Terms and Conditions

Welcome to Summit Stones. These comprehensive Terms and Conditions ("Terms") govern your access to and use of our website, services, and the purchase of our physical products, including our 3D printed topographic miniature mountain models. By placing an order, browsing our website, or communicating with Summit Stones, you agree to be bound legally by these Terms.

1. General Information & Identity

• Business Name: Summit Stones
• Business Structure: Sole Trader operating under the laws of England and Wales.
• Contact Email: info@summitstones.co.uk
• Official Website: summitstones.co.uk

2. Contract Formation & Ordering

2.1. Order Placement: When placing an order through our website or connected sales channels (e.g., TikTok Shop), you offer to purchase the product subject to these Terms.

2.2. Order Acceptance: Acceptance of your order occurs only when you receive an explicit dispatch confirmation email or message. Prior to dispatch, we reserve the right to decline or cancel any order due to stock unavailability, pricing errors, production feasibility issues, or suspected fraud.

2.3. Accuracy of Customer Information: You are strictly responsible for ensuring all contact details, delivery addresses, and customisation requests provided during checkout are correct and complete.

3. 3D Printing Manufacturing, Material Properties & Limitations

3.1. Additive Manufacturing Process: Our products are produced via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) additive manufacturing utilizing advanced Bambu Lab A1 series 3D printers. You acknowledge and accept that 3D printed items differ from mass-produced injection-moulded plastic items.

3.2. Inherent Visual & Surface Characteristics: Layer lines, minor seam marks, subtle surface variations, micro-stringing, and microscopic print artifacts are natural technical characteristics of FDM 3D printing and do not constitute manufacturing defects or flaws.

3.3. Specialised Filaments (PLA Wood & White PLA):

• PLA Wood Filaments: Our wood-infused filaments incorporate real organic wood fibres. Consequently, density, grain texture, micro-stringing, and colour shade vary naturally from print to print. No two wood-finish models are identical.
• White PLA Filaments: White models may reveal subtle internal layer shadows or translucency under direct lighting due to the optical qualities of virgin PLA pigment.

3.4. Dimensional & Scale Tolerances: Topographic scale representations are generated from public topographical mapping data. Due to material cooling and thermal contraction, physical measurements are subject to a standard manufacturing tolerance of ±2mm.

3.5. Thermal & Environmental Limitations: Polylactic Acid (PLA) plastic has a heat deflection temperature of approximately 50°C (122°F). Products must be kept indoors, away from direct sunlight through glass (e.g., hot car dashboards or window sills), radiators, hot water, or open flames. Thermal deformation caused by ambient heat exposure is considered user misuse and is exempt from replacement or refund.

3.6. Safety & Non-Toy Warning: Our models are intended purely as decorative display items, desk accessories, or gifts. THEY ARE NOT TOYS. Keep away from infants, small children, and pets. Fine topological features or broken pieces may pose a choking or sharp-edge hazard.

4. Pricing, Taxes & Payment

4.1. Currency & Pricing: All prices are quoted in Great British Pounds (GBP £) and exclude shipping fees unless explicitly stated. Prices may change at any time, but price modifications will not affect orders already confirmed.

4.2. Payment Processing: Full payment must be cleared prior to production or dispatch. Payments are processed securely via third-party gateways (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, TikTok Shop). We do not store financial account details.

4.3. VAT Exemption: As a UK sole trader operating beneath the statutory UK threshold for VAT registration, VAT is neither charged nor itemized on sales invoices.

5. Production, Dispatch & Shipping Protocols

5.1. Made-to-Order Lead Times: Because items are individually printed on demand, standard orders require a production and processing window of 2 to 5 business days prior to dispatch. Peak periods or custom orders may require extended production time.

5.2. Delivery Services & Transit Estimates: Shipping is conducted via third-party postal carriers (e.g., Royal Mail). Transit timeframe estimates provided at checkout are non-binding estimates provided by the carrier and are not guaranteed delivery dates.

5.3. Address Errors & Returned Shipments: If a package is returned to us due to an incorrect or incomplete address provided by the customer, or failure to collect the parcel from a local carrier depot, the customer is responsible for paying re-postage fees prior to re-dispatch.

5.4. Risk & Title: Risk of damage to or loss of goods passes to you upon physical delivery to the specified delivery location or safe place designated by you to the courier.

5.5. International Customs & Import Taxes: For orders shipped outside the UK, the recipient is sole importer of record and must comply with all laws and pay all applicable import duties, tariffs, VAT, or local customs clearance fees.

6. Cancellations, Returns & Refunds (UK Rights)

6.1. Standard Off-The-Shelf / Pre-Stocked Models: Under the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, you have the right to cancel your order within 14 days of receiving the item without specifying a reason.

• You must notify us via info@summitstones.co.uk within 14 days of receipt.
• Items must be dispatched back to us within 14 days of notification, unused, undamaged, and in original packaging.
• The buyer pays all return postage costs unless the item is verified as faulty. Tracked delivery is strongly recommended.

6.2. Bespoke, Custom & Personalised Models Exemption: In accordance with Section 28(1)(b) of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, the 14-day statutory right of cancellation DOES NOT APPLY to goods made to customer specifications or clearly personalised (e.g., custom coordinates, custom map bounding boxes, or engraved text). Custom orders cannot be cancelled once printing has commenced.

6.3. Damaged Goods or In-Transit Issues:

• If an item arrives physically damaged due to transit, please notify info@summitstones.co.uk as soon as possible (ideally within 48 hours of delivery).
• Notifications should include your order number, clear photographs of the damaged product, and photographs of the external packaging showing the shipping label.
• Upon verification of transit damage or inherent product defect, we will provide a free replacement or issue a full refund including initial delivery charges in accordance with your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

7. Intellectual Property Rights

7.1. Ownership: All digital 3D mesh files, topographic CAD models, website content, text, branding, graphics, product names, and photography associated with Summit Stones remain the sole intellectual property of Summit Stones.

7.2. Restrictions on Use: The purchase of a physical product grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable display license. You are strictly prohibited from scanning, reverse-engineering, molding, casting, digitally reproducing, or distributing physical or digital copies of our models for commercial resale or redistribution.

8. Limitation of Liability

8.1. Direct Damages Only: To the maximum extent permitted by UK law, Summit Stones shall not be liable for any indirect, special, incidental, punitive, or consequential losses, including loss of revenue, profit, data, or secondary damage resulting from product misuse or thermal degradation.

8.2. Financial Cap: Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or in connection with an order shall not exceed the total financial amount paid by you for the specific product in dispute.

8.3. Statutory Rights: Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or statutory consumer rights that cannot be excluded under UK law.

9. Force Majeure & Delays

Summit Stones shall not be held liable or responsible for failure or delay in performing our obligations if such failure arises from acts beyond our reasonable control. This includes, but is not limited to: severe printer hardware breakdown, filament supply chain failure, power grid outages, severe weather, national postal strikes, or courier network shutdowns.

10. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

These Terms, any contracts formed under them, and any non-contractual disputes arising out of them shall be governed by, read, and construed exclusively in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any legal action or dispute must be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

11. Amendments to Terms

We reserve the right to amend or update these Terms at any time to reflect operational, legal, or regulatory changes. The applicable version will always be the version published on our website on the date your order is placed.

12. Customer Support & Inquiries

For all legal, contractual, order, or product inquiry communications, please contact us directly:

• Email: info@summitstones.co.uk
• Website: summitstones.co.uk