TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE,
postage, packing, payment, cancellations, returns
etc.
This is not just the usual legal
stuff.
This is USEFUL
INFORMATION FOR YOU, UNLESS YOU LIKE
SURPRISES!
Let me explain our terms and
conditions, briefly:
Your statutory rights are not
affected by these terms.
METHODS OF
PAYMENT
Credit card preferred if you
want immediate despatch.
We Accept most credit cards
including VISA, MASTERCARD, MAESTRO, SOLO and Visa
ELECTRON. We accept UK sterling cheques drawn on
a UK bank, UK sterling Postal Orders and UK
sterling cash. We also accept International Money
Orders IN POUNDS STERLING.
If you don't use a credit/debit
card, your order will be delayed by the amount of time it
takes your payment to reach us and be cleared. If you send
cash, please use Special Delivery.
Place your order using the web site
order form and specify your method of payment. When you
receive our confirmation by e-mail, unles you pay by card
write our Order Number on the back of your cheque and post
it to us with your full name/address details. Make cheques
payable to The
Stick Man please.
NO foreign
cheques without prior arrangement
(that includes no USA checks). If you do use foreign cheques
you will have to include bank fees because our bank charges
us a minimum of 10 GBP to cash them and BIG delay to clear
them.
NO
Eurocheques or foreign currency
unless agreed beforehand.
If you DO NOT pay by card we will
not send out any goods until payment is received.
Unfortunately we get a few hoax orders so if payment does
not reach us within 14 days (from date of order) your order
will be cancelled.
If you DO pay by card and it is
Declined by your card company or bank we will email you as
soon as we find out - usually the day after you place the
order. PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAILS FOR A FEW DAYS AFTER YOU
PLACE THE ORDER. If you fail to respond to our email your
order will be cancelled within a week.
If you are ordering very small
amounts (under the minimum £5 charge) I am willing to
accept UK postage stamps or cash, but contact me first. It
is simply not economically viable to process cards or
cheques for tiny amounts.
Convert
to your currency
PAYMENT /
ORDERING
We use a secure server to take your
payment details. It needs three passwords to access your
data and nobody but us knows the passwords. We treat your
information with the utmost care and we do not pass it on to
anybody else.
Your credit card
details CAN NOT appear in any email
message. They remain on the
secure server until we process your order. An email copy of
your order and name and address (and delivery address) will
be returned to you WITHOUT credit card details. Please check
the details and TELL US immediately if you've made a
mistake. If you don't receive e mail confirmation then you
may have given an incorrect e mail address or your spam
filter may have mistaken our reply for genuine junk mail!
This is particularly a problem with AOL users!
If you are not sure what you need,
read our various web pages first then use e-mail to ask a
question if you can't find the answer.
ENGLISH LAW APPLIES TO ALL
CONTRACTS.
POSTAGE, packing
and handling 
is not included in the catalogue
prices. The minimum is £2.50 for UK First Class. Our
"Shopping Cart" will calculate the postage and packing for
you before you place your order. Simply add what you want to
the Shopping Cart, select the shipping destination and click
the "Recalculate" button. There is NO obligation to buy at
that stage.
We normally read orders in the
evening and post them the following day (unless we have to
make sticks not already in stock).
Please
note: Customers outside the UK may be required to pay
additional shipping surcharges, local taxes or import
duties. The Stick Man has no control over these and can not
be held responsible if you have to pay
them!
Also look at the Postage
Page and the
FAQ
Page
NO Value Added Tax
(V.A.T.)
We do not charge VAT because
our annual turnover is currently less than the limit imposed
by Customs and Excise. This situation could change and will
be reflected here if it does.
RETURNS -
as
covered by The Distance Selling Regulations
1998
You have the right to return
unwanted "off the shelf*"
goods to us for refund, provided that you ordered from us
via this web site and provided that you do so within 7 days
of receipt. You are not obliged to tell us that you are
returning goods but it may speed up the refund if you do
discuss it with us first. Please be sure to pack goods
adequately, include your full details, and we recommend you
insure them in case of loss or damage since we will not be
liable unless we receive the goods in "as new" condition.
You will receive a refund (normally directly to your credit
card) excluding our original cost of Postage, Packing and
Handling (unless you are returning goods that we sent in
error, in which case postage will also be refunded). If we
have gone to extra expense to make or obtain any item
especially for you then we may also deduct an additional
charge to cover this. A fee of £1 is charged to cover
the cost of a card refund (this is charged to us by the card
company).
IMPORTANT
*Sticks
or other items that are custom-made to your
specifications are NON-RETURNABLE. By pre-ordering
such an item you agree to this condition. Such an order may
be cancelled at any time before work on the order has begun,
but a cancellation fee of £20 may be charged. Once work
has begun, you must pay in full for the work. Please
understand that each custom-made stick is carved by hand -
we can not press a button to make another one appear at
once! If we make a stick especially for you then you must
pay for it - obviously you would not be expected to keep any
damaged or defective item but all our sticks are made from
selected materials that we believe to be in good
condition.
Regarding Carved Animal sticks made
to order, it is almost impossible to get a carving to look
exactly like a photograph - though I do my best! The final
appearance is limited by my skill, your photos and by the
materials used (wood grain, paint etc.) "Artistic licence"
must be accepted in that the stick will have an appearance
similar to the photograph but may not be
identical.
Lastly - it would help us
tremedously if customers could tell us what they want - many
items, such as horns and shanks, vary considerably and we
have to guess what sizes and shapes are required if we are
not told! We get very few items returned but most of those
returns could have been avoided by a few simple intructions
from customers!
EXPORT
As far as possible, we ship items
anywhere in the world. We deliver outside GB at extra
cost.
CARRIAGE AND
INSURANCE
Goods are not normally
insured during transit (except custom sticks) unless you
specifically request it in writing at the time of ordering.
Damage Insurance will be forfeit if you or your
representative signs for goods as "received in good
condition". Do not sign without inspecting contents, even if
this delays the delivery driver. His schedule is not your
problem. If thorough inspection is impossible, endorse the
form with "NOT INSPECTED".
Most small orders are shipped by
normal UK First Class Post or overseas by Airmail unless
otherwise requested by you.
Insurance charges (if requested) are
in addition to the above quoted amounts. Where items are not
insured against loss or damage, reimbursement will be
limited to whatever the carrier company agrees to pay us. In
the case of damage, you agree to assist us with any
reasonable request which may include the return of damaged
goods/packaging or a photograph of it.
Carriage/postage charges may vary in
some circumstances because it is impossible to work out
exact prices, especially for international shipments, but we
will tell you if it is necessary to increase the total
before we ship your order. If you select a cheaper shipping
destination than your own - either by mistake or in an
attempt to unfairly reduce the cost - then we will normally
use the correct price and charge you accordingly!
If you send items to us we strongly
advise you to use a service that requires a signature (eg.
Royal Mail Recorded Delivery for value up to £27) and
insure expensive items (total value more than £27)
using "Special Delivery" for example. If you use "Parcel
Force" ask for "Compensation Fee" insurance. We will not
accept responsibility for items lost on their way to
us.
PRICES
are listed in the web site
catalogue. Many prices are discounted in the online
catalogue and ONLY apply when ordered ONLINE. If you
telephone an order or send it in the mail then the discounts
may not apply - it takes us much longer to process these
orders than it does to take online orders and we encourage
you to take advantage of the discounts by ordering online.
We do not have secretarial staff to take orders so every
time we have to stop making sticks to answer the phone it
costs us money!
If you give incorrect
information - such as name/address, telephone number, e
mail address or card details and we have to 'chase' you to
get them corrected then it costs us in wasted time. We
reserve the right to cancel any online discounts or charge a
reasonable fee to cover our expenses in these
circumstances.
To see prices AND pictures AND
descriptions, look at the appropriate online catalogue
pages.
AVAILABILITY
The presence of an item in our
catalogue or web pages does not constitute a promise to
supply. Items may be out of stock or may have been deleted
from our range. While we will do our best to supply any
available item in a timely manner there will be occasions
when we are unable to do so. However, most items listed are
available immediately or within two or three weeks. We do
our best to delete items which are not available.
Cancelled
Orders
If an order must be cancelled please
use our e-mail form and include your Order Confirmation
number. If the order is cancelled before it has been
processed then there will be no charge. If the order has
been packed then the stamps and packaging will be wasted and
these might be charged for, together with a handling charge
for time required to put items back into stock.
If the order has already been posted then it can not be
cancelled and our Returns policy applies (see
above).
If part of the
order is missing when the package arrives
Please get in touch with The Stick
Man immediately. See E-mail
page.
If the
Invoice is missing
We may post the invoice separately
and you should receive it within a couple of days. Do
tell us if it does not arrive in a reasonable
time.
If part of the
order is damaged
If the contents are damaged you must
advise The Stick Man by e-mail immediately and return them,
carefully packed, with the original packaging
enclosed so that we can claim against the carrier service.
If you do not return the packaging, we will not be able to
claim. Please contact The Stick Man before returning
anything. Where a delivery by carrier needs a signature on
receipt you must not sign unless you have inspected
the contents! Be sure to tell anyone that you delegate to
accept the delivery on your behalf. A signature indicates
that you have received everything listed on the
Delivery Note and that there is no damage. (See
Carriage & Insurance notes, below).
Note: Packaging will often become
crushed during postal handling. This is to be expected. The
packaging is there to protect the product and, provided that
the product itself arrives in good, usable condition, such
cosmetic damage to the packing does not constitute a reason
for rejecting, returning or requesting a
discount.
If the order does
not arrive quickly
If your order does not arrive within
a reasonable time after we acknowledge it by e-mail (the
average delivery times for different types of item will be
quoted at the top of your invoice) then you must
inform The Stick Man, including all relevant
information. If you leave it too long before informing us
then we may not be able to claim from Royal Mail or the
carrier company and you agree to indemnify us for our
uninsured losses.
If we have confirmed that your order
has been posted by Royal Mail and it fails to arrive then
within 7 days please check with your local Royal Mail
Delivery Office (this is often not the same building as your
post office) to see if they are holding it for you. They are
supposed to leave a card but that doesn't always happen (the
postman may have run out of cards or it may have floated
under your carpet or into a black hole!)
Orders to some countries may take up
to three weeks to arrive. This is normally due to Customs
delays. (In Spain it's due to the "mañana" culture!).
If you request "International Signed for" (at extra cost) we
will be able to tell you when the package left the UK but we
can not track an order outside the UK unless you pay a lot
extra for UPS delivery.
Special Delivery (GB only)
guarantees delivery by 1pm next working day, provided
that the package is mailed before noon on the day, the
address details are correct and there's someone at the
address to sign for the package. You'll often receive the
package next day (Saturdays cost extra) even if we post it
well after noon, but Royal Mail can't guarantee it so
nor can we. In the past, the reason for nondelivery has
invariably been that nobody was home or the postman was
unable to get a reply at the door. We've had a couple of
instances like this where the spouse was left at home to
take delivery but "popped out to get milk" or "heard the
doorbell but was in the bath". For Special Delivery PLEASE
ask us for the "SU" number as this will enable you to track
your package on the Royal mail web site. http://www.royalmail.co.uk/
If your order doesn't arrive
by 1pm, please ring your local Royal Mail Delivery Office
and quote the SU number.
In all cases, if a delivery is
attempted by the mail or delivery service and the package is
rejected (assuming it goes to the address you gave us) we
accept no responsibility if the package is then
lost.
Whenever you contact us about an
order PLEASE include full details including your
name, postcode and our order confirmation number. It also
helps us to locate the order if you can give the exact (or
approximate) date you placed the order. If you don't
give us details then you can't expect us to trace the order
or Returned goods (especially if you keep us hanging on the
phone with customers queuing at the counter while you wander
off to look up your postcode).
Chase
Us!
We don't mind being chased for
orders - in fact we positively encourage it. If we've
forgotten to post something or if you think it's been lost
PLEASE tell us right away! But read the paragraph above
first.
IF YOUR ADDRESS
IS INCORRECT
If the address you give us is
incorrect in any way and causes us to incur additional
delivery charges then you agree to reimburse these
additional charges. Carrier companies often charge up to
£25 for redirecting a parcel sent to the wrong depot so
please be sure to give the correct post code and house
number. Make sure you use capital letters for postcodes as
tying l instead of L, for example, can be mistaken for a 1
(one). Please also ensure that the address you type in the
order form is the actual DELIVERY address where there will
be someone present if a signature is required. You can, for
example, use your office address or a local shop address for
delivery and type your home address in the card holder's
address space. If you give an incorrect address and your
package is "lost" then no liability can be placed on us for
nondelivery.
IMPORTANT: If your INVOICE ADDRESS
is NOT the one listed for your credit card (particularly
correct house/flat numbers and Post Code) you must contact
your credit card company and inform them of the alternative
address before placing an order, otherwise your credit card
payment may be refused.
IF YOUR PHONE
NUMBER IS MISSING FROM THE ORDER
We will not normally phone you
except to discuss your specific order - such as to inform
you of any items not in stock, or if your payment card
details are wrong. We will certainly not make unwanted
marketing calls. However, the carrier companies insist on
having a phone number so that their driver can contact the
delivery address in the case of delays or if he gets lost.
If you fail to provide a phone number, we may simply refuse
your order. If the order is accepted but delivery is late or
impossible, we will not accept responsibility if you failed
to supply a working DAYTIME phone number for someone at (or
with access to) the delivery address.
eBooks
See FAQ page:
http://www.The-Cool-Book-Shop.co.uk
Contact The Stick Man if you have a
payment problem.
Email
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