CONSUMER TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS

1. Definitions

1.1 In these terms and conditions, the following words have the following meanings:

2. Basis of Contract

2.1 The Company shall sell and you shall purchase the Products in accordance with any order of yours which is accepted by the Company, subject to these terms and conditions. 

2.2 The Company may modify these terms and conditions at any time (visit the Website for the latest version).  The modifications will only apply in respect of orders placed and accepted by the Company after the date the modifications are made.

2.3 These terms and conditions shall govern the purchase and sale of the Products except where varied by agreement in writing signed by a director of the Company, to the exclusion of any other terms and conditions including any terms or conditions in the Customer's order. 

3. Orders

3.1 No order will be deemed accepted by the Company until an order confirmation is sent out by the Company or the order is fulfilled.

3.2 All details of the Products on the Website are as accurate as possible.  The Company will rectify any error as soon as it becomes aware of it.  Details and/or specifications for the Products are intended as a guide only.  If you have placed an order for Products and the Company becomes aware of a material error in the details and/or specifications for the Products, the Company shall inform you and you may (within a reasonable period of time of receiving notice) either confirm your order or cancel it. Failure to respond will mean that the Company may treat the order as having been confirmed.  If you cancel your order, the Company will refund any monies already paid to it by you in respect of that order.

3.3 The Company shall have the right to refuse to accept any order for Products for any reason.

4. Delivery

4.1 Current delivery prices are available on the Website and from the Company on request.  

4.2 No delivery charges will apply to your purchases of Online Services.  

4.3 Claims for non delivery in the UK must be made within 7 days of notification of despatch (14 days outside UK).  Claims for damages or short delivery must be made within 7 days following the day the Goods were delivered.  

4.4 Any dates quoted for delivery of the Products are approximate only and are subject to any matter outside the Company’s reasonable control.  As a general rule, the Company will, subject to availability, ship the Goods within 24 hours of accepting your order and will endeavour to complete your order within 14 days.  

4.5 The Company may (in its absolute discretion) deliver the Products itself or through a third party.

4.6 Delivery for Online Services will occur as and when the Company sends subscription details to you.

4.7 Delivery of Goods will be made to the address specified in your order.  Any delivery requirements for Goods outside mainland UK and Northern Ireland addresses must be agreed by the Company.

5. Electronic Products

5.1 If you purchase Electronic Products from the Company:

5.1.1 the Electronic Products may be provided by various organisations throughout the world and, as such, may be subject to the third party’s jurisdiction’s export laws.  The Company may cancel your order for the Electronic Products if it and/or the service provider is legally unable to supply the Electronic Products to you;

5.1.2 you agree to be bound (where applicable) by a separate EULA which will be provided to you as and when your order for the purchase of the Electronic Products is completed or with the Goods (as appropriate).   The content of the EULA will depend on the service provider who supplies the Electronic Products and will form a contract between the service provider and you and govern your use of the Electronic Products;

5.1.3 in respect of Online Services you will have a time limited subscription, allowing you to access the Online Services at any time during the subscription period;

5.1.4 in respect of each online subscription for Online Services, you undertake that only you will view and access the Online Services.  You will be allocated a user name and password.  You are responsible for all use of the Online Services by anyone using your details;

5.1.5 you agree that you have no rights and/or interest in the Electronic Products other than as set out in these terms and conditions and/or the EULA;

5.1.6 you accept that, as Online Services are provided via the internet, the Company cannot guarantee continuous access and availability of Online Services.  The Company will try and inform you in advance of any planned downtime and will use its reasonable endeavours to keep such downtime to a minimum.  The Company makes no such commitment in respect of any emergency downtime and/or downtime of the service provider who supplies Online Services and on whose server Online Services are held;

5.1.7 you shall use your best endeavours to prevent unauthorised use, access, duplication or alteration of Electronic Products and will advise the Company on becoming aware of any such incident;

5.1.8 you must use the Electronic Products solely for your own private use and must not assign, distribute, copy, publicly display, transfer, rent, timeshare and/or otherwise deal with your rights to be able to access and use the Electronic Products and/or any of the content of the Electronic Products (other than as permitted by the EULA);

5.1.9 you must not modify, adapt, edit or otherwise create a derivative work of the Electronic Products or remove or deface any proprietary notice of the owner contained on and/or in the Electronic Products;

5.1.10 you must not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Electronic Products except to the extent such restriction is not permitted by law;

5.1.11 any issues and queries which arise in respect of access to and/or use of the Electronic Products should initially be directed to the Company; and

5.1.12 irrespective of your rights of cancellation in accordance with clause 4, provided that you have not accessed the Online Services and activated your subscription, within a period up to 3 months from the initial date of purchase the Company may (at its discretion) agree to cancel the subscription and allow you to exchange the subscription for any other Goods offered for sale by the Company which have an equivalent monetary value to the subscription.

6.Prices and Payment

6.1 Prices charged will be the price listed in the Company’s then current price list and/or on the Website at the time of the Company’s acceptance of the order for the Products unless otherwise agreed between the Company and you.  

6.2 All prices are listed inclusive of VAT and any delivery charges (where relevant) are shown separately.  If the Company discovers an error in the prices, it will inform you as soon as possible and give you the option of either continuing with the order for the affected Products at the correct price or cancelling the affected element of the order.  Any monies paid in advance for any such cancelled Products shall be refunded by the Company.

6.3 Payment is due at the time you place the order unless otherwise agreed in writing with the Company.  The Company will not dispatch any orders until it receives payment in full and in cleared funds for that order.  

6.4 The Company retains title in all Goods supplied until such time as the Company has been paid for all Goods it has supplied to you in full and in cleared funds.  

7. Defects

7.1 You are advised to examine the Goods as soon as reasonably possible after delivery.  Any defects and/or faults in the Products must be notified to the Company as soon as is reasonably possible after discovery of the defect and/or fault.  Other than for the provision of faulty or defective Online Services, the Company may require the return of any faulty Goods before the Company provides (at your option) a replacement and/or a refund of the purchase price but will refund any reasonable costs incurred by you in returning the Goods if they prove to be faulty.  

8. Risk

8.1 Risk of damage or loss to the Goods shall pass to you at the time of the delivery to the agreed address, or if you fail to take delivery of the Goods, the time when the Company has tendered delivery of the Goods.

9. Intellectual Property Rights

9.1 So far as the Company is aware, the Products do not infringe any intellectual property rights of any person, nor do they contain any material which is defamatory or obscene.  However, no warranty or indemnity to this effect is provided by the Company.

10. Data Protection

10.1 In placing an order with the Company, you will be asked to provide certain personal information such as contact details and credit card or other payment information.  The Company will comply with the requirements of all data protection legislation in force in England and Wales from time to time (where applicable). 

10.2 The Company will use your personal data (as defined by data protection legislation) (i) to process your account and order; (ii) to administer its business; (iii) for the purposes of assessment and analysis (e.g. market, customer and product analysis); and (iv) for informing you of products and/or services it may offer in the future which may be of interest.    The Company may also disclose customer information to anyone to whom it transfers or may transfer its business and/or its rights and duties under its contract with you or to the police or any other regulatory or government authority where it is legally required to do so.  Any objections to use your personal data must be made to Customer Services customerservices@pcworld-books.co.uk.

11. Liability

11.1 The Company shall have no Liability for any loss of profits, business or revenue, damage to goodwill and/or economic loss.

11.2 The Company shall have no Liability for any loss that was not reasonably foreseeable by the Company at the time the Company accepted your order.

11.3 Each of the limitations and/or exclusions in this Agreement shall be deemed to be repeated and apply as a separate provision for each of: (i) Liability in contract (including fundamental breach); (ii) Liability for breach of duty of care (including negligence); (iii) Liability for breach of statutory duty; and (iv) Liability for breach of Common law and/or under any other legal basis except that the clause above placing financial caps on the Company’s Liability shall apply once in respect of all of the said types of Liability.

11.4 The Company does not warrant that your use of the Electronic Products will be uninterrupted and/or error free.

11.5 Nothing in these terms and conditions shall exclude or limit the Company’s Liability for death or personal injury due to its negligence or any liability which is due to its fraud and/or any of your statutory rights which may not be excluded or limited due to you acting as a consumer and/or due to any applicable law.  

11.6 Any provision, which would be void under any consumer protection legislation or other legislation shall, to that extent, have no force or effect.  For further information about consumers’ statutory rights, you may contact your local Trading Standards department or Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

12. General

12.1 The failure of either party in any one or more instances to insist on strict performance of one or more of the terms of this Agreement or to exercise any right or remedy under this Agreement or at law will not be construed as a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same term, any breach of any other term nor of the right to enforce another such right or remedy or the same right or remedy arising on another occasion.

12.2 If any provision of this contract is held by the parties or by any court or competent authority to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part under any enactment or rule of law, that provision will be deemed to be deleted and not to form part of this contract and the enforceability of the remainder of this contract will not be affected thereby.  If any provision of this contract is so broad as to be held unenforceable, such provision will be interpreted to be only so broad as is enforceable.

12.3 A person who is not a party to this contract has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this contract, but this does not affect any right or remedy of a third party which exists or is available apart from that Act.

12.4 The Company shall have no liability for any delay in performance to the extent that such delay is due to any event outside its reasonable control including but not limited to acts of God, war, flood, fire, labour disputes, subcontractor and supplier delays, strikes, lock-outs, riots, civil commotion, malicious damage, explosion, governmental actions and any other similar events.  If the Company is affected by any such event then time for performance shall be extended for a period equal to the period that such event or events delayed such performance.

12.5 Any notice or other information required or authorised by this contract to be given by either party to the other may be given by hand or sent by registered post, courier, or facsimile transmission to the other party at their registered office address or any other address notified by one party to the other.

12.6 The Company keeps copies of all contracts it enters into for a period of 6 years.

12.7 This contract shall be governed by English Law and the parties hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

12.8 All contracts for the sale of Products are placed with Computer Bookshops Limited (registered in England and Wales under company number: 01386108) whose registered office is at 205 Formans Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, B11 3AX. The Company’s VAT number is GB378247908.   All comments and queries regarding the services should be directed to PC World Computer Bookstore, 205 Formans Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, B11 3AX; email customerservices@pcworld-books.co.uk or Telephone +44 (0)121 606 0472.

Amended 17 January 2008.