1. Throughout these Terms & Conditions, The Book Fountain will be referred to as The Book Fountain. The customer and user of the The Book Fountain’ Website will be referred to as “You” and the term “Your” will be used as appropriate throughout.
2. All on-line sales by The Book Fountain to You are made subject only to these Terms & Conditions. These Terms and Conditions cannot be varied other than in writing and signed by a Partner of The Book Fountain. The Book Fountain may, at any time, make changes to the Website, its manner of trading and these Terms & Conditions. If any of these Terms & Conditions is deemed invalid or unenforceable, the offending Term or Condition will be deemed to be severable from the remaining Terms & Conditions which will continue to remain enforceable.
3. While The Book Fountain makes every effort to post up-to-date and accurate information on its Website it does not guarantee the accuracy of the information (except as to the description of the products sold, hereafter described as “items”). Furthermore, The Book Fountain does not represent or warrant that any of the functions on the Website or server will operate without interruption or delay or that they will be error free, free from defects, viruses or bugs or be compatible with any other software or material. Accessing The Book Fountain Website is entirely at Your own risk.
4. Before You can proceed to the “Check-out” to make a purchase, You must indicate in the box provided on the relevant page of the Website, that You accept these Terms & Conditions as being binding on You.
5. The Book Fountain’ prices, offers and items available on the Website are always subject to change. Any changes will only apply to any Orders made before they are accepted by The Book Fountain in accordance with these Terms & Conditions. If we discover an error in the price of goods you have ordered we will inform you as soon as possible by email and give you the option of reconfirming your order at the correct price or cancelling the order altogether. If we are unable to contact you we will treat the order as cancelled.
Use of the Website & information provided by You
6. If You choose to purchase items from The Book Fountain’ Website You will be required to provide certain mandatory personal information to The Book Fountain. Your name, address, telephone number and email address must always be provided. This will allow You to register Your own password.
7. If You decline to answer the mandatory questions, You will neither be permitted to register a password nor will You be permitted to proceed with any desired transaction.
8. We may ask You additional non-mandatory questions about Yourself and may at any stage change the non-mandatory questions to mandatory ones for additional security purposes.
9. The use of a password is to provide You with a means of restricting access by anyone else to Your account with The Book Fountain. You are therefore responsible for all transactions that are conducted on the The Book Fountain’ Website using Your personal information and the password chosen. You will not be permitted to conduct any transaction without using Your password. You should therefore keep Your password safe and not disclose it to anyone and should change it immediately upon learning (or believing) that some other person knows it. At the same time You must notify The Book Fountain immediately if You believe that Your password has become known to someone else and has been or is likely to be used without Your permission.
10. If any of Your mandatory personal information changes at any time after You have registered a password with The Book Fountain, You must provide The Book Fountain with details of the changed information. This includes Your credit card billing address and email address. Changes can be registered on the The Book Fountain’ Website in the Section indicated for such purposes.
11. Because You are responsible for all content sent from Your computer to The Book Fountain, You have the responsibility to ensure that Your use of the The Book Fountain Website is restricted solely to lawful purposes. You may therefore not use the Website in any way causing damage to it or in such manner that impairs access to it by third parties.
12. The Book Fountain will observe the strict confidentiality of Your personal information. However The Book Fountain may need to share some of Your personal information for the purposes of fulfilling any orders placed by You. The information will only be shared as is absolutely necessary and will be provided on the basis of a strict Confidentiality Agreement with the person to whom The Book Fountain provides the information. The third parties to whom information may be imparted may include third party suppliers (if relevant) and, in the case of credit card information, the relevant credit card clearing house used by The Book Fountain. Under no circumstances will Your password details be imparted to any third party.
13. For the purposes of security in relation to credit card information, the standards outlined in the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (“PCI DSS”) published on the website www.pcisecuritystandards.org from time to time are applied by The Book Fountain.
14. Except for recognised major search engines, it is prohibited to spider or scrape this site without prior express permission. Any other form of automated access or querying is prohibited without prior express permission. No automated access may exceed one query per second. Breach of these restrictions may result in legal action.
The Book Fountain privacy policy
15. Because The Book Fountain observes the strict confidentiality of Your personal information and it is only ever imparted to third parties in the limited circumstances described at Clause 12 above, the information derived for the above purposes is not passed to any third parties. The Book Fountain does not store any information relating to your credit cards.
16. To see how The Book Fountain uses your information and how you are protected, You are referred to The Book Fountain’ Privacy Policy which can be found at our Privacy Policy section. If you are in any way concerned about the Policy or the way in which it is managed, you are asked to contact The Book Fountain, details are below.
The Sale Contract
17. The Sale process will commence once You have placed an order via the “shopping basket” on line and have had Your credit card details accepted for the payment.
18. You must note that the placing of an order and the submission of Your credit card details (even if those details are accepted) will only amount to an offer by You to buy the selected item(s) from The Book Fountain via the Website. The Book Fountain will not be bound to accept the offer and supply the items to which the offer is made unless the Sale Contract is concluded (and then only subject to these Terms & Conditions – see below).
19. The Book Fountain will send You a first email as soon as you have placed an order. This email will merely be to confirm that The Book Fountain has the information and is in the course of locating the items ordered by you. At this stage The Book Fountain is not accepting your order. This email is sent to the email address provided by You in the relevant mandatory field which is required to be completed in order for the order to be processed.
20. A Sale Contract between You and The Book Fountain is only concluded once The Book Fountain has confirmed to You in a second email that the item(s) chosen by You is/are in stock and is/are in the course of despatch to You. The confirmation will be made by email to the same email address as provided for above.
21. If an order is placed by You for more than one item and an item is not available in stock, then You will be informed in the email confirmation of those item(s) that are available and which are to be despatched and those item(s) which are not available, resulting in cancellation of unavailable items. As regards the item(s) that are not available, there will be no Sale Contract concluded and You will not be charged for them. The Book Fountain will not be bound to supply the items that are not in stock at the time of placing an order. Items may be unavailable and the availability on The Book Fountain website is an estimate and is not a guarantee to supply within that period. The Book Fountain will not be obliged to offer any compensation for disappointment suffered.
22. Please note that the Sale Contract with You which comes into existence by The Book Fountain’ acceptance of the order and despatch of the items will only ever be concluded subject to these Terms & Conditions. Any purported Term or Condition that You may seek to impose on the Sale Contract will not form part of the Sale Contract and will be of no force and effect.
Pricing
23. The Book Fountain will make every effort to ensure that the prices shown against items on the Website are accurate and up-to-date. The Book Fountain, however, purchases books and other items from third parties and, it is possible, therefore, that the prices advised to The Book Fountain by a third party may be inaccurate. If, therefore, the correct price of a product is higher than the price advertised on the The Book Fountain Website, The Book Fountain may (provided that prompt notice is given to You of the incorrect pricing) notify You of the incorrect price and may, (subject to Your right to withdraw Your order) charge You the higher price.
24. If You are notified of a higher price in accordance with this provision, You must respond within 14 days as to whether or not You will withdraw the order. If within 14 days, You fail to elect to withdraw, You will be deemed to have accepted the to continue with the order at the higher price and You will be charged accordingly. The Book Fountain shall have the right to refuse the order itself and to decline to make delivery of the item(s) ordered. In such event, You will be notified by email of the refusal by The Book Fountain.
25. The Book Fountain reserves the right to make at any time before a Sale Contract is concluded and at its discretion, changes on the Website to any prices, offers, items (including as to their specification).
26. The advertised prices exclude postage and packing. If You are ordering items which require to be delivered outside the European Union, Your delivered item(s) may be subjected to import duties and taxes at the country of destination. The Book Fountain has no responsibility for paying any such charges and You undertake both to clear the goods and to pay the charges or duties. You are strongly advised to check on the applicable taxes and import duties that may apply to Your purchase.
27. Any postage, packaging and courier charges (other than courier charges which The Book Fountain may decide in its discretion to pay – see Clause 30 below) will be paid for by You in the charge made on Your credit card. No charge will be made against Your credit card until the items ordered have been despatched.
28. You must note that online prices and promotions advertised by The Book Fountain on its Website may not be the same as in-store prices and promotions. The Book Fountain is not obliged to sell items to You through its Website at the prices advertised at any of The Book Fountain bookshop or at prices that are subject to any promotions in-store, and vice-versa.
Special Promotions
29. The Book Fountain may periodically advertise special promotions. These may involve limited-time bargain prices on selected books or involve limited-time low prices on purchases of multiple books from a selection. Such special promotions will depend upon the availability of the selected title (or titles) and, while The Book Fountain will endeavour to ensure that sufficient numbers of the selected books are available to satisfy demand while the promotion is in place, if the selected title(s) is/are not available, The Book Fountain may withdraw the promotion and/or decline to accept Your offer to purchase the required titles without any liability to it.
30. If You offer to purchase a selection of titles from a multi-book offer but do not offer to purchase a sufficient number of the titles to qualify for the discount, the items (titles) selected will be charged to You at the normal listed price for single purchases. As is usual, in special promotions related to the purchases of multiple books, any free items (titles) will be the lowest priced ones.
Delivery
31. The Book Fountain will arrange to mail the items ordered by You to You or to the person at the address provided by You in the relevant field in the order form on the Website. The Book Fountain, at its own discretion, may use couriers to carry out deliveries to You and at its own expense (but only within the United Kingdom). Typically this may occur where You have ordered items worth, in aggregate, more than £75.
32. Steps to effect delivery of the item(s) purchased will be made as soon as reasonably possible after notification of the acceptance by The Book Fountain of the order by email. The actual date of delivery is dependent upon the mail service (or the courier company). Every effort will be made to ensure that delivery is effected within 30 days of the acceptance of the order by The Book Fountain but there may be unexpected delays caused by persons over whom The Book Fountain has no control (such as a third party suppliers).
33. If there is a delay in delivery beyond 7 days from the confirmation email referred to in Clause 20 above, You must within 14 days of the confirmation email call the The Book Fountain Call Centre at the telephone number given in Clause 52 below. The Book Fountain will then investigate the delay and will thereafter endeavour to effect delivery as soon as possible within the 30 day period. The Book Fountain does not otherwise warrant that the item(s) purchased will arrive within a specific time.
Ownership of the Items and Risk of Damage
34. Once the items are despatched for delivery by The Book Fountain, (or any third party on The Book Fountain’ behalf), You will become the owner of the item(s) from that time.
35. Unless The Book Fountain’ investigation referred to in Clause 32 above reveals that there will be a delay in delivery beyond 30 days for reasons beyond its control, if the items are still not delivered after the 30 day period (provided that You have reported the non-delivery in accordance with Clause 33 above), or the items are not what You have ordered, or were delivered in the incorrect quantity, or were damaged or defective before despatch for delivery (i.e. not as a result of the carriage of the items) then The Book Fountain shall be obliged to rectify the problem, whether by delivery of compliant items in the correct quantity or by replacing defective or damaged item(s). It may, alternatively, refund You the price paid for those particular items.
Liability
36. The Book Fountain’ liability to take the steps referred to immediately above in Clause 33 shall cease if You do not advise The Book Fountain in writing of the failure(s) described above within fourteen days of the actual date of delivery. The Book Fountain has the right (within a further 14 days) to investigate the complaints. You will co-operate in the investigation by making the defective items available to The Book Fountain or at The Book Fountain’ election, to return them to The Book Fountain at The Book Fountain’ expense. The Book Fountain will not be liable as described in Clause 33 if the items complained of are not made available or are not returned to The Book Fountain as The Book Fountain may direct.
37. In no circumstance will The Book Fountain be liable to You for any losses that You may suffer as a result of a breach of these Terms & Conditions unless the losses suffered by You were reasonably foreseeable at the time the Sale Contract was formed. The Book Fountain will have no liability for any indirect or consequential loss that You may suffer. In other words The Book Fountain will not be liable for any loss that is not reasonably foreseeable to both You and The Book Fountain when the Sale Contract was concluded.
38. You should note that The Book Fountain does not exclude or limit its liability to You for any death or personal injury that may result from any breaches or negligence arising from the use of the The Book Fountain Website or from the sale of any items to You by The Book Fountain.
39. Many jurisdictions (including the United Kingdom) have specific consumer rights. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions is to be construed as attempting to exclude or limit The Book Fountain’ liability if not permitted by the relevant consumer legislation.
40. These Terms & Conditions shall apply only to Sale Contracts between You and The Book Fountain and nothing in them is to be construed as creating in any way a right which might be enforceable by a third party who is not a direct contracting party.
Force Majeure
41. The Book Fountain shall not be liable in respect of the non-performance of its obligations under these Terms & Conditions by reasons of a Force Majeure event.
42. A Force Majeure event arises, for example, where performance of the obligations is prevented by any circumstance beyond a party’s reasonable control. Such a circumstance could include such matters as strikes, lock-outs or labour disputes of any kind, fire, flood, explosion, natural catastrophe, riots, civil commotion, plant break downs, computer or other equipment failures or a failure of the postal service. This list is by no means exclusive and is given by way of example only. The event must be likely to endure for longer than 30 days after it has come into being and the Party directly affected by the Force Majeure event shall give prompt notice in writing of its existence to the other.
43. If the Force Majeure event does exceed 30 days from the date of the confirmation by The Book Fountain of the order placed by You, then either You or The Book Fountain may give notice in writing to the other, of the intention to cancel the Sale Contract without any liability upon the Party giving the notice. Such a cancellation will only become effective if the Force Majeure event does not end within a further 14 (fourteen) days after the notice of cancellation has been given in writing to the other party.
Your Right to Cancel The Sale Contract
44. If You are buying items through the The Book Fountain Website as an individual consumer (i.e. not through a company or as part of a business) then You have a right at law to cancel the Sale Contract. This right may be exercised by You at any time after The Book Fountain has confirmed Your order as provided at Clause 21 above but must be exercised on or before the close of business on the eighth working day following the actual delivery to You of the items purchased. If the items are delivered to third parties at Your request, the time for cancellation shall remain the same and shall run from the date of actual delivery to the third party concerned.
45. You will have lost the right to cancel the Sale Contract if, having taken delivery of sealed items, You have removed the items from the manufacturer’s sealed wrapping.
46. Please note that for the purposes of a cancellation, You must either mail the notice of cancellation to The Book Fountain at the address set out in Clause 52 below or report it to The Book Fountain whose number is given in Clause 52 below. It is also acceptable for You to hand-deliver the notice of cancellation to the address of The Book Fountain given below.
47. If You exercise Your right to cancel the Sale Contract but cancellation is too late to prevent delivery to You, You must return the items to The Book Fountain at the return address detailed below without damaging any packaging in which the items were received by You. The cost of the returns will be borne by You and You undertake the risk of loss or damage in the course of such return.
48. If You do exercise Your right of cancellation, subject to You complying with Clause 45, above (if applicable), The Book Fountain will reimburse You any sum paid by You, without charge to You, by the crediting of Your credit card with that sum. The crediting to Your account will be effected within thirty days of the date on which You have given Your notice of cancellation.
Feedback
49. If You should have any comment or feeedback about any material appearing on the www.The Book Fountain.com Website or the manner in which The Book Fountain conducts itself in relation to a transaction with You, You may contact The Book Fountain’ Customer Services team in writing either by post to the address in Clause 52 below or by emailing us sales@thebookfountain.co.uk
Jurisdiction and Applicable Law
50. These Terms & Conditions shall be governed and construed in accordance with English law. Both You and The Book Fountain agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts in respect of any dispute arising in respect of these Terms & Conditions.
Notices and Address of The Book Fountain
51. Any Sale Contract made pursuant to these Terms and Conditions are made by You with The Book Fountain.
52. Any notices to be given by You to The Book Fountain as detailed in these Terms and Conditions send to.
Registered Address:
The Book Fountain
Wharton’s Street
Wymondham
Norfolk NR18 0UQ
Telephone: 01953 603663