1. These Terms

1.1 These are the terms and conditions on which we supply products to you, whether these are goods, services or digital content. 

1.2 Please read these terms carefully before you submit your order to us. These terms tell you who we are, how we will provide products to you, how you and we may change or end the contract, what to do if there is a problem and other important information. If you think that there is a mistake in these terms, please contact us to discuss.

2. Information and Contact Details

2.1 We are UK Archives a company registered in England and Wales. You can contact us by filling in a contact form or by writing to us at support@ukarchives.org

3. Our Contract with You

3.1 Our acceptance of your order will take place when a UK reference number is allocated to your order, at which point a contract will come into existence between you and us.

3.2 If we are unable to accept your order, we will inform you of this and will not charge you for the services. This might be because of unexpected limits on our resources which we could not reasonably plan for, because we have identified an error in the price or description of the services or because we are unable to meet a delivery deadline.

4. Our Services

4.1 The services provided by us are the service of searching for and locating the relevant birth certificate and then arranging for the posting. We are not responsible for the contents of the certificate, which is provided by the relevant government body.

4.2 You do not have a right to cancel the purchase and obtain a refund, for the reasons set out below:
(a) the certificates we provide to you are personalised and specific to you and we would be unable to sell them or any services in relation to them to an alternative purchaser; and
(b) the services we provide are front-loaded and are provided shortly after purchase, we are therefore unable to refund other than as set out below.

4.3 If we search for your certificate or document and are unable to locate a match, we will retain a £15.00 search fee if you have purchased the standard service and a £25.00 search fee if you have purchased the express service, and will refund the balance (subject to clause 4.4 below).

4.4 If, after carrying out the relevant searches, we find multiple possible matches for your certificate or document we will notify you. You may wish to purchase an adoption search at the relevant fee at that stage, in which case you may use the remaining balance paid towards the fee for such adoption search. These terms will apply to any such replacement search.

4.5 No refund will be provided if:
(a) our searches are only able to locate a ‘best possible match’ certificate or document; or
(b) any errors arise as a result of you providing us with inaccurate or incorrect information, or due to a failure of the relevant government authority;
even if the certificate or document provided is not the correct document.

4.6 If we are required to update a search due to incorrect information that has been provided by you, we will charge an admin fee to update the details in accordance with the prices set out on our website.

4.7 We will begin the services on the date we accept your order. The estimated completion date for the services is as provided to you during the order process, but such date is an estimate only.

4.8 If our supply of the services is delayed by an event outside our control then we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know and we will take steps to minimise the effect of the delay. We will not be liable for delays caused by the event, but if there is a risk of substantial delay we will advise you of this and you may contact us to end the contract and receive a refund for any services you have paid for and that we have not provided.

5. Certificates and Documents

5.1 The cost of delivery of any certificates and other documents will be as displayed to you at the point of order or as otherwise set out on our website.

5.2 Any certificates purchased shall be sent to you by your delivery payment method. The certificates will be deemed delivered once we have sent them by your chosen delivery method. We will not be responsible for any loss, damage or non-delivery of any certificates or documents, by the delivery provider or otherwise, after we have sent them.

5.3 We may need certain information from you so that we can supply the services to you, for example your name and date of birth. If so, this will have been stated in the description on our website. If we require additional information to that provided at the point of order, we will contact you to ask for this information. If you do not give us this information within a reasonable time of us asking for it, or if you give us incomplete or incorrect information, we may either end the contract or make an additional charge of a reasonable sum to compensate us for any extra work that is required as a result. We will not be responsible for supplying the services late or for failing to supply any part of them if this is caused by you not giving us the information we need within a reasonable time of us asking for it. We will not provide a refund if we are unable to provide the services as a result of your failure.

5.4 If you do not pay us when you are supposed to and you still do not make payment within 14 days of us reminding you that payment is due, we may suspend supply of any services until you have paid us the outstanding amounts. We will contact you to tell you we are suspending supply of the products.

6. Your rights to end the contract

6.1 Your rights when you end the contract will depend on what you have bought, whether there is anything wrong with it, how we are performing and when you decide to end the contract.

6.2 If you are ending a contract for a reason set out at (a) to (c) below the contract will end immediately and we will refund you in full for any products which have not been provided and you may also be entitled to compensation. The reasons are:
(a) we have told you about an error in the price or description of the services you have ordered and you do not wish to proceed;
(b) if you cancel in accordance with clause 4.8 above; or
(c) you have a legal right to end the contract because of something we have done wrong.

6.3 To end the contract with us, please let us know by emailing our customer service team at support@birthcertificatereplacement.uk

7. Our rights to end the contract

7.1 We may end the contract at any time by writing to you if:
(a) you do not make any payment to us when it is due and you still do not make payment within 14 days of us reminding you that payment is due;
(b) you do not, within a reasonable time of us asking for it, provide us with information that is necessary for us to provide the products; or

7.2 If we end the contract in the situations set out in clause 7.1 then, due to the fact that the services we carry out are entirely front-loaded, we will not refund any money you have paid unless we have not taken any steps in relation to the services.

7.3 We may write to you to let you know that we are going to stop providing the product. We will refund any sums you have paid in advance for products which will not be provided.

7.4 If you have any questions or complaints about the product, please contact us. You can write to us at support@birthcertificatereplacement.uk

7.5 We are under a legal duty to supply products that are in conformity with this contract. Nothing in these terms will affect your legal rights.

8. Price and payment

8.1 The price of the product (which includes VAT) will be the price indicated on the order pages when you placed your order. We take all reasonable care to ensure that the price of the services advised to you is correct. However please see clause 8.2 for what happens if we discover an error in the price of the product you order.

8.2 It is always possible that, despite our best efforts, some of the services we sell may be incorrectly priced. We will normally check prices before accepting your order so that, where the service’s correct price at your order date is less than our stated price at your order date, we will charge the lower amount. If the service’s correct price at your order date is higher than the price stated to you, we will contact you for your instructions before we accept your order.

8.3 You must pay the price of the services before we start providing them.

9. Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

9.1 If we fail to comply with these terms, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or our failing to use reasonable care and skill, but we are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen.

9.2 We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors; or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

9.3 We only supply the products for domestic and private use. If you use the products for any commercial, business or re-sale purpose we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

9.4 We are not liable for any loss or damage caused by a third party, including legalisation, notarisation or apostille providers, unless such loss or damage arises as a result of our failure to provide the services in accordance with reasonable care and skill.

9.5 If we make any errors in searching for your certificate, you must advise us within 7 days. If you do so, and we have provided you with an incorrect certificate or document as a result of our error, we will search for a replacement certificate or document free of charge, which will be your only remedy.

10. Personal information

We will only use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy.

11. Other important terms

11.1 We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation.

11.2 You may only transfer your rights or your obligations under these terms to another person if we agree to this in writing.

11.3 This contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms.

11.4 Each of the paragraphs of these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

11.5 If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these terms, or if we delay in taking steps against you in respect of your breaking this contract, that will not mean that you do not have to do those things and it will not prevent us taking steps against you at a later date.

11.6 These terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in in the English courts.