Cancelling an order
Changing your mind: your 14-day right to cancel
If you bought from this website, you can change your mind and cancel. You do not have to give us a reason, and we will not charge you a penalty for it.
Your contract is with Joseph Schembri, trading as Dickens. This is your legal right under the Consumer Rights Regulations (S.L. 378.17). It is separate from your rights if something is faulty; those are covered by the two-year legal guarantee, on our Guarantee page.
You have 14 days
The 14 days run from the day you, or someone you asked to receive it, take physical possession of the goods, not the day you ordered, and not the day you paid.
- Ordered several things that arrive separately? The 14 days start when the last item arrives.
- One item that comes in several boxes? The 14 days start when the last box arrives.
- Bought a service, such as a repair? The 14 days start on the day the contract was made.
How to cancel
Any of these works. You do not have to use our form, and we will not insist on it.
- Use the cancel button on your order page. Go to the link in your confirmation email (you do not need to sign in) and use "Cancel my order". This is the quickest way and we will email you an acknowledgement straight away.
- Fill in our cancellation form and email it to us. The form is on our Cancellation form page and is included with your order confirmation; we only accept it electronically, not by post.
- Just tell us clearly, in your own words. An email to info@dickens.com.mt, or a letter to our shop address, saying you are cancelling. Any clear statement counts.
Telling us within the 14 days is what matters. It does not matter when it reaches us, as long as you sent it in time.
Sending the goods back
Send the goods back, or bring them to our shop, within 14 days of telling us you are cancelling. You have met the deadline if you send them before those 14 days are up.
You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods.
You are welcome to bring goods back to the shop yourself, which costs you nothing.
Looking at the goods, and what you are responsible for
You can handle and examine the goods the way you would in a shop. Unbox it, switch it on, see how it works. That does not cost you your right to cancel.
You are only responsible for any drop in the value of the goods caused by handling them beyond what is needed to check what they are and how they work. Flying a drone outdoors, registering a serial number to your own account, or scratching a lens goes past that, and we may reduce your refund to reflect it. We will tell you the amount and why, in writing.
This is separate from our shop's own return condition. We also have our own policy that we cannot take an item back once its shrink wrap is broken, its original box has been opened, or it has been activated. That policy is about returns outside this 14-day legal right: for example, if you ask us to take something back later as a goodwill return. It does not reduce or replace anything in this section. Within your 14 days, the rule above is the only one that applies: you can unbox the item and try it out, and we can only reduce your refund for handling that goes beyond that.
If your device doesn't work when it arrives: DOA replacement
This is a different situation from changing your mind, and a faster one.
If a device has a manufacturer defect that shows up within the first 15 days of use from your purchase, tell us. We inspect it, and once we confirm the fault is a manufacturer defect, we replace the unit; we do not attempt a repair first.
This is on top of, not instead of, your two-year legal guarantee (see our Guarantee page) and your 14-day right to cancel above. Use whichever route suits you; you do not have to ask for a DOA replacement just because it exists.
Your refund
We refund everything you paid us, including the delivery charge, within 14 days of the day you tell us you are cancelling.
We may hold the refund until we have the goods back, or until you show us you have sent them, whichever happens first.
We refund you the same way you paid:
| You paid by | We refund by |
|---|---|
| Card | Back to the same card |
| Revolut Pay | Back to the same Revolut account |
| Cash on delivery | Cash at our shop counter, or bank transfer, or however you and we agree when we discuss your refund, whichever you would rather have. It will not cost you anything |
| Cryptocurrency | The same amount of the same cryptocurrency you paid with. Paid in euro instead, refunded in euro |
You will never pay a fee for a refund, and we will not give you a store credit or a voucher instead of your money unless you ask us for one.
Our management and service department handle every refund.
If you cancel only part of an order, we refund the items you cancelled. We do not charge the delivery fee retroactively even if what you keep would have cost less than €50 on its own; the law does not allow us to.
When the right to cancel does not apply
These are the only situations where you cannot cancel. We will tell you on the product page, and again on your order confirmation, when one of them applies to something you are buying: item by item, never as a blanket statement.
| Situation | Why |
|---|---|
| Sealed software, or sealed audio or video recordings, that you have unsealed | Once the seal is broken the software can be copied. This covers physical discs and boxed media only |
| Downloads and licence keys you asked us to give you straight away | Only if, before you bought, you specifically asked us to start immediately, ticked a box saying you understood you were giving up your right to cancel, and we confirmed both back to you in writing. If any of those three is missing, you keep the full 14 days |
| A repair or service we have finished | Only if you asked us to start inside the 14 days and agreed at the time that finishing it would end your right to cancel |
| Goods made to your specification, or clearly personalised | Something built or engraved specially for you |
"Available to order" items are not in this list. If we order a standard item in for you because we do not have it on the shelf, that is not "made to your specification". You keep the full 14 days.
Buying for a business? The right to cancel is for people buying outside their trade or profession. Giving us a company VAT number for the invoice does not by itself take the right away; what matters is whether you were buying for your business or for yourself. If we think the right does not apply we will say so and explain why, and you can tell us if we have it wrong.
If something is faulty
This page is about changing your mind. If your goods are faulty, or not what we described, you have separate rights that last two years and are not affected by anything on this page. See our Guarantee page.