Delivery Charges

To be able to offer our customers the lowest possible cost for their reptile products we do not offer a free or heavily subsidised delivery service as this cost only has to be added back onto the cost of the items we are selling.

Of course if you are only buying 1 item then it is not a problem to have the cost of shipping included in the cost of the item you are buying but if you are buying 10 items then you will be paying that delivery cost 10 times over.

We do not believe this is a right or fair way to do things so the delivery charge is calculated by the weight and size of the parcel, our customers only pay for what it costs us to send their parcel.

You will find a choice of delivery methods at the checkout page with the current price for each delivery method clearly displayed before you commit to buy.

Shipping - Important things you need to know!

VERY IMPORTANT! DO NOT REFUSE any parcels (or fail to arrange redelivery if you are not in) for any orders sent by courier as we will be charged for the item to be returned to us, usually £15.00 for Parcel Force and £5.00 for Royal Mail Tracked. If we are charged you will be liable and that charge will be deducted from any refund due to you.

If an item is damaged on arrival, accept the package and sign for it as "Damaged" and we will arrange a replacement and a collection of the damaged item

All orders must be received by the cut off time shown on our website for same day despatch. The cut off time for same day dispatch will vary from day to day depending on demand and our current staffing levels.
Below is an example of the cut off time notice:

In the rare case where an item you have ordered is not is stock we will inform you by email of the expected time of delivery and give you the option to cancel part or all of that order if you do not wish to wait.

Guaranteed delivery times are from time of despatch NOT time order was placed

eg if order was placed at 4pm Tuesday it would not be processed and despatched until Wednesday. Also if an item is out of stock it may hold up despatch for a day or two and we will not despatch some Livefood items on a Friday as it will be held in the delivery Depot until Monday

Should you ask for an item to be left unattended eg "Left on a doorstep" if you are not in then this is at your own risk and should that item go missing or perish due to extremes of weather (too hot or too cold) then we will not send a replacement.

Although we will instruct our couriers to leave parcels if requested please be aware that we can not guarantee that they will be left and WILL NOT replace any orders that are delayed and have perished due to not being left when no one is there to receive the goods

We will inform you by email when your order is dispatched and when you may expect delivery. If you have ordered perishable goods you will be liable for any losses if your order is delayed due to there being no one available to accept your order on arrival.

In all cases dispatch is dependant upon us having the items in stock.

If through no fault of our own the courier fails to deliver by the deadline paid for we will refund the difference between that delivery method and the service received, e.g. if you paid for next working day delivery and your parcel did not arrive until after 2 days then we will refund the difference between the "Next Day" option and the "1-2 day" option. If the "Next working day" option is the cheapest option available at the checkout for the goods you have ordered and it is delayed through no fault of our own then there will be no refund for the cost of delivery.

If you are not in and you do not ask for your order to be left then the courier will return the item to the depot. If you do not wish to collect the item from the couriers depot then they will attempt a second delivery free of charge. If you are still not in to accept the item on the second delivery attempt then any further delivery attempts by the courier will incur a £5.00 charge. If you have not arranged re-delivery or collected the parcel within 5 days of the original delivery date then the item will be returned to us by the couriers at your expense, usually £10.00 but will be more for heavier parcels.

Standard Delivery

This will usually be delivered by Royal Mail. Please note if you select this as the delivery method be aware that although Royal Mail endeavour to deliver all 1st class items the next day this is not a guaranteed service and in our experience they achieve around 95% next day with the remaining 5% usually taking from 2 - 4 days to arrive although we have had cases where the delay has been longer.

Should you experience a delay of more than 3 days past the due delivery date (4 DAYS FROM POSTING) then we encourage you to make a claim from Royal Mail for the delay. Click here for the Royal Mail help page

Do not select this method if your order value is over £36.00 as this is the maximum compensation value (should your items become lost or damaged) for items sent by 1st Class post

Royal Mail Tracked 24

This is not a guaranteed next day delivery however the parcel can be tracked throughout its journey and Royal Mail Aim to deliver all tracked 24 parcels within 24 hours of despatch. These parcels will be delivered 6 days per week so unlike the next working day courier option if this is sent Friday in most cases it will be delivered Saturday. The parcel can be tracked throughout its journey. Orders sent with this method have a maximum compensation level of £250 should your items become lost or damaged

Next WORKING DAY

This will be booked on a next working day service with Parcel Force, Royal Mail or TNT and is nearly always delivered next day usually between 8.00am and 3.00pm but could be from 7.00am to 7.00pm

Please note we no longer guarantee next day with this service because although we will always book this as a next working day delivery with our couriers occasionally due to circumstances beyond our control the couriers are unable to deliver next working day.

Working days are Monday to Friday so if your order is placed after 3pm Thursday it will be despatched Friday and delivered the next working day which will be Monday. If we deem the contents to be perishable over the weekend we will not despatch Friday but will despatch Monday for Tuesday delivery.

The parcel can be tracked throughout its journey and is signed for on delivery unless you ask us to leave the parcel if you are not in. Orders sent with this method have a maximum compensation level of the total order value should your items become lost or damaged

Returns

Our Returns Policy is simple:

Within 14 days of receipt of your order, you may return any merchandise (except light bulbs as the filaments in these become fragile after use) purchased from us that is in new condition including the original packaging, for a full refund of the original purchase price of that item.

You may do that by either bringing the item to our office location with a proof of purchase, or by shipping it back to our office location with your details eg. invoice number, order number and date of order.

Please send returns to:

Returns Dept.
Livefood UK.
The Acres, Gills Lane
Rooks Bridge
Somerset, BS26 2TZ.