Warranty

The normal warranty supplied is 12 Months RTB (Return to Base) on all UPS / Battery packs / Individual cells. This is overruled by any warranty terms on an individual item page. If you have a problem please email us and we will first confirm the warranty is in date, and get details of the fault. If appropriate, we attempt further remote diagnosis and correction as this solves the issue for around half the cases. If this is not possible then we authorise the RMA and you ship the part back to us. On delivery we confirm the fault, and either correct it, or swap the unit and ship back to you with our courier. This is normally within 48 hours, but up to 4 days for complex problems. If urgent and we work together with a plan we can turn a return around on the same day it is delivered to us.

It is worth noting that we do attempt to remote diagnose and fix problems prior to moving to a return. This saves shipping cost and packing effort your side - the customer bears the costs of the return postage. If it is obvious what is wrong and this can be corrected easily we can elect to ship corrective parts without the unit needing to be returned.  Often we will ask for a video showing the problem, and this is to aid accurate diagnosis, or to let us confirm the fault without needing a physical return. This is at our sole discretion and the standard warranty terms are RTB (Return to Base).

The warranty is in place automatically after the purchase. We do not require you to fill in a warranty application form. There will be a warranty sticker on the device and this must be present for an item to be serviced under warranty. The warranty label is your warranty, so take care of it. If you are selling on and do not want our sticker present, you can remove it, store, and re-attach if you needed to send the unit back to us. The warranty is none-transferable.

If your part is out of warranty we will assist via email and give our best idea at what is wrong and if applicable offer parts and costs to correct. For example if your UPS breaks after 30 months, but you know the cells are OK because you just changed them, we could quote to provide a new UPS core, keeping costs way below buying a fresh UPS for you.

Our mottos here are "All problems have a solution" and "It takes two to tango". We can help, but we also need you to do your bit.

EXCLUSION: There is an important exclusion relating to battery capacity. It is possible to destroy a battery's capacity with bad practice, or even normal use in a short time. Example: If left in a draining state for 2 weeks we would expect even a brand new cell to be irreparably damaged, and we don't cover this as it is not a fault but misuse that has caused the problem. Second example is if a normal float design cell is cycled (discharged and recharged) twice a day for 6 months we would expect its capacity to be depleted and in need of replacement. This is heavy use and replacement rates will be high. Normal battery life in a good system with considerations given to battery temp + float voltage should last between 3 and 6 years, with the current record at 7 years 9 months between replacement.

Order processing and Delivery

Under normal circumstances orders before 3PM are dispatched on the day of order. Large units / quantities may roll over to being dispatched the next day. Email if you need to be sure of when we can send an order. 

All of our consignments are sent fully insured on a 24 hour service with our carriers. We cover all problems that occur in transit. We can ship to the EU (transit time varies) and have experience packing and shipping to overseas destinations. We have the packing materials to make sure that there are few problems in transit.

VAT is included in the buy it now price for UK customers, and zero rated for international customers. You need to make an account with a delivery address that is offshore to have the VAT portion automatically removed. VAT Invoices are sent automatically as a PDF file, via email, as part of our automated dispatch process.

Our dispatch system will email you to let you know that your order has been built and shipped. This email will also contain

  • Tracking number + courier contact details
  • Your PDF invoice

We use several couriers who specialise in different types of shipping, ParcelForce and FedEx for small items and most of our international dispatches, TNT for larger items that fit on small presswood pallets, and Pallet hauliers for large and heavy items, or orders of large quantities. We also have a friendly man with his sameday van which we can use for local or urgent deliveries. 

UPS are hard to pack and fragile, but we have many years of experience packing and know how to minimise the risk of transit damage, and if there is a problem in transit we fix it. A lot of companies will transfer the problem onto you for you to fight out for insurance with the carrier, or say "you signed for it in good condition, we cant do anything". We are not like that, and we have a good reputation to that effect.

We use mini wooden pallets when shipping heavy goods to keep items the right way up and on the bottom of vans, so they cannot be pushed from the top of a pile.

We used to pack with Polystyrene foam and bubble wrap. We have turned to greener methods with re-using cardboard after processing in a crinkle cut machine. Our latest idea is to  reuse shrink wrap material that used to be discarded. We have found that if using this in boxes it is stronger than the foam that it replaces. The packers like using it and it is often used as fast as it comes in. Because of this we have successfully removed a £10,000 per year dependency on a none recycle-able polystyrene packaging component. 

Damage: If something does go wrong in transit and your goods arrive damaged, please let us know as soon as possible so we can solve this problem for you.

International Delivery / DAP

We normally ship DAP (Delivered at Place) which means we pay for the shipping and the courier contacts you to clear customs and take the VAT needed on entry at your country's normal rate. We have not seen any consignment need a duty payment for our HS category (UPS and components). If you see one, email us. Expect the bill to comprise of a fee to clear + the taxes themselves. The fee depends on the courier and the order value. FedEx guide prices follow

Duty & Tax amountDisbursement Fee
0 - 42.50 GBP 30% of the Duty & Tax amount with a minimum of 4.25 GBP
42.50 - 510 GBP A flat fee of 12.75 GBP
Above 510 GBP 2.5% of the Duty and Tax amount

We looked into shipping DDP (delivery duty paid) but this has drawbacks.

1. We dont know the amount the courier will bill before shipping, this is only known ~2 weeks after delivery.
2. When we bill the duty as its a cross border trade we can not list it as VAT - so cannot be itemised as VAT and the customer therefore cannot reclaim the VAT. Under DAP rules when they get a bill from the courier in their own country and are VAT registered they can often reclaim the VAT. DDP would introduce a ~20% extra cost to customers that is irrecoverable.
3. Though we could in theory claim back the VAT we would need to have an agent in each specific country we ship to, which is hard for small companies.

There are still some situations where someone might want goods sending DDP - email us to arrange before ordering. 

 

Our Packaging experienced an unexpected boost during the Pandemic, when children were set to the task of improving the normally boring brown boxes while off school and schoolwork at home was not up and running yet. These were very limited edition and customers were lucky if they received one. A side benefit was that not one of these magical packages received damage in transit... hmm.

The shipping charge covers the cost of packing materials, time to pack and the carrier's shipping charge.

 

 

 

GDPR + PRIVACY

Any data you provide is only used to facilitate your order, and to communicate with you if the need arises.

We never distribute your data to 3rd parties.
We do not sell your data.

The Card / payment data is handled by either our merchant provider or PayPal. The information does not pass through our server, but is direct with the payment provider. We never see, and never could see your card particulars. 

The personal data you provide is used to answer queries, process orders or allow access to specific information. You have the right to modify and delete all the personal information found in the "My Account" page, or you can email us and we'll do it for you.