Terms & Conditions

We reserve the right to refuse anyone a tortoise. We do not take the decision lightly and it will always be in the tortoise's best interest.

By accepting these terms and conditions you are confirming that your are over 16 and are legally liable for any animal under your care

Please double check all category notices for the products you are purchasing, by accepting these terms and conditions, you are agreeing to wait the allotted timescale.

Prices

The prices advertised on our website and any other literature are correct at the time of publishing but are subject to change. If any price change occurs before or after you have placed an order with us you will still only pay the price applicable to when the order was initially placed, and not therefore be expected to pay the altered increased or decreased amount.
All of our prices advertised include VAT at the standard rate.

If we do not have the product (or tortoise) you require in stock and cannot obtain it for you within a reasonable time frame then there will be prior notice of this in the product or category description.  A similar product (or tortoise) may be offered to you. It is your right to accept or decline this offer. No monies will be taken from your chosen credit or debit card until we have contacted you and you are entirely satisfied with the choice of your product (or tortoise).

Deposits

Please note any purchase of a deposit gains you a voucher to use against a tortoise or package. This deposit/voucher is non-refundable and only redeemable on the categories Tortoises for Sale and Tortoise Packages.

Delivery charges & delivery procedure

On receipt of any Tortoise order we will contact you via email to arrange the collection or delivery (usually within 1 week of receiving your order). Please ensure a valid email address is included on your order. It is important to check your spam after ordering, as our emails can sometimes end up in the Spam folder. This is easily avoided by adding info@thetortoiseshop.com to your contacts.

Collection
You may come and collect the tortoise from our office address within our opening hours (contact us page). An appointment must be made with ourselves beforehand either by phone or email.

Tortoise Delivery

The tortoise and any housing ordered will be delivered by Walkers Transport. Walkers collect the livestock from our premises on a Wednesday and will deliver to you on the Thursday. Please be aware that the delivery is an all day call (please bear in mind that we have had deliveries take place as early as 4am and as late as 11pm).

By purchasing a tortoise and booking a delivery, you agree to be at the delivery address all day (a friend or family member must be present if you need to "pop out"). Delivery addresses can be changed or amended before booking, if there is no way of being at the original address all day. As this delivery can take place outside of working hours, we will not deliver to a work address.

The delivery date must be arranged with us before 10:30am on a Tuesday in order to receive a delivery within the same week. We will never send a tortoise without speaking to you, the customer, beforehand to arrange the delivery.

Please be aware that delivery slots can fill up and become unavailable, so leaving delivery bookings until the week of preferred delivery is not always the best option.

The delivery fee is paid up front and will show on your invoice.
All delivery costs are also inclusive of VAT at the standard rate.

Live animals are packed and transported in accordance with UK laws, and approved by our environmental health's pet shop licensing body. 
We can NOT deliver livestock to Northern Ireland.
No livestock orders will be taken from customers outside of the UK. 

You are responsible for providing us with the correct delivery address. Walkers' booking system is filled out manually from the invoice produced after you fill out your order form and complete your purchase. You must check for discrepancies prior to booking a delivery date, otherwise it may be missed by ourselves.

Delivery to England and Wales is £55.00, and delivery to Scotland* is £60.00.

*Deliveries involving UK Postcodes beginning with AB, DD, IV, KY, PA and PH may incur additional delivery fees, these will be added at the checkout. These postcodes may take 48 hours to deliver, with some tortoises arriving on a Friday, following booking a Thursday delivery date. If you are in any of these postcodes, please ensure you are available for both days.

In adverse weather conditions, we may cancel your delivery until such time that it is safe for the tortoise to travel (we will always try to notify you of this decision right away).

We cannot deliver tortoises to the following UK Postcodes;

All BT, IM, KW, ZE and HS

IV20-IV28

IV40-IV99

PA20-PA49

PH30-PH50

PO30-PO41

Over the Winter period, deliveries can be cancelled at any time in any part of the country due to bad/extreme weather.

We will not book Scotland postcodes for the last delivery date of the year (Scottish postcodes will need to book the week/s before Thursday 16th December)

Non Tortoise deliveries

For items delivered by Royal Mail please allow up to 14 working days for delivery.

For items such as Indoor housing & outdoor housing the delivery charge is £10.95 *

This fee is on a two parcel basis, if you order multiple housing, you may be charged additional delivery fees.
(These items are not included within the free delivery over £25.00 offer)

We aim to dispatch housing and large items within 2-3 working days
(These items are not included within the free delivery over £25.00 offer)

Due to recent cuts within the company, we are now having to take the post (Royal Mail) to the nearest post office personally, on foot. This means that where we could normally put 1 or 2 postal items into a sack and have them picked up on our daily collection, we are now going to wait until we have filled a sack or the end of the week before making the trip. Postal orders may only be taken to the post office once a week, Friday.  During busy periods, we will take post to the post office on a daily basis, if need be.

Delivery Offers

Free delivery on orders over £25 is now capped at 25kg for bedding orders. Please check the weights in the description prior to placing your order, orders over 25kg will incur a £4.99 delivery fee for each additional box used. You will be notified of how many boxes used before receiving your delivery invoice.

Free delivery on orders over £25.00 does not include the following:

• Tortoises
• Outdoor Housing
• Tortoise Tables
• Tortoise Packages
  

Deliveries to the following: Scottish Highlands, Channel Isles, Isle of Man, Isle of Scilly, Isle of Wight, Outer Hebrides, Shetland Isles, Orkney Isle, Northern Ireland, Aberdeenshire.
*Please contact us on info@thetortoiseshop.com for delivery costs

Safe Place

When choosing a safe place, please ensure it is easy to find, enclosed and not a bin. Orders will not be left on front doorsteps, in back gardens or in your blue bin, even upon request. This is how items go missing. Postal items will be left at your postie's discretion, but courier items will not be left without our confirmation. If you are not home and have not left a suitable safe place, a card will be left and it will be your responsibility to contact the depot to arrange redelivery or depot collection.

Missed Delivery

Items returned to sender, for any reason, are refunded minus the postal fee. This will either be the fee you paid at the checkout or the fee we paid for your "free delivery" to be re-delivered to us. Please track your orders via the APC Overnight email received on day of shipping, to avoid missed parcels. If you notice your order is coming back to us and reach out to us before it arrives, to arrange re-delivery, re-delivery will be invoiced at £6.25.

Bank Holidays and Christmas

Items will not be shipped over the weekend, Bank Holiday Mondays or any additional Bank Holiday.

Items will not be dispatched between Christmas and New Year. There will always be a blog available in December to highlight final delivery dates and New Year start-up dates.

Guarantees, Refunds and Returns

We will send the goods ordered by you, the customer, to the address you supply. You are expected to receive the goods so that they do not deteriorate. Loss or damage caused by a delay that you are responsible for will be at your risk and cost. We also accept that you will receive the goods as arranged and not break the trust we place in you by failing to make arrangements.

Important: please check for any loss or damage on arrival in the presence of the delivery driver.

Anything found to be unsatisfactory on arrival, must be stated clearly, & signed for, on the driver's delivery notes. This should then be reported back to us ASAP. Exchanges or credit notes can then be issued. 

All livestock is guaranteed to reach you alive and in good health.

We guarantee our tortoises against death from any disease or illness within the first 2 months of your (the customer) ownership, providing you have cared for the animal appropriately with regard to its environment, food & water requirements.

If you are unfortunate enough to have a tortoise die within 2 months of purchase then we will replace the tortoise free of charge (delivery fee chargeable) providing you have a written veterinary report explaining the cause of death and proof that it was kept and cared for in an appropriate manner.

The 14 day cooling off period.

In accordance with the distance selling law you have a 14 day cooling off period in which you have the right to cancel your purchase and receive a refund for the products excluding any postage or delivery costs. We will refund the payment back to your chosen payment method within 30 days of cancellation. The goods must be returned to us in the same condition as you received them, the return address is as below.

This does not include deposits or housing that has been in contact with a tortoise.

Please be aware we will not refund your return postage costs. Return cost of a tortoise is charged at the delivery fee for your area. Return cost of a bulky item is at your own discretion. If we collect the bulky item a return charge of £15 will be deducted from the product product refund. Items returned by our own courier in a "return to sender" manor, for any reason, will have the return delivery fee deducted from their product refund.

Should you wish to cancel your purchase within the 14 day cooling off period please contact us on info@thetortoiseshop.com with your name, address and order number.

Where there are 'extreme' delays, you are free to request a cancellation and full refund at any time, prior to delivery. Where we feel you have been kept waiting too long (tortoises excluded) and the timescale is unknown, we may make the decision to cancel your order. If this happens, we will notify you by email. 

Returns Policy

In the event of a product being damaged or faulty on arrival, we can refund the cost of return postage up to a maximum of £2:85 for a small parcel and £4:35 for a medium parcel (products MUST have been delivered via APC to qualify as a medium parcel return).

In the event a bulky item arrives with a fault, it must be reported on the day of arrival. Date of reporting must match up with courier tracking. We can refund return courier costs up to a maximum of £15

Products must be returned to us before any refunds or replacements can be authorised. All products will be tested upon return.

Returns are processed and handled typically within 2 working days, but may take longer if further testing is needed to confirm the presence of a fault.

NB. None of the above terms and conditions affect your statutory rights.

We can be contacted via email to info@thetortoiseshop.com, by phone on 01482 22 22 14, or via letter to our head office:

The Tortoise Shop

Upper Floor

Bell and Higgins Timber & DIY

Hull

HU3 6UL

*We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions at any time.*