Right of withdrawal

01The fourteen days

Because you bought at a distance — a website, no shop to walk into — EU consumer law gives you 14 days to withdraw from the contract without giving any reason. It is a right, not a concession, and nothing on this site can reduce it.

The clock starts on the day you, or somebody you named, physically take possession of the goods — not the day you ordered, and not the day of dispatch. Where an order arrives split across several parcels, it starts on the day the last of them reaches you.

You must send your decision within those 14 days. Sending the goods themselves can come afterwards; it is the notice that has to be inside the window.

02Telling us

Any clear statement will do, and no particular form of words is required. What matters is that it is unambiguous — "I withdraw from my order" is a withdrawal; "is it possible to send this back?" is a question.

• By email, the quickest and the one that leaves you a record: write to info@thalastbay.com with the subject "Withdrawal", giving your name, the delivery address, the order reference or the phone number you ordered with, and what you are sending back.
• By post, to Huanbin Lin, Room 505, 5th floor, Beverley Commercial Centre, 87-105 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Keep proof of posting; the date it was sent is the date that counts.
• With the model form below, if you would rather fill something in than compose a letter. You are not obliged to use it.

We acknowledge every withdrawal in writing as soon as it lands, so you have our confirmation as well as your own record. If nothing comes back within two working days, assume it went astray and write again.

03Model withdrawal form

Copy this into an email, or print it and put it in the parcel. Fill in only the lines that apply.

04Sending the goods back

Once you have told us, send the goods without undue delay and in any case within 14 days of the notice. We reply to every withdrawal with the return address for your country; wait for it rather than guessing, because a parcel sent to the wrong warehouse takes weeks to resurface.

Pack the item as it came: the original box where you still have it, with the accessories, the manual and anything else that was in it. Use a service with a tracking number and keep the receipt — until the parcel reaches us, that receipt is the only proof it is on its way.

05Who pays for the return journey

You do, when you are withdrawing because you changed your mind. The law puts the direct cost of returning the goods on the consumer where the trader has said so in advance, and this is us saying so in advance. What it costs depends on the size of the item and the country you are sending it from; for a bulky machine it can be a meaningful sum, so it is worth getting a quote before you commit.

We do, and you are out of pocket by nothing, if the item was faulty, damaged in transit or simply not what you ordered. That is not withdrawal at all but a different claim, and it is dealt with on the returns and refunds page.

06Handling the goods in the meantime

You are entitled to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of what you bought — the same handling you would give it in a shop. Open the box, look at the tool, put a battery in it and see that it turns.

Beyond that, the law makes you liable for any diminished value that comes from handling that went further. A drill that has drilled, a saw with resin on the blade, a mower that has been across a lawn: these come back worth less than they went out, and we may deduct that loss from the refund. Where we do, we tell you the amount and why before the money is sent, not afterwards.

07How the refund is made, and when

We refund every payment we received from you within 14 days of the day your withdrawal reaches us. In practice that is the price of the goods: you were charged nothing for the outward delivery, so there is no delivery cost to give back.

One qualification the law allows and we use: we may hold the refund until the goods are back with us, or until you show proof that you have sent them, whichever happens first. Send the tracking number with the notice and this costs you nothing in time.

Because you paid the driver in cash, there is no card to credit. We write to you for the bank details of an account in your own name and transfer the money there; nothing else about that account is kept once the refund has cleared. You are charged no fee for the refund itself.

The rule elsewhere, that a customer who paid for a faster delivery gets back only the standard cost, cannot arise here: there is one way for a parcel to travel, and it is free.

08Where the right does not apply

The exceptions in the Consumer Rights Directive are narrow, and most of them have nothing to do with tools. The two that could come up here:

• Goods made to your specification or clearly personalised for you — a cut-to-length item, an engraving.
• Sealed goods unsealed after delivery where returning them is not acceptable for health or hygiene reasons — a respirator mask or a mouthpiece, for instance.

Everything else in the range is returnable. If an item on a product page is outside the right, the page itself says so before you order; we do not spring it on you afterwards.

09And after the fourteen days

The right is spent, and a change of mind is no longer something we can take goods back for. Only the notice has to fall inside the window, though: tell us on the fourteenth day and the parcel may follow afterwards, within the fourteen days you then have to send it.

That is the withdrawal right alone. Every product also carries the 24-month legal guarantee of conformity, and a fault that appears months after delivery is not a withdrawal but a guarantee claim — returns and refunds explains how one is handled, and there is no time limit of days on it.

10Who you are dealing with

Withdrawals are handled by the seller: WHATECH MOBILE CO., LIMITED, Huanbin Lin, Room 505, 5th floor, Beverley Commercial Centre, 87-105 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong, at info@thalastbay.com, open every day, 08:00–20:00 Central European Time, answering within 2 working days.