Terms & Conditions

Please read all these terms and conditions

Please read these terms and conditions to make sure that they contain all that you want and nothing that you are not happy with.  If you are not sure about anything, please email or phone us.

Application

1. These Terms and Conditions will apply to the purchase of the services and goods by the Customer. The Supplier is Debrett Ancestry Research Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under number 1604753 whose registered office is at Luccam House, Hockley Mill, Church Lane, Twyford, Hampshire, SO21 1NT and whose trading address is PO Box 379, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9YQ, with email address info@debrettancestry.co.uk;  telephone number +44 (0)1962 841904.
2. These are the terms on which we sell all Services to you.  Before placing an order on the Website, you will be asked to agree to these Terms and Conditions by clicking on the button marked ‘I Accept’. If you do not click on the button, you will not be able to complete your Order.  You can only purchase the Services and Goods from the Website if you are eligible to enter into a contract and are at least 18 years old.

Interpretation

3. Consumer means an individual acting for purposes which are wholly or mainly outside his or her trade, business, craft or profession;

4. Contract means the legally-binding agreement between you and us for the supply of the Services;

5. Delivery Location means the location where the Services are to be supplied, as set out in the Order;

6. Durable Medium means paper or email, or any other medium that allows information to be addressed personally to the recipient, enables the recipient to store the information in a way accessible for future reference for a period that is long enough for the purposes of the information, and allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored;

7. Goods means any goods (such as a Report) that we supply to you with the Services, of the number and description as set out in the Order;

8. Order means the Customer’s order for the Services from the Supplier as submitted following the step by step process set out on the Website;

9. Data Protection Policy means the terms which set out how we will deal with confidential and personal information received from you via the Website;
10. Services means the services advertised on the Website, including any Goods, of the number and description set out in the Order;

11. Website means our Website www.debrettancestry.co.uk on which the Services are advertised.

Services

12. The description of the Services and any Goods is as set out in the Website, catalogues, brochures or   other form of advertisement. Any description is for illustrative purposes only and there may be small discrepancies in the size and colour of any Goods supplied.

13. In the case of Services and any Goods made to your special requirements, it is your responsibility to ensure that any information or specification you provide is accurate.

14. All Services which appear on the Website are subject to availability.

15. We can make changes to the Services which are necessary to comply with any applicable law or safety requirement. We will notify you of these changes.

Personal information

16. We retain and use all information strictly under our Data Protection Policy.

17. We may contact you by using email or other electronic communication methods and by pre-paid post and you expressly agree to this.

Basis of sale

18. The description of the Services and any Goods in our website does not constitute a contractual offer to sell the Services or Goods. When an Order has been submitted on the Website, we can reject it for any reason, although we will try to tell you the reason without delay.

19. The Order process is set out on the Website. Each step allows you to check and amend any errors before submitting the Order. It is your responsibility to check that you have used the ordering process correctly.

20. A Contract will be formed for the Services ordered when you receive an email or letter from us acknowledging your payment (Order Confirmation). You must ensure that the Order Confirmation is complete and accurate and inform us immediately of any errors. We are not responsible for any inaccuracies in the Order placed by you. You will receive the Order Confirmation before performance begins of any of the Services.

21. Any quotation or estimate of Fees (as defined below) is valid for a maximum period of 30 days from its date, unless we expressly withdraw it at an earlier time.

22. No variation of the Contract, whether about description of the Services, Fees or otherwise, can be made after it has been entered into unless the variation is agreed by the Customer and the Supplier in writing.

23. We intend that these Terms and Conditions apply only to a Contract entered into by you as a Consumer. If this is not the case, you must tell us, so that we can provide you with a different contract with terms which are more appropriate.

Fees and payment

24. The Fees for the Services, the price of any Goods (if not included in the Fees) and any additional delivery or other charges, is that set out on the Website at the date we accept the Order or such other price as we may agree in writing. 

25. For customers residing in England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the European Union, Fees include VAT at the rate applicable at the time of the Order.

26. You must pay by submitting your credit or debit card details, or by making an electronic payment to our bank account, with your Order.  We can also accept payment by cheque.  Payment may be spread across two or three months, as specified on the Website, in which case an administration charge may be included.

Delivery

27. We will deliver the Services, including any Goods, to the Delivery Location:

1. in the case of Services, within a reasonable time; and
2. in the case of Goods, without undue delay and, in any event, not more than 30 days after the day on which the Contract is entered into.

28. If your order is delivered outside England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and Channels Islands, you may need to pay import duties or other taxes.

29. If you or your nominee fail, through no fault of ours, to take delivery of Goods at the Delivery Location, we may charge the reasonable costs of replacing them.

30. The Goods will become your responsibility from the completion of delivery or Customer collection. 

Withdrawal and cancellation

31. You can withdraw your Order by telling us before the Contract is made, if you simply wish to change your mind and without giving us a reason, and without incurring any liability.

32. If cancellation of a Service is requested after the Contract is made but before work has commenced, we will make a refund, deducting a small administration fee.  Requests for cancellation that are received after research has commenced will be treated on a case-by-case basis and where appropriate a partial refund will be offered.

33. If we reach a point during a research programme at which we believe that there is no longer any scope to continue research, before exhausting the funds provided, we will ask you to choose how to use the remaining funds: if research on another area is not required, we will refund any unspent monies.

Conformity

34. Upon delivery, the Goods will:

1. be of satisfactory quality; and
2. conform to their description.

35. We will supply the Services with reasonable skill and care. Our business is historical research, which is subject to individual interpretation and subjective judgement.  We maintain high professional standards and make every effort, with the resources available, to achieve the best possible result within the time available. We cannot rule out the possibility that new evidence may arise, or new finding aids become available, which may lead to the necessity to reassess our conclusions.  This is in the nature of historical research and we do not undertake to carry out additional research in such cases.

36. In relation to the Services, anything we say or write to you, or anything someone else says or writes to you on our behalf, about us or about the Services, is a term of the Contract (which we must comply with) if you take it into account when deciding to enter this Contract, or when making any decision about the Services after entering into this Contract. Anything you take into account is subject to anything that qualified it and was said or written to you by us or on behalf of us on the same occasion, and any change to it that has been expressly agreed between us (before entering this Contract or later).

Duration, termination and suspension

37. The Contract continues as long as it takes us to perform the Services.

38. Either you or we may terminate the Contract or suspend the Services at any time by a written notice of termination or suspension to the other if that other:

1. commits a serious breach, or series of breaches resulting in a serious breach, of the Contract and the breach either cannot be fixed or is not fixed within 30 days of the written notice; or
2. is subject to any step towards its bankruptcy or liquidation.

39. On termination of the Contract for any reason, any of our respective remaining rights and liabilities will not be affected.

Successors and our sub-contractors

40. Either party can transfer the benefit of this Contract to someone else, and will remain liable to the other for its obligations under the Contract. The Supplier will be liable for the acts of any sub-contractors who it chooses to help perform its duties.

Circumstances beyond the control of either party

41. In the event of any failure by a party because of something beyond its reasonable control:

1. the party will advise the other party as soon as reasonably practicable; and
2. the party’s obligations will be suspended so far as is reasonable, provided that that party will act reasonably, and the party will not be liable for any failure which it could not reasonably avoid, but this will not affect the Customer’s above rights relating to delivery (and the right to cancel below).

Privacy/Data Protection

42. We respect your privacy and comply with the General Data Protection Regulation with regard to your personal information.

43. These Terms and Conditions should be read alongside, and are in addition to our policies, including our Data Protection policy (https://debrettancestry.co.uk/dataprotection.php).

44. For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions:

1. ‘Data Protection Laws’ means any applicable law relating to the processing of Personal Data, including, but not limited to the Directive 95/46/EC (Data Protection Directive) or the GDPR.
2. ‘GDPR’ means the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
3. ‘Data Controller’, ‘Personal Data’ and ‘Processing’ shall have the same meaning as in the GDPR.

45. We are a Data Controller of the Personal Data we Process in providing the Services and Goods to you.

46. Where you supply Personal Data to us so we can provide Services and Goods to you, and we Process that Personal Data in the course of providing the Services and Goods to you, we will comply with our obligations imposed by the Data Protection Laws:

1. before or at the time of collecting Personal Data, we will identify the purposes for which information is being collected;
2. we will only Process Personal Data for the purposes identified;
3. we will respect your rights in relation to your Personal Data; and
4. we will implement technical and organisational measures to ensure your Personal Data is secure.

Excluding liability

47. The Supplier does not exclude liability for: (i) any fraudulent act or omission; or (ii) death or personal injury caused by negligence or breach of the Supplier’s other legal obligations. Subject to this, we are not liable for (i) loss which was not reasonably foreseeable to both parties at the time when the Contract was made, or (ii) loss (eg loss of profit) to your business, trade, craft or profession which would not be suffered by a Consumer – because we believe you are not buying the Services and Goods wholly or mainly for your business, trade, craft or profession.

Governing law, jurisdiction and complaints

48. The Contract (including any non-contractual matters) is governed by the law of England and Wales.

49. Disputes can be submitted to the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales or, where the Customer lives in Scotland or Northern Ireland, in the courts of respectively Scotland or Northern Ireland.

50. You are paying for genealogical research, not a particular result. We will make all reasonable efforts to obtain a positive result but in some cases the outcome of research may be inconclusive or disappointing. The reasons for this will be fully explained in our Report. If there is anything that you wish to discuss arising from the Report, or any complaint about our Services, we invite you to contact us.  We will aim to respond within 5 working days.

Debrett Ancestry Research Ltd

Registered office address (not for correspondence):
Luccam House, Hockley Mill, Church Lane Twyford, Hampshire, SO21 1NT

January 2021; reviewed June 2023

These terms and conditions were created using a document from Rocket Lawyer (https://www.rocketlawyer.com/gb/en).