When your order becomes a contract

Who you are buying from

Dickens is the trading name of Joseph Schembri, a sole trader established in Malta.

Your contract is with Joseph Schembri. Dickens is a business name, not a company. There is no company registration number because a sole trader in Malta is not registered as a company; the VAT number above is the registration we hold.

How ordering works

The steps

1. You put things in your basket. The basket shows each item, the price including VAT, the delivery charge if one applies, and the total.
2. You go to checkout and tell us whether you want collection or delivery, how you want to pay, and where to send it.
3. You check the order. Before you pay, you see the complete order: every item, the quantity, the price of each, the delivery charge on its own line, and the total. Nothing is added after this point.
4. You can go back and change anything. Right up until you press the final button you can change quantities, remove items, switch between collection and delivery, correct your address, or change how you pay. Use your browser's back button or the "edit basket" link; nothing is committed until the final button.
5. You press the final button. That is the moment you place the order. The button says so in plain words.
6. We email you an acknowledgement, straight away. This email is the moment your contract with us is made. It is not a marketing email and it is not optional; it is the legal confirmation that we have your order.
7. Separately, we send you your order confirmation as a PDF. That is the permanent copy of everything: what you bought, what you paid, your right to change your mind, and your guarantee. Keep it. See Your order confirmation.

When the contract is made

Your contract with us is made when the acknowledgement email reaches you. Not when you press the button, and not when we ship.

If that email does not arrive within a few minutes, check your spam folder and then contact us; we would rather sort it out than have you wondering.

What we do not promise: your item is not reserved

This is the part we would ask you to actually read.

Our shop and this website sell from the same shelf. There is one Dickens, one stock room, and a counter in Sliema serving customers at the same time as the website. The stock figures you see on this site come from our till system and can be up to five minutes out of date.

So:

• Paying does not reserve your item. Somebody in the shop can buy the same thing in the minutes after you order it.
• A member of staff will physically check the shelf and then email you to confirm. If you order while the shop is open (9:30–19:00, Malta time, closed Sundays and public holidays), we aim to do that within 2 hours. If you order while the shop is closed, we aim to do it by the time we next open.
• If the item is not there, you get all of your money back. The full amount, including the delivery charge, back to the way you paid, automatically. You do not have to ask for it, there is no fee, nothing is deducted, and we will not offer you a credit note instead.
• If you would rather wait, we will usually be able to order the item in. We will tell you how long and you can decide. That choice is yours and we will never make it for you.

We would rather tell you this before you pay than explain it afterwards.

Paying by card charges you now

If you pay by card or Revolut Pay, the money leaves your account when you place the order, not when we ship. That is why the paragraph above matters, and it is why a refund rather than a released authorisation is what happens if we cannot supply.

If you choose cash on delivery, nothing is taken at checkout. You pay the driver.

Correcting a mistake

Before you place the order, you can change anything; see step 4 above.

After you place the order, if you spot a mistake (wrong address, wrong quantity, wrong item), email info@dickens.com.mt or call +356 2133 3562 with your order reference. If we have not yet shipped it we will simply fix it. If we have, your 14-day right to change your mind still applies; see our withdrawal page.

Your order reference

Every order gets a reference of eight characters. It is on the confirmation page, in the acknowledgement email and on the PDF. Quote it when you contact us.

Do we keep a copy of your contract?

Yes. We file every order and you can read it any time.

• The order is stored in your account, under My Orders, for as long as you have an account with us.
• We email you the order confirmation as a PDF attachment. That copy is yours and it does not depend on us; keep it somewhere you can find it.
• The terms that applied to your order are recorded with the order, so what you are shown later is the version you actually agreed to, not whatever our current terms happen to say.

What language is the contract in?

English. The whole contract, all our terms and every document we send you are in English, and English is the language in which the contract is concluded.

If you would prefer to deal with us in Maltese, email us or call and we will help you, but the written contract is in English.