If you know what you want, then great! We can help you buy. But if you don’t yet know what you want, renting a sling or carrier can save you precious pennies.  There are so many different brands, types and sizes out there it can be confusing to know what to go for.  If you rent something before you buy, you can find out if it does really suit you, your child and your lifestyle.  Other people hire a sling or carrier for a special occasion such as a wedding or christening (got to have the sling matching the dress!).  Or something more practical for a holiday or festival.  Others like to rent lots of slings and carriers because its cheaper than having a big stash! Whatever your needs, we’re sure to have a sling or carrier to suit.

Good question! There are an increasing number of sling libraries all around the country.  We offer  the most extensive sling library catalogue featuring exclusive prints, woven wraps of different weaves and blends, and many of the more expensive carriers that smaller libraries cannot justify the outlay to stock. We have the most detail online for each sling or carrier, including up to date availability.  So you can know what you’re renting and be sure its available when you need it.

Don’t worry!  We know its daunting sometimes. Many of our slings are tagged allowing you to enter terms such as “newborn” or “toddler”, “back carry” or “Padded straps” and our search engine will help you find everything that fits the bill.

Have a look at our All About section to learn about different types of slings, and you can also book a quick chat on the phone to one of our consultants or drop us a line to hello@itsaslingthing.co.uk or via Facebook and we will do our best to suggest some good options. We may also be able to recommend a local sling consultant in your area who may be able to give one-to-one advice (this is usually a paid for service).

Once you have chosen your sling and booked the hire, we post out the sling to you by 24 hour tracked delivery on the first day of your hire period so it should be with you by 6pm on the day after your hire is due to start!

You will receive an email with details of your hire.  You will also receive a ‘renter’s pack’ in your package which will include details of how to return the sling and our contact details.  The product page of the sling you have hire includes links to manufacturer’s instructions and safe babywearing guidelines. And, of course, you’ll receive the sling itself along with any appropriate accessories, and access to the expert help of the two trained sling consultants!

You can rent a sling for as long as you wish by selecting the dates when you hire. You will be charged for the closest hire period to our standard hire periods of

– Two weeks
– Three weeks
– Four weeks
– Eight weeks
– Twelve Weeks

You may extend your rental as many times as you like as long as no one else has reserved the sling.  Extensions are available for 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks.

To hire a sling or carrier you need to pay a rental fee, pay us a refundable deposit if you are not a member, and pay postage fees which cover us posting the sling to you and include a bag with a postage paid label addressed to us for you to return the sling at the end of the hire.

We accept all major credit and debit cards via our secure payment provider Stripe

 Rental fees are the same for the majority of our slings, with Twingo and Weego having slightly different fees.

You are charged for the shortest period which completely covers your selected hire dates. These charges are generally
– Two weeks costs £10
– Three weeks costs £14
– Four weeks costs £17
– Eight weeks costs £30
– Twelve weeks costs £45

The minimum hire length we offer is two weeks so that you get a proper chance to try it out lots of times in several situations. That’s the best way to find out if it suits you, your child and your lifestyle.

Members of It’s A Sling Thing get a 25% discount on these costs by logging in before they checkout they will see the discounted prices.

We charge £11 postage per parcel that we send out to you. This covers outward postage via Royal Mail Tracked 24, return postage via a prepaid label we provide and packaging. A parcel can contain 1-3 slings depending on size or 1 coat. If you order more than this we will need to send two parcels, and you will be invoiced for a second set of postage. A parcel is sent out at the start of your hire. If you have hired multiple carriers with different dates you will be invoiced for further postage as needed.

The sling is posted to you on the first day of your rental period.  Please bear in mind that your loan period starts the day the sling is posted to you, not the day it arrives.

 You need to leave a returnable deposit each time you hire a sling or carrier (unless you are a member). The amount of the deposit is £40 per sling.  Please understand that most of our slings are worth more than £40 and if lost or damaged, you may be liable for more than the £40 deposit.

When you hire you can leave your card details on file and we will take your deposit automatically the working day before your hire is due to be posted. Alternatively you may send your deposit via bank transfer or PayPal, please contact us on care@itsaslingthing.co.uk for details.

Terms and conditions of hire can be viewed here: Terms of Hire

We understand that family life is unpredictable and so offer the following cancellation policy for reservations based on how far away from the hire start date you wish to cancel:

**PLEASE NOTE*** All cancellations which occur within the first 24 hours after ordering will be refunded in full.

1) cancellations more than 28 calendar days before the start of the rental – full refund of rental fee offered

2) cancellations between 5 and 27 calendar days before the start of the rental – 50% refund of rental fee offered

3) cancellations less than 5 calendar days before the start of the rental – no refund of rental fee offered.  This is because other people have been denied use of the sling during the time it was reserved for you.

Postage costs are fully refundable in the event of cancelling the rental.  If you have already paid a deposit at the time of cancelling, it will be fully refunded to you.

If you have any questions, contact us on care@itsaslingthing.co.uk.

Please do everything you can to return the rental sling on time. We have a variety of rental periods, so select one that suits your needs.

Whilst we have over 400 slings and carriers available to rent, our slings are in demand.  Some are reserved several months in advance and have  3 or more people waiting to hire them.  Late returns cost us time and money in chasing people up and refunds of hire fees to the next customer.  However, worse than this, late returns can affect several other customers who have reserved ahead of time in good faith and often for a specific event such as a holiday.

If, during your hire period, you realise you are unable to return the sling on time, you may be able to extend your hire if it has not been reserved.  To extend your rental simply email us at care@itsaslingthing.co.uk with your order number, the carrier you wish to extend and the length of time you would like to extend it for and we will send you an invoice. Once the invoice is paid we will add the extra time to your booking and email you an updated return date. We will email you to let you know if this is not possible because the carrier is booked out to another user.

Late returns will be charged at £2 per day.

These may be waived in exceptional circumstances but you must contact us to discuss this, preferably before the end of the rental period.

The sling will be deemed ‘not returned ‘ if you have not made contact with us within 14 days of the end of your loan period and/or the sling has not been returned within 14 days of the end of the agreed rental period.  We reserve the right to recover late fees as well as the cost of replacement of the sling or carrier.  If needed, this will be done via the small claims court.

Most people return slings on time and they are then able to be checked over, cleaned, where necessary, and rehired quickly and we really appreciate it.  However, late returns do happen and whilst we understand that family life is unpredictable we need to minimise late returns to enable the service to work well for all users.

We do our best to resolve all issues quickly and to everyone’s satisfaction. However, these are the occasions when we would take some or all of your deposit:

– Non return of the sling or carrier.  This is deemed to have occurred 14 days after the original agreed return date.  Please ensure the contact details you give us are correct as we will attempt to contact you multiple times during this period.  However, be aware it is your responsibility to return the sling or carrier on time.  You will be liable for the full replacement value of the sling or carrier.   Please be aware that this may be more or less than the deposit value.
– Late return of the sling or carrier.  Late returns will be charged at £2 per day.  These may be waivered in exceptional circumstances but you must contact us to discuss, preferably before the end of the rental period.
– Return of a sling or carrier that is damaged in such a way as it is now unsafe.  The sling or carrier will be retired from the library immediately and you will be liable for the full replacement value of the sling or carrier.   Please be aware that this may be more or less than the deposit value.
– Return of a sling or carrier that is damaged in such a way as it is not unsafe but is permanently damaged or stained.  The sling or carrier may be retired from the library.  If so, you may buy it from us at an agreed price.  Otherwise, you will be liable for the difference between the full replacement value of the sling or carrier and the resale value of the damaged sling or carrier plus an admin fee for our time of £10.  Please be aware that this may be more or less than the deposit value.
– Non return of accessories.  This is deemed to have occurred 14 days after the original agreed return date.  Please be extra careful to look after any accessories that you hire so that they can be passed on to the next customer when they hire something.  Those little dongles can be more expensive than you’d think to replace!

The whole point of renting a sling or carrier is to find out whether or not it suits you, your child and your lifestyle.  Whilst we do out best to help you find a good match, ultimately the choice of what to hire is down to you and you can’t get it right every time.  We cannot offer refunds for any costs associated with renting slings or carriers under any circumstances. All rental and postal fees an non refundable once hire has started.  Just think of the money you have saved by hiring rather than buying!  If you let us know what you didn’t like about it, we can help you find something else that suits you better to try.

If possible we will offer you a swap to a different carrier for the cost of postage.

Please treat it as your own while you have it.  However, please do not smoke whilst wearing the sling or carrier and do not let it be near other smokers or smoky atmospheres. Food and posset marks are expected when carrying children, but please keep the sling away from anything that may stain permanently (oil, paint, pens, hair or make up products, nail varnish etc.), or anything that might damage it (scissors, velcro, keys in your bag, fire, etc.).

Do not wash the sling. This is because some slings and carriers have special care instructions for washing whilst others will fade with frequent washing.  We will clean all slings regularly and know how to deal with the usual marks. If you feel it is necessary that the sling is cleaned while on loan to you, please contact us first for advice.

You simply pop the sling or carrier in the pre-labelled postage paid bag provided and drop it off to a Post Office counter by 12 noon on the last day of your hire to ensure no late fees will be owed. If you cannot return a sling to us on time, please contact us before its due to be returned to arrange an extension of your hire.

If you have lost your return label just get in touch and we can send you a new one to print out

From August 2017 we have a new address! Please post your sling back to:

c/o Jennifer Littlejohns
It’s A Sling Thing
27 Bromwich Street

Bolton

BL2 1JF

If you return the sling in good condition and on time, we will return your deposit to you in full.  If you paid the deposit via the card on your account it will be returned when we receive the sling. We will contact you if there are any issues.

If you wish to extend your loan please email care@itsaslingthing.co.uk with your order number and how long you would like to extend for – between 1 and 4 weeks generally. In some circumstances we will consider extending for longer than 4 weeks.