Retail Policy

Retail, Refunds & Returns Policy

Contents

1.  Products, Prices and Shipping

1.1. Products and Pricing

  • All feeding equipment sold by CLAPA in our ‘Feeding Equipment’ section has been recommended by NHS Cleft Nurse Specialists as suitable for babies born with a cleft, but keep in mind that not all items are suitable for all babies. Parents and carers should wait until their Cleft Nurse Specialist has conducted a feeding assessment before ordering any items, and should speak to their nurse if they have any questions or issues. CLAPA staff are not medically trained and cannot give recommendations.
  • We cannot supply free samples of feeding equipment, even for educational purposes.
  • Any external products, including those sold by affiliates like Amazon or Redbubble, have not been recommended by health professionals and are not endorsed by CLAPA. These websites have their own return/refund policies and complaints procedures, and CLAPA cannot take responsibility for any products purchased outside of our website.
  • CLAPA is a charity dependant on public donations, and we subsidise the cost of feeding equipment to keep prices low for the cleft community. We reserve the right to change prices without notice in whatever way is necessary for us to maintain this service.
  • Our website will always list the most up-to-date prices and the most recent catalogue will also be downloadable from the main shop page. We do not accept responsibility for errors or delays caused by organisations or individuals placing orders using the wrong prices, though we will attempt to get in touch to resolve these issues where possible.

1.2. Welcome Packs

  • CLAPA provides one free ‘Welcome Pack’ for each child born with a cleft in the UK. Please visit clapa.com/welcomepack to find out more and order a pack. Families or Cleft Nurses can also request a pack by calling our office on 020 7833 4883 (Our answerphone is currently switched, but you can leave a message.)
  • We will send these out after a baby has had a feeding assessment and a Cleft Nurse Specialist has recommended specific bottles and teats in our range. Please do not order or ask for any feeding equipment not recommended to you by a Cleft Nurse Specialist.
  • We can replace faulty items in Welcome Packs free of charge, but cannot provide further Welcome Packs or replacement feeding equipment if you originally ordered the wrong kind (unless the equipment is returned unused and unopened), or if they turn out to not be suitable for your baby. Please see ‘Refunds and Replacements’ below for more information.

1.3. Shipping Costs

These prices are illustrative only and are based on relatively small orders made by individuals. If it will cost significantly more than this to post your order, we will get in touch to provide another quote for shipping.

Families in the UK

£4.50 per order, or FREE for orders of £25.00 and over.

NHS Trusts

£5.00 for orders with a value of up to £20.00
£10.00 for orders with a value over £20.00
£15.00 for orders with a value over £50.00
£25.00 for orders with a value over £100.00

International Orders

Countries in the European Union (including the Republic of Ireland)

£30 postage (including pre-paid delivery taxes) for orders up to a value of £30.

For orders valued at £30 or more, you will be charged £30 postage at the checkout. Once we have processed your order and calculated any additional fees and taxes, we will send you another payment link for you to pay this amount. We will not dispatch your order until we have received this second payment. You will not be asked for this payment unless the amount CLAPA is charged for posting your parcel is more than £30. Full refunds may be requested at any time until we post your parcel.

Note: CLAPA cannot control these additional fees and taxes, nor can we calculate them at the checkout, as they are different depending on each country and parcel. Of the £30 delivery fee charged, less than £1 goes to CLAPA to help cover our costs.

Rest of the World

£30 postage (delivery taxes not included; please consult local information to estimate these costs; if parcels are returned to us with these taxes unpaid, you will have to pay for redelivery).

2. Refunds & Replacements

Refunds and free-of-charge replacements may be offered if you contact us within 14 days of your order being dispatched.

In exceptional circumstances, we may offer refunds or exchanges after 14 days. Please get in touch by emailing [email protected] to discuss this with us.

2.1. Feeding equipment is faulty.

  • Please check your equipment for these common issues:
    • MAM teats should be replaced at least every 4-6 weeks. They often swell up with use, so new teats may appear smaller or a different colour than usual.
    • Dr Browns bottles may leak if the collar is too tight or too loose, or if the insert and reservoir are not properly assembled. It is not recommended to mix formula in the bottle, as the shaking can cause the internal vent system to separate and the bottle to leak.
    • The ink on Dr Browns bottles may come off over time. There is more information on the Dr Browns website.
    • Please contact us to explain the exact nature of the fault, and if possible provide photographs. We may use these to contact the manufacturer directly or to identify similar faults in the rest of our stock.
  • We will send replacement product(s) as soon as possible, along with a freepost label or envelope so you can return the faulty items to us.
  • We will offer a refund if you do not want replacement product(s), but we will need you to send photographs and/or return the faulty item before we can process this.

2.2. I received the wrong item(s)

  • If you received a different item from what we have listed on your order, please contact us to provide details. We will send replacement product(s) as soon as possible, along with a freepost label or envelope so you can return the incorrect items to us. This applies even if you’ve opened the package. Please note we cannot send you any items you order in the future until we have received your return.
  • We can offer a refund instead, but only once the incorrect product has been sent back to us. We can provide you with a freepost label or envelope to help with this.
  • Please note: we’ll use our own record of your order to determine if we sent out the wrong items. If you ordered over the phone and believe we wrote your order down wrong, we will honour this policy at our discretion.

2.3. I ordered the wrong item(s), but have not opened or used them and am willing to send them back myself

  • We are happy to offer refunds and/or replacement items of the same value once we have received the unopened items which were ordered by mistake. This includes unpackaged CLAPA merchandise like t-shirts that have not been used.

2.4. I am a family/individual in the UK and I have not received my order

  • CLAPA sends out all packages for UK families First Class through the Royal Mail. These usually arrive the next day but sometimes take up to 5 working days to be delivered, or longer during particularly busy periods such as Christmas or during postal strikes.
  • We do not offer parcel tracking or courier services for UK orders as we are a small charity, and this would make the service prohibitively expensive.
  • We may have attempted to contact you about your order but have been unable to reach you. Please check your email inbox (including junk mail) for a message from our team, contact [email protected], or fill in our contact form.
  • To help your order reach you:
    • Your property needs to be accessible for parcel delivery, especially if you reside in a block of flats with security doors/ gates and you need to be home daytimes to receive parcels. If the postal worker does not have direct access to your front door, check communal areas or communal letterboxes for a “Something For You” card.
    • Your postal worker will usually only make two attempts to deliver your order and may not drop a card through the door about a missed delivery. It is your responsibility to re-arrange delivery or contact your local depot. Find your local depot here.
    • Check if it has been left with a neighbour or local shop. Also check external storage areas like recycling bins and dustbins.
    • How to collect a missed delivery.
    • I missed my delivery but lost the ‘Something for you’ card
  • If it’s been over 5 working days (excluding weekends and public/bank holidays) since we dispatched your parcel and your local depot does not have it, we can offer a free replacement or a full refund at our discretion. Please double-check we have your correct address on file when requesting this. If there are other reasons which may explain this delay (such as postal strikes, festive season backlogs, etc.), we reserve the right to extend this period to up to 15 working days.
  • If we receive an undelivered item back from the Royal Mail with a note indicating you did not attempt to collect it from the depot, we will re-send it at our discretion.

In some circumstances, we are not able to offer refunds or free-of-charge replacements, even within 14 days. These include:

2.5. I ordered the wrong item(s) but have already opened the package

  • We cannot re-sell or donate opened or used feeding equipment. As such we are unable to provide a refund or exchange for these items. If you have excess equipment you cannot use, your local Cleft Team may be able to take these items.
  • For merchandise items, if these have not been used we can offer a full refund or exchange once we receive these items back from you.

2.6. The feeding equipment I ordered isn’t working for my baby

  • Unless an item is clearly faulty, we cannot refund or replace open/used feeding equipment which has turned out to be inappropriate.
  • We rely on parents and carers ordering feeding equipment in consultation with their Cleft Nurse Specialist, who will check a particular feeding method works before recommending it. In some cases, even when a product is recommended, it may not work as well as hoped.
  • If you have any questions or problems when using the equipment recommended to you, please get in touch with your Cleft Nurse Specialist in the first instance.

3. NHS or International Orders

  • As a charity, CLAPA prioritises orders from families in the UK. However, we will always do our best to process NHS or international orders as quickly as possible and will usually dispatch these within 5 working days.

3.2. NHS ORDERS

  • All NHS orders are sent either by tracked and signed delivery, or via a courier service. Occasionally, small, low-value packages will be sent via Royal Mail First Class post or Special Delivery (signed but not tracked).
  • We can send tracking information on demand – emailing [email protected] is the easiest way to request this.
  • Please ensure you have included the correct carriage charge on your Purchase Order, and that you have used the most up-to-date prices (available in the latest catalogue linked at the top of the shop) to avoid unnecessary delays.
  • If your order has not been dispatched within 2 weeks of us receiving your correct purchase order, we will send it via special delivery as soon as possible.
  • If your order has been delayed because of errors on purchase orders, we will usually try to get in touch to resolve this, but as we prioritise orders from UK families this may take longer in busy periods. For this reason, please double-check all details of the purchase order, including current prices and carriage charge.
  • NHS Trusts have various Terms and Conditions which we do our best to follow, but please ensure you highlight any unusual clauses or anything particular to your NHS Trust when placing the order.

3.3. INTERNATIONAL ORDERS (Including Republic of Ireland)

  • All international orders are sent by tracked & signed international post. Please ensure you provide us with your full, correct address, as we find many international packages are returned to us because of an insufficient or incorrect address.
  • If you have any concerns about the address you provided through our web shop (e.g. if it does not appear in the correct format or you were not able to include all the relevant information), please email us at [email protected] quoting your order number and listing the full address you would like to appear on the parcel.
  • CLAPA is a small UK charity and therefore cannot take responsibility for undelivered or undeliverable international packages. On demand, we will provide you with tracking information which you can use to find the last known location of the parcel, and if it was lost by the delivery service you must contact them for all enquiries.
  • If an international package is returned to us, we will happily send it out again, but will contact you to double-check the address and to ask that you pay again for international shipping.
  • Your item will be handled ‘Delivered Duties Unpaid’ (DDU).  You may have to pay import VAT (and customs duties, if payable) and a handling fee in the receiving country. These charges will depend on the country that we sent your order to, the value and nature of the item (e.g. commercial goods or gift). If customs charges are due on your item, you will either be notified by a postcard or letter in the post with details of the charges or you might also receive an email and/or an SMS from customs or else from your country’s postal service if these details have been provided to us. You should periodically check your email account’s spam/ junk folders. It is your responsibility to pay import VAT, customs duties and/or any other additional charges levied by your country for international orders.

4. Complaints

  • CLAPA is constantly reviewing its policies and procedures around our shop and appreciates all feedback about your experiences with our services. We hope to be able to resolve any issues quickly and to your satisfaction, but if you wish to make a formal complaint, this will be handled with reference to our Complaints Policy, and complaints should be emailed directly to [email protected]. If you are unable to email, please call us on 020 7833 4883 and we will make a note of your complaint.
  • If your complaint is of a particularly sensitive, personal or serious nature, you can contact our Chief Executive or Chair of Trustees directly. See our full Complaints Policy for more information.
  • We will acknowledge your dispute or complaint within 7 working days and will respond within 28 days. However, whenever possible, we will aim to respond within 24 hours.
  • Please keep in mind that as a small charity with limited staff and resources we may not be able to resolve your issue immediately, but we will endeavour to explain why this issue came about and what we’re doing to avoid similar issues in the future.
  • We record all complaints in a log and review these when looking to develop our services.

5. VAT

  • CLAPA is not currently VAT-registered. We regularly review our status with HMRC to ensure we continue to be compliant with all UK laws.
  • To avoid charging customers an extra 20% for our feeding equipment or absorbing this cost ourselves, we have had HMRC confirm that the specialist bottles and teats we sell in our shop are exempt from VAT on the grounds of disability.
  • This means that, as long as the bottles and teats are being bought so they can be used exclusively by a baby born with a cleft and/or another medical condition that prevents them from using regular bottles and teats, customers do not have to pay the 20% VAT.
  • Cleft itself isn’t considered a disability, but it often means babies need specially-designed bottles to be able to feed. When you buy this special equipment for a baby born with a cleft, you don’t need to pay VAT.

This applies to the following items:

  • Dr Browns Teats (all varieties)
  • Dr Browns Bottle Packs (all varieties)
  • MAM Bottles
  • MAM Teats (all varieties)

Supplied by:

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association (CLAPA)
Registered Charity England & Wales (1108160) and Scotland (SC041034)
Limited Company registered in England & Wales (5206298)
Registered Address: The Green House, 244-254 Cambridge Heath Road, LONDON E2 9DA

 

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