Has anyone heard of?

Charlton bikes? i've been offered a frame to build up into a fixie, but i've never heard of them. Anyone got any history?

Sure it isn't Carlton?

or suzanne charlton's corset?

dredging a thirteen year old thread to avoid creating a new one? No, me neither.

What I wanted to ask was: has anyone heard of Southern Distributors? I want to buy something from their website but instead of just being able to do the transaction on the site, they sent me a proforma invoice and their bank details. I assume they are legit and perhaps usually do trade on a company-to-company basis, but just a bit of an unusual process.

I landed on their website recently while searching for something. The site 'seems' fairly legit and they're not on of these outfits that just lists every conceivable item available and in stock.
However, when I got to the checkout and saw the 'Please submit your order and we will contact you to confirm and arrange payment' I just high-tailed it out of there.
So, they may very well be legit but personally I will never give them a penny.
Suppose you make a bank transfer and never hear a thing from them again? You have no comeback whatsoever.
A site that doesn't take PayPal or credit cards just screams scam to me....

They are a distributor who's day to day business is supplying shops and trade accounts not the general public. I think they are now accepting orders from consumers but by the sounds of it they don't have a full e-comm platform up and running.

They are definitely not scamming anyone.

Yeah an invoice is par for the course when buying from a distro

Cheers everyone.

I had a look around when I first found them and saw they seem to have a link to Mackadam Factors UK, as well as maybe a commercial interest in contact lenses ( First Contact Lenses Limited T/A Mackadams). Was sure it was all fine but was just wondering if anyone had in fact bought anything from them.

It bought bits and bobs from them (on a trade accounts), including a Soma frame, and it was very clear it's a one man operation and you're better not be in a rush for special orders. Nothing wrong with any of this, it's just not a big business.

Good to know they can be trusted; now, what are the chances of me remembering what it was they stocked that I couldn't find anywhere else!.....

Yep I bought a ginormous water bottle from them and it arrived fine and was indeed ginormous!

Haha yes, those water bottles are insane! 38oz/1120ml!

I am in no rush and am now feeling suitably reassured, so will go ahead with the order. Thanks again.

Exactly - it helped out on a 200 mile ride I did! Although sadly although the bottle's ginormous, the nozzle is horrible 😔