Overall I have had an excellent service from the Saddlebank. It's not an easy process buying a secondhand saddle. You either rely on your saddler to find one or go via FB. So I was slightly hesitant of using this process, but I shouldn't have worried.
After filling in a Saddle Recommendation form and detailing a number of saddles I liked, I was emailed back with some suggestions and why. I was then contacted by a team member to see if I was happy with where I was. I had picked out a couple of saddles and she discussed how they were different and what she felt would work best for what I needed.
I then trialed two saddles. They arrived the day before my saddler and after trying a few I chose a Black Country, which fitted my horse really well and was comfortable, so all good.
I then arranged for the other saddle to be returned and even had to change the day of collection and there were no issues. A few days later I had my refund for the cost of that saddle.
I would definitely recommend using Saddlebank, the process was very easy and their was a good selection to chose from. The kept in regular contact with me and were happy to deal with any questions I had. Especially as I had a difficult horse to fit.
Yes, you have to outlay the cost of the saddles first, and the cost of the saddle may be slightly more, but you are paying for a service and I felt it was worth it.
My only issue is the website can jump around a bit and searches did not always bring up the same number of saddles you saw on your first search. But that could just be user error!
Also filling in this form, I had written my review, forgot to click the star rating and it deleted all I had written! Minor issue, but annoying.
Overall very happy client.