Returns & Refunds PolicyUpdated 2 days ago
This Policy explains how change-of-mind returns, faulty or incorrect Products, collections and refunds are handled. It should be read with our Terms & Conditions of Sale, Delivery Policy and, where relevant, Warranty Policy. Your statutory rights are not reduced by this Policy.
Need to start a return or report a fault?
1. Which return route applies?
There are three different routes, depending on why and when you are returning a Product:
- Statutory cancellation: if you bought at a distance, you will normally have 14 days after receiving the Product to tell us that you wish to cancel. You then have a further 14 days to return the Product or make it available for agreed collection.
- Harbour goodwill return: for eligible Products, we extend the change-of-mind notification period to 28 days after Delivery. Requests made from day 15 to day 28 are subject to the additional goodwill conditions in section 3.
- Faulty, damaged, incorrect or misdescribed Products: different statutory rights apply. These are dealt with in sections 9-12 and are not limited by the 28-day change-of-mind period.
2. Your statutory right to change your mind
If you bought a Product online, by telephone or through another distance-sales method, you can normally tell us that you wish to cancel within 14 days after receiving it. You then have a further 14 days to return the Product or make it available for an agreed collection.
You may inspect and handle the Product to the extent reasonably necessary to establish its nature, characteristics and functioning, broadly as you could when examining a Product before purchase. Please take reasonable care when opening it and retain the original packaging, protective materials, labels, instructions, fixings, accessories and components wherever possible.
You should not assemble, install or use a Product beyond what is reasonably necessary to inspect it. Assembly or installation does not, by itself, remove a statutory cancellation right, but handling beyond what is reasonably necessary may reduce the Product's value.
3. Harbour additional goodwill return - days 15 to 28
In addition to your statutory rights, Harbour allows eligible Products to be returned for change of mind where you notify us within 28 days after Delivery.
For a return requested after the statutory 14-day cancellation period, the Product must be unused, unassembled, uninstalled, complete, in new and resaleable condition and in its original packaging with all labels, instructions, accessories, fixings and components.
If these conditions are not met, the Product will not qualify for our additional goodwill return. The condition is assessed when the Product reaches our warehouse. Collection of a Product does not mean that we have accepted its condition or agreed the amount of any refund.
A collection occurring after day 28 does not, by itself, prevent a goodwill return where you made a valid request within the 28-day period and complied with the collection arrangements.
4. Diminished value on statutory returns
If you handle, assemble, use or return a Product in a way that goes beyond what is reasonably necessary to inspect it, and this reduces its value, we may deduct the resulting reduction in value from your refund. The deduction is not a penalty or administration charge.
We assess the Product in the condition in which it is returned and consider the effect of the relevant handling on its reasonable resale value. The guide below is illustrative, not a fixed tariff:
| Condition when returned | Indicative impact |
|---|---|
| Opened carefully, inspected only, complete and repacked in original packaging with no loss of value | Normally no deduction |
| Original packaging missing or materially damaged, but Product otherwise unused and perfect | May result in a deduction of around 10-30% where this causes a corresponding loss in value |
| Minor handling or assembly marks, or Product can no longer reasonably be sold as new | May result in a deduction of around 20-40% |
| Product substantially assembled and then dismantled, with resulting loss of resale value | May result in a deduction of around 30-50% |
| Product used, installed, marked, damaged, incomplete or materially altered | Potentially 50% or more, up to the actual reduction in value |
These percentages are a guide only. The actual deduction may be lower or higher and will reflect the actual reduction in value caused by handling beyond what was reasonably necessary. Where we propose a deduction, we will explain the reason and how it has been assessed.
You do not lose a statutory cancellation right solely because original packaging is unavailable. Missing or damaged packaging is relevant only to the extent permitted by law, including where it contributes to an actual reduction in value.
5. Platinum Delivery, assembly and Packaging Removal
Where Harbour assembled a Product or removed its packaging as part of a Service you purchased, we will not create a diminished-value deduction merely because Harbour performed that assembly or removed that packaging. We may still assess any genuine reduction in value caused by your subsequent handling, use, alteration, damage or other circumstances for which you are responsible.
Where you asked us to provide an additional Service, such as Platinum Delivery, assembly or Packaging Removal, and that Service has been fully performed in accordance with the applicable cancellation rules, the charge for the completed Service will not normally form part of a change-of-mind refund. This is separate from any refund of basic Delivery charges required by law.
6. Return and collection costs
If you return a Product because you have changed your mind, you are responsible for the cost of returning it to us. Returns must be collected by Harbour or our nominated carrier unless we expressly agree otherwise. This enables us to use an appropriate service and handle large or specialist Products safely.
| Return / collection | Charge |
|---|---|
| Pergola collection | £150 |
| Large or bulky item collection | £75 |
| Small item return / collection | Up to £20 depending on size |
We will confirm the applicable charge before arranging a chargeable collection. The collection charge includes our costs of arranging, handling and processing the return; we do not apply an additional restocking or administration fee.
If a Product is faulty, damaged, incorrect or not as described and Harbour is responsible for the return, we will arrange and pay for the appropriate collection.
7. Preparing for collection and failed collections
You must make the Product reasonably accessible, safe to handle and ready for collection at the agreed address, and a responsible person must be available where attendance is required. Where disassembly or packaging is a condition of the return, it must be completed before the collection team arrives unless we have expressly agreed to provide that service.
Our collection team is not required to dismantle Products unless we expressly agree to provide a dismantling service.
If a collection cannot be completed because nobody is available, the Product is not reasonably accessible or ready, or another circumstance for which you are responsible prevents collection, the applicable collection charge is incurred and a further collection charge may apply before another attempt is arranged. We will not charge where the failed collection was caused by Harbour or our collection partner, or where you were not reasonably responsible for the circumstances.
For a statutory cancellation, absence of original packaging does not by itself entitle a collection driver to reject the return. The Product will be assessed under the statutory diminished-value framework after return. For a goodwill return, the original-packaging requirement in section 3 applies.
8. How to request a change-of-mind return
Please use the Returns form on our website or contact Customer Services and clearly tell us that you wish to cancel or return the Product. You do not have to use a particular form to exercise a statutory cancellation right.
We may ask for your Order number, Product details and photographs of the Product and packaging to help us plan the appropriate collection. A request for reasonable information does not remove a statutory right to cancel.
9. Faulty, damaged or not-as-described Products
Products must meet the standards required by applicable consumer law. If a Product is faulty, not fit for a purpose made known to us where the law requires, or not as described, your statutory rights are separate from and additional to any Harbour limited warranty.
Within the first 30 days, you may have a statutory short-term right to reject a Product that does not conform to the Contract. After that period, repair or replacement will commonly be the first statutory remedy, subject to the circumstances and applicable law. If repair or replacement is unavailable, unsuccessful or cannot be provided within the legal requirements, further remedies may include a price reduction or final rejection. Statutory rights may continue after six months, although the evidential position can change. Our limited Warranty may provide additional cover for the period stated for the Product.
An exclusion or expiry under our limited Warranty does not determine whether you have statutory rights.
10. How we investigate a fault
We may ask for information reasonably necessary to understand and investigate the issue, including:
- your Order number and details of the affected Product;
- a description of the issue and when it became apparent;
- photographs or video showing the Product and issue;
- photographs of packaging where relevant;
- completion of our online fault-reporting form;
- a video call with our Customer Service team to help diagnose the issue; or
- where necessary, inspection by Harbour, an installer, engineer, repairer, manufacturer or another appropriately qualified person acting on our behalf.
We may review relevant Delivery, Installation and previous customer-service records when investigating an issue. Evidence requests will be reasonable and appropriate to the issue; photographs or use of a particular online form are not an absolute condition of a statutory right where they are not reasonably necessary or practicable.
If a reported fault could make continued use unsafe or could reasonably cause further damage, you must stop using the Product and follow reasonable safety instructions while the issue is investigated.
11. How we resolve a fault
Once we have established the nature of the issue, we will provide the remedy to which you are entitled. Depending on the circumstances, this may include a replacement component, repair, replacement Product, appropriate price reduction, or return and refund.
Where repair or replacement is the appropriate remedy, Harbour may determine the reasonable method of providing it, subject to your statutory rights and the requirements of applicable consumer law. A defect affecting one component does not automatically require replacement of an entire Product where an appropriate component repair or replacement provides the remedy to which you are entitled.
Nothing in our investigation or repair process prevents you exercising the statutory short-term right to reject where you are legally entitled to do so.
12. Keeping a Product with an agreed price reduction
In appropriate circumstances, we may offer you the option of keeping a Product in its existing condition in return for an agreed price reduction or partial refund. You do not have to accept an offer of this kind where another remedy is available under your statutory rights.
If you accept an agreed price reduction in full and final resolution of a specific identified issue, you cannot later make a further claim against Harbour for that same issue simply because you have changed your mind about accepting the reduction. This does not affect your rights in relation to a different or subsequent unrelated fault, or any statutory right that cannot lawfully be excluded.
Any such agreement should be confirmed in writing so that the issue and agreed resolution are clear.
13. Incorrect or duplicate Products
If we deliver an incorrect or duplicate Product, please contact us promptly. We will arrange collection at no cost to you and, where applicable, arrange the correct Product or the refund due.
You must take reasonable care when opening and inspecting the Product, retain the original packaging, and only unpack or handle it to the extent reasonably necessary to identify it. Once you know it is incorrect or needs to be returned, do not assemble, install or use it.
Until collection, keep the Product and packaging safe, dry and reasonably protected from damage, deterioration, loss or theft and cooperate with reasonable collection arrangements.
14. Free promotional Products
Where a free promotional Product was supplied because you purchased another qualifying Product, the free promotional Product must also be returned if the qualifying Product is returned for a refund and the transaction is being unwound.
If you do not return the free promotional Product, we will deduct its full RRP from the refund due for the qualifying Product. If the promotional Product is returned damaged, incomplete or in a condition that reduces its value, an appropriate deduction may be made where permitted.
Where we repair or replace the qualifying Product rather than refund it, the promotional Product is unaffected unless the promotion expressly provides otherwise.
15. Bespoke Items
Our change-of-mind return arrangements do not apply to Products genuinely made to your specifications or clearly personalised where the applicable legal exception applies. We call these Bespoke Items and will identify them as such before you place your Order where required.
A Product is not treated as bespoke merely because it was ordered after you placed your Order or because you selected an ordinary stocked variant. The exception is applied only where the Product genuinely falls within the applicable legal exception.
This does not affect your rights if a Bespoke Item is faulty, damaged, not as described or otherwise does not conform to the Contract.
16. Exchanges
We do not normally process change-of-mind returns as direct exchanges. If you prefer a different Product, colour, size or configuration, we will normally process the original Product as a return under this Policy and you can place a new Order.
The new Order will be charged at the price and on the promotional terms available when it is placed. We cannot guarantee that an earlier price, discount, promotional offer or free Product will remain available. Applicable collection charges and diminished-value deductions relating to the original Product still apply.
A replacement provided as the remedy for a faulty, damaged, incorrect or non-conforming Product is not a change-of-mind exchange. No collection or redelivery charge applies where Harbour is responsible for the issue.
17. Refund amount and timing
For a valid statutory cancellation, we will refund the amount required by law without undue delay and within the applicable statutory deadline. Where permitted, the refund may reflect diminished value and return or collection costs for which you are responsible.
If you cancel an entire Order under a statutory cancellation right, we will refund any amount you paid for our least expensive standard Delivery option. If you chose a more expensive Delivery service, the additional cost of that enhanced service is not included in the standard Delivery-cost refund. Where standard Delivery was free, there is no outbound Delivery charge to refund.
Where you return only part of an Order, any outbound Delivery refund will depend on whether cancelling that part would have reduced the Delivery charge originally payable.
For an additional goodwill return requested during days 15-28, please allow up to 14 days from collection for the Product to be returned to our warehouse, inspected and the refund processed. The Product must meet the goodwill eligibility conditions when received. The applicable collection charge will be deducted.
Once Harbour has issued a refund, your bank, card issuer, lender or payment provider may take additional time to apply it to your account.
18. How refunds are paid
Refunds will normally be made using the same payment method used for the original purchase. We cannot normally redirect a refund to a different card, bank account or person.
Where you paid using a finance, instalment or buy-now-pay-later provider, we will process the refund through that provider, which will adjust your agreement, outstanding balance or payments under its own processes.
If you used more than one payment method, the refund may be divided between those methods as appropriate.
For an Order paid in cash, we may require appropriate proof of purchase and identity. For security and operational reasons, larger cash refunds may be made by bank transfer rather than physical cash.
19. Gift cards, vouchers and store credit
Where all or part of an Order was paid using a Harbour gift card, voucher or store credit, the corresponding refund will normally be returned to the same form of payment. Using a gift card or store credit does not change your statutory rights in relation to the Product purchased.
Restored gift-card value will be valid for the later of the remaining validity period of the original gift card or three months from the date the refund is processed.
Promotional vouchers, discount codes and complimentary credits have no cash value and are subject to the conditions of the promotion under which they were issued.
20. Misuse of our returns process
We may investigate returns activity where we have reasonable grounds to believe our returns process is being misused. This may include suspected fraud, deliberate damage, substitution of a different Product, falsified evidence, claims relating to Products not returned, or other deliberate attempts to obtain a refund or replacement to which a customer is not entitled.
Where reasonably necessary, we may request additional information or verify Product identity using serial numbers, batch or Product labels, identifying marks, Delivery or Installation records, photographs, packaging codes or other reasonable records.
We may refuse access to Harbour's additional goodwill return arrangements where we reasonably believe those voluntary arrangements are being abused. Nothing in this section allows us to refuse or restrict a statutory right or remedy to which you are legally entitled.
21. Your statutory rights
Nothing in this Policy excludes or limits any rights or remedies you have under applicable consumer law, including rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, or any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
22. Contact us
To request a return, report a fault or discuss a refund, use the relevant form on our website or contact Harbour Lifestyle Customer Services using the contact details shown on our website or in your Order communications.