual reasons part of a deposit is held back.
- Cables come back coiled, with the Velcro ties we supplied. A tangled pile can take the best part of an hour to sort out before the next hire; two minutes with the ties makes all the difference.
- On time means on time. The hire period you signed up to is the hire period. Late returns delay the next customer. If you think you’ll be late, please call us — we’re human, but we need to know.
- Keep it dry and keep it secure. The risk of loss or damage sits with you from the moment the kit leaves our hands. No drinks on the speakers, and never leave equipment in an unattended vehicle — including overnight. These are insurer conditions.
- Don’t overdrive the speakers. If the red clip or limit LEDs light up anywhere in the chain, the signal is too hot — turn it down. Our Speaker Setup & Care Guide walks you through this; please have a read before the event.
- Don’t try to fix it yourself. If something stops working, unplug it and call us. You won’t lose your deposit by being honest — you might by turning a small fault into a big one.
- Report damage or theft quickly, the same day where you can. Our insurer needs prompt notice, and for theft a police crime reference number.
- Bring everything back — all the accessories, cases, adapters, leads, stands and clamps we handed over. The handover record you sign at collection is the list we check against on return.
At return, and afterwards
When you bring the kit back (or we collect it), we do a visual check against the handover record and count everything back in, flagging anything that looks damaged, missing or untidy there and then. Some items need functional testing back at our premises that we can’t do at the point of return, so for those our final assessment follows once we’ve tested them. We’ll always tell you in writing what, if anything, we find, and the exact timescales are set out in your hire pack.
The security deposit
A refundable security deposit is included in your invoice and is due, with the hire fee, two weeks before your hire. The amount is on your hire agreement and reflects the value of the kit and the risk of loss or damage during your hire — it’s independent of the hire price. It’s your money; we’re just holding it. We refund it promptly after the kit is back and we’ve confirmed all is well. If we ever need to retain part of it — for a late return, damage, or unusual time spent untangling cables — we tell you exactly what and why, in writing.
If things go wrong
- A fault during the hire — tell us immediately. If we can’t get a working replacement to you in reasonable time, we refund a fair proportion of the fee.
- You need to cancel — there’s a clear cancellation process, including consumer cancellation rights. Just get in touch and we’ll walk you through it.
- A complaint — email us at info@itchenorsound.co.uk. We’d much rather fix something than argue about it.
This page is a friendly summary, not the contract. The full terms, including everything not covered here, are in the hire pack we send with your quote — and if anything matters to you, just ask.