Terms & Conditions

General

References to ‘we,’ our’ and ‘us’ refers to Distinctive Lighting; references to ‘you’ and ‘your‘ are reference to the party which is the buyer from us. All goods supplied by us are supplied on the following terms and conditions and no variation hereof or term inconsistent herewith shall have effect unless such variation or term is expressly accepted by us in writing under the hand of a Director or employee expressly authorised by us to do so.

 

Orders

All orders are preferred to be on an official purchase order and clearly signed. Verbal orders will not be accepted. Where orders are placed by a text-based e-mail, the risk is upon you for the accuracy and validity. All orders will have a Distinctive Sales Order confirmation sent to you for checking. It is your responsibility to check this and advise if any errors or omissions have been made within 2 hours of mailing. If later an order is found to be incorrect after shipping, then we are not responsible for the consequential costs.

 

Quotation & Acceptance

Unless previously withdrawn or otherwise specified by us in writing, our quotations are valid for 30 days from the date on which they are tendered. Where orders are placed by you with no previous quotation by us, then no order is binding upon us until we have either accepted the order in writing or commenced performance of the order.

 

Prices

We reserve the right to vary our prices without notice and unless otherwise expressly specified in quotation, goods are supplied at the price ruling at the date of delivery. ALL prices are exclusive of UK Value Added Tax, unless expressly indicated in writing to the contrary.

These prices are not applicable in Northern Ireland (NI) and Southern Ireland ( IRE ) due to additional shipping and duty costs from the UK mainland.

 

Payment

  1. Pro-forma invoices/accounts are to be paid in full prior to acceptance of order including carriage and VAT where applicable.
  2. Subject to approved credit checks, a monthly credit account with a Credit Limit, may be opened by us for you. Payment shall be due 30 days EOM or no later than the end of the month following the month in which despatch of the goods is made to you or your carrier or agent, as long as Credit Limit not exceeded. Prompt payment is required to ensure continuation of a credit account. We reserve the right to charge interest at a rate exceeding 2% per calendar month from the date of invoice for late payments.
  3. For approved account holders only, 1% settlement. Discount may be taken if payment in full is made within 7 days from date of invoice. Where a deduction has been taken outside of 7 days, the deducted sum will remain on your account to be settled in full. We reserve the right to change or withdraw this settlement Discount option at any time.
  4. We also reserve the right to apply a minimum invoice charge of £25.00 nett excluding carriage and VAT.

 

Delivery / Carriage

  1. Carriage will be charged on ALL orders for third party or consumer / private addresses, regardless of value at a minimum rate of £17.50 per shipment, subject to size and destination.
  2. Unless you have signed up to any special agreements to the contrary, carriage is charged (£16.00 + VAT as of 01.08.2022 but we reserve the right to change at any time) on all orders to your UK mainland business addresses only, that have a nett value of £225 or less excluding VAT. Shipments to UK offshore such as Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands etc, as well as the Scottish Highlands have additional surcharges subject to order size and service requested. Carriage may also be charged on all orders where a Next Day delivery service, AM or Saturday delivery is required regardless of value, at cost based on details.
  3. Additional Carriage from £27.50 ex. VAT is charged on all oversize fittings. Full list of rates is available on request and current products subject to this charge are denoted on the price list.
  4. Should a fitting require a wooden crate to be made for special shipping requirements these will be quoted for in advance and will be charged at production cost plus 10%.
  5. In all cases dates quoted by us for delivery are indicative only and subject to confirmation by us at the time your order is placed. We accept no consequential costs for late deliveries.

 

Permissions and Territory

  1. We operate sales of a number of brands and not all of these may be available to you. Please refer to you Sales Representative for clarification.
  2. All trade clients are requested to sign a trading agreement prior to opening of a trade account. New accounts will not be opened until this paperwork is signed and approved. At this stage permissions and restrictions will be made clear relating to this specific agreement.
  3.  If you are selling online, then specific Internet Guidelines must be met, as found in our image agreement. This will be provided on application of opening an account or when starting to do this activity in the case of an existing client.
  4. All internet sellers are restricted to sales territory only being granted into the UK and EEA only and explicitly not elsewhere without our prior approval in writing signed by an Distinctive Lighting Director in advance. No third-party arrangements are acceptable, unless by prior written agreement.
  5. Strictly no permission is granted to any online sellers to use our offline brand Distinctive Lighting, including any attempt to utilise SEO, code numbers or names in an attempt to purport you as a reseller of these brands. Failure to abide by these rules could put your supply and account status at risk.

 

Passing Of Title And Risk 

  1. From the time of delivery, the goods shall be at your risk, and you shall be solely responsible for their custody and maintenance as if you were the owner. However, unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing, the goods shall remain our property until all payment due under the contract between you and us has been made in full and unconditionally or, until resale of the goods by you bona fide in the ordinary course of your business and at normal market price and you shall sell as principal only. Whilst our ownership continues, you shall keep the goods separate and identifiable as our bailee from all other goods in your possession.
  2. You hereby irrevocably give to us the right to enter your premises and repossess any goods to facilitate repayment of any outstanding debts owed to us by you
  3. In the event of any resale by you of the goods, our beneficial entitlement shall attach to the proceeds of sale or other disposition thereof so that such proceeds or any claim shall be assigned to us and, until and subject to such assignment shall be held on trust for us by you, and you will stand in a strictly fiduciary capacity in respect thereof but you may retain the excess (if any) of such proceeds over the amount outstanding under the contract between you and us.
  4. Goods for delivery outside the United Kingdom are sold on Ex Works terms and property and risk shall pass to you when goods are handed to your carrier.

 

Tests

Any inspection or tests which you require to be made or carried out in respect of the goods shall be at our works or, in the case of goods not of our manufacture, at such other place as may be specified by us. All fees incurred in connection with such inspection or testing (by such bodies as Lloyds Bureau, Veritas, British Corporation, etc.) will be charged extra.

 

Special Finishes

By special order some products can be ordered in non-standard finishes. This will incur a minimum surcharge of 25% over the black or standard finish price. Special products/colours cannot be returned and are often hand painted so subject to some variation.

 

Variations

  1. Due to the hand-made nature of many of our products, there may be slight fluctuations in size, colour or design. We also reserve the right to alter our designs without prior notice.
  2. We reserve the right to despatch and invoice pro-rata at the quoted terms of payment any part of an order when available.

 

Claims – Notification of Damage or Loss

In case of alleged shortage or damage you must submit a written claim to us and to the carriers within 3 days of receipt. Claims made outside this time limit will not be valid. Non-delivery of goods must be advised within 7 days from the receipt of invoice. In the event of damaged packages, the drivers receipt should be endorsed “Received Damaged”, or the goods should not be accepted. Delivery notes signed ‘unexamined’ are not sufficient to uphold a claim.

 

Returns

  1. Goods ordered by any client and supplied correctly by the Company will not normally be accepted for return. In such cases where the Company is in agreement to accept goods to be returned, a restocking charge, subject to the condition of the returned goods, will be deducted at a standard rate of 30% or £20.00, whichever is the greater, (unless you have signed up to a special agreement to the contrary). Please note that Returns will not be accepted for any purchase that was delivered more than 3 months ago. In the event of any item being returned as faulty, the Company reserves the right to repair or replace the item at their discretion.
  2. Credit notes will be issued in respect of approved returns after and restocking and carriage is deducted. Credit notes are ONLY for use against future purchases and are not cash refundable.
  3. Special products/colours will not be accepted for return and are purchased under this condition.
  4. Where faulty products are found, the company reserves the right to repair or offer replacement parts to solve a faulty item. The company will not make any commitment to a credit being issued until the products are in our hands and can be evaluated. Returns that have occurred due to faults and damage unrelated to the product but caused by misuse etc, will not be accepted nor refunded.

 

Recommendations, Illustrations, Specifications Etc

Recommendations regarding the use of goods supplied by us are based on tests and experience and are considered to be reliable. However, since the conditions under which such goods are used and to which they may subsequently be subjected when in service are beyond our control, we do not guarantee except as specified in Condition 15 hereof, the results obtained. Nor can we guarantee the accuracy of any specifications, illustrations, drawings or other particulars of our goods combined in any of our catalogues, price lists, advertisements or any other publication issued by us.

 

Warranties and Conditions

Nothing in this clause shall affect any statutory rights which you may have. Nothing in these Conditions shall exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence. No warranty, guarantee or condition express or implied (by common law statute or otherwise) as to quality or fitness for any purpose shall apply to any sale of our goods and we shall not be liable for any consequential loss or damage of any description, (including loss of profit) whether caused by the negligence of our servants or agents or otherwise. We will at our option make good or replace at our works without charge to you any goods which are in our opinion defective, provided that any claim is made to us in writing within fourteen days after Discovery of the defect and in any event within six months after delivery of the goods to you and, on our request, the goods must be forwarded, in the same condition as delivered, carriage paid, to our works. We undertake no responsibility for defective material after the same has been cut or manipulated.

In the case of orders for delivery of goods by instalment, each instalment shall be deemed to be sold under a separate contract and payment for each instalment is to be made on the due date as a Condition Precedent to future deliveries.

 

English Law

English Law shall apply to all orders quotations and contracts and any disputes shall be settled in the English Courts.

 

(August 2022)