This Refund Policy explains how cancellations, returns and refunds are handled by The Fringe And The Fold Limited for Highland cow adoptions and products purchased through our online shop.
This policy should be read alongside our Terms and Conditions. Nothing in this policy limits your statutory consumer rights.
1. Contacting us
To request a cancellation, return or refund, please contact:
The Fringe And The Fold Limited
58 Pennyhill Park
Penrith
United Kingdom
CA11 9JW
Email: hello@thefringeandthefold.co.uk
Please include your name, order number and a brief explanation of your request.
2. Highland cow adoption subscriptions
2.1 Cancelling future renewals
Highland cow adoptions are annual subscriptions that renew automatically unless cancelled.
The subscription purchaser may cancel future automatic renewal at any time before the next renewal payment is taken by:
- using the cancellation option within My Account; or
- emailing hello@thefringeandthefold.co.uk.
Cancelling automatic renewal prevents future renewal payments. It does not end the current annual adoption term or create a refund for the term already paid for.
Unless a refund or earlier termination is required by law or agreed by us, adoption benefits will continue until the end of the paid term.
2.2 Initial adoption purchases
Consumers purchasing online may have a legal right to cancel an eligible contract within 14 days of the contract being made.
A Highland cow adoption includes an ongoing service as well as personalised digital material. The treatment of a cancellation may therefore depend on:
- when the cancellation request is made;
- whether the adoption service has begun;
- whether digital content has been supplied;
- whether the customer expressly requested early supply; and
- the statutory rights applying to the particular parts of the purchase.
Where you validly cancel before the adoption service or digital supply has begun, we will provide the refund required by law.
Where you expressly asked us to begin providing the service during the 14-day cancellation period, we may be entitled to deduct a reasonable and proportionate amount for any service already supplied before cancellation.
2.3 Digital adoption packs
Adoption packs are supplied digitally and may include a personalised adoption certificate, information about the selected Highland cow and details of the relevant adoption benefits.
The legal right to cancel digital content during the statutory cancellation period may be lost only where the legal requirements for prior express consent and acknowledgement have been met.
Acceptance of our general Terms and Conditions alone will not be treated as an automatic waiver of statutory cancellation rights relating to digital content.
If a digital adoption pack is faulty, inaccessible, materially incomplete or not as described, please contact us. We will take reasonable steps to correct, replace or resend it and will provide any remedy required by consumer law.
2.4 Renewal payments
We send a reminder before an annual renewal is due. The subscription purchaser is responsible for cancelling before the renewal payment is taken if they do not wish the adoption to continue.
A renewal payment is not automatically refundable simply because the purchaser later decides not to continue.
However, we will consider refund requests fairly, taking account of:
- how soon after renewal the request was made;
- whether adoption benefits or digital content have been supplied for the renewed term;
- whether the renewal or cancellation process failed to operate correctly; and
- any statutory cancellation or refund rights that apply.
Nothing in this section removes any cancellation or refund right provided by law.
2.5 Gifted adoptions
For a gifted adoption, the purchaser remains responsible for payment and automatic renewal.
The gift recipient is not charged for the gifted subscription and cannot request a refund of money paid by the purchaser.
Cancellation and refund requests relating to a gifted subscription should be made by the purchaser, as the purchaser owns the subscription and made the payment.
If the purchaser cancels future renewal, the recipient will continue receiving the applicable benefits until the end of the paid adoption term.
2.6 Changes of adoption tier
Where an adoption is upgraded, the purchaser is charged a prorated amount for the remaining part of the current annual term. An upgrade does not create a refund.
Where an adoption is voluntarily downgraded, the downgrade takes effect immediately and does not create a refund or account credit for the difference between the tiers.
The consequences of a downgrade will be shown before the change is confirmed. Nothing in this section affects any remedy required by consumer law.
2.7 Changes affecting an adopted cow
Highland cattle are living animals and their circumstances may change. A selected cow may be moved, sold, retired from the herd, become unavailable or die during an adoption term.
Where we can no longer provide meaningful updates about the selected cow, we may offer to:
- transfer the remaining adoption term to another available cow;
- provide another appropriate adoption arrangement; or
- offer another suitable remedy where required by law.
A change in an animal’s location or routine management does not by itself entitle the purchaser to a refund.
3. Physical products
3.1 Cancelling an online order
For most physical products purchased online, you may cancel without giving a reason by telling us within 14 days after the day on which you, or a person nominated by you, receives the goods.
After notifying us that you wish to cancel, you must return the goods within a further 14 days.
To cancel, email hello@thefringeandthefold.co.uk before returning the product. We will provide the correct return instructions and address.
The correct return address may depend on which fulfilment partner produced or dispatched the product. Please do not return products to a manufacturer or fulfilment partner without receiving instructions from us first.
3.2 Condition of returned products
You may inspect a product as you reasonably would in a shop.
You are responsible for taking reasonable care of the product while it is in your possession. We may reduce a refund where handling beyond what is reasonably necessary to inspect the product has reduced its value.
Where possible, products should be returned with their original packaging and any included parts or accessories.
3.3 Return postage
You are responsible for the direct cost of returning change-of-mind goods, unless we agree otherwise.
We recommend obtaining proof of postage and using an appropriately insured or tracked service where the product is valuable or fragile.
Where a product is faulty, damaged, misdescribed or incorrect, we will pay or reimburse reasonable return costs where required by law.
3.4 Refund of the original delivery charge
Where you validly cancel an eligible order, we will refund the cost of the least expensive standard delivery method that was available for the cancelled goods.
If you selected a more expensive express, premium or specialist delivery method, we are not required to refund the amount paid above the cost of standard delivery.
3.5 Personalised products
Products made to your specification or clearly personalised for you may not carry the usual change-of-mind cancellation right once production has begun.
This may include products created with a customer-supplied name, message, photograph or other individual specification.
A product is not necessarily personalised merely because it is printed or manufactured after an order is placed.
Your rights remain unaffected where a personalised product is faulty, damaged, incorrect or not as described.
3.6 Print-on-demand products
Some fine-art prints, greeting cards and other products may be printed and dispatched by a specialist fulfilment partner after an order is placed.
Standard, non-personalised print-on-demand products remain subject to applicable statutory cancellation rights.
Please contact us rather than the fulfilment partner if you need to cancel an order, arrange a return or report a problem.
4. Faulty, damaged, incorrect or misdescribed goods
Please contact us as soon as reasonably possible if a product:
- arrives damaged;
- is faulty;
- is not as described;
- is not of satisfactory quality;
- is not fit for its intended purpose; or
- does not match the product or options ordered.
Please provide your order number and, where practical, photographs showing the problem. Photographs help us assess damage and arrange the most suitable remedy.
Depending on the circumstances and your statutory rights, we may offer:
- a replacement;
- a repair where appropriate;
- a price reduction; or
- a full or partial refund.
Requesting photographs or information does not remove or reduce your statutory rights.
There is no arbitrary seven-day deadline after which your rights in relation to faulty or misdescribed goods disappear.
5. Products lost during delivery
Please contact us if an order has not arrived within the estimated delivery period shown for it.
Delivery estimates are not always guaranteed, particularly for international orders, but we will investigate substantial delays with the relevant carrier or fulfilment partner.
Where goods are confirmed lost or are not delivered within the period required by law, we will provide an appropriate replacement or refund.
Further information about delivery is available on our Shipping Information page.
6. How and when refunds are issued
Approved refunds will be made to the original payment method unless that is not reasonably possible or another method is agreed.
For eligible change-of-mind returns, we may withhold the refund until:
- we have received the returned goods; or
- you provide evidence that the goods have been sent back,
whichever occurs first.
We will issue an eligible refund within the period required by law. For returned goods, this will be within 14 days after receiving the goods back or receiving evidence that they were returned.
After we issue a refund, your bank or payment provider may take additional time to show it in your account. This processing time is outside our control.
Where an order was paid using more than one payment method, discount or account credit, the refund may be divided between the original methods used.
7. Incorrect addresses and unclaimed deliveries
You are responsible for providing complete and accurate delivery information.
Where an order is returned because the address supplied was incomplete or incorrect, or because the parcel was not collected, we may deduct reasonable costs already incurred before issuing any refund, where permitted by law.
We may ask you to pay an additional delivery charge if you ask us to resend the order.
This does not apply where the delivery failure was caused by us, our fulfilment partner or the carrier rather than by the information or actions of the customer.
8. Orders containing several products
Products within one order may be produced or dispatched separately.
You may cancel or return an eligible individual product without cancelling every product in the order.
Where only part of an order is cancelled, any delivery refund will be calculated according to the delivery cost that would have applied to the products retained and the products returned.
9. Chargebacks and payment disputes
Please contact us before raising a chargeback or payment dispute so that we have an opportunity to investigate and resolve the issue.
Nothing in this section prevents you from using any lawful protection or dispute process provided by your bank, card provider or payment service.
10. Your statutory rights
This policy summarises how we handle common cancellation, return and refund requests. It does not replace or limit rights provided by consumer law.
Where this policy provides less protection than the law requires, the applicable legal rights will take priority.
Full contractual information is available in our Terms and Conditions.