Refunds, cancellations and rescheduling

 

This policy applies to veterinary certification services supplied by EKM Veterinary Group Ltd, trading as The Pet Passport Co. It forms part of our Terms and Conditions. Your statutory consumer rights take priority over this policy.

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1. What your booking covers

 

Our service includes reviewing the information and vaccination evidence you supply, checking certification eligibility, obtaining or reviewing relevant veterinary records, preparing paperwork and arranging and attending your appointment. Where the requirements are met, it also includes completing and issuing your certificate.

Some of this work takes place before the appointment. Payment reserves the agreed service and appointment; it does not establish that your pet is eligible or guarantee that a certificate will be issued. We must exercise reasonable care and skill in providing our service.

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2. Check eligibility before booking

 

Please provide complete and accurate information and evidence, and allow enough time for all requirements to be met before your appointment. Ask us before paying if you are unsure.

For an Animal Health Certificate following a primary rabies vaccination, including a vaccination treated as primary because the previous cover expired, the required waiting period must have elapsed before the certificate is signed. This is normally at least 21 days after completion of the primary course; a longer period may apply under the vaccine manufacturer's instructions. The vaccination date counts as day 0. A qualifying in-date booster does not normally require a fresh waiting period.

The appointment itself must fall on or after the earliest eligible certification date. It is not enough for the waiting period to end by your travel date. For example, with a standard 21-day waiting period, vaccination on 3 September permits certification from 24 September, not 23 September.

We also need satisfactory evidence of identification, vaccination and the other requirements applicable to your journey. An Official Veterinarian cannot issue a certificate before those requirements are met. We will tell you promptly when our review identifies a problem.

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3. Your cancellation rights for online and telephone bookings

 

You may cancel an online or telephone service booking without giving a reason during the statutory cancellation period. This normally ends 14 days after the day the contract was made. Any longer period provided by law still applies.

If you want preparation or your appointment to begin during that period, we will ask you expressly to request an early start. If you cancel after work has begun at your request, we may deduct only a proportionate amount for services supplied before you told us you were cancelling, provided we gave you the required cancellation and payment information. We will explain the deduction.

If we have not started work, we will refund your payment in full. We will not charge for work during this period where the law prevents us doing so, including where the required express request or cancellation information was missing. We do not add a cancellation penalty or charge for the unused appointment slot when you exercise this statutory right.

You lose this statutory right to cancel only once the whole service has been fully performed, and only if you expressly requested the early start and acknowledged beforehand that full performance would end that right. Beginning a review, allocating a certificate number or drafting paperwork does not by itself complete the whole service.

For cancellations before the appointment, any deduction for review and preparation is capped at £50 per booking and must be lower if the proportionate value of the work supplied is lower. This cap is included within your total price, not added to it. Where an appointment or other agreed service has also been supplied, its proportionate value may also be payable, subject to the total agreed price and your statutory rights.

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4. Cancellations outside the statutory cancellation period

 

The following applies only where you are not exercising a statutory cancellation right and we have not failed to meet our obligations.

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At least 48 hours before your appointment: we refund your payment less a reasonable deduction for review and preparation already carried out, capped at £50 per booking. If no such work has been carried out, we refund in full.

Less than 48 hours before your appointment, or a missed appointment: we may retain an amount reflecting work supplied and reasonable direct losses resulting from the cancellation, up to the total booking price. This can include unavoidable attendance or travel costs and loss from an appointment we cannot refill. The full price is not automatically forfeited.

We deduct costs we save and account for a replacement booking that reduces the loss. We take reasonable steps to reduce losses and do not charge twice for the same work or loss. We provide a breakdown of any deduction. Travel charges are refunded except to the extent that a lawful deduction reflects travel already supplied or unavoidable travel costs actually incurred.

A missed appointment includes not attending the agreed collection point, being unavailable for a home visit or failing to have your pet present. It does not remove statutory cancellation rights or rights arising from a failure by us.

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5. Rescheduling

 

With at least 24 hours' notice, we normally move the appointment without a rescheduling fee, subject to availability and the new date meeting certification requirements. Your payment transfers to the replacement appointment.

If your request changes the service, location or work required, we will explain any price difference and obtain your agreement before charging it. Where less than 24 hours' notice is given, any charge for the original appointment follows section 4, subject to section 3. We will explain the amount credited to your replacement booking so that the same work is not charged twice.

You do not have to accept credit or rescheduling instead of a refund to which you are entitled.

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6. Where certification cannot proceed

 

Certification may have to be postponed or declined if a waiting period has not elapsed, identification or vaccination evidence is insufficient, required documentation is missing, or your pet otherwise does not meet the relevant requirements.

Where this results from your pet's circumstances or information you supplied, we may retain only the amounts permitted by sections 3 and 4. A finding of ineligibility does not automatically make the whole price non-refundable. We refund the balance and explain any deduction. Where practical, we will offer a suitable alternative appointment.

Where the problem results from our error, incorrect advice or failure to provide the service with reasonable care and skill, your rights against us remain fully protected.

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7. Urgent and emergency bookings

 

Any urgent or emergency price is shown before payment. It reflects the agreed accelerated service and additional work or availability required. The same cancellation rules apply, including the 14-day statutory rights where applicable. An urgent or emergency label does not itself make a booking non-refundable. We will explain any permitted deduction by reference to services supplied or losses recoverable under this policy.

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8. Completed services and issued certificates

 

Once the agreed service has been properly completed, we do not offer a discretionary refund simply because you change your plans or no longer need the certificate. This does not exclude any statutory cancellation right that remains available, or your rights where our service was not supplied correctly. An unused certificate is not automatically evidence that the service was defective.

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9. If we cancel or make an error

 

If we cannot provide your booking for a reason attributable to us, you may accept a suitable alternative or cancel for a full refund of that booking. We will not deduct preparation costs in that situation.

If we make an error, contact us promptly so we can put it right. Nothing here restricts rights to repeat performance, a price reduction, refund or other remedy available under consumer law. We do not require you to accept a correction that would remove rights you have in the circumstances.

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10. How to cancel and receive your refund

 

Email info@thepetpassportco.co.uk, call 01424 587652, or write to EKM Veterinary Group Ltd, The Pet Passport Co., 100 Menzies Road, Hastings, Saint Leonards-on-sea, TN38 9BB. You can also use another clear statement or any cancellation facility we provide. Please give your name and enough details to identify the booking. You do not need our acknowledgement for a valid statutory cancellation to take effect.

For statutory cancellation, send your notice before the deadline. For our appointment notice periods, we use the time your cancellation or rescheduling message is sent to one of the contact methods above, or the time you notify us by telephone. Appointment times and notice periods use UK local time.

We will refund amounts due without undue delay and within 14 days after you notify us of cancellation. We use the original payment method unless you expressly agree otherwise, and we do not charge a refund-processing fee. Any deduction will be explained in writing. Contact the same email address if you dispute it.

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Optional cancellation form

 

You may use this form, but do not have to.

To: EKM Veterinary Group Ltd, trading as The Pet Passport Co., 100 Menzies Road, Hastings, Saint Leonards-on-sea, TN38 9BB; info@thepetpassportco.co.uk.

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I/We give notice that I/we cancel my/our contract for the following service:

• Service and booking reference:

• Date ordered:

• Appointment date:

• Consumer name(s):

• Consumer address:

• Signature (only if sending this form on paper):

• Date: