This is all relatively simple as it’s a standard UK thing – but let’s split it into a few sections to make it easier.
Cancellation before payment
No worries, this one’s nice and easy. If you’d like to cancel before you’ve paid then don’t pay! We only start preparing your order once you’ve made payment, so nothing more will happen to progress your order. If you wanna send me an email and let me know out of courtesy then cool, but you don’t need to!
Cancellation after payment but before posting
Doesn’t happen often but does sometimes, so let’s cover it: you’ve got the statutory right to cancel, for sure. Send us an email as soon as you can. The easiest way is to reply to your order email, or you can just send one to [email protected] – please include your name, order number, and either:
- The details of the bank account that you used to transfer the money, or
- A crypto address that is the same currency you transferred over
We will then cancel your order and refund you, nice and simple.
Cancellation after payment and posting
This doesn’t ever really happen, but anyway: this is where it would get a bit more complex. We can’t turn the postal worker around, so once the item is on its way to you, it’s on its way to you. When it arrives, you can either refuse to accept it, which is probably the best option, or you will need to arrange to return the item to us to inspect before a refund is processed. The return address is on the postage label.
And now it depends what you’ve purchased! If you want to return one of our lovely spore syringes, then as they are a perishable product, it will be a small partial refund at most – this is because we cannot at this point resell the spore syringe (we can however still use elements of the package as long as they are still in the sterile wrapping). We wouldn’t sell you anything that had already been sent out, so whilst we’ll do what we can out of fairness it is going to reflect the fact that the majority of the package can’t be reused by us.
If it’s a spore print or a swab then the envelope or box must not have been opened and must have the original seal undamaged in order for a refund to take place. Spore prints and swabs need to be handled with specific equipment to remove the chance of contamination and if we have no way of knowing where it’s been opened then we have to assume that it has been opened somewhere that isn’t in front of a flow unit – this means it cannot be used by us.
If it’s a hoodie, t-shirt, beanie, stickers, or any of that other stuff that isn’t perishable then cool, send it back to us, let us know your bank details, and once we’ve inspected the return we’ll sort a refund. I suppose for the sake of absolute clarity because this is a policy I will add “if it’s not faulty and you’ve worn it then we’re not taking it back”, we’re not ASOS.
For simplicity’s sake:
- Spore syringes are perishable items (both the regular and exotic type)
- Spore prints and spore swabs must still be in the unopened package in order to qualify for a refund
- Hoodies, beanies, stickers, t-shirts, no worries, by all means open it up and have a look, doesn’t matter
You have got a statutory “right to return” with online sales in the UK where you have 14 days to change your mind, then another 14 days to send it back to us, and we then have another 14 days to refund you the amount that we think is right. However this doesn’t apply to items of less that £42 (which is everything I currently sell), and if the item is no longer usable by us we obviously can’t offer much of a refund, if anything.
General refunds/replacements
Might be that your purchase has arrived promptly but then you’ve opened it up, something has gone awry, and you think a refund or a replacement is what should happen: first thing to do is, guess what, email us! Let us know what you reckon is up.
If your item has a noticeable fault upon first inspection, let us know asap – massive hole in your hoodie or syringe has been all smashed to bits by the postman’s unruly boots? We can fix that either with a refund or a replacement, no sweat.
Microscopy can be tricky and if you’ve made the error then there’s not a lot we can do other than hope you persevere (it’s an excellent hobby once you’ve got the technique dialled in), however if it’s something we’ve got wrong then we’ll be happy to send a replacement or issue a refund for the specific item. This is solely up to our discretion.
We will likely ask you some questions to try and ascertain what’s happened. This isn’t us doubting you, but we like to try and diagnose issues. If we need pictures or videos we’ll ask for them, but it’s not very likely.
If for some bizarre reason the clothing doesn’t last as long as it should then again please get in touch – this is super unlikely as it’s all nice stuff, but maybe there’s an issue with it that you didn’t notice immediately, that’s cool, it happens. We’ll do something.
If you decide to send us pictures or text about you doing anything silly with the spore syringes, then the absolute most we will be able to do is a refund (if appropriate) and a ban from any future purchases. The product is for microscopy use, or collecting for a possibly less legislatively stupid future, not anything else. Again, the refund bit of that is up to our discretion based on a variety of factors.
Finally – anything else we choose to do or not do is entirely up to us. Your statutory consumer rights are not affected, but anything we offer that’s above and beyond that is up to us to decide on a case-by-case basis. Essentially, if we can help you, we will, because we want you to be happy with your purchase.