Returns Policy

2. Read instructions

Please carefully read and follow all instructions that come with our goods. For example, any documents that help you use our goods. Please also read our website at https://equipmentcafe.co.za for tips on using our goods.

3. Cooling-off period for electronic transactions

Section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act may apply to your electronic transactions. If you qualify as a consumer under the ECT Act, you may be entitled to cancel some electronic transactions within seven days, without reason or penalty. Section 44 is only applicable if you are a natural person – in other words, a human being. You must also be the end user of the goods or service. The transaction must be an electronic transaction – a transaction concluded (in whole or in part) via the website, email, or SMS.

This cooling off period does not apply to Special Order Goods. “Special Order Goods” are defined as Goods that a supplier expressly or implicitly was required or expected to procure, create or alter specifically to satisfy the customer’s requirements.

• 3.1Return of goods in terms of cooling-off period

  You must return any goods, excluding Special Order Goods, in new condition with all original packaging and materials (including any accessories or parts). We will refund the purchase price of the goods, less a handling fee of up to 15% of the price of the goods, within 30 days of the date of return.

4. Our goods warranty

We warrant that all our goods are new and of good quality unless we clearly describe them as used or reconditioned or as having specific defects. Refer to our detailed warranty document on https://equipmentcafe.co.za.

5. Statutory warranty against defects

We warrant all our new goods against any defects for six months of normal household or business use, from the time we supplied the goods. This is the statutory warranty in terms of the Consumer Protection Act of 2008 (the CPA).

• 5.1Defective goods

  Defective goods are those that had a defect or were unsafe when we supplied them. A defect usually means that the goods were manufactured using materials, components or workmanship below an acceptable standard. You must prove that goods are defective. You must test out your purchase as soon as you have received it to make sure that everything is in working order.

• 5.2Statutory compensation

  We will repair, replace, or refund the price of any defective goods that you return to us during the six-month statutory warranty. Returns must follow our returns procedure below.

• 5.3Choice of compensation

  Any customer that is also a consumer under the CPA may decide whether we should either repair or replace the defective goods, or make a refund. We will decide how to compensate any of our other customers.

6. Statutory warranty on repairs

We do not personally carry out the repair, but we will send the goods to the supplier to be repaired. We warrant all our repairs and repaired goods against the failure of a repair and any further defect for the remaining portion of the statutory warranty plus a further three months from the time we returned the repaired goods.

• 6.1Compensation under repair warranty

  If you are also a consumer under the CPA, then we may choose to replace or refund the price of any repaired goods that you return to us during the three-month repair warranty period.

7. Our extended warranty

After the six months statutory warranty has expired, we offer an extended warranty for certain goods. This means we will repair the defective goods or replace them with new or reconditioned goods, as long as the defective goods are returned to us within the extended warranty period. The period of any extended warranty depends on the particular goods and may cost extra. We will give you the terms of any extended warranty in writing when we supply those goods. Our longest extended warranty is valid for twenty-four months after we supplied the goods. Our right to inspect the goods and charge a fee for this also applies to claims under our extended warranty. Refer to our detailed warranty document on https://equipmentcafe.co.za.

8. Inspection of defective goods

• 8.1Suitably qualified examiner

  A customer that believes their goods are defective should ask a suitably qualified person to examine the goods and produce a report for us to consider. A suitably qualified examiner is a reputable and independent person trained and qualified to repair goods similar to ours.

• 8.2Inspection fee

  You may also ask us to inspect any goods that you believe to be defective. We may charge an inspection fee equivalent to 20% of the price paid for the item. We will fully refund this inspection fee to you if the goods were defective when we supplied them.

• 8.3Our examination duties

  We train our staff to recognise any defects in our goods. They can usually tell if the goods have been misused, for example, if they have been neglected, damaged, altered or not used according to instructions. Our staff will give reasons if they refuse to accept that we supplied defective goods to you. Our staff will only do this if they honestly believe the goods have been misused.

• 8.4Limited refund of inspection fee

  We will not refund any inspection fee paid if our staff concludes that we have not supplied defective goods and that the goods have been misused.

9. Statutory right to return unsuitable goods

Our customer that is also a consumer under the CPA may, with a written communication to us, return goods within ten days of delivery if they could not examine them before delivery and then discover that the goods are not what they ordered or expected, or if the goods are not suitable for a specific purpose.

• 9.1Returns of unsuitable goods

  A consumer must return unsuitable goods within ten days of delivery according to our returns and refunds procedure below.

• 9.2Refund of price of unsuitable goods (excluding Special Order Goods)

  For unsuitable goods that are not Special Order Goods and that are in their original unopened packaging, we will refund the full price less a handling fee of up to 15% of the price of the goods. For unsuitable goods that are not Special Order Goods and that are not in their original unopened packaging or are opened goods, we may consider, but are not obliged to, accept the opened goods. In this case we will deduct or charge a reasonable amount for any use of the goods plus certain costs necessary for repackaging and restocking. These costs are usually up to 25% of the cost of the goods.

• 9.3Refund of price of unsuitable Special Order Goods

  We are not obliged to accept the return of Special Order Goods. If we believe the Special Order Goods can be resold, we will accept the return at a price and on terms determined on a case by case basis.

10. Courier costs

We may refund the reasonable postal and insurance costs of returning defective goods. We may inspect the goods to confirm that they are defective before we do so.

11. Procedure for returns to other suppliers

Customers of other suppliers (such as major retail chains) must return defective or unsuitable goods directly to that supplier. Customers must use the correct returns procedure. Please contact the customer services department of the relevant supplier for details of their returns procedures.

12. Invalidation of warranties and right to return unsuitable goods

Warranties on any of our goods will be invalid if any person who is not suitably qualified has opened, tampered with or altered the goods contrary to the instructions or removed the warranty label. This also applies to goods found to be unsuitable. It is a criminal offence to damage goods deliberately to claim a refund.

13. Exclusion of industrial use

We only warrant goods for any industrial or unusual commercial use if we clearly state this in writing, for example on the packaging.

14. Our returns and refunds procedure

You must use our returns and refunds procedure for returning defective or unsuitable goods, or else we may refuse to accept them. Our returns and refunds procedure is as follows:

• -Download a return or refund claim form from our website or ask our customer services department (details below) to email the form to you.
• -Fill in the form with your contact details, date and place of purchase, and all details of the physical goods that you want to return, including how and why you believe the goods are defective or unsuitable for your purpose.
• -Email, fax, post, or deliver the refund or return claim form to customer services. Customer services should contact you with a return or refund claim number within 24 hours of receipt, otherwise you must contact them to get the number.
• -Our customer services department may tell you that they do not believe you have a claim, for example because the warranty period of the goods has expired. In this case we may refuse to repair or replace goods, or refuse to pay a refund, or we may charge a repair fee.
• -Any return of physical goods must include proof of purchase plus all accessories and instructions, and all original packaging that is still available. If the original delivery packaging is not available, please make sure the goods are in protective packaging as we are not responsible for any damages that may occur in transit.
• -Please write the return claim number clearly on the package. We may refuse to accept a package that does not have this return claim number on it.
• -Deliver the defective physical goods under warranty or unsuitable physical goods to us or courier them, insured against loss, damage and theft. The street and postal addresses for all returns are the same as for our customer services department, details of which are below.
• -If you choose to courier the physical goods, please notify us that you have done so by sending us an email. In this email, please provide us with the waybill or tracking number for the envelope or package.
• -Once we have received the package, we will notify you that we have received the physical goods. Please allow 10 working days from the date on which you sent the envelope or package for it to reach us. If we have not notified you within 10 working days, please contact the courier company that you sent the package through and try and establish whether it has been delivered to the correct address.
• -We will also notify you in the same email if we have not received the return or refund claim form associated with your claim. If we have not received it, we will send you a blank return or refund claim form attached to the email. Please complete it and return it to us in terms of our returns and refunds procedure above. We will not be able to continue processing your claim until we have received this document.
• -If you claim that our goods are defective, our staff will examine the goods for defects. In the case of physical goods, our staff will examine the actual goods. They will report to us whether the goods were defective, were misused, or are of good quality. We do not regard the following as defective:

  – faults resulting from normal wear and tear;
  – damage arising from negligence, user abuse or incorrect usage of the product;
  – damage arising from electrical surges or sea air corrosion;
  – damage arising from a failure to adequately care for the product;
  – damage arising as a result of installation by an unapproved installer;
  – damage arising from unauthorized alterations to the product; or
  – where the specifications of a product, although accurately described on the website and generally fit for its intended purpose, do not suit you.

• -If you claim that our goods are unsuitable for your purposes, we will first investigate whether you communicated the purpose to us. If you did, we will then provide you with a written report indicating whether we believe the goods were unsuitable for your specific purpose or not.
• -If the goods were returned outside the seven-day cooling-off period, or our staff report that the goods were misused, were of good quality, were not provided to you for a specific purpose or were suitable for that purpose, then we will not repair, replace, or refund the goods.
• -If you returned the goods within the seven day cooling-off period and our staff report that the goods were defective, were provided to you for your specific purpose and were unsuitable for that purpose, then we will either contact you and ask you whether you would like us to repair, replace, or refund the price of the goods (if you are also a consumer under the CPA) or advise you how we have decided to compensate you (if you are not a consumer under the CPA).
• -If you choose for us to repair or replace the goods or we decide to do so ourselves, we will contact you as soon as reasonably possible to organise the necessary steps to repair or replace the goods.
• -If you choose for us to make a refund or we decide to do so ourselves, we will contact you and arrange payment of the refunded amount into a bank account of your choice within 30 days of cancellation.

15. Our customer services department contact details

Our customers can contact our customer services department as follows:

• - Telephone number: +27 (0) 10 446 2200
  - Email address: sales@equipmentcafe.co.za
  - Street address: 23 Susan Street, Strydom Park, Randburg, South Africa, 2169
  - Office hours: Mon-Fri (8am-5pm)

16. Customer queries and complaints

We aim for complete customer satisfaction. We respect our customers’ rights and always try to comply with best practice and all relevant laws. If you are not satisfied with any of our goods, or have any questions, please contact our customer services department and have your invoice ready. We will try our best to solve your problem. We are proud of the reputation of our goods.

17. Dispute resolution

If we do not accept that we supplied defective or unsuitable goods, and our customer services department has not been able to help, any customer may still take the matter up with a suitable ombud or other dispute resolution body, or take legal action. The dispute resolution procedures under the CPA do not necessarily apply to all transactions with us. This policy does not exclude any other rights customers may have.

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