CONSUMER TERMS & CONDITIONS OF SALE

Last updated on 11 July, 2023.

Read our previous Terms & Conditions applicable before 28 June 2023 Here.

These terms and conditions apply to all wines, spirits or other goods or services supplied by Ditton Wine & Spirits (“we” or “us”) to you (“the Customer” or “you”) whether through our website (www.dittonwineandspirits.com). By placing an order with us you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions.

This is a retail website; we do not facilitate online sales to the trade. If you are a trade customer, please note that separate Trade Terms will apply. Please contact us  to place an order.

1. Ordering and Confirmations
   1. You must be at least 18 years old to place an order with us. If you live in a country, state, province or territory where the legal age to consume alcohol is higher than 18, you must meet the higher age requirement that applies where you live.
   2. The placing of an order with us does not constitute a contract, which is made only when we accept your order and successfully process payment, at which time we will email you confirming your payment has been successful and your order has been successfully made. It is at this point that the contract between you and us for the sale and purchase of the products ordered by you will be formed and becomes binding.
   3. In some cases, when placing an order on our website, it is not possible to complete your purchase on checkout. This may be because the product is (temporarily) unavailable, or it may be because our automated system does not support delivery to your country. If this is the case, please get in touch – we may be able to process the sale off-site.
   4. For safety reasons our maximum order value is £10,000 (including all applicable duties, taxes and delivery costs). If your purchase exceeds this amount, you will not be able to complete check out but do please get in touch – we may be able to process the sale off-site.
   5. We reserve the right not to accept any order, at any point up until the goods are dispatched without giving any reason. If we are unable to accept your order, we will inform you of this and will not charge you for the goods.
   6. We go to great lengths to ensure that everything advertised on our website and product catalogue is available to order. However, due to the scarcity of many of our products, we may from time to time go out of stock. All goods are therefore offered subject to availability at the time of picking your order. In the event that a product is unavailable after you place your order, we shall contact you to arrange a replacement or offer another arrangement for the completion of your order which will be entirely at our discretion.
2. Pricing and Duty/VAT
   1. All prices listed on this site are in British Pound Sterling (£).
   2. The vast majority of our products are under bond, meaning that UK excise duty and VAT have not been paid. This allows us to list two prices on our website. The first one is our price exclusive of UK excise duty and VAT. The second price is inclusive of UK excise duty and VAT.
   3. The price that applies to your order is determined when you decide where your order will be shipped to. For website orders, this is calculated at checkout. In addition to delivery charges, the charges that we apply to each delivery location are as follows:
      1. UK bonded warehouse: no duty, no VAT (unless your purchase is already duty paid, in which case VAT does apply)
      2. UK home address: duty and VAT both apply
      3. EU address: sadly, we no longer sell to the EU
      4. USA: duty applies but no VAT (this works out the most economical for you)
      5. Rest of the world: no duty, no VAT (unless it is more economical for you if we don’t ship duty suspended – we will apply the cheapest option)
   4. Please make sure to familiarise yourself with thecurrent excise duty rates. These can be found at UK Trade Tariff: excise duties, reliefs, drawbacks and allowances – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
   5. If your delivery address is outside of the UK, other than those that we will apply to your order in accordance with clause 2.3 above, import duties, tariffs and taxes may be incurred once your products reach their destination. Ditton Wine & Spirits are not able to pay these charges on your behalf and these are your responsibility. While we are not able to make calculations or estimates in this regard, your local customs office will be able to provide further information. We recognise that if you are buying internationally the process can be complex and therefore we will be on hand to guide you with advice and support if required.
   6. As the purchaser of the products, it is your responsibility that your purchase is in full compliance with the laws of the country into which the products are being imported.
   7. Please be aware that products may be inspected on arrival at port for customs purposes and we cannot guarantee that the packaging of your products will be free of signs of tampering. 
   8. Although we do our very best to ensure that all pricing information on our website is accurate, occasionally an error may occur and goods may be mispriced. If we discover a pricing error we will, at our discretion, either: contact you and ask you whether you wish to cancel your order or continue with the order at the correct price; or notify you that we have cancelled your order. We will not be obliged to supply goods at the incorrect price.
3. Payment
   1. Payment can be made by Credit or Debit card. We accept Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and JCB. Cards are accepted without surcharge. We only accept payment in British Pound Sterling (£).
   2. Payment can also be made by bank transfer, Alipay and WeChat Pay, by arrangement. In these cases, you will not be able to use the website checkout, but please get in touch if that is how you wish to pay.
   3. If your card payment is at checkout, please be aware that this is entirely a decision by your bank. It is your responsibility to contact them to resolve any outstanding issues you may have.
   4. We always conduct security checks on cards used in the interests of protecting you and us against fraud. In some instances, you may be asked to provide us with additional information. We reserve the right to refuse your order and refund you should payment already have been taken.
   5. The use of stolen credit cards will result in international police notification in all cases.
   6. We reserve the right to withhold any products you have ordered for non-payment of any invoice (and for the avoidance of doubt this may include an invoice for other products or services). We may refuse to release any products to you until such time as you have made payment for your order in full.
4. Ownership
   1. We shall retain title to all goods sold by us until all the sums due from you in respect of any order have been paid.
   2. Title to the goods shall not pass to you until we receive payment in full (in cash or cleared funds) for those goods and any other goods that we have supplied to you in respect of which payment has become due.
   3. You will obtain the title to the products and risk from the point at which we deliver the goods to the address you gave us.
5. Delivery
   1. We use independent couriers to fulfil our deliveries. We charge delivery at cost. 
   2. In the event that there are significant and sudden changes in the rates that our couriers charge that come into effect after you have placed your order but before it is shipped (that are beyond our control), we will contact you and offer you the choice of cancellation or alternative means of transport/storage.
   3. All delivery dates and times, where given, are only estimates. We will endeavour to get your order to you within the estimated delivery time and in any event within a reasonable period of accepting your order. If we are prevented from delivering within the agreed timescales due to events outside of our reasonable control, clause 9 will apply.
   4. Our couriers will only attempt to deliver items twice after which they may be returned to us if you do not respond to their communications. In this instance or if items are returned to us due to an incorrect or incomplete delivery address given by you, we reserve the right to pass on the cost of redelivery.
   5. Our couriers may require you to provide photo identification or a signature on delivery in order to verify that you are the legal age for consuming alcohol in your country/state/province/territory.
   6. Worldwide customers especially in the USA please note that your local customs departments sometimes hold parcels for inspection.  This is totally out of our control so extra delivery time must sometimes be allowed if this does happen. 
   7. As outlined at clause 2.5 above, your order may be subject to local taxes and customs duties upon arrival into your country. We are unable to pay these on your behalf and therefore any additional charges of this nature are your responsibility. Your local customs office will be able to assist you with further information, and we will be on hand to guide you with advice and support if required.
6. Exclusions
   1. We do not facilitate sales into the European Economic Area (EEA) on our website. Products purchased on our website may be sold by us on a T1 custom status for sales outside the EEA only, may not be in free circulation (i.e. on a T2 custom status) within the EEA and trademark rights might not be exhausted for sales within the EEA.
   2. Our website is a retail website. We do not facilitate reselling. We do not stipulate the custom status (T1 or T2) of our products. If you (the Customer) purchase products on our website with the aim of reselling them, it is your sole responsibility to verify whether the trademark rights of the trademark owner(s) are exhausted in the market(s) where you (intend to) offer or sell the goods, and to respect the laws and regulations in force within the EEA in respect to any trademark rights of the respective trademark owner(s). In this regard, you guarantee that the Products will keep the custom status that we sold them with, also when sold by you. It is your responsibility to compensate Ditton Wine Traders Ltd for any costs incurred because of a loss of the T1 custom status, including but not limited to any duty, levy, tax, penalty, or interest becoming due, or claimed to be due, towards any customs authority for any cause, including theft or loss of such Products.
7. Inspection and Acceptance
   1. You agree to inspect all products purchased from us upon delivery. If you notice a fault or problem with the goods you ordered, please let us know right away. We may request photographic evidence of any faults or quality issues you report.
8. Warranty and Quality Control
   1. Please note that as drinkability and taste are subjective judgements, we cannot make any guarantees as to taste or drinkability of products purchased.
   2. With respect to older or high-value products we will make reasonable efforts to verify the provenance of such products but we cannot guarantee the authenticity or quality of the liquid in the bottle. Older products may age and mature in different ways which may not be to all tastes, and some products may deteriorate in quality. Opinions as to authenticity and provenance will vary and, in many cases, even following scientific testing and detailed research, it is not possible to establish the authenticity or provenance of a given product definitively.
   3. We regret that given the nature of the wines we sell we do not provide refunds for corked wines.
   4. We are a specialist retailer of wine, champagne, whisky, and other products that sometimes have been in circulation for years, and in some cases, decades. In those cases, you should expect to see imperfections (marks on bottles, minor tears to labels, marks on boxes, dents in tubes and other minor imperfections) on items purchased from this site. Where you have purchased products from us then you accept that these products may be subject to defects, imperfections, shortages, damage and normal wear and tear. You accept that products will be in the condition to be expected having regard to their age, provenance, and nature or where we have notified you of any such condition or defect.
   5. We can provide high-resolution images of most of our products. If in doubt, please contact us before your purchase to satisfy yourself as to the condition of your order.
   6. We may provide provenance information to you which has been given to us by our supplier however we are not able to research, test or verify this information. We cannot and do not warrant any such statements.
   7. We do not accept liability for minor or inconsequential defects or imperfections.
9. Delays outside our control
   1. If our supply of your product is delayed by an event outside our reasonable control such as a strike, industrial action, riot, terrorist attack, war, severe weather event, we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know and do what we can to reduce the delay. As long as we do this, we won’t compensate you for the delay, but if the delay is likely to be substantial you can contact us to end the contract and receive a refund for any products you have paid for in advance, but not received, minus any reasonable costs we have already incurred.
10. Liability
    1. We’re responsible for losses you suffer caused by us breaking this contract unless the loss is:
       1. It was not obvious that it would happen and nothing you said to us before we accepted your order meant we should have expected it (so, in the law, the loss was unforeseeable).
       2. Caused by a delaying event outside our control. As long as we have taken the steps set out in section 9 above.
       3. Something you could have avoided by taking reasonable action.
       4. A business loss. It relates to your use of a product for the purposes of your trade, business, craft or profession.
11. Errors and Omissions
    1. While we have employed fail-safe measures, errors may occur (whether a technical error, a participant inputting a price incorrectly or otherwise).
    2. If there is an obvious error in the price of products sold or purchased, we will inform you as soon as possible and give you the option of reconfirming the order at the correct price or cancelling the order. If we are unable to contact you, you agree that we may treat the order as cancelled without any liability to us.
12. Cancellation and Returns
    1. You have 14 days to change your mind and cancel your order. This starts the moment you place your order and ends 14 days after the date you receive your goods. If you wish to exercise this right, please let us know by emailing us with your order details at info@dittonwineandspirits.com. Alternatively contact us by phone at +44 20 8339 9112 and we will guide you through the process.
    2. Once you have notified us of your cancelling the order, you have a further 14 days to return the items to us. We will provide instructions on where to return the goods to us after your cancellation request has been accepted.
    3. You must use a reputable and traceable service and retain all receipts or other evidence from the delivery service that proves you have sent the goods and when you sent them. If you don’t do this and we don’t receive the goods at all or within a reasonable time we won’t refund you the price. If you are returning goods that are not faulty, we will refund the original delivery charge but we are under no obligation to cover your return postage costs and applicable taxes will be charged back to you.
    4. Once your return is received and inspected, we will send you an email to notify you that we have received your returned item(s).
    5. For your full refund to be approved we must receive the goods in good condition within the time frame specified above. Deductions can be made (potentially to zero) where you have handled the goods in a way that has reduced their resale value. This includes items which have been damaged in transit due to your failure to package the goods securely. We will provide any refund due within 14 days of receiving the goods back from you using the method you used for payment.
    6. Defective or damaged items may be exchanged if there is a suitable replacement available. Please contact us immediately if you receive faulty or damaged goods. Many of our items are irreplaceable in the short term and therefore we will work with you to find an acceptable solution in those cases.
    7. En Primeur wines can only be cancelled within 7 days of placing the order. A full refund of the purchase price of the wines will be given on receipt of formal notification in writing of the cancellation of the order. Due to the unique nature of en primeur sales, we regret that orders cannot be cancelled after this time.
13. Crime prevention
    1. For the purposes of the prevention or detection of offences, and/or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, we may share any information that we collect with the Police, other public or private sector agencies or representative bodies in accordance with the relevant legislation.
14. General
    1. If any provision of these terms and conditions is held by a court or other competent authority to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part the validity of the other provisions of these terms and conditions and the remainder of the provision in question shall not be affected and will continue to apply.
15. Assignment
    1. We can transfer our contract with you, so that a different organisation is responsible for supplying your product. We’ll tell you in writing if this happens and we’ll ensure that the transfer won’t affect your rights under the contract.
16. Third parties
    1. Nobody else has any rights under this contract. This contract is between you and us. Nobody else can enforce it and neither of us will need to ask anybody else to sign-off on ending or changing it.
17. Enforcement
    1. Even if we delay in enforcing this contract, we can still enforce it later. We might not immediately chase you for not doing something (like paying) or for doing something you’re not allowed to, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it later.
18. Law
    1. These terms and conditions shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales and you agree that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction.