Returns and refunds

Rule 7(4) of the Consumer Protection (e-Commerce) Rules, 2020 requires the seller to take back goods that are defective, deficient, or that do not match the description advertised. We are the seller on every order — see the terms — so that obligation is ours. We do not pass it to the supply point that shipped the machine, we do not condition it on the supply point agreeing, and there is nobody else for you to chase.

Whatever we recover from a supplier afterwards is our business and not yours. It never appears in your return, and it never delays it.

A return is raised against a specific machine, by serial, for one of these reasons. They are the same six the return form offers.

• Not as described — the machine does not meet the grade it was sold as. That grade is defined measurably in the grading standard, so this is a comparison rather than an opinion.
• Physical damage — damage that was not there when we inspected and sealed it.
• Functional failure — the machine does not work on arrival.
• Wrong model or specification — you were sent something other than what you bought.
• Seal broken on arrival — see below.
• Short shipment — a machine on the consignment did not arrive.

Every machine leaves inspection under a numbered tamper seal that is photographed before it ships. When you receive a consignment you are asked to check each seal against its code. If you record a seal as broken, missing, or carrying a code that does not match, a return is opened on that machine immediately and automatically — one tap at the door, not a support call afterwards.

A broken seal is a custody failure between the supply point and your door. It is deliberately a reason of its own rather than a kind of transit damage, because it decides who bears the loss, and that is ours to establish rather than yours to argue.

Two photographs for physical damage, and one photograph of the seal for a broken-seal claim. The other four reasons need none.

There is presently no way to attach a photograph to the return form itself, so we ask for them by email after you raise it, and the return records how many are still outstanding. A return is never refused for want of a photograph you had no way to send us. When the form can take attachments this becomes a requirement at the point of raising, and the numbers above do not change.

• One open return per machine. Raising a second while one is live is not possible, and a return that was rejected previously does not prevent a later one on the same machine.
• We collect the machine. Collection is at our cost, from the site it was delivered to.
• A return ends in one of four ways: refunded, replaced with an equivalent machine, returned to you because we did not accept it, or cancelled by you.
• A rejection always says which finding it turns on — the measurement or the photograph from the original inspection that contradicts the claim — rather than simply declining it.

The route and timing of a refund to your account are not yet published. We would rather leave that blank than name a number of working days we are not yet in a position to hold to.

Refund route and timing — not yet published

The machine is still covered. Once the inspection window has closed your remedy becomes a warranty claim rather than a return, on the term set out in the warranty. A window that has closed is never the end of the conversation, and your account will route you to the claim rather than simply telling you that you are late.