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Terms and Conditions
1. Introduction
These are the terms and conditions pursuant to which we supply the goods listed on our website www.hortica.co.uk and www.hortica.biz (together ‘Hortica’). Please read these terms and conditions carefully before ordering any goods from Hortica. You should understand that by ordering any of our goods, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. These terms do not affect your statutory rights as a consumer.
2. About us
Hortica is a trading division, brand and trademark owned by Blue Banyan Limited a company incorporated in England and Wales, whose registered office is at Unit 25 Mold Business Park, Wrexham Road, Mold, Flintshire CH7 1XP. Our company registration number is 4916570. Our VAT registration number is 927487580.
3. How to contact us
If you have any questions regarding Hortica, its products or an order that you have placed please contact us either by email info@hortica.co.uk or phone 01352 707 897 (Monday - Friday 09:30-17.00). Alternatively you can fax us 0870 762 5752.
4. Placing an Order
You may order online, by phone or by post. If you wish to place an online order please place the items you wish to order in the virtual shopping basket by clicking the ‘add to basket’ button for each item you wish to purchase. Once you have completed your selection proceed to the ‘checkout’ and follow the instructions until you have completed the order process. Hortica accepts Visa, Mastercard, Switch and debit cards and uses a secure on-line payment system operated by HSBC and Paypal.
You can, if you wish, pay by card over the phone. (Telephone: UK 01352 707 897 or from abroad 0044 1352 707 897) Please do not leave your card details on the answerphone message.
If you wish to place your order by post you can do so by printing out your order form. Please send this together with a cheque or postal order made payable to "Blue Banyan Ltd" to: Hortica, Unit 25, Mold Business Park, Wrexham Road, Mold, Flintshire, CH7 1XP, United Kingdom. Please allow seven working days for cheque clearance.
Please note that all orders are subject to acceptance and product availability.
5. Availability of Goods
Hortica aims to keep sufficient stock in order to satisfy all orders placed with its online shop. If a product is currently not available the relevant product will be marked as such on the website. All stock items are usually despatched within 1 working day. In the event that Hortica has insufficient stock to deliver the goods you have ordered, Hortica does not charge your credit card until the date your order is sent to you. Hortica will inform you by e-mail at the address given in your order form or by telephone if there is a delay in processing your order.
6. Acknowledgement of Order
When you have completed your online order you will be sent an automated e-mail confirming your order. It will state what the products are, the cost (including VAT and P&P) and delivery and invoice details.
7. Our Contract
Please note that the acknowledgment email referred to in paragraph 6 does not mean that your order has been accepted – your order constitutes an offer to us to purchase the item(s). All orders are subject to acceptance by us and we will confirm such acceptance by sending you an email confirming that we have dispatched the item(s) to you (the “Dispatch Confirmation”). That email shall represent our legal acceptance of the offer you made to purchase the item (s) and the contract between us (the “Contract”) will only be formed when we send you the Dispatch Confirmation.
If we confirm to you that some but not other item(s) that you have ordered have been dispatched, those item (s) that have not been dispatched will not form part of the Contract.
8. Price and Payment
All prices include VAT but exclude delivery costs, which will be added to the total amount. Goods dispatched by Hortica to addresses outside of the European Union are generally not subject to VAT.
If you order goods for delivery outside the UK, they may be subject to import duties and taxes which are levied when the delivery reaches the specified destination. You will be responsible for payment of any such import duties and taxes. Please note that we have no control over these charges and cannot predict their amount. Please contact your local customs office for further information before placing your order.
All credit and charge card holders are subject to validation checks and authorisation by the card issuer. If the issuer of your payment card refuses to authorise payment to us, your order will not be accepted and Hortica will not be liable for any delay or non-delivery.
Please also note that you must comply with all applicable laws and regulations of the country for which the products are destined. We will not be liable for any breach by you of any such laws.
9. Safe Shopping - secure guarantee
Hortica will take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information. All the data that you send through, including your credit/debit card number and name and address, is encrypted and converted into code before it is transmitted across the Internet. Therefore in the extremely unlikely event that the data should be intercepted, it would be encrypted and difficult to decipher.
Also for your added security Hortica does not process any credit/debit card transactions. The processing is done by HSBC or Paypal. Unlike many sites, we DO NOT keep any database on our computer of your credit card details. This increases security but will result in the slight inconvenience of having to provide your details next time you shop with us.
10. Delivery
Goods will be sent to the address given by you in your order and stated in the Order Confirmation. Please note that your goods may be sent to you in instalments. Your order should normally reach within 3-5 working days if you live in the UK and within 10 working days for the rest of Europe. If for any reason your order is likely to be delayed significantly longer than this we will email you to let you know and no payment will be deducted from your card until the time that your order is ready.
11. Returns and Refunds / Damaged Goods
Your statutory rights as a consumer are not affected if, for any reason, you wish to return any goods bought from Hortica. By law, customers in the European Union have the right to withdraw from the purchase of an item within seven working days of the day after the date the item is delivered.
Where you have validly exercised your rights to withdraw from any purchase you will receive a full refund of the price paid for the goods.
You may wish to return goods to us if for any reason you find them unsuitable. We are happy to offer a similar product in exchange (with any difference in price to be taken into consideration) or to provide a refund in the form of the original payment, provided that the goods are returned undamaged and complete, together with the relevant packaging in an unused and re-saleable condition. Please note that we only accept returns for any non-faulty items that are returned in their original condition and which have not been worn/used. You must return the goods to us at your cost and we advise you to insure the goods adequately. If returned products are lost we will not be liable for them. The customer in this instance is liable for all postage and packing charges
We endeavour to supply products that are free from defects in materials and workmanship. We advise that you should inspect the goods when you receive them for defects or damage and notify us within 3 working days of delivery of any defects or damage. Please retain all documents and packaging We will replace the goods and refund any additional postage charges paid by you. If your parcel arrives damaged please state "damaged" on the form that the courier asks you to sign.
If you wish to return an item please contact us either by email at info@hortica.co.uk or by phone on 01352 707 897.
12. Copyright and Trade Marks
The material on this website is protected by copyright throughout the world and is owned by Hortica and its owners Blue Banyan Limited ('Blue Banyan'). You may read, print and download it for private use. You may not commercialise or otherwise copy it without the written consent of Blue Banyan. The use of this site is subject to the Terms and Conditions .
Hortica™ and Blue Banyan™ are trade names of Blue Banyan.
For copyright and trademark enquiries please contact:
The Managing Director, Blue Banyan Ltd , Unit 25 Mold Business Park, Wrexham Road, Mold, Flintshire CH7 1XP
13. Force majeure
Hortica shall have no liability to you for any failure to deliver goods you have ordered or any delay in doing so or for any damage or defect to goods delivered that is caused by any event or circumstance beyond its reasonable control.
14. Limitation of Liability
Subject to any relevant consumer protection legislation including our obligation under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling Regulations) to give you a refund, if you cancel your contract, if we do not perform the contract within 30 days or other agreed timescale our liability for any breach of these terms and conditions shall be limited to the value of the goods ordered by you in the relevant transaction.
15. Your undertakings and warranties
You warrant that the information given on your order form is complete and accurate.
16. Privacy Policy
The purpose of this statement is to give you an outline of how we obtain your personal information and how it is used by Hortica. Please be assured that we take the issue of the privacy of your personal information very seriously and consequently we will only use customer data for legitimate business purposes.
Please note that as part of the ordering process our website captures information about you. We do not use any indirect means to collect personal information about you. By placing an order on our website, by subscribing to our mailing list or by submitting enquiries to Hortica you are agreeing to the use of your personal information.
It is our policy that any information which you provide to us or that we obtain in the course of our dealings with you may only be used for the following purposes:
• to fulfil our agreement with you, including administering any accounts, processing and obtaining payment;
• to inform you (by mail, telephone, e-mail, text message or otherwise) about products and services (including those of other companies within the Blue Banyan group of companies) which we consider may be of interest to you;
• in exceptional circumstances for fraud prevention and detection.
Hortica and its owners will not give or sell your information to 3rd Parties other than for the purposes of processing your payments and fulfilling your orders.
Finally, please note that this Privacy Policy applies only to our website and consequently we are not responsible for the content and privacy policies (including any lack thereof) on web sites linked to our website.
17. Cookies
In common with most other ecommerce websites Hortica uses cookies. Put simply, a cookie is a text file sent by a web server to a web browser, and stored by the browser. The text file is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This enables the web server to identify and track the web browser.
In order to improve the order administration process, we may send a cookie which may be stored on by your browser on your computer's hard drive on a temporary basis. We will use the information we obtain from the cookie in administration of this website in the following way:-
Login sessions to enable us to track the logged in users.
Cookies are also set to store shopping basket items.
Please Note that all cookies expire when the browser widow is closed and session is ended. Our website does not store tracking cookies.
Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies. (For example, in Internet Explorer you can refuse all cookies by clicking “Tools”, “Internet Options”, “Privacy”, and selecting “Block all cookies” using the sliding selector.) This will, however, have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites, including this one.
If you have any comments or queries in connection with our privacy policy, please e-mail us at info@hortica.co.uk
Ethical Policy
Hortica aims to trade in a way which supports a sustainable global and local environment and economy.This means in practice that where it is possible and practicable to do so we use certified organic materials and products and (where relevant, possible & practicable) source from Fair Trade suppliers.
Organic - We prefer organic products because of their environmental benefits over conventionally-produced materials (for example, no use of harmful chemicals, recycling principles, waste minimisation). We prefer certified organic products so that both we and you can be sure that the products really are organic – it is unlawful to claim to be organic without being certified and certified producers have to undergo stringent and regular inspections to gain and maintain their organic status.
Fair Trade – We support certified Fair Trade products because the scheme offers producers in developing economies a guaranteed price at a fair level and builds long-term trading relationships with producers in order to readdress the power imbalance between small, relatively poor producers in the developing world and large, relatively rich purchasers of the developed economies. The Fair Trade Foundation awards its certification mark to products which meet the following criteria:
- Price to the producer covers cost of production plus social premium to be used to improve
living and working conditions
- Advance payment to provide debt protection
- Long enough contracts for producers to allow for planning and sustainable production practices
- Democratic organisations for farmer participation
- For workers, freedom to join trades unions, decent wages, housing and health & safety standards
- No child or forced labour
- Programmes for environmental sustainability.
Relevant Links:-
The Soil Association
Principal organic certification body in the United Kingdom
www.soilassociation.org
Fairtrade Foundation
www.fairtrade.org.uk
Ethical Consumer
www.ethicalconsumer.org
