Returns and cancellations

Why this is not a returns policy

A returns policy in the ordinary retail sense does not fit what we sell. You are not buying a product from a shelf that can be put back on it. You are buying one specific living animal, which has to be fed and cared for every day, which can be exposed to disease the moment it leaves our care, and which cannot be returned to sale without risk to every other animal we hold. Meat, once it has left our cold chain, cannot lawfully be taken back at all.

So instead of a return window, this policy gives you two things that are worth more. Before handover, a clear right to cancel and a clear statement of what you get back. After handover, a clear undertaking about the condition and description of the animal, with a defined period in which to raise it and a defined remedy. Your rights under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 apply in addition to all of this.

Before payment

An order that is reserved but not paid for simply lapses in time, and the animals return to sale; nothing is owed and nothing is charged. Where an animal has been requested rather than bought outright, you may withdraw at any point before you accept our quotation, again at no cost.

After payment: what you get back, and when

You may cancel a paid order at any time before the animals are handed over to you, and before the point of no return described in the next section. What comes back to you depends only on what has already been done on your behalf. Where a cost has genuinely been committed, it is deducted and itemised for you; where it has not, it is refunded. We do not charge a cancellation penalty, and we do not keep anything we have not actually spent.

To cancel, write to us with your order reference, or telephone us if the matter is urgent. Before anything is done we will tell you what stage your order has reached, exactly what will be refunded and exactly what will be deducted, and we will not proceed until you have confirmed that you want us to. You will never be surprised by the figure.

The point of no return

The reason is straightforward. Up to that moment the animal is alive, is still an animal, and can be brought back and returned to sale. After it, there is a carcass. It cannot be returned to the shop, and it cannot lawfully be sold on to anyone else as meat, because it was slaughtered as an own-use service on an animal you already owned rather than as meat produced for sale. Refunding you in full at that stage would mean the Exchange bearing the whole cost of an animal that no longer exists in any form it can recover.

We tell you before your animal goes to the abattoir, not afterwards. If you are having second thoughts, that is the moment to say so, and we will hold the animal rather than send it.

None of this affects your position if something has gone wrong. If the meat you receive is not what your order provided for, or has been affected by a failure in our handling of it, that is dealt with under the next two sections and not under cancellation.

If an animal is not as described

We stand behind the condition of each animal at the point at which it is handed over, the accuracy of our description of it, and the checks we carry out before a sale. If an animal is materially different from the way it was described to you, we will put the matter right, whether by refund, by a reduction in the price, or by replacement, and where you bought as a consumer the choice between those is yours.

Please examine the animals when you take them, and tell us within seven days of handover if something is materially not as described. That period exists because an animal changes: how it is fed, housed, transported and managed after it leaves us affects its condition quickly, and after a week it becomes genuinely difficult for either of us to tell what was so at handover and what has happened since. Where a defect could not reasonably have been discovered within seven days, tell us as soon as you do discover it, and we will deal with it on its merits. Where you bought as a consumer, section 56 of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 gives you six months, and that right is unaffected by anything in this paragraph.

It helps enormously if you can send photographs, the animal’s identification, and where a health matter is involved, a veterinary opinion. We will not withhold a remedy because you did not, but we can resolve a claim far more quickly when we can see what you are seeing.

What we cannot answer for is how an animal fares once it has passed into your care and management. That includes its performance, fertility, temperament or productivity, its condition after a period in your keeping, and its suitability for a purpose you did not tell us about before you bought. Those lie beyond our control and beyond our knowledge.

Orders that include processing, and the meat itself

If you cancel after paying for slaughter or cutting, but before the animal has reached the abattoir, the charge for those services is refunded in full. Once the animal has reached the abattoir the order can no longer be cancelled, as set out above.

Meat cannot be returned. Once a consignment has left our cold chain we have no way of knowing how it has been kept, and accepting it back would put at risk everyone else we supply. This is a food-safety position, not a commercial one, and we apply it without exception.

That does not leave you without a remedy. If there is something wrong with the meat you receive, tell us within twenty-four hours of delivery, keep it refrigerated and do not consume it, and send us photographs and the batch identifier from the label. We will investigate using the traceability record that follows every meat order, which tells us the animal, the abattoir, the cutting facility, the batch and the temperature record for the journey. Where the fault lies with us or with a facility we appointed, we will refund you in full and, where it is warranted, will notify the authorities and anyone else affected.

The quantity of meat a carcass yields cannot be known before slaughter, and the estimates we give are based on live weight and customary yields for the species and condition. A yield that differs from the estimate is not a fault and is not a ground for a claim.

How refunds are made

Refunds are made to your original method of payment, ordinarily within five to ten business days of the refund being approved, or by other arrangement where that is not possible. Every refund is recorded against your order, together with any amount deducted and the reason for it, so that you can see exactly how the figure was reached.

Where an amount has been deducted for a cost already committed, we tell you what it was for and what it came to at the time we make the refund, and we will show you the underlying charge if you ask.

Nothing in this policy limits the rights afforded to you by the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008. Should a matter remain unresolved between us, you are entitled to approach the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud, or the National Consumer Commission, at no cost to you.