Refund policy
REFUNDS & RETURNS POLICY
UK / EU-EEA / US / AU
Contact: enquiry@althemax.com
This policy applies to consumer purchases made from our store. Nothing in this policy excludes, limits, or affects any statutory rights that cannot legally be excluded or limited.
This policy should be read together with our Terms of Service, including our shipping, delivery, customs and import responsibility terms.
1) UK + EU/EEA “Change of Mind” Returns — 14 Days
If you are a consumer in the United Kingdom or the European Union/EEA and you bought online as a distance sale, you may have a legal right to cancel or withdraw from your purchase within 14 days after the day you receive your goods, subject to the exclusions in Section 5.
This applies under applicable consumer laws, including the UK Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and the EU Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU.
How to cancel or withdraw
Email enquiry@althemax.com within 14 days of delivery with your:
- order number;
- item(s) you want to cancel or withdraw from;
- name and delivery address.
After you notify us, you must send the goods back within 14 days.
Condition and handling
You may handle the goods only to the extent necessary to check their nature, characteristics, and functioning, as you would reasonably be allowed to do in a shop.
If the value of the goods is reduced because of handling beyond what is necessary, we may reduce your refund where permitted by law.
For statutory UK/EU/EEA change-of-mind returns, we do not apply a fixed restocking fee where doing so would be prohibited by law. However, we may deduct any reduction in value caused by excessive handling, use, damage, missing parts, missing packaging, or other loss caused while the goods are in your possession, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
2) Faulty, Damaged, or Incorrect Items — All Regions
Please inspect your order upon delivery. If the item is faulty, damaged, or incorrect, contact us at enquiry@althemax.com with your order number and clear photos.
For faster resolution, please contact us within 14 days of delivery. This does not affect statutory rights which may allow longer timeframes depending on your location.
This may include:
- UK: remedies under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, including a 30-day short-term right to reject faulty goods in many cases;
- EU/EEA: statutory remedies for faulty, non-conforming, damaged, or incorrect goods;
- Australia: rights under the Australian Consumer Law, including consumer guarantees;
- United States: applicable state or federal consumer protection rights.
Where required by law, we will cover reasonable return shipping costs for faulty, damaged, or incorrect items and provide the appropriate remedy, which may include repair, replacement, refund, or another remedy required by applicable law.
3) United States Returns
Change of mind
We do not accept returns or refunds for change of mind unless required by applicable law or unless we expressly approve the return in writing.
Where we approve a non-statutory change-of-mind return, the product must be returned to us in unused, resaleable condition, with all original packaging, accessories, manuals, labels and parts included.
Unless prohibited by applicable law, approved non-statutory change-of-mind returns may be subject to a 15% restocking fee. Original shipping fees, return shipping fees, customs fees, import taxes and handling charges are non-refundable unless required by law or expressly agreed by us in writing.
Faulty, damaged, or incorrect items
Please see Section 2.
4) Australia Returns
Change of mind
We do not accept returns or refunds for change of mind unless required by applicable law or unless we expressly approve the return in writing.
This does not limit your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, including consumer guarantees.
Where we approve a non-statutory change-of-mind return, the product must be returned to us in unused, resaleable condition, with all original packaging, accessories, manuals, labels and parts included.
Unless prohibited by applicable law, approved non-statutory change-of-mind returns may be subject to a 15% restocking fee. Original shipping fees, return shipping fees, customs fees, import taxes and handling charges are non-refundable unless required by law or expressly agreed by us in writing.
Faulty, damaged, or incorrect items
Please see Section 2.
5) Exclusions from UK + EU/EEA 14-Day Change-of-Mind Rights
The UK/EU/EEA 14-day cancellation or withdrawal right may not apply to certain items, including, where applicable:
- clearly personalised, customised, or made-to-order items;
- perishable goods or goods likely to deteriorate quickly;
- sealed goods not suitable for return due to health protection or hygiene reasons, once unsealed after delivery;
- sealed audio, video, software, digital media, or similar goods, once unsealed, where applicable;
- digital content or services where performance has begun with your consent and statutory cancellation rights are lost or reduced, where applicable;
- any other statutory exceptions that apply in your jurisdiction.
If an item is faulty, damaged, incorrect, or not as described, your statutory rights may still apply.
6) Lost, Delayed, Customs-Held, or Undelivered Shipments
Delivery times, tracking updates and estimated arrival dates are estimates only and are not guaranteed.
A package will not normally be treated as lost, missing, or eligible for a lost-shipment claim until the applicable delivery period has expired, including any customs, import, inspection, carrier investigation or holding period.
If a shipment is held, delayed, inspected, reviewed, detained or otherwise affected by customs or import procedures, the delivery period is agreed to be extended for up to 60 days in respect of customs processing, customs holding, inspection, document requests, payment of duties or taxes, carrier clearance, broker handling, and any required action by you, the recipient, customs authorities, carriers, brokers or other third parties.
During this extended customs period, the shipment will not be treated as lost, undelivered, late, or failed for refund or claim purposes, except where applicable law requires otherwise.
You may only submit a lost-shipment claim after:
- the original estimated delivery period has expired;
- any applicable customs or import holding period has expired;
- any agreed extension period, including the customs extension period of up to 60 days, has expired;
- the carrier has completed its investigation or confirmed the shipment is lost, where applicable.
We may require you to cooperate with carrier investigations, customs procedures, missing parcel forms, declarations, identity checks, or other reasonable steps before any refund, replacement, or claim can be processed.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we are not obliged to refund, replace, or compensate you for a lost, delayed, misdelivered, damaged, or failed shipment unless and until the relevant shipping carrier, logistics provider, insurer, customs authority, or other responsible third party confirms liability or provides compensation, refund, reimbursement, or settlement to us.
Nothing in this section limits any consumer rights that cannot legally be excluded or limited.
7) Customs, Import Duties, Failed Clearance, and Returned Parcels
For international orders, you are responsible for ensuring that the products you order can lawfully be imported into the destination country or region.
You are responsible for acting as the importer of record where applicable and for complying with all customs, import, tax, regulatory, documentation, licensing and clearance requirements.
You are also responsible for all customs duties, import taxes, VAT, brokerage fees, handling charges, storage fees, inspection fees, return fees, disposal fees, penalties, carrier fees, and any other charges imposed by customs authorities, carriers, brokers, logistics providers, or other third parties.
If a shipment is held, delayed, seized, refused, returned, abandoned, destroyed, disposed of, or not delivered because of customs requirements, import restrictions, unpaid duties or taxes, missing documents, failure to provide information, failure to respond to customs or carrier requests, refusal to cooperate with clearance, refusal to accept delivery, or any other act or omission by you or the recipient, you are responsible for all resulting loss, costs, charges and expenses.
This may include:
- the value of the products;
- original shipping fees;
- return shipping fees;
- customs charges;
- import taxes;
- storage fees;
- carrier charges;
- handling charges;
- inspection charges;
- disposal or destruction charges;
- administrative charges;
- loss in product value.
If a parcel is returned to us because of failed delivery, refused delivery, unpaid customs charges, incorrect or incomplete address information, failure to collect the parcel, failure to complete customs clearance, or any other reason attributable to you or the recipient, we may deduct from any refund the original shipping fee, return shipping fee, customs charges, carrier charges, handling charges, and any loss in product value, subject to applicable law.
If the product is damaged, missing, destroyed, disposed of, unsaleable, or not returned to us, we may refuse a product refund or deduct the relevant loss from any refund, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.
8) How Returns Work — Return Approval and Return Address
To start any return, contact us at enquiry@althemax.com.
You must not send products back without contacting us first.
If your return is approved, we will email you:
- return instructions; and
- the return address for your specific case.
Return addresses may vary depending on the product, warehouse, supplier, fulfilment partner, or country.
Returns must be sent only to the address we provide for your case. We are not responsible for items sent to the wrong address or returned without approval, except where applicable law requires otherwise.
Unless we confirm otherwise in writing, the product must be returned before any refund is issued. We may withhold any refund until we have received the goods back or, where required by law, until you provide evidence that you have sent the goods back.
9) Return Shipping Costs
UK + EU/EEA change-of-mind returns
You are responsible for the direct cost of return shipping unless we state otherwise or unless applicable law requires otherwise.
If we provide a return label for convenience, we may deduct the label cost from your refund where permitted by law and disclosed to you in advance.
Faulty, damaged, or incorrect items
We cover reasonable return costs where required by law.
International returns
Any customs charges, import taxes, duties, brokerage fees, handling fees, return fees, clearance fees, or other charges on change-of-mind international returns are your responsibility unless required otherwise by law.
10) Shipping Fees Are Non-Refundable After Dispatch
All shipping fees are paid for the shipping service selected at checkout.
Once a shipment has been dispatched, the shipping service has been used and the shipping fee is non-refundable, including where the parcel is delayed, returned, refused, uncollected, held by customs, subject to customs clearance, or not successfully delivered, except where applicable law requires otherwise or where we receive a refund from the relevant shipping carrier and decide to pass that refund to you.
For UK/EU/EEA statutory change-of-mind cancellations, where required by law, we will refund the standard outbound delivery charge originally paid for the order, but we are not required to refund any additional amount paid for express, premium, special, or non-standard delivery beyond the cheapest standard delivery option offered.
Return shipping fees remain your responsibility for change-of-mind returns unless required otherwise by law.
11) Refunds
Refunds are issued to the original payment method unless we agree otherwise.
UK + EU/EEA change-of-mind returns
Where required by law, we will refund the item price and the standard outbound delivery charge, if charged, subject to any permitted deductions.
We may withhold the refund until we receive the goods back or until you provide evidence that you have sent them back, where permitted by law.
We may deduct an amount from your refund if the value of the goods has been reduced by handling beyond what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Faulty, damaged, or incorrect items
We will provide the remedy required by applicable law, which may include repair, replacement, refund, or another applicable remedy.
Approved non-statutory returns
For returns that are not required by law but are approved by us at our discretion, the following conditions apply unless prohibited by applicable law:
- the product must be returned before any refund is issued;
- the product must be unused, complete, undamaged, and in resaleable condition;
- all original packaging, accessories, manuals, labels and parts must be included;
- a 15% restocking fee may be deducted from the refund;
- original shipping fees are non-refundable;
- return shipping fees are your responsibility;
- customs duties, import taxes, handling fees, and carrier fees are non-refundable.
12) Contact
For all return requests, lost shipment claims, customs-related issues and refund questions, contact: