Refunds and our flower guarantee

Two things at once

This page does two jobs. It tells you what the law gives you when you buy from us, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, and it tells you what we add on top for fresh flowers, because a bunch of flowers is not a kettle and the law's rules were not written with a peony in mind. Nothing here takes away a right the law gives you. Where this page and the law differ, the law wins.

Fresh flowers are perishable

A fresh flower is alive and dying from the moment it is cut. It is sold to be enjoyed for days, not returned after them. That changes two things:

• The 14-day cooling-off period does not apply. When you buy at a distance (online or by phone), the Consumer Contracts Regulations give you 14 days to change your mind about most goods. They make an exception for goods that will deteriorate or expire quickly, and for goods made to your order or personalised. Fresh flowers, a bouquet made to your choice of stems and colours, and a card written with your message are all of those. So you cannot cancel a flower order once we have started making it just because you have changed your mind.
• Your rights to quality still apply in full. The Consumer Rights Act says everything we sell must be of satisfactory quality, fit for its purpose and as described. A bouquet that arrives wilted, damaged, short of what was pictured, or the wrong bouquet, is not. That is where our guarantee comes in.

Our flower guarantee

We promise that fresh flowers from us will arrive in good condition and, with the care card followed, keep well after delivery. Some flowers are naturally shorter-lived than others, and we say so on the product page.

If your flowers do not live up to that:

1. Tell us within 48 hours of delivery or collection, by email, phone or in the shop. We ask for 48 hours because after that we cannot tell whether the flowers were poor when they arrived or have simply been kept somewhere warm.
2. Send a photograph of the whole bouquet, ideally in its wrap or vase. We do not need the flowers back and we will not ask you to bring them in.
3. We will put it right. We will send a fresh bouquet of the same value at no charge, or refund what you paid for the flowers, whichever you prefer. If part of a bouquet has failed, we may offer a partial refund or a fresh bunch of the failed stems.

If you tell us later than 48 hours we will still listen, and we will still do something where the flowers were plainly not right, but we may not be able to replace them in full.

Substitutions

Flowers are a living crop and the auction does not always have what we ordered. If a stem in your chosen bouquet is not available on the day, we will substitute a stem of equal or greater value, keeping the look, the colours and the feel as close as we can to what you chose. We will not substitute a cheaper stem without refunding the difference, and if the change would be large (for example the named flower in a bouquet that is all about that flower), we will telephone or email you before we make it. A substitution that keeps to this is not a fault.

Delivery

• Local deliveries in our own van across Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells arrive on the day you chose. If we miss the day through our own fault, we will deliver the next day and refund the delivery charge; if the flowers no longer make sense (for example a birthday that has passed), we will refund the order in full.
• Nobody in. We deliver once. If there is nobody to receive the flowers and you have not told us where to leave them, we will leave them in a safe, shaded place or with a neighbour if we can, and tell you where. If there is nowhere, we bring them back to the shop and let you know: you can collect them, or we can bring them again for the delivery charge. Flowers left as you asked are delivered.
• Wrong address. If the address you gave us was wrong or incomplete we will do our best to redirect, but a second journey may be charged and we cannot refund flowers delivered to the address you gave.
• Letterbox flowers go by DPD, tracked, to arrive the next working day, and most do. Post is not in our hands once it has left us; if a parcel arrives a day late but the flowers are fine, we will refund the postage; if it arrives damaged or badly delayed, we will replace or refund the order.

Homeware, everlasting flowers and gifts

Homeware, vases, candles, everlasting and dried flowers and other non-perishable gifts are ordinary goods:

• Bought online or by phone, you may cancel within 14 days of receiving them for any reason, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations. Tell us in writing within the 14 days and send the goods back within 14 days after that, unused and in their packaging; we refund the price and the standard delivery charge within 14 days of getting them back. You pay the return postage unless the goods were faulty. Personalised or made-to-order pieces are excepted.
• Bought in the shop, there is no right to change your mind, but we will usually exchange or credit an unused item returned within 14 days with a receipt, because we would rather you had something you wanted.
• Whether bought in the shop or online, if an item is faulty, damaged or not as described, the Consumer Rights Act gives you the right to a full refund within 30 days, and to a repair or replacement after that, with a refund if that fails. Tell us and we will arrange it; we will pay the return postage.

Gift vouchers

A gift voucher is a way of paying, not goods. Once bought it is not refundable unless it is faulty (for example a code that does not work), in which case we will replace it or refund it. It can be spent in the shop, on the website and on workshops, in parts, until it expires; the expiry date is printed on it. Lost vouchers can be looked up by the buyer's name and email, and we will reissue one we can trace. A voucher bought online may be cancelled within 14 days under the Consumer Contracts Regulations only if none of it has been spent.

Workshops

A workshop place is a service for a fixed date. If you cancel more than seven days before, we refund in full or move you to another date; nearer than that we can only move you if there is a place. If we cancel, you get a full refund or a place on another date, your choice. A private workshop's deposit terms are on the booking.

The Bunch, points and discounts

If an order is refunded, any stems earned on it under The Bunch are taken back, and a discount code used on it is not reissued unless the fault was ours, in which case we will restore it.

How refunds are paid

A refund goes back to the card or voucher you paid with, through Stripe for online orders and through Dojo for shop purchases, within 14 days of our agreeing it and usually much sooner. We cannot refund in cash an order paid by card.

Questions and complaints

Write to enquiries@flowerandglory.co.uk, telephone 01732 743419, or write to Flower & Glory, 12 Blacks Yard, Blighs Meadow, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 1DS. Our Complaints policy says how we handle a complaint and how quickly, and where you can go if you are not satisfied. Citizens Advice gives free advice on your rights.

Changes to this policy

Changes to this policy are dated and logged on the page where it is published, so you can see what changed and when. The version that applies to an order is the one in force when it was placed.