Book an Appointment

If you want to test any products or would like us to set-up, build, measure or show you how to use the product you wish to buy, this is considered technical help.  

No problem! Advice is free and we will happily show you products, discuss pros and cons and talk about anything archery. 

Showroom price list:  

• General Technician Time (per ½ hour) - £5  
• Compound Bow Tuning - £30  

Setups (per ½ hour)  

• Traditional bow setup - £5  
• Recurve bow setup - £5  
• Compound bow setup - £6  
• Crossbow setup - £6  

Arrow Services (per arrow) 

• Fletching charge (inc stock vanes) - £2.75  
• Fletching charge (exc vanes/feathers) - £2  
• Fletching with spin vanes - £3.98  
• Shaft cutting - £1  

For these charges, you can be assured that you will receive: 

• Knowledgeable advice and guidance from an experienced bow technician who will work with your best interests at heart. 
• The opportunity to try out your purchase to make sure that they truly suit you as an archer and work to their best advantage.  

We will work to keep the charges as low as possible.

For example, if you are a family group buying multiple bows we can work much more efficiently and would reduce the costs.

 

When deciding if you need to make an appointment, please consider the following and see which most closely describes your needs. 

No Appointment Required:  

• I just want to browse the shop and pick up a few bits and pieces. I don’t require the assistance of a technician.  
• I know exactly what I want to pick up and the only assistance I may require is asking someone to fetch 1 or 2 items for me.  

Appointment Required:  

• I am looking to purchase a new bow and get it set up by a technician.  
• I am purchasing some new equipment and require help and advice when adding it to my kit.  
• I know what I am looking for, but I would like to try before I buy (e.g limbs).  
• I need new arrows, but am not 100% sure what ones I need, and/or I need them to be made up for me.  
• I have a long list of items that I will need someone to fetch for me.  

If you are unsure whether an appointment is required or not, it is always safest to make one before visiting, particularly if you are travelling a considerable distance.

Once you get in touch, we can always advise if we think an appointment is not needed.  

We welcome anyone visiting, and we will do our best to fit you in, but if all of our technicians are occupied, it may not be possible.

This is particularly likely on Saturdays, our busiest day.

If we can’t fit you in that day, we will look at our appointment calendar and get you booked in for another day.  

Every archer and what they need is unique.

How much time it takes to get an archer properly set up differs from case to case.

Below is a guide, providing estimated appointment times and tech time charges based on different needs: 

It is important that you arrive for your appointment on time, as it is highly likely another customer will follow on from you.

Although we understand that life (and traffic) happens, we will do our best to accommodate you.

If the over-run would be substantial, it may be the case that you will need to re-schedule or wait until the next available technician.  

The goal of the appointment system is to eliminate waiting times, but, in the real world we cannot guarantee this.

We can only guarantee to reduce waiting times and would request your understanding that sometimes appointments can overrun.

We are not going to down tools and push people out the door, but we will do our very best to stay on schedule.

Also, please understand that we cannot guarantee 100% exclusive attention to the detriment of all others.

We will give you our full attention wherever possible, but selling archery equipment isn’t always straight forward. 

This is a big question and some background can be found in the section below.

But, ultimately, we are maintaining online prices in-store, rather than increasing in-store product prices.

It is becoming clear that offering hours of quality 1 to 1 technical advice, while selling at online prices, is not sustainable. 

We will quote on a case by case basis, based on the time/work we have done.

For a rough estimate, please see the 'How long will my appointment take?' section above. 

Click the big orange button at the top of the page, fill out the online form with some basic information and click ‘Submit’.

We will review the information and get back to you within 48 hours (during our normal working week) to discuss your requirements, estimate the time needed and confirm a suitable appointment time with you. 

By utilising an appointment system, we are able to allocate dedicated time for each customer that books in.

This means that we are far more likely to be able to give you our exclusive attention during your time in our shop.

It also means that you are guaranteed the assistance of a technician, otherwise, you may end up travelling (sometimes a considerable distance) to us, at the risk of not being served at all. We don't want that to happen, and neither do you!

Our appointment system eliminates this risk, providing you have a confirmed booking with us.

Showroom price list:  

• General Technician Time (per ½ hour) - £5  
• Compound Bow Tuning - £30  

Setups (per ½ hour)  

• Traditional bow setup - £5  
• Recurve bow setup - £5  
• Compound bow setup - £6  
• Crossbow setup - £6  

Arrow Services (per arrow) 

• Fletching charge (inc stock vanes) - £2.75  
• Fletching charge (exc vanes/feathers) - £2  
• Fletching with spin vanes - £3.98  
• Shaft cutting - £1  

This is not an unusual question, we understand that it may seem illogical for a retail shop to charge you for the time you are there.

You wouldn't expect to walk into your local supermarket, or high street clothes shop and have a labour charge added to your bill when you pay

In a very similar way, if you want to visit our shop, browse, peruse our products, choose equipment from our displays and pay for them at the till, you will not be charged extra on top of the price of the equipment.

You are more than welcome to do this, or, if it's easier, order the equipment you require through our website.

However, we are more than just a retail shop, we are a technical centre. We have expert and helpful technicians that will take you through your purchase and setup, step-by-step, from start to finish.

We will make sure, with great detail, that what you are purchasing is right for you!

For any technical charges, you can be assured that you will receive: 

• Knowledgeable advice and guidance from an experienced bow technician who will work with your best interests at heart. 
• The opportunity to try out your purchase to make sure that they truly suit you as an archer and work to their best advantage.  

Another reason we find it necessary to utilise service charges is to keep in-store prices the same as our competitive online prices.

It is well reported that bricks and mortar shops in all industries up and down the country are struggling to compete with online sellers. The cost of running a physical shop, fully staffed with highly trained people is far more expensive than shipping an online order.

We did, at one point, have dual pricing. Where each item had an online price and a slightly steeper in-store price, to account for the additional labour costs.

In the end, this just didn't feel right to charge different prices for the same item. So we abolished it.

This is not going to change for us! SAME PRICE IN-STORE AND ONLINE!

Making sure you have a positive experience is our greatest mission, both during your appointment, and also with archery as a whole.

If you have a bad experience, you are less likely to continue archery as a hobby. We are determined to encourage as many people as we can to not only take up Archery, but to stick with it!

Our team of technicians are all experienced staff who enjoy giving advice and guidance to our visitors. We are very proud to have some of the best bow technicians in the country working for us.

While it's the technician's job to to sell products, they don't make commission on sales and are there specifically to help you choose the right equipment for you, even if it is the less expensive option.

We are very aware of the trust that our customers put in us and we do not wish to break that trust. This is a core value we have here at Merlin Archery and something that will never change!

We also don't want the time we spend with you to be governed by how much you are spending. It takes the same amount of time for us to set up a bow kit that costs £300 as one that costs £3000; in fact, the cheaper equipment sometimes takes slightly longer to set up as they often require a little more 'love' to get right.

One thing that is certain, we will not compromise on the time and skill required to properly set a bow up for a customer. There are no shortcuts, and we are always determined to provide the correct advise.