Kinetico UK Ltd Terms and Conditions

(Last updated on 17th February 2020)

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF SALE CAREFULLY BEFORE PLACING YOUR ORDER AND RETAIN A COPY OF THESE TERMS AND YOUR ORDER FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.

1.           Formation of the contract

1.1         These terms of sale apply to all goods and services supplied by Kinetico UK Limited,  registered in England and Wales no. 2473777 (the Supplier) to you (the Customer).

1.2         No contract exists between you and the Supplier for the sale of any goods or services until the Supplier has received and accepted your order and sends you confirmation in writing or by email to the address or email address you have given. Once the Supplier does so, there is a binding legal contract between us.

1.3         The contract is subject to your right of cancellation (see below).

1.4         The Supplier may change these terms of sale without notice to you in relation to future sales.

2.           Description and price of the goods

2.1         The description and price of the goods you order will be as shown in the Supplier’s current catalogue, which the sales person will show you, or on its website at the time you place your order.

2.2         The goods are subject to availability. If on receipt of your order the goods you have ordered are not available in stock, the Supplier will inform you as soon as possible, and refund or recredit you for any sum that has been paid by you or debited from your credit card for the goods.

2.3         Every effort is made to ensure that prices shown in the Supplier’s current catalogue or shown on its website are accurate at the time you place your order. If an error is found, the Supplier will inform you as soon as possible and offer you the option of reconfirming your order at the correct price or cancelling your order. If you cancel, the Supplier will refund or recredit you for any sum that has been paid by you or debited from your credit card for the goods.

2.4         In addition to the price, you will be required to pay a delivery charge for the goods, as shown in the section of the Supplier’s catalogue or website about delivery.

2.5         The price of the goods and delivery charges are inclusive of VAT.

3.           Supply of Services

3.1         The Supplier shall, for an additional fee, carry out routine maintenance of the goods supplied and repair any defects or malfunctions that are found.

3.2         The Supplier’s representative shall attend the location at which the goods supplied are installed at such times during normal working hours or at such times as may be agreed in advance between the Supplier and the Customer.

3.3         If the Supplier’s representative is unable to carry out the repair at the time that the fault is found the representative will seek to make suitable arrangements with the Customer for a further visit to be made to the location of the installation during normal working hours or at such times as may be agreed to effect the repair of the defect or malfunction.

4.           Payment

4.1         Payment for the goods and delivery charges can be made by any method shown in the Supplier’s current catalogue or shown on its website at the time you place your order.

Payment for routine maintenance can be made in advance by any method shown in the Supplier’s current catalogue or shown on its website at the time you place your order or by cheque to the Supplier’s representative upon completion of the service.

4.3         Payment for servicing is strictly by return on receipt of invoice.

4.4         A call out charge will be made for any servicing visit which cannot be completed due to the failure by the Customer to attend the location on the pre arranged date and at the pre arranged time.

5.           Delivery

5.1         The goods you order will be delivered to the address you give when you place your order, except that deliveries are not made outside the United Kingdom, and some parts of the United Kingdom are not covered, as shown in the Supplier’s current catalogue or on its website at the time you place your order.

5.2         If delivery cannot be made to your address, the Supplier will inform you as soon as possible, and refund or recredit you for any sum that has been paid by you or debited from your credit card for delivery.

5.3         If there is no one at the address given who is competent to accept delivery of the goods, you will be notified of an alternative delivery date or a place to collect the goods.

5.4         Every effort will be made to deliver the goods as soon as possible after your order has been accepted, and in any event within 30 days of your order. However, the Supplier will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by you through any reasonable or unavoidable delay in delivery. In this case, the Supplier will inform you as soon as possible.

5.5         You will become the owner of the goods you ordered, once paid for in full, and responsible for risk of loss of or damage to them once they have been delivered to you.

6.           Your right of cancellation

6.1         You have the right to cancel the contract at any time up to the end of seven working days after you receive the goods (see below) provided the goods are unused and have not been installed. A working day is any day other than weekends and bank or other public holidays.

6.2         To exercise your right of cancellation, you must give written notice to the Supplier by hand or post, fax or email, at the address, fax number or email address shown below, giving details of the goods ordered and (where appropriate) their delivery.

6.3         If you exercise your right of cancellation after the goods have been delivered to you, you will be responsible for returning the goods to the Supplier at your own cost. The goods must be returned to the address shown below. You must take reasonable care to ensure the goods are not damaged in the meantime or in transit. In the case of damage the Supplier reserves the right to recover the cost of replacement or repair from you.

6.4         Once you have notified the Supplier that you are cancelling the contract, the Supplier will refund or recredit you within 30 days for any sum that has been paid by you or debited from your credit card for the goods.

6.5         If you do not return the goods as required, the Supplier may charge you a sum not exceeding the direct costs of recovering the goods.

Payment for routine maintenance can be made in advance by any method shown in the Supplier’s current catalogue or shown on its website at the time you place your order or by cheque to the Supplier’s representative upon completion of the service.

7.           Warranty

7.1         Goods supplied by the Supplier benefit from the Supplier’s warranty, details of which are available from the Supplier.

8.           Data Protection

8.1         The Supplier will take all reasonable precautions to keep the details of your order and payment secure, but unless the Supplier is negligent, the Supplier will not be liable for unauthorised access to information supplied by you.

8.2         The Supplier will only use the information you provide about yourself for the purpose of fulfilling your order, unless you agree otherwise. The Supplier would like to notify you of products and offers that may be of interest to you from time to time, and if you would like to be notified of these, please tick the box below. You can correct any information about you, or ask for information about you to be deleted, by giving written notice to the Supplier at the address, fax number or email address shown below.

9.           Applicable law

9.1         These terms of sale and the supply of the goods will be subject to English law, and the English courts will have jurisdiction in respect of any dispute arising from the contract.

• These terms
  • These are the terms and conditions on which we provide our AquaCare after care maintenance and repair subscription services (the “AquaCare Service”). Please read these terms carefully before you sign up to the AquaCare Service. These terms tell you who we are, how we will provide the AquaCare Service to you, how you and we may change or end the contract, what to do if there is a problem and other important information. If you think that there is a mistake in these terms, please contact us.

• • The specific services you will receive will depend on the AquaCare Service package you sign up to. There are currently three AquaCare Service packages available: Basic, Standard and Premium. Details of the packages and the services they cover are available via email or in hardcopy upon request.

• • If you purchase other products or services from us which are not covered by the AquaCare Service (such a replacement filter cartridges) these purchases will be governed by different terms (such as the General Kinetico Terms and Conditions) and additional charges will apply. For more details of what is covered, please see the Kinetico AquaCare Cover booklet..

• Information about us and how to contact us

• • We are Kinetico UK Limited, a company registered in England and Wales. Our company registration number is 02473777 and our registered office is at Kinetico UK Limited, Bridge House, Park Gate Business Centre, Park Gate, Hampshire SO31 1FQ. Our registered VAT number is 566 4925 04.

• • You can contact us by telephoning our customer service team on 0808 164 1796, writing to us at our office (above) or emailing aquacare@kinetico.co.uk.

• • If we have to contact you, we will do so by telephone or by writing to you at the email address or postal address you have provided to us.

• • When we use the words “writing” or “written” in these terms, this includes emails.

• Our contract with you

• • After we receive your application we will contact you to let you know whether we accept it.  The contract between you and us will be formed when we contact you to accept your application (the “Contract Date”).

• • If we are unable to accept your application, we will inform you of this in writing and will not charge you for the AquaCare Service. This might be because of your location (we do not service all regions), unexpected limits on our resources which we could not reasonably plan for, or because we have identified an error in the price or description of the AquaCare Service.

• • If we accept your application, we will assign you a customer number (unless you already have one). It will help us if you can tell us the customer number whenever you contact us about your subscription to the AquaCare Service.

• • The contract will last for an initial period of 12 months. At the end of this initial 12-month period, it will renew automatically on a monthly basis, until it is cancelled. Please see clauses 9.4 and 10.1 for information on how to cancel the contract.

• Changes to the service

• • We may make changes to the AquaCare Service:

• • to reflect changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements, including water regulations

• • We will use reasonable endeavours to attend any agreed appointments booked under this contract. However, we may change or cancel an appointment or booking where necessary. If this is the case we will notify you as soon as possible and make arrangements to rebook the appointment for another time.

• • If you wish to make a change to the service (for example to the date of your salt delivery or annual maintenance inspection), please contact us as soon as you can and we will let you know if the change is possible.

• Call-Outs, Repair and Maintenance

• • Subject to the exclusions below, if you experience a problem with your water softener during the term of your contract, you may contact us to book an appointment for a repair by a Kinetico engineer. All engineer appointment dates and times are subject to availability.

• • Subject to the exclusions below, we will not charge any additional fee in relation to callouts (or associated labour).

• • We can only carry out repair and maintenance services to Kinetico, Infinity and certain other water softeners on our approved list.

• • The AquaCare Service only includes cover for call outs and assosiated labour for repairs and servicing and does not include provision of a whole new water softener.

• • Any parts and associated materials will only be provided for Kinetico products that have a valid warranty. For out of warranty or other manufactured products, parts and materials will be charged additionally. You may provide parts for the engineer to fit if obtained from your own manufacturer warranty.

• • We will not begin or continue with any repair and maintenance services where we reasonably consider that there is a health and safety risk, including the presence of dangerous materials, infestations, or harassment of our staff (including verbal or physical abuse). We will not start or continue work until there is no longer a health and safety risk.

• • The following are not covered by your contract (and, in the event that we agree to provide such services, additional charges would apply for which we would quote separately):

• repairing faults or damage caused by freezing weather conditions, subsidence, structural repairs, accident, fire, lightning, explosion, flood or storm (you should check your insurance to make sure you are covered for these risks);

• repairing faults or damage caused by (i) any delay, error or problem due to any action or failure to act by you, (ii) any misuse of or tampering with the water softener, (iii) any use of the water softener other than for domestic purposes and in accordance with our installation and operating instructions, (iv) (where the water softener was not manufactured by us and installed by us or one of our approved suppliers) any design, workmanship or installation faults, or (v) any repair of or amendment to the water softener by anyone other than us;

• upgrades to your water softener;

• work that is needed to connect electricity or water supplies to your water softener, or that is attributed to the failure of any such incoming public utilities;

• work necessitated by damage to resin beads inside your water softener due to age or contamination; and

• unnecessary callouts (where the water softener is found to be in good working order)

• • If you do not allow us access to your property to perform the repair services as arranged (and you do not have a good reason for this) we may charge you additional costs incurred by us as a result. If, despite our reasonable efforts, we are unable to contact you or re-arrange access to your property, we may end the contract and clause 11.2 will apply.

• Annual Maintenance Inspections

• • You are entitled to book an annual maintenance inspection of your water softener by a Kinetico engineer. We may require an initial inspection to take place within 21 days of the Contract Date. YOU MUST BOOK YOUR SUBSEQUENT ANNUAL MAINTENANCE INSPECTIONS TO TAKE PLACE IN THE 21 DAYS FOLLOWING EACH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CONTRACT DATE (the “Inspection Window”). For example, if your application for the AquaCare Service is accepted on 1 January 2020, we may require an initial inspection to take place before 22 January 2020, and you must book the next annual maintenance inspection to take place between 1 and 22 January 2021.

• • We will send you an email one month prior to each anniversary reminding you to book your maintenance inspection in before the Inspection Window expires. If we do not hear from you, we will call you to try to book the inspection. However, it remains your responsibility to book the annual maintenance inspection. IF YOU FAIL TO BOOK A MAINTENANCE INSPECTION WITHIN THE INSPECTION WINDOW OR REPEATEDLY CANCEL BOOKED INSPECTIONS, WE RESERVE THE RIGHT NOT TO CARRY OUT A MAINTENANCE INSPECTION IN THAT YEAR AND YOU WILL NOT BE ENTITLED TO ANY REFUND OF FEES ALREADY PAID.

• Salt Deliveries

• • This section only applies if you have signed up to our Salt Subscription Cover packages.

• • As part of the AquaCare Service, we will deliver to you a package of water softener salt every three months, beginning three months after the Contract Date.

• Cartridge Filter Deliveries

• • This section only applies if you have signed up to our Cartridge Filter replacement Cover package.

• • As part of the AquaCare Service, we will deliver your chosen cartridge filter every 12 months from the Contract Date. If however, your drinking water system requires cartridge replacement more frequently, additional delivery will be arranged at your Contract Date.

• • As part of any AquaCare Service that includes an annual inspection from our Kinetico engineers, we will endeavour to deliver your cartridge filter(s) on the same day as your engineer visit.

• Your right to end the contract

• • You may have the right to end the contract in the following circumstances:

• If our services are defective or mis-described, you may have a legal right to end the contract (or to get a service re-performed or a product resupplied, or to get some or all of your money back);

• If you want to end the contract because of something we have done or have told you we are going to do, see clause 9.2;

• If you have just changed your mind about the AquaCare Service, see clauses 9.3 and 9.4. You may be able to get a refund if you are within the cooling-off period, but this may be subject to deductions.

• • If you tell us that you are ending a contract for a reason set out in (a) to (d) below, the contract will end immediately and you may be entitled to a partial refund in respect of services which have not been provided. The reasons are:

• we have told you about an error in the price or description of the AquaCare Service and you do not wish to proceed;

• we have told you that there is a risk that supply of the AquaCare Service may be significantly delayed because of events outside our control;

• we have suspended, or notified you that we are going to suspend, provision of the AquaCare Service for a period of more than 90 days; or

• you have a legal right to end the contract because of something we have done wrong.

• • You have a legal right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 to change your mind and receive a refund within 14 days of the Contract Date. If you cancel within the 14 day period but after we have started to provide the AquaCare Service, you must pay us for a proportion of the monthly subscription calculated according to the number of days from the Contract Date  until the date when you cancelled.

• • If you are outside the 14-day cooling off period and none of the other grounds for termination apply, you are not allowed to terminate the contract in the first 12 months. After the first 12 months, you can terminate the contract at any time by giving us one month’s notice.

• • Nothing in these terms affects your legal rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (also known as ‘statutory rights’). You may also have other rights in law.

• How to end the contract with us (including if you have changed your mind)

• • To end the contract with us, please let us know by contacting us using the information in clause 2.  Please provide your name, home address, [customer number,]  phone number and email address.  If you are cancelling within the 14 day cooling off period, you may use the attached cancellation form if you wish.

• • If the contract is ended it will not affect our right to receive any money which you owe to us under the contract.

• • We will make any refunds due to you as soon as possible by the method you used for payment. If you are exercising your right to change your mind, your refund will be made within 14 days of your telling us you have changed your mind (subject to any deduction under clause 9.3 above).

• Our rights to end the contract

• • We may end the contract at any time by writing to you if:

• you do not make any payment to us when it is due and you still do not make payment within 14 days of us reminding you;

• [you do not, within a reasonable time of us asking for it, provide us with information that is necessary for us to provide the AquaCare Service;

• you do not, within a reasonable time, allow us to deliver any products (including water softener salt) to you or collect them from us;

• you do not, within a reasonable time, allow us access to your premises to supply the AquaCare Service or

• you engage in any aggressive, threatening, violent or abusive conduct towards our staff.

• • If we end the contract in the situations set out in clause 10.1, we will refund any money you have paid in advance for services we have not provided but we may deduct or charge you reasonable compensation for the costs we will incur as a result of your breaking the contract.

• If there is a problem with the service

• • We are under a legal duty to provide services and supply salt that conform with the contract. If you have any questions or complaints about any aspect of the AquaCare Service, please contact us. You can telephone our customer service team on 0808 164 1796 or write to us at aquacare@kinetico.co.uk or Kinetico UK Limited, Bridge House, Park Gate Business Centre, Park Gate, Hampshire SO31 1FQ.

• • If your water softener was manufactured and installed by Kinetico, your rights under the contract will be in addition to your rights under our standard 10-year parts warranty.

• Change of circumstances

Either party may terminate the contract on 14 days’ notice if you sell the house or flat containing the relevant water softener or if you replace or remove the water softener

• Price and payment

• • The initial price of the AquaCare Service (which includes VAT) will be the monthly price advised to you at the time you sign up to the service. The price of the AquaCare Service will be fixed for the first 12 months. Thereafter, we may increase the monthly price of the AquaCare Service at any time by providing you with at least six weeks notice in writing. If you do not agree with the change in the price, you may cancel the contract in accordance with clause 9.4.

• • We take all reasonable care to ensure that the price of the AquaCare Service advised to you is correct. However, it is always possible that, despite our best efforts, the AquaCare Service may be incorrectly priced. We will normally check prices before accepting your application for the AquaCare Service. However, if we accept and process your application where a pricing error is obvious and unmistakeable and could reasonably have been recognised by you as a mispricing, we may end the contract, refund you any sums you have paid and require the return of any goods provided to you.

• • We will pass on changes in the rate of VAT.

• • Payment must be made monthly by direct debit.

• • If you fail to make any payment to us by the due date, we may charge interest to you on the overdue amount at the rate of 3% a year above the base lending rate of Bank of England from time to time. This interest shall accrue on a daily basis from the due date until the date of actual payment of the overdue amount, whether before or after judgment. You must pay us interest together with any overdue amount.

• • We reserve the right to offset any credit balances to overdue debit balances.

• • If you think an invoice is wrong, please contact us promptly to let us know. You will not have to pay any interest until we have checked and confirmed the amount. If we confirm that the amount was correctly invoiced, we will then charge you interest on it from the original due date.

• Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

• • Except where required by law, your exclusive remedy for any default by us under the contract shall be, where possible, to obtain the repair, replacement or correction of the defective repair and maintenance services, or of any defective product supplied under this contract. If this remedy is not economically or technically feasible or effective then you may obtain a fair partial or full credit or refund of amounts paid under this contract, except that we will not be liable for any amount in excess of the price paid by you in the preceding 12 months.

• • We are not responsible for delays outside our control. If the supply of salt or a repair or maintenance inspection is delayed by an event outside our control, we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know and we will take steps to minimise the effect of the delay. Provided we do this, we will not be liable for delays caused by the event, but if there is a significant delay you may contact us to end the contract.

• • We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors; for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; for breach of your legal rights in relation to the products, including the right to receive products which are: as described and match information we provided to you and any sample or model seen or examined by you; of satisfactory quality; fit for any particular purpose made known to us; supplied with reasonable skill and care and, where installed by us, correctly installed; and for defective products under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

• • Any redecoration or rectification that may be needed following our work is your responsibility, unless we have been negligent.

• • We are not liable for business losses. We only supply products for domestic and private use. If you use our products for any commercial, business or re-sale purpose, we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit or revenue, loss of business, business interruption, loss of goodwill, loss of business opportunity, or loss of use or downtime.

• • We will not be liable for any indirect loss, special or consequential loss or damage (whether the claim is brought for breach of contract, negligence or any other tort, under statute or otherwise).

• How we may use your personal information

We will only use your personal information as set out in our privacy policy, available here: www.kinetico.co.uk/privacy-policy.

• Other important terms

• • We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under the contract.

• • You may only transfer your rights or your obligations under these terms to another person if we agree to this in writing.

• • This contract is between you and us. No other person has any rights to enforce any of its terms. Neither of us will need to get the agreement of any other person in order to end the contract or make any changes to these terms.

• • If a court finds part of this contract illegal, the rest will continue in force. Each of the paragraphs of these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them is unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

• • Even if we delay in enforcing this contract, we can still enforce it later. If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these terms, or if we delay in taking steps against you in respect of your breaking this contract, that will not mean that you do not have to do those things and it will not prevent us taking steps against you at a later date. For example, if you miss a payment and we do not chase you but we continue to provide the service, we can still require you to make the payment at a later date.

• • These terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in the English courts.

• • Please note that disputes may be submitted for online resolution to the European Commission Online Dispute Resolution platform.