Stone Computers

Terms and Conditions

1. Definitions and Effect of Conditions

a) The Company means STONE COMPUTERS LTD

b) These conditions shall apply to and be incorporated into every agreement between STONE COMPUTERS LTD and any person, firm or company ("the customer") under which the Company supplies goods or services at the request of the Customer.

c) These conditions shall supercede all earlier conditions of the Company.

d) These conditions shall take precedence over any conditions of the Customer and shall not be varied without the written consent of the Director of the Company.

2. Delivery

a) Any delivery dates quoted whether verbally or otherwise are estimates only and in regard to such date/time shall not be of the essence.

b) Delivery of the goods to the Customer's address or any other place stipulated by him shall constitute delivery and the risk therein shall pass upon such delivery to the Customer.

c) The Company shall be entitled to make partial deliveries by installments and these conditions shall apply to each partial delivery.

d) Products such as whiteboards, plasma/LFD screens and items over 20kg in value will be subject to an additional carriage cost depending on location.

3. Frustration etc. (Force Majeure)

If the Company is prevented at any time from performing any contractual obligation, or if any loss, damage, injury or delay in delivery is occasioned by or due to any cause beyond the Company's control including (but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing expression) the commission of any criminal act shortage of goods, act of war (whether declared or not), civil commotion, accident, strikes or lockouts, Act of God or any restriction imposed by any local municipal government authority (including Customs Authorities) whether British or foreign, the Company shall be entitled forthwith to determine the contract and to be discharged from all liabilities whatsoever to the Customer and the Company shall not be liable for any such loss or damage, injury or delay as aforesaid.

4. Price

a) Unless otherwise stated any prices quoted by the Company are:

(i) Exclusive of value added tax and any other taxes

(ii) Exclusive of carriage, packing and insurance

(iii) Exclusive of any release certificates and the company shall charge extra in respect of the above terms

b) Prices quoted are those current at the time of quotation and the price payable by the Customer shall be that which is current at the time of the delivery to the Customer.

c) Where agreed call offs are not adhered to by the Buyer, the Company reserves the right to amend the price structure in accordance with the quantities delivered.

5. Payment and Refund Policy

a) The price is payable on demand but in any case must be paid no later than 30 days from the date of the invoice.

b) The Company reserves the right to suspend deliveries where payment is not received in accordance with paragraph (a) of this clause or in accordance with any alternative terms of payment agreed in writing.

c) No cash or other discount is allowed unless agreed in writing.

d) If the Company is able to deliver some items comprising the goods the subject of an agreement but unable to deliver such items due to causes beyond it's control (including but not limited to the examples referred to in condition 3 hereof), the Customer shall pay for such items as are delivered.

e) We understand and will exercise our statutory right to Interest, under the Late Payment of Commerical Debts (Interest) Act 1998 if we are not paid according to agreed credit terms.  The late payment interest rate will be the Bank of England base rate +8% and will be charged on a daily basis on amounts due and unpaid after the last day of the credit period.

6. Returns

Returns Policy

The following policy sets out the basis upon which the Company will accept returns from its customers. This will form the basis of wording to be included in our standard terms and conditions of sale and will be strictly applied.

Return of goods for credit

a) A returned material authorisation ("RMA") must first be obtained from the Returns Credit Co-Ordinator in the finance department.

b) Criteria for the issue of an RMA for the return of goods for credit are as follows:

(i) The request for an RMA must be made within 14 days of the date of delivery.

(ii) The request must include the reason for the return, for example if the goods are defective or have been wrongly picked. The buyer has no right to return goods which have been delivered in accordance with the contract.

(iii) At the Company's absolute discretion goods delivered in accordance with the contract may be accepted for return if they are a standard stock item, or if the Company's terms with its supplier allow the relevant goods to be returned. Any restocking charge levied by the Company's supplier will be passed on, together with all related freight charges and an administration fee equal to 10% of the value of the goods or £25 whichever is the higher.

c) The goods must then be returned within 14 days of the issue of the RMA, otherwise the return will be refused and the RMA cancelled. 

d) The RMA number should be clearly displayed on the packaging label.

e) If the customer fails to make the goods available for collection on the return date agreed with the Company, the Company will charge an abortive collection fee.

f) The Company shall not be responsible for the loss in transit of any goods where the customer makes its own arrangements to return the goods.

g) Goods must be returned in the original packaging (which must be in a re-usable condition) and in a clean re-saleable condition (subject only to any defects notified to the Company in accordance with 2 above. Damage to the packaging or damage caused to the goods whilst under the customer's control or custody will be charged.

h) If, upon examination by the Company or the Company's supplier, the returned goods are found not to be defective, the Company reserves the right to return the goods to the customer and charge an administration fee equal to 10% of the value of the goods or £25 whichever is the higher, plus related freight charges.
9. Credits will not be issued until the goods have been received and inspected in accordance with 7 and 8 above.

Return of faulty components and advance replacement components

If a customer call to the Company's customer service department results in the shipping of an advance replacement component ("AdRep") to the customer the following procedure shall apply.

a) A returned material authorisation ("RMA") must be obtained from the Company's customer service department.

b) The RMA will include the reason for the return, ie the component(s) is/are defective.

c) The Company will deliver the AdRep component(s) and will invoice the customer for the value of the component(s). 

d) If the faulty components(s) are not returned the invoice will become payable in full.

e) The defective component(s) must then be returned within 14 days of the issue of the RMA, on receipt of which the Company will issue a credit equal to the amount invoiced for the AdRep component(s). 

f) The RMA number should be clearly displayed on the packaging label.

g) If the customer fails to make the goods available for collection on the return date agreed with the Company, the Company will charge an abortive collection fee.

h) The Company shall not be responsible for the loss in transit of any components where the customer makes its own arrangements to return the goods.

i) If, upon examination by the Company or the Company's supplier, the returned components are found not to be defective, the Company reserves the right to charge an administration fee equal to 10% of the value of the goods or £25 whichever is the higher, plus related freight charges.

7. Evaluation policy

The Company recognises that customers may from time to time require goods for evaluation and that this is an important and valuable sales tool. The following policy sets out the basis upon which the Company will operate with regard to evaluation goods. This policy should be strictly adhered to and extracts will form the basis of wording to be included in our standard terms and conditions of sale.

Internal controls over the evaluation process will include an initial authorisation form identifying the commercial rationale for the issuing of evaluation goods. Additionally, there will be a financial limit over the total value of evaluation goods at any one time, this limit to be set from time to time at an appropriate level by the board. All evaluations will be invoiced on a 28 day sale or return basis and the evaluations sales ledger will be monitored by the accounts department "Returns Credit Co-Ordinator". Evaluation units will be subject to separate testing and sign off by the Product Development Manager prior to despatch to ensure excellence of quality and appearance and will be identified by evaluation packaging and labelling.

External dealings with customers for evaluation goods will be conducted under the following terms and conditions which will be strictly applied.

a) From time to time the Company may supply goods for customer or prospective customer evaluation on a sale or return basis.

b) Such goods for evaluation will be supplied under the following terms and conditions which will be applied strictly by the Company.

c) On receipt of a written customer order for the goods specifically acknowledging these terms and conditions the Company will supply the goods for evaluation purposes.

d) The goods will be supplied in packaging sealed by a label identifying the goods as being for evaluation purposes. The goods should not be accepted by the customer if the seal is broken.

e) The goods will be invoiced on delivery on a 28 day sale or return basis.

f) If the goods are returned on the following basis, they will be credited in full:

(i) A returned material authorisation ("RMA") must first be obtained from the Returns Credit Co-Ordinator in the Finance department within 28 days of the date of delivery.

(ii) The Company's customer service department will require completion of an evaluation questionnaire.

(iii) Goods should be returned within 14 days of the issue of the RMA, otherwise the return will be refused and the RMA cancelled.

(iv) The RMA number should be clearly displayed on the packaging label.

(v) If the customer fails to make the goods available for collection on the return date agreed with the Company, the Company will charge an abortive collection fee.

(vi) The Company shall not be responsible for the loss in transit of any goods where the customer makes its own arrangements to return the goods.

(vii) Goods must be returned in the original packaging (which must be in a re-usable condition) and in a clean re-saleable condition. Damage to the packaging or damage caused to the goods whilst under the customer's control or custody will be charged.

8. Refunds

a) Whereby a purchase has been made using a credit card, a customer can opt to receive a refund as an alternative to credit with Stone Computers in line with the same terms outlined in point 6.

9. Telephoned Orders

The Customer agrees to send the Company a written order confirmation of any telephoned orders duly marked with any confirmation reference given by the Company otherwise the Company cannot accept liability for any duplication of delivery that may occur.

10. Title of Goods

a) Immediately upon delivery the the Customer of any goods agreed to be sold by the Company to the Customer then the Customer shall become the bailee thereof and the Company as bailor thereto shall retain the legal title. Legal title in the goods shall not pass to the Customer unless and until the Customer shall have discharged all its indebtedness to the Company in respect of goods.

b) Notwithstanding the terms of a) above the Customer shall be entitled before discharging its obligations to the Company to resell the goods or any of them. Upon such re-sale and without derogating from the Company's other remedies (including its right to trace) the Customer shall hold the proceeds of sale upon trust for the Company until such time as all the Customers' indebtedness to the Company under any contract sale entered into between them or otherwise shall have been discharged.

11. Drawings etc

All drawings, descriptive weights, dimensions and the descriptions of all illustrations contained in the sales literature and price lists are approximate only and shall not form part of this Agreement. In addition, drawings, technical documents issued either before or after the conclusion of this Agreement for the use of information of the Customer and such other information as may be supplied to the Customer including specifications shall not be copied, reproduced or communicated to any third party without the Company's prior written consent.

12. Loss or Damage in Transit

a) The Company will not be responisble for damage to any of the goods or part thereof in transit unless the Customer gives written notice of a claim to the Company and to the carrier.

(i) In the case of damage within 3 days after having received the goods and

(ii) In case of loss or shortage within 3 days of the date of invoice

b) The Customer will be asked to sign a copy of the Company's or carriers delivery manifest as acknowledgement of receipt of goods. The Customer should inspect the goods carefully, as an unqualified signature shall be deemed to signify the Customer's acceptance that the goods are in good condition.

13. Guarantee

In respect of goods, the subject matter of any warranty or guarantee given by the manufacturers of the same, the Company guarantees to the Customer that such goods will be free from defects cause by faulty materials or poor workmanship for the period of the guarantee or warranty given by the manufacturers. Under this warranty the Company will, at its option, either repair, or give a replacement of equivalent quality or issue credit to the Customer for any goods found to be defective due to faulty maintenance by the Company or poor workmanship provided that:

(i) The Company is notified in writing within 7 days of the Customer first discovering any such defects and in any event during the currency of such manufacturers warranty or guarantee

(ii) The defective goods are returned to the Company at the Customer's expense

(iii) Examination by the Company of such goods, discloses to its satisfaction that such defects exist have not been caused by misuse, neglect, accident, improper storage, installation or handling by repair or alteration not effected by the Company and

(iv) The Customer shall pay to the Company the cost (as certified by the Company) of any examination of such goods as a result of which the company denies liability

14. Exclusion of Liability

a) Except where provided otherwise in these conditions, the Company shall be under no liability of whatever kind howsoever caused whether or not due to the negligence or willful default of the Company or its servants or agents arising out of or in connection with the goods. All conditions, warranties or other terms, whether expressed or implied, statutory or otherwise, are hereby expressly excluded providing that nothing in this paragraph shall exclude or restrict any liability of the Company for death or personal injury resulting from the negligence of the Company or its servants or agents.

b) The Company shall not be liable for the loss or damage to software programs during the repair or upgrade of any goods whether or not the same are under warranty.

c) The Company shall not be liable for any loss or damage sustained or incurred by the Customer or any third party (including without limitiation any loss of use of the maintained products or loss of or spoiling of any of the Customer's programs or data) resulting from any breakdown or fault in the maintained products, unless such breakdown or fault is caused by negligence or wilful misconduct of the Company employees, agents or sub contractors, or to the extent that such loss or damage arises from any negligent delay by the Company in providing the relevant services and then only to the extent not excluded by the agreement. 

d) The Company shall indemnify the Customer and and keep the Customer fully and effectively indemnified against any loss of or damage to any property or injury to or death of any person caused by any negligent act or omission or wilful misconduct of the Company, its employees, agents or sub contractors, or by any breach of its contractual obligations.

e) The Customer shall indemnify the Company and keep the Company fully indemnified against any loss of or damage to any property or injury to or death of any person caused by any negligent act or omission or wilful misconduct of the customer, its employees, agents or sub contractors or by any breach of its contractual obligations.

f) Except in respect of injury to or death of any person, for which no limit applies, the resepctive liability of the Company and the Customer under sub clauses 11 a) - 11 e) in respect of each event or series of connected events shall not exceed the sale price.

g) Notwithstanding anything else contained in the agreement, the Company shall not be liable to the Customer for the loss of profits or contracts or other direct or consequential loss whether arising from negligence, breach of contract or howsoever.

15. Returned Goods and Cancellations

The Customer shall not return goods or cancel orders without the Company's previous consent. Such consent will not be given where the Company, to meet the Customer's requirements has specially purchased goods. If the Company gives such consent, it reserves the right to make a cancellation charge.

16. Copyright, Patents, Trade Marks and Intellectual Property Rights

a) The Customer acknowledges that rights in respect of trademarks, trade names, copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights connected with the goods do not pass to the Customer.

b) The Customer agrees to indemnify the Company against all liabilities, costs and expenses which the Company may incur as a result of work done in accordance with the Customer's specifications which involve infringement of any patent or other proprietary right.

17. Subcontracting

The Company reserves the right to sub contract any part of any work or supply of any goods or services.

18. Construction and Use

The Company shall not be responsible for adapting or modifying any goods to conform to statutory requirements not current at the time of the acceptance of order.

19. Headings

The heading of these conditions are for convenience only and shall have no effect on the interpretation thereof.

20. Termination

The Company shall be entitled by notice in writing to terminate any agreement without prejudice to any claim or right the company may otherwise make or exercise where

(i) The Customer is in breach of any term, condition or provision of this agreement or required by law

(ii) The Customer shall go into liquidation (except for the purpose of reconstruction) or if any petition or resolution to wind up the Customer shall be presented or if a receiver is appointed of the Customer's undertaking property of assets or if a distress shall be levied upon any of the Customer's property or if the Customer shall commit any act of bankruptcy.

21. Jurisdiction

The agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and the Courts of England shall have jurisdiction to hear all disputes arising in connection with the agreement.

22. Recyling Rebate

The Guaranteed Buy-Back Scheme offers the following guaranteed hardware rebates on core items - PCs, Laptops, Monitors, All in Ones. (Both Stone products and branded)

Rebates are subject to normal condition/integrity checks and are based upon when the asset is returned.

Return within                                Buy Back

2 years                                            20%

3 years                                            10%

4 years                                             5%

5 years                                             2.5%