TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS

About Us ‘The Company’

Oak Frame Direct LLP of Coldharbour Studios, Woods Corner, East Sussex, TN21 9LQ. Tel 01424 838606 Email: sales@oakframesdirect.com Company Registered in England No. OC345590, Registered Office: Coldharbour Farm, Battle Road, Dallington, East Sussex, TN21 9LQ.

‘The Customer’ The person, company or organisation purchasing goods or services from ‘The Company’, as shall be entered within the ‘customer’ section of all Company sales order / ecommerce / invoice documentation.

Overview of Terms & Conditions These terms and conditions shall apply to the sale and supply of oak frame buildings and associated products by ‘The Company’, to ‘The Customer’. ‘The Company’ operates a good practice policy and its’ terms and conditions are regulated by ‘The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000’, the ‘Sale of Goods Act 1979’ and other statutory instruments. This document contains references to these regulations and has been supported with background information gained from the websites of related parties as follows; OFT (Office of Fair Trading), DTI (Department of Trade & Industry) and Trading Standards Central.

Any order placed by ‘The Customer’ whether in person, by telephone, by mail or online (ecommerce) shall form a legally binding contract of sale, thus whilst these terms are extensive they are given to define and protect the due rights of both ‘The Customer’ and ‘The Company’.

1) PLACEMENT OF ORDER

1.1 It is the responsibility of ‘The Customer’ to ensure that they have obtained any necessary planning permission and/or Building Control consent which may affect ‘The Customers’ ability to install or use the product.
1.2 ‘The Customer’ should ensure that they are fully aware of what further costs may need to be incurred with other parties on the building in addition to the oak frame itself from ‘The Company’. These costs may include planning, Building Control, groundworks, assembly of the oak frame, decoration, roofing, plumbing, electrics etc.
1.3 ‘The Customer’ is responsible for providing all necessary information needed by ‘The Company’ to process their order to ‘The Customers’ specification and requirements. This will include the specification of the building required, details of any partitions, joinery, roof or other options, the full address (including postcode) for delivery of the building, full contact details for ‘The Customer’ and any other relevant information regarding the oak frame building specification, delivery restrictions or requirements and timing.
1.4 An order will not be deemed as accepted by ‘The Company’ until a written confirmation is given by ‘The Company’ to ‘The Customer’ confirming the order details and expected date of delivery. If all information necessary for ‘The Company’ to process ‘The Customer’ order has been provided, written confirmation will normally be dispatched to the customer within 7 working days. Should no response be received by ‘The Customer’ within 7 working days, ‘the Customer’ should contact ‘The Company’ to confirm whether the order has been received.

2) RETENTION OF TITLE / COPYRIGHT

2.1 Legal ownership of any goods supplied remains with ‘The Company’, until such time that cleared funds of the full order value has been received from ‘The Customer’.
2.2 Should the ‘The Customer’ obtain goods prior to full payment, ‘The Customer’ accepts that ‘The Company’ retains the right to demand and receive 4.5 Payments are only accepted in British Pounds Sterling. immediate settlement of all outstanding monies prior to the transfer of legal ownership, or the ‘The Customer’ grants ‘The Company’ unrestricted access to reclaim the goods, at which point the order cancellation process referred to in section 8 shall be instigated. The saleable condition of the goods prior to any reclaim is the sole responsibility of ‘The Customer’.
2.3 Copyright of all plans, designs and information about the building configuration remains with ‘The Company’. Copies of such plans may be passed to relevant third parties by ‘The Customer’ for the purpose of assisting in obtaining planning permission or in construction of the building or to subsequent owners of the building.
2.4 Your telephone call may be recorded for training or monitoring purposes.

3) PRICES

3.1 All prices shown upon ‘The Company’ literature and this website are shown in British Pounds Sterling. 3.2 Prices shown on ‘The Company’ website are inclusive of the current prevailing rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) at the time of publication. ‘The Company’ VAT registration No is 971 6142 17.
3.3 An extra delivery charge will apply dependent upon the postcode area where the goods are to be delivered as shown on ‘The Company’ pricelist.
3.4 Both ‘The Company’ prices and UK government VAT rate are reviewed from time to time and therefore before placing their order ‘The Customer’ should always confirm the current prevailing price (including delivery and VAT) by obtaining a written quotation for the goods from ‘The Company’ which will clearly state how long the quoted price remains valid.
3.5 Should ‘The Customer’ accept our order pricing offered under 3.4 the order shall be confirmed and proceed subject to condition 1.3. If declined, ‘The Company’ will cancel ‘The Customers’ order and refund all order monies received

4) PAYMENT

4.1 ‘The Company’ standard payment terms for porches is 20% of payment with order and 80% of payment 10 days prior to delivery.
4.1 a ‘The Company’ standard payment schedule for buildings is detailed below: 

Amount	Name	Date
20%	Deposit	Payable on order.
40%	Pre-manufacturing	Payable before the building is placed into manufacturing schedule.
40%	Pre-delivery	Payable 10 days prior to delivery.

4.2 Upon placing an order, ‘The Customer’ shall promptly receive an order acknowledgment email containing an estimated delivery date. Should ‘The Customer’ wish to modify the delivery date subsequent to acknowledgment, we kindly request that such requests be communicated to ‘The Company’ no later than 2 weeks prior to the initially estimated delivery date. In response, our team will provide comprehensive guidance on the available options.
4.3 It is important to note that any alterations to the delivery date shall not affect the payment date, which will remain consistent with the originally acknowledged date.
4.4 Failure to comply with the pre-delivery payment deadline without prior communication with ‘The Company’ will lead to the imposition of a minimum administrative charge of 3% for any rescheduling requests. The minimum charge for garages will be
4.5 Payments are only accepted by the following means; cheque (made payable to “CAP Direct”), BACS (electronic banking), cash, Visa, Delta and MasterCard.
4.6 Goods shall not be released until payments have cleared ‘The Company’ bank account.
4.7 ‘The Company’ actively strives to prevent credit/debit card fraud. All card-based orders without exception are subjected to cardholder name, address and other security checks as deemed essential.
4.8 ‘The Company’ retains the right to undertake any third party search as necessary, such as via ‘The Company’ card processing organisation, to satisfy ‘The Company’ that ‘The Customer’ card details are valid.
4.9 It is the responsibility of ‘The Customer’ to always provide their registered cardholder address when requested. No liability is accepted or implied for any loss incurred by ‘The Customer’ as a result of any processing delays caused by incorrect data provided by ‘The Customer’.
4.10 ‘The Company’ reserves the right to alter the standard payment terms of any customer if deemed appropriate, or where special terms form part of a package deal or offer.

5) DELIVERY

5.1 ‘The Company’ shall aim to fulfil all orders at the earliest opportunity subject to receipt of cleared funds,
5.2 ‘The Company’ delivery periods as published are given in good faith and are anticipated, based upon estimated materials and manufacturing lead-times. Delivery can occur sooner or later than the anticipated timescales.
5.3 Deliveries are made weekdays only on an agreed specified date, typically during the hours of 7.00am to 5.00pm. ‘The Company’ will aim to meet customer delivery timing requests wherever possible but it is not able to guarantee timed deliveries.
5.4 Our delivery drivers will make every effort to deliver the goods directly to ‘The Customer’ required delivery point upon the property of ‘The Customer’. Due to the nature of the goods, a larger lorry is required for delivery and a vehicle gap clearance is required of around 3m (provided the lorry can approach any gaps square on) sufficient for a vehicle 2.55m wide x 11m in length and 6.1m in height to enter. Should the opinion of our delivery driver determine that access to site is not possible due to any restrictions, then the delivery of the goods shall be to nearest suitable drop-off point only (normally kerbside or driveway) and it will be the responsibility of ‘The Customer’ to trans-ship the goods to the required location at their cost.
5.5 ‘The Company’ accepts no responsibility for the suitability or strength of the access route on ‘The Customers’ property and ‘The Company’ will not accept any claims for damage to any drive, verge, lawn or gardens should the access route prove to be unsuitable for its delivery lorry or that of any sub- contractor.
5.6 ‘The Customer’ accepts that the nature of the materials in an oak frame building is such that tannin may come out of the timbers and cause staining to the surrounding area. ‘The Customer’ is therefore responsible for selecting a suitable location for the delivery to be placed and ‘The Company’ will not accept any claims for stain damage to surrounding area.
5.7 Should the delivery period extend beyond the longer of i) that published; or i) ii) that subsequently notified; or iii) 30 days after the date of order (in accordance with the Consumer Contracts Regulations) ‘The Customer’ can cancel their order without penalty.
5.8 It is the responsibility of the ‘The Customer’ to provide free and unobstructed access for product delivery and subsequent usage. Any failed, abortive or return delivery charges shall be recoverable by ‘The Company’ from ‘The Customer’ at cost.
5.9 ‘The Company’ products are mainly large and sectional that will not fit through a pedestrian door. As indicated in condition 5.8, it is the responsibility of ‘The Customer’ to notify any access concerns to ‘The Company’ at the point of order.
5.10 All delivered goods have to be signed for by the ‘The Customer’ or their appointed representative, at which point responsibility and risk of the goods shall pass to ‘The Customer’. Title passes as defined in 2.1.
5.11 The Company’ will not be responsible for any abortive or other costs incurred by ‘The Customer’ due to a failed delivery.

6) ASSEMBLY

6.1 All products are sold and supplied for self- assembly only by ‘The Customer’.
6.2 To ensure assembly can be completed, the customer is responsible for the provision of suitable groundworks for the oak frame with sufficient unobstructed access all around the proposed site.
6.3 ‘The Customer’ should not arrange or commence any assembly service until they have received their product and have fully checked that their product is both complete and sound.
6.4 ‘The Company’ will not bear any abortive costs arising from ‘The Customer’ or their privately employed labour, due to the failure of ‘The Customer’ to check the product as defined in 6.3, or while awaiting receipt of any missing or replacement parts.

7) SHORTAGES / DAMAGE

7.1 ‘The Customer’ shall inspect the goods and notify ‘The Company’ on delivery or collection of any shortages or damage to the said goods.
7.2 In the unlikely event of shortage or damage, it should be reported immediately with detail and while our delivery vehicle is still on site and confirmed by our delivery driver. Claims should be made by telephone to 0845 3714106 and they should also be noted on the delivery driver’s copy of the delivery note and signed by both ‘The Customer’ and our delivery driver.
7.3 Upon receiving approved claims within the period defined in 7.1, ‘The Company’ will forward the replacement parts usually within 5 to 10 working days, subject to stock level.
7.4 Guarantee claims made by ‘The Customer’ after the period as defined in 7.1, shall only be considered at the discretion of ‘The Company’. See section 14 for terms of guarantee.
7.5 ‘The Company’ reserves the right to decline any replacement request should damage or miss-use of the product have occurred upon ‘The Customer’ property or during self-assembly.
7.6 ‘The Company’ will not be liable for any costs incurred by ‘The Customer’, should ‘the Customer’ fail to inspect and satisfy themselves that the product is sound and complete prior to self-assembly, see also 6.3 and 6.4.
7.7 All timbers are inspected at the time of manufacture. Because of the nature of wood ‘The Company’ cannot accept any responsibility for timber shrinkage, cracking, warping, natural timber defects or tannin stains. Any timbers displaying any of these natural characteristics will not be accepted as faulty or damaged.

8) CANCELLATION

8.1 A return or cancellation of supply only goods can be instructed up to 7 working days after the date of delivery (except 8.2), as defined by section 11, part 2 of the Comsumer contracts regulations
8.2 ‘The Customer’ has no right to cancel at any time should their order include a personalised requirement i.e; optional fixtures, adaptations or preferences.
8.3 The statement in 8.2 complies with the ‘Exceptions to the right to cancel’ section 13, part c of the Consumer Contracts Regulations which refers to “goods made to the customer’s specifications…” A return or cancellation should be made in a durable means as defined by part 10 of the Consumer contracts Regulations being; either in writing to ‘The Company’ address, by email to sales@oakframesdirect.com . 8.4 It is the responsibility of ‘The Customer’ to meet all product return costs, either by their own arrangement or at the direct cost levied to ‘The Company’. This complies with section 8, part 2aii of the consumer contracts Regulations.
8.5 It is the responsibility of ‘The Customer’ to retain possession and take reasonable care of the goods, until the goods have been returned to the possession of ‘The Company’ or a carrier appointed by ‘The Company’.
8.6 Statute states that a product should be returned in its original condition, thus fit for re-sale as new. ‘The Company’ shall therefore reject the return of any product where assembly has been commenced, thus rendering the product as ‘used’.
8.7 Where ‘The Customer’ instructs ‘The Company’ to undertake a collection and return, ‘The Company’ shall notify ‘The Customer’ of the return charge in writing (by email) prior to undertaking the process. ‘The Company’ will not profit from any return charges received from ‘The Customer’. A return charge will always equate to the cost ‘The Company’ expended.
8.8 All return costs sought by ‘The Company’ shall be deducted from the order monies held, thus any refund to ‘The Customer’ shall be passed less this return charge.
8.9 Reimbursement (refund) of canceled order excess monies held shall be made as soon as possible but in any event within a period not exceeding 30 days, pursuant to Section 14, part 3 of the Distance Selling Regulations.
8.9.1 Either party may at any time before any agreed delivery date amend or cancel an Order by providing to the other party of their intention to do so by written notice. Termination will not affect either party’s rights or duties. If you amend or cancel an Order, your liability to us shall be limited to payment to us of all costs we reasonably incur in fulfilling the Order until we receive your amendment or cancellation, including but not limited to any Materials and/or Services already supplied, design time, drawings, administration costs materials and services already committed to your order, except that where the amendment or cancellation results from our failure to comply with these Terms you shall have no liability to us for it.
8.9.2 Due to the bespoke nature of the Materials and/or Services each Order is specific to you. Should you cancel your Order at any stage after we have started the process of fulfilling your Order then the cost which we have incurred (and therefore which you are responsible for) are likely to be high. Please note, that due to the bespoke nature of the Materials and/or Services, it is unlikely that we will be able to resell any Materials and/or Services to any other customer whether the Order is completed or not.
8.9.3 In the unlikely event you are deemed to be a consumer under the Regulations and the Regulations apply to you and this contract, you acknowledge that due to the bespoke nature of the Materials any rights to cancel a contract for the supply of goods given to consumers under the Regulations shall not apply to the supply of Materials under this contract.
8.9.4 We have the right to revise and amend these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in market conditions affecting our business, changes in technology, changes in payment methods, changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements and changes in our system’s capabilities. You will be subject to the policies and terms in force at the time that you order the Materials and/or Services from us, unless any change to those policies or these Terms is required by law or government or regulatory authority (in which case, it will apply to orders you have previously placed that we have not yet fulfilled).

9) REJECTED GOODS

9.1 All goods are newly constructed for sale or to order, as described upon ‘The Company’ website. ‘The Company’ does not retail seconds or ex-display products, thus rejected goods are an extremely rare event.
9.2 In the unlikely event that ‘The Customer’ wishes to reject the goods through fault or damage, this must be undertaken within 7 working days after the date of delivery (except 9.4), as defined by section 11, part 2 of the Distance Selling Regulations.
9.3 ‘The Customer’ should notify ‘The Company’ of their rejection of the goods by a durable means as defined by part 10 of the Consumer contracts Regulations being either in writing to ‘The Company’ address or by email to sales@oakframesdirect.com.
9.4 ‘The Customer’ has no right to reject goods at any time should their order include a personalised requirement i.e; optional fixtures, adaptations or preferences. In this case section 7. Shortages / Damage would apply.
9.5 The statement in 9.4 is formed from the ‘Exceptions to the right to cancel’ section 13, part c of the Consumer contracts Regulations; which refers to “goods made to the customer’s specifications…”
9.6 It is the responsibility of ‘The Customer’ to retain possession and take reasonable care of the goods, until the goods have been returned to the possession of ‘The Company’ or a carrier appointed by ‘The Company’.
9.7 For justified rejection, ‘The Company’ shall bear all return costs, being the full limit of liability for a rejection.
9.8 If on return the product is found to be sound, complete and as described for sale, the return charge process as set out in conditions 8.4 to 8.8 will apply and be deducted from the order monies held.
9.9 If on return the product is found to be have been abused or damaged whilst on site, or having been erected, ‘The Company’ shall retain the right to deduct from the order monies held any losses levied by ‘The Company’.
9.10 Reimbursement (refund) of rejected order monies, less charges defined in 9.8 to 9.10 if due, shall be made in a period not exceeding 30 days as Section 14, part 3 of the Consumer contracts Regulations.
9.11 Statute states that a product should be returned in its original condition, thus fit for re-sale as new. ‘The Company’ shall therefore reject the return of any product where assembly has been commenced, thus rendering the product as ‘used’.

10) COMPLAINT

10.1 In the event of any complaint or grievance, ‘The Customer’ should initially make contact by telephone on 01424 838606, followed by a formal email complaint to sales@oakframesdirect.com or letter to ‘The Company’ address.
10.2 For efficient handling, ‘The Customer’ should state upon all correspondence; (a) their name, (b) their address, (c) their sales invoice number, (d) the product, and (e) a description of their complaint.
10.3 ‘The Company’ shall endeavour to promptly resolve any complaint and/or respond with our stance. Should a response not be received within 5 working days, please send a “Second Request” for the attention of The Manager.
10.4 It is the intention of ‘The Company’ to resolve any dispute fairly, amicably and to the satisfaction of all parties concerned at the earliest opportunity.

11) PRIVACY

11.1 ‘The Company’ is committed to the protection of May 2022 Page 3 of 3 data and respect customer privacy.
11.2 ‘The Company’ will only use the information that we collect about you lawfully (in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998).
11.3 Any personal details given by ‘The Customer’ shall not be passed or made available to any other company, organisation or third party with the exception of 11.4.
11.4 To enable ‘The Company’ to efficiently fulfill your custom, ‘The Customer’ contact name, telephone number and address may be passed to an appointed carrier to enable direct delivery and communication. 11.5 When you register on our website, to maintain your order basket ‘The Company’ uses technology that employs cookies. A cookie is a small piece of information sent by a web server to a web browser, which enables the server to collect information back from the browser. ‘The Company’ do not use this cookie to collect or analyse any information about you.
11.6 Your telephone call may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes.

MAKING A PURCHASE

12) FORCE MAJEURE

12.1 Neither party is liable for failure to perform the party’s obligations if such failure is as a result of Acts of God (including fire, flood, earthquake, storm, hurricane or other natural disaster), war, invasion, act of foreign enemies, hostilities (regardless of whether war is declared), civil war, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, military or usurped power or confiscation, terrorist activities, nationalisation, government sanction, blockage, embargo, labour dispute, strike, lockout or interruption or failure of electricity or telephone service. No party is entitled to terminate this Agreement under Clause 8 (Cancellation) in such circumstances.
12.2 If a party asserts Force Majeure as an excuse for failure to perform the party’s obligation, then the non-performing party must prove that the party took reasonable steps to minimise delay or damages caused by foreseeable events, that the party substantially fulfilled all non-excused obligations, and that the other party was timely notified of the likelihood or actual occurrence of an event described in 12.1.

13) MISCELLANEOUS

13.1 If ‘The Customer’ wishes to amend their order post-sale (i.e; after order processing), a nominal £25 ‘Administration Charge’ shall be levied to account for the manual handling of all documentary and payment revisions in line with any post-sale ‘Customer’ instructions; extra-over to any material or service cost adjustments/revisions.

14) GUARANTEE

14.1 All garages, leisure buildings, garden rooms and extensions are guaranteed for a period of 10 years, details of which are shown in the guarantee document. All other buildings supplied are guaranteed for a period of 1 year from the date of delivery by ‘The Company’ against manufacturing faults or destruction by woodworm or beetle infestation. The 10 year guarantee document will be dispatched once final balance payment is made. This refers to all the components of the structural oak frame only.
14.2 Any materials which are accepted by ‘The Company’ as faulty and covered by the guarantee will be replaced or repaired at the discretion of ‘The Company’. Any making good or redecoration following replacement or repair under guarantee will be the responsibility of ‘The Customer’.
14.3 The materials used in an oak frame are natural materials and as such may display certain characteristics which are normal and expected. Because of the nature of wood ‘The Company’ cannot accept any responsibility for timber shrinkage, cracking, warping, natural timber defects or tanning stains  and bleeding onto areas around the frame or where the frame is stored before assembly, naturally occurring insect or bug infestation from the local environment. Any timbers displaying any of these natural characteristics will not be accepted as faulty or damaged.
14.4 In time, the oak will weather to a silvery grey colour and any joinery, hinges or weatherboard will need ongoing maintenance and decoration to keep them all in good working order and condition. An advice sheet on maintenance and decoration is supplied on delivery of the building.
14.5 The frame needs to be installed as per our fitting instructions, no component or element of the structural frame is to be adapted or altered in any way. Altering the frame without written authorisation from the company will invalidate your guarantee.

15) LAW

15.1 These terms and conditions shall be interpreted in accordance with the Laws of England and Wales. © Oak Frames Direct LLP September 2009.