Terms of Sale
These general conditions:
(a) apply to all offers, estimates, quotes, sales, supplies, deliveries, as well as all measures and operations relating to or resulting from them taken or carried out by Belmont Marble Fireplaces, a brand of Variostone Ltd, incorporated at 30 Circus Mews, Bath, England, BA1 2PW, UK (hereinafter referred to as “Variostone” or the “seller”), submitted and/or entered into with its distributors and/or dealers and/or any subjects purchasing Variostone products (hereinafter referred to as the “buyer”);
(b) all buyers are deemed to be familiar with them and they form an integral part of the order;
(c) they cancel and in any event take precedence over any other conflicting clause printed and/or hand-written on orders, requests for offers or in the buyer’s correspondence.
1 OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE
1.1 No offer, estimate or quote made by Belmont Marble Fireplaces shall be treated as binding.
1.2 Orders are either placed online via the website belmont-marble-fireplaces.co.uk or directly with our staff by email, thereafter referred to as direct sales, and here are the order processes for each:
Online orders:
To place an online order the buyer needs to visit our website and follow the online steps described on it, and proceed with a payment in full for its order. An order shall become binding on Belmont Marble Fireplaces solely and exclusively when the company receives payment for the order.
Direct sales orders:
For an offer, estimate or quote to become an order, the buyer needs to send to the seller a written confirmation to proceed with the order. An order shall become binding on Belmont Marble Fireplaces solely and exclusively when the company receives payment for the order in full or a deposit payment amounting to a percentage of the order value, whichever is written on the quote.
In all cases the production of the items will only begin once the buyer has confirmed by email which block of stone they would like to use for their fireplace surround.
1.3 The supply shall include the materials and quantities of merchandise specified in the Belmont Marble Fireplaces order confirmation invoice, which shall constitute the only document of reference when checking prices and quantities and shall have precedence over the offer and/or customer’s order.
1.4 No request from the buyer for either cancellation or modification will be accepted by Belmont Marble Fireplaces once a period exceeding 2 days has elapsed from the date of full or deposit payment has been received, at which time it becomes irrevocable.
1.5 Additional quantities and/or modifications to existing orders, shall be considered a new order.
2 PRICES
2.1 The prices applying to Belmont Marble Fireplaces products are those indicated in the order confirmation.
2.2 The currency used for orders is Great British Pounds (GBP) unless otherwise agreed upon and indicated in the order confirmation invoice.
2.3 The buyer shall be liable for any taxes, import duties, administrative fees or any other charges relating to its order.
3 QUANTITIES FOR EACH ORDER
3.1 All Belmont Marble Fireplaces products are sold by the piece.
3.2 In the case of overseas order, extras such as delivery are quoted separately and indicated as such in the quote or order confirmation invoice.
4 DELIVERY CONDITIONS
4.1 Belmont Marble Fireplaces will organise the delivery for all orders via a third party transporter. We will endeavour to give indicative lead times for production and delivery. The buyer accepts that this delivery date is indicative and can be affected by factors beyond its control.
4.2 Should force majeure prevent the seller from performing the contract, it may, at its discretion, without seeking the intervention of judicial authorities, either suspend execution until such time that the circumstances giving rise to the force majeure have ceased, or terminate the contract either in whole or in part, without seeking the intervention of judicial authorities and without being liable for damages.
4.3 Force majeure is taken to cover any circumstances beyond the seller’s control which permanently or temporarily prevent the execution of the contract, such as war or threat of war, uprising, partial or general mobilisation, industrial strike, lack of raw materials, interruption in supply of goods by subcontractors, unforeseen events that affect the business, transportation difficulties, import or export restrictions, frost, fire, epidemic, natural or other disaster and other unforeseen restrictions that render the manufacturing or transportation of the goods either partially or totally impossible. The provisions of this article also apply when the aforementioned circumstances relate to factories, suppliers or other traders from whom the seller purchases goods or acquires services.
4.4 Any form of delays do not entitle the buyer to make demands for damages or termination of the contract, even partially.
5 PAYMENT CONDITIONS
5.1 Belmont Marble Fireplaces products must be paid for in full by adopting the methods described in the order confirmation and/or in the invoice.
5.2 The terms contained in the order confirmation and/or in the sale invoices must be treated as peremptory and exceptions thereto shall only be permitted if a prior written agreement has been reached with the seller.
5.3 All Belmont Marble Fireplaces orders need to be paid in full for delivery to be organised.
6 DEFAULT OR DELAYED PAYMENT
In a case where goods were not paid upfront, or not paid prior to loading:
6.1 Once the payment date has fallen due, the buyer, if in breach of settlement, shall be considered automatically in default.
6.2 Delayed payment, even partial, of invoices issued by Belmont Marble Fireplaces shall therefore immediately give rise to liability for default interest at a rate of 12% per annum and shall entitle Belmont Marble Fireplaces to charge any out-of-court legal expenses it has incurred in order to recover the amount outstanding.
6.3 In the event of a delay on the part of the buyer or in the event that the seller has reason to fear that the buyer will breach its payment obligations, the seller may, without entitling the buyer to demand damages, without prejudice to any further rights or actions: (a) demand payment in advance or a guarantee; (b) refuse to process any other orders currently underway with the buyer; (c) suspend or revoke, either in whole or in part, the execution of all supply contracts currently underway with the buyer or those connected with it, preceding or following it; (d) revoke any favourable payment terms agreed upon, extending this to other contracts, thereby being entitled to demand immediately all sums currently owed by the buyer; (e) suspend all obligations imposed upon it by any other contracts entered into with the buyer.
7 WARRANTIES AND SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MATERIAL
7.1 Belmont Marble Fireplaces warrants that its material conforms to the physical, chemical, mechanical and dimensional standards indicated in the order confirmation invoice. Belmont Marble Fireplaces, after an order has been received, show to the client the block available for his order and the client will confirm their acceptance of the material prior to production starting. It is important to highlight that natural stones can vary in appearance, particularly working with blocks as only the surface of the pieces is visible, and due to the carving process elements which were not visible at the surface might appear as a result. The manufacturing process also requires a certain tolerance of 2mm on all the sizes given.
7.2 The customer declares that it is aware of and expressly accepts the characteristics of the Belmont Marble Fireplaces product described, waiving the right to contest them in any way.
7.3 Once delivered, Belmont Marble Fireplaces does not guarantee any of its materials and particularly with regards to scratches, stains, cracks and any other defects that occurred after delivery.
7.4 The customer accepts that all Belmont Marble Fireplaces materials are cut using water during processing and as such residual water might be held in the stone post production. This is totally normal and not a defect in any way.
8 COMPLAINTS
8.1. Complaints mean any protests made by the buyer that refer to the quality of the goods or items supplied. When the goods are received, the buyer must immediately check them or have them checked to ensure that they conform to contractual specifications.
8.2 The buyer may not claim that the goods supplied do not conform to the specifications contained in the order if it has failed to check the products in the manner described or has failed to notify the seller of the defect within the terms indicated in point 8.3 below.
8.3 The buyer must inspect at delivery the goods received and report any defect on the delivery sheet as well as report it immediately to Belmont Marble Fireplaces in writing by email. Once the goods have been unloaded, they become the possession of the client and Belmont Marble Fireplaces shall not be liable for any issues with said goods.
8.4 Complaints must be submitted in writing, giving the data contained in the order confirmation, and submitted with an explanation of the problems along with photo evidence of the problems.
8.5 If a complaint is made, the buyer must ensure that the contested goods are made available to technicians and experts sent by the seller.
8.6 In the event that a complaint is submitted in time and proves to be founded following checks carried out by Belmont Marble Fireplaces technicians, unless differently evaluated and decided by the seller at its own incontestable discretion, the company shall only be liable for replacing the non-conforming goods, without entitling the buyer to demand the rescission of the contract or the reduction of the sale price and/or damages and the reimbursement of costs incurred of any kind.
9 CONDITIONS APPLYING TO RETURN OF GOODS
9.1 Goods supplied by Belmont Marble Fireplaces may not be returned, even partially. As all our fireplace are made to order specifically for each project, the buyer automatically revokes their right to cancel their order.
10 LIABILITY STEMMING FROM SUPPLIES
10.1 The seller shall never be held liable for consequential damages, including loss of profits, actual damage, loss of income and down time.
10.2 The limitations to liability described above do not apply in the event of fraud or serious fault on the part of the seller.
10.3 The buyer holds the seller harmless against any claims that may be put forward by third parties, including the seller’s or buyer’s employees, relating to the goods supplied.
11 RESPONSIBILITIES CONCERNING THE LAYING OF MATERIALS
11.1 Belmont Marble Fireplaces declines all responsibility for defects and/or flaws that may be attributed to laying operations contracted by the buyer. The company does not therefore accept complaints or demands for compensation of damage stemming from defects and/or difficulties caused during laying operations that prejudice the use of the material supplied.
12 APPLICABLE LAW – JURISDICTION AND COMPETENT AUTHORITIES
12.1 Any dispute stemming from these General Conditions and/or orders placed on the basis thereof shall be regulated, in so far as not covered by these conditions of sale, exclusively by the laws of England & Wales.