Shipping and delivery

Risk, title and what to do at the door

Title in the books passes on full payment. Risk passes on delivery to you or to a person at your address who accepts the consignment, which for a school usually means the office or the security desk. Between dispatch and delivery the consignment is with a common carrier, and s. 39 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930 treats delivery to that carrier as delivery to the buyer unless we have agreed otherwise — so we insure and we track, and we deal with the carrier ourselves rather than sending you to them.

Two minutes at the door saves a fortnight afterwards:

• · Look at the carton before you sign. If it is torn, soaked, crushed or has been opened, write “received damaged” on the carrier’s sheet before signing, or refuse it outright.
• · Photograph it — the outside of the carton, the label, and the contents once opened. A photograph taken at the door is what makes a carrier claim work.
• · Count the copies against the invoice before the delivery person leaves, if you can.
• · Tell us within 48 hours at learn@playwaybooks.com. The Carriage by Road Act, 2007 and the rules under it set a short window for notifying a carrier of loss or damage, and a claim reported late is a claim we may no longer be able to make.

A book damaged in transit is our problem to fix, not yours to absorb. See refunds and returns for what happens next.

Addresses, refusals and undelivered consignments

We ship to the address on the purchase order. Please check it before you send the order — an address corrected after dispatch means the consignment comes back to Ernakulam and goes out again, and the second journey is chargeable.

Carriers usually attempt delivery two or three times. Where a consignment is refused, or cannot be delivered because nobody is available, the address is wrong, or the premises are closed for a vacation, it is returned to us. We will ring you, and you may either have it re-dispatched — with the return and re-delivery charges added — or cancel, in which case a refund is made under the refunds policy less the shipping actually incurred.

School holidays are the single most common cause of a failed delivery. If your school closes, tell us when you raise the order and we will hold dispatch rather than send books to a locked gate.

Packing

Books are packed so that the token sheets arrive flat and unpunched, which is more packaging than a book of this size would otherwise need. Bulk orders go in cartons of a fixed count, and the count is marked on each carton so that a school can check a delivery without opening all of them.

Force majeure

We are not liable for a delay or failure in delivery caused by something outside our reasonable control — an act of God, flood, fire, epidemic, war, civil disturbance, strike or lockout, a carrier or courier failure, a restriction imposed by a government, or a change in law. Where that happens we will tell you as soon as we can, keep the order alive for as long as you want it, and refund it in full if you would rather not wait.

Governing law

This policy is governed by the laws of India, and the courts at Ernakulam, Kerala have jurisdiction, subject to clause 15 of the terms of use. If you are a consumer, nothing here affects your right to complain to a Consumer Commission where you live or work — the grievance page says how.

Questions

Ring the office or email learn@playwaybooks.com — a person answers both, and a delivery question answered on the phone in two minutes is better for everyone than an email thread.