Terms & Conditions

S Fretwell & Sons is a trading name of SF Locksmith Ltd. Company number: 08695249

Before contacting SF Locksmith Ltd, please read these Terms & Conditions carefully; they form an essential part of the contract and govern how I will perform the services for you. Please note that you agree to these Terms and Conditions when booking my locksmith services via any form of communication.

If you do not understand something in these Terms and Conditions, you should consider asking a solicitor to explain it to you. Or, you could ask your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau or your local authority’s trading standards department for advice.

When the following words with capital letters are used in these Terms and Conditions.

Contract: means these Terms together with the Job Sheet / Invoice.

Initial Price: means the cost specified in the Job Sheet / Invoice agreement via any form of contract for the provision of Services.

Job Sheet / Invoice: This means the information I give You on the phone or in writing, setting out the details of the Services. I will provide the Initial Price payable.

Services: means the locksmith services I will provide to You as set out in the Job Sheet/Invoice. It may include, but not be limited to, any or all of the following:

• Making properties safe and secure
• Planned and responsive lock changes
• Picking and replacing locks
• General upgrading

Terms: means the terms and conditions set out in this document.

We / Our / Us / I: means SF Locksmith Ltd.

You / Your: means you, the customer.

Your legal rights

If You are an individual contracting for your own private non-business needs, You have certain legal rights and remedies as a consumer. And nothing in these conditions affects your legal rights. If you want to know more about your legal rights as a consumer, then contact your local authority’s trading standards department. Or call the Citizens’ Advice Bureau or go online at http://www.direct.gov.uk/consumer

1. Our agreement with you

1.1 If You agree to the scope and cost of the Services over the telephone, a contract will come into existence at this point between You and Us.

1.2 If you agree to the scope and cost of the Services to be provided by Us following an assessment of the required works by me, SF Locksmith Ltd, then a contract will come into existence at this point between you and me.

1.3 Your right to cancel the Contract is set out in section 7.

1.4 My right to cancel the Contract is set out in section 8.

1.5 If Our Job Sheet / Invoice includes any other terms called ‘extra terms and conditions’, they will form part of these Terms. If they differ from these Terms and Conditions, you must consider the extra terms and conditions.

2. The services I agree to perform for you

2.1 The specific details of the Terms & Conditions that I agree to perform for You will be set out before commencement of the work.

2.2 I will agree with You an appropriate time when I will endeavour to attend the relevant premises to perform the Services.

2.3 The Services are offered by Me on the basis that they will be provided as soon as possible, taking into account prevailing workloads. Availability of Myself, weather, transport conditions and the availability of parts and any other conditions WE are dependent on but fall outside my direct control.

2.4 Our agreement to perform the Services does not mean that I guarantee that I will be able to repair or replace Your lock or mechanism, or parts as required.

2.5 It is important that You understand what is included within the Services. And what is excluded from the Services. We advise you to ask before commencement.

2.6 If I cannot attend a job due to an emergency or issue, I will Not hand work off (outsource) to anyone, franchises or businesses in the area

3. Price & payment for the services

3.1 The price does include VAT, as I am VAT registered.

3.2 Unless otherwise agreed with Me, You agree to pay Me the Initial Price together with any extra costs immediately upon completion of the Services. You must ensure that payment is made available to Me without unreasonable delay. I accept cash payments for residential customers, debit card payments and BACS payments. Only businesses are permitted to pay by Bank Transfer or PayPal and are due within 7 days or as specified on the invoice.

3.3 If you fail to pay Me as required following the paragraph above, and WE do not subsequently receive full payment from You within 23 hours of the date the payment is due, you will be charged a late fee. A late fee is charged with £25.00 per day will be charged for ALL overdue invoices.

3.4 I reserve the right (at My absolute discretion) to require advance payments, stage payments or deposits before or during the provision of the Services. We will specify any advanced amount or other specific payment requirements to You before commencing the Services.

3.5 Payments may be made by cash, bank transfer or debit card.

3.6 I may allow account facilities to be established for specific customers. Any such arrangements must be agreed in advance and confirmed by Me in writing. New Approved Clients Terms & Conditions must be agreed to via email before any work is carried out. Payment terms for approved account customers are strictly 7 days from the invoice date. And any queries in relation to an invoice must be notified in writing to Me within seven days of the customer receiving the invoice.

3.7 Until all goods are paid for in full, and then I own the goods in Your property. If I see fit, I may charge you a hire fee of up to £25.00 per day for the use of the items and any additional charges for removal of these items.

3.8 Failure to pay the balance will result in the parts fitted being removed from your door (as they have not been paid for). This is done without notice. All parts remain the property of SF Locksmith Ltd, until paid. I will seek the outstanding amount, plus additional fees, through a 3rd-party debt collection agent. And where necessary, request & enforce County Court Judgements against any person/company who fails to pay.

4. Extra costs that I can charge for

4.1 The costs set out in this Section 4 are in addition to the Initial Price You pay Me for the Services.

4.2 I will let you know of any costs that you will need to pay in addition to the Initial Price for Me to be able to complete the Services when I attend your property. Such extra charges are likely to include (but are not limited to) the cost of replacement parts and extra labour time, which could not reasonably have been anticipated before My attendance.

4.3 You agree to pay Me the extra costs immediately following our completion of the Services. If you do not want to pay the additional fee, you can cancel the Contract by informing Me before work commences.

4.4 If You do not provide Me with all relevant information requested to allow Me to provide the Services, or You provide Me with incomplete or incorrect information, I may make an additional charge of a reasonable sum to cover any extra work required to provide the Services.

5. Reasons why I will not perform the services

I will not have an obligation to perform the Services if any of the following happens:

5.1 I’m unable to repair or replace Your lock or parts as the necessary spare or replacement parts or locks are no longer available.

5.2 You do not pay for all or any part of the Services as I have agreed, or You do not provide enough evidence of Your ability to pay for the Services as may be requested by Me.

5.3 You do not offer Me any necessary information that I have asked for from You or the information. You do provide incomplete, incorrect or generally regarded by Me to be insufficient. In particular, if You have failed to prove the property’s identification and ownership (or in circumstances where You are a tenant or licensee, satisfactory evidence of the landlord or licensor’s consent to the Services being delivered by Me).

5.4 You do not give Me access to Your property at the time that You agreed with Me.

6. Access to your property

6.1 You agree that You will allow Me access to Your property at the time and date agreed by You and Me.

6.2 You agree that I may enter Your property to do the work or recover any Mine equipment or goods that I have left on Your property.

7. Your cancellation rights

7.1 When you book a work, you have the right to cancel the appointment. You’ll need to call and cancel at least 45 minutes in advance of the agreed arrival time. If You wish to cancel without calling in advance, a £50.00 attendance charge is payable immediately.

7.2 If I break the Contract in some critical way and I fail to fix the situation within 56 days of You asking Me to in writing.

7.3 If I become insolvent, or become subject to an administration order or if I stop trading;

8. My cancellation rights

8.1 I can end the Contract in any of the following circumstances by writing to You and telling You.

8.2 You don’t pay a sum when it is due to be paid or if You otherwise break this Contract in some critical way, and You don’t fix the situation within 28 days of Us asking You to in writing.

8.3 If I am no longer able to carry out the Services due to the law or regulatory reasons.

8.4 I give You at least 28 days’ written notice of My intention to cancel the Contract.

8.5 If I end the Contract because of Your fault, and any work has been carried out but not paid for by You. Then You must pay me for that work as soon as the Contract ends.

9. If there is a problem with the services

9.1 Locks > All locks & labour are covered with a 12-month warranty from the fitment date. With all British Standard locks fitted, I provide two or three new original keys. If additional keys are required, SF Locksmith Ltd will offer locksmith-standard keys at an extra cost. The warranty is valid only if the original keys or the extra keys provided by SF Locksmith Ltd are used to lock / unlock. Should non-locksmith-standard keys be used, i.e. keys purchased at cobblers, in automatic key cutting machines, etc., the warranty is invalid. Non-locksmith-standard keys can cause the lock to fail if metal fragments remain on the keys after cutting.

9.2 Gear Boxes > All gearboxes and labour are covered with a 12-month warranty from the fitment date. In the unlikely event that there is any defect with the Services or the uPVC gearbox supplied and fitted by Me, and such deficiency manifests itself in the 12-month period immediately following completion of the Services. Please tell Me as soon as possible and allow Me to inspect and repair such defects or replace any defective parts as appropriate.

9.3 If a defect is reported to Me in the 12 month period following completion of the Services, and upon our inspection of the situation, such fault is genuine (and not the result of deliberate or negligent damage). Then I will use every effort to repair or fix the fault as soon as reasonably possible. You will not have to pay for Me to repair or restore a defect in the Services.

10. My liability to you

10.1 I will take all reasonable care to avoid or minimise the damage being caused to Your property. Including doors, walls, plasterwork, decorations and flooring etc., in the course of Me providing the Services. To avoid any doubt, I will not be responsible for doing any such damage which does happen or for any cleaning or other associated costs linked to such damage.

10.2 I will not be liable to You for loss or damage due to the Contract unless I cause death or injury through Our negligence.

10.3 If You are a consumer, I will not be responsible under this Contract for any loss or damage which relates to any business of yours.

10.4 All parts supplied by Me and all materials used to carry out the Services shall remain Our property until payment is received in full from You.

11. Circumstances which are out of our control

11.1 Suppose either of us fails to meet any of our obligations under this Contract because of an event or circumstance beyond our reasonable control, WE will not count this as breaking the Contract.

12. How I may use your personal information

12.1 I will use the personal information you provide to Me to provide the Services.

12.2 Process Your payment for such Services.

12.3 Inform You about similar products or services that I provide, but You may stop receiving these at any time by contacting Us.

12.4 You agree that I may pass Your personal information to credit reference agencies and that they may keep a record of any search that they do.

12.5 I will not give Your data to any other third party.

13. Legal conditions

13.1 The Contract is governed by English law.

13.2 You cannot transfer the legal rights to this Contract without Our written permission. I may transfer any part of this Contract, but Your rights and obligations under this Contract will remain unaffected if I transfer any of them to another company. The expression “I” or “Me” will include that other company for the purposes of this Contract.

13.3 If I need to serve a notice on You under this Contract, I will send it to the address set out on Your Job Sheet / Invoice or any form of communication. You must serve any notices on Me at the address shown below.

13.4 If any term of this Contract is held by the courts or any other legal or regulatory body to be invalid or unenforceable. The rest of the terms of the agreement shall not be affected by such invalidity or unenforceability.

13.5 If You breach any contract between Us and I fail to enforce the provisions of the Contract, My failure or silence should not be understood by You that We are giving up on My rights and remedies. If You or I give up on Our rights and remedies on one occasion, that does not mean that Me or You are doing so about any other rights or remedies I may have.

13.6 I have the right to update these Terms and Conditions at any time I see fit.

14. Late payment fees / overdue balance settlement

14.1 Late payment fees apply after 23 hours of non-payment. Suppose you agree to My service via any communication in person, on the phone, via text or email. In that case, you agree to My terms and conditions and the estimated price. You agree that if You fail to pay SF Locksmith Ltd by the date set out in any invoice or format, then WE will add a late fee payment to your bill of £25.00 to a maximum of £500.00. You also agree that you will pay any retrieval costs or detrimental costs for me to use bailiffs and court costs.

14.2 Alternative payment methods must be discussed on the day before signing any paperwork, or signatures are applied to any document. Failure to do so will result in a late fee of £12.00 per bill and a £12.00 admin fee. Any person who fails to pay will result in their lock being disabled without notice. Failure to pay the balance will result in the parts fitted being removed from your door as they have not been paid for, and this is done without notice.

14.3 All parts remain the property of SF Locksmith Ltd until payment is made. I will be looking for the outstanding amount plus additional fees through a 3rd-party debt collection agent and, where necessary, request & enforce County Court Judgements against any person / company who doesn’t pay.

15. Call recordings

15.1 SF Locksmiths may call record from time to time without giving you prior notice, and I advise you to thoroughly read our Terms and Conditions before calling SF Locksmiths. By calling Me, you agree to these Terms and Conditions. As part of this agreement, You waive any right to stop Us from call recording. Call recordings are for both our benefit. I may also use these call recordings for training and quality.

Questions & complaints

If you want to ask me anything about these Terms or the Services I am performing for you, or if you want to make a complaint, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

You can contact SF Locksmith Ltd by telephoning 07990 573857, or by sending a letter within 24 hours of the issues arising to: SF Locksmith Ltd, 42 Pitt Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 1BB.