Terms and Conditions
We're afraid that none of the following is particularly interesting, but the reality is that we live in a world dominated by lawyers and so, while tiresome, it is essential that we include all of this.
This does not affect your statutory rights of course, so if you feel the need to sue us - fire away!
These Terms and Conditions were updated August 2022
1. Registration
By signing up to our website and purchasing products from COOK Trading Limited, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions of sale, which apply to all transactions on cookfood.net Signing up to the service means we must have the following information:
- Your address, including the postcode of the billing address associated with the payment card.
- Your home telephone number
- Your email address, so we can supply you with important information such as your order confirmation and changes to the COOK Home Delivery Service
COOK Trading Limited only sells goods on our website to the end user and they should not, in any way, be resold without our prior written consent. There shall be two stages of order confirmation. The first shall be the 'on screen confirmation' immediately after the payment has been received, and the second shall be an email to confirm your full order details. We do not hold your payment details from any previous orders. Therefore, every purchase at cookfood.net shall require new payment details entered. It is your responsibility to keep your password secure.
2. Product Prices
The price of goods charged shall be as quoted on the web site at the time you confirm your order with us. Excluding any inadvertent technical error on pricing, we will honour any prices as published at the time of placing your order. Your credit card shall only be charged for items dispatched to you. Due to differing product promotions the prices displayed on the website may vary to prices in our retail stores and independent outlets selling our meals. If you order a large portion-size of a meal and it is not available then we will endeavour to supply the same number of total portions but in smaller tray sizes. Your card will not be charged extra if the price of these smaller trays is greater than the ordered amount. All of our food products are zero-rated for VAT. However, the price of our ceramic dishes include VAT at the standard rate. Our VAT Registration Number is GB 803 1373 68. Our minimum order level is £45.00 for orders fulfilled by our courier with a £6.95/£8.95 delivery charge, with free delivery on orders fulfilled by our courier over £95.00 in England and Wales with reduced delivery charge of £2 elsewhere. Our minimum order level for orders fulfilled by our COOK Shops is £45.00 with a flat delivery charge of £3.50, there is no free delivery for orders fulfilled by our COOK shops. If shortages of a product mean that the total price of the dispatched goods fall below any delivery threshold, COOK shall honour the original delivery charge. Prices of goods do not include the delivery charge.
3. Vouchers and Discounts
Certain discounts will not be available for online orders, such as staff discount and any local adverts, vouchers or charitable promotions that do not include an online voucher code.
Our product promotions are available to all and are accessible from the homepage. They will be applied automatically when you add the correct items into your basket where they will be highlighted as a promotion for you to check. Product promotions that are live on the website are compulsory if you add the correct combination into your basket. Unfortunately opting out from these is not possible.
Online vouchers may be sent to you if you opt in for correspondence via email or in the post. You shall be given a unique voucher code to enable you to take advantage of any promotion we offer. Please check your voucher expiry dates as they do have a time limit and we do want you to have the opportunity to use them. Unless a time is stated, please assume that the code will expire at midnight on the date stated. Most voucher codes will not be valid for use in conjunction with other offers, or on top of product promotions or discounted items (such as meal packs). If there is a minimum spend for the voucher to apply, the minimum spend amount must be in addition to any promotions, meal deals, multi-buys or other discounted items. Each voucher code may be used only once per household and COOK reserves the right to refuse a sale if it feels that fraud is suspected. Different households may receive different offers. The full terms and conditions printed on the voucher apply in addition to these terms so please check before purchasing.
Please note that on home delivery orders, if a discount voucher code takes the order below the minimum order value threshold you will need to add additional products to your basket to reach this threshold. The same applies to the free delivery threshold – if your voucher takes you below this, you will need to either pay the appropriate delivery charge, or add additional products to get free delivery again.
If the voucher code or promotion has not been successfully applied and the order completed within the specified time frame we are not obliged to re-issue a voucher code or apply the discount retrospectively.
4. Gift Cards & E-Gift Cards
1. Gift Cards and E-Gift Cards are redeemable within expiry date at all COOK shops and for orders placed at cookfood.net or by phone for online orders for Click & Collect and Home Delivery.
2. Gift Cards and E-Gift Cards are not valid at independent shops selling COOK food.
3. Gift Cards and E-Gift Cards cannot be exchanged or refunded for cash.
4. Photocopies of Gift Cards will not be accepted in a COOK shop.
5. Gift Cards and E-Gift Cards can be used towards purchases at a higher price than its face value upon payment of the difference.
6. If a Gift Card or an E-Gift Card is used for a transaction at a lower value than the value of the card then the balance will update on the same Gift Card or E-Gift Card. This applies to orders placed online or over the phone too. Please do get in touch if there are any issues.
7. COOK Trading Limited is under no liability for replacement or refund should Gift Cards or E-Gift Cards be lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed whether they have been redeemed or not, furthermore we reserve the right to refuse any gift cards which have been mutilated, damaged or defaced.
5. Delivery
The following refers to our National Home Delivery service. For local home delivery please refer to the terms and conditions at shop level. COOK Trading Limited uses a next day carrier to deliver all items purchased from cookfood.net If no special instructions are added during the delivery details screen of the order process, as the customer you are agreeing to sign for the delivery. No boxes shall be returned to the depot; they shall be left at the delivery address and chargeable to you, the customer. Special requirements shall be followed, but please make sure that they are deemed 'reasonable' e.g. allowing ample space in freezers for the delivery boxes. Or instructions to knock at a neighbour’s house should mean it is within short walking distance of your property, and does not involve the courier travelling any further. Our third party courier will aim to deliver your order to the time specified on the order confirmation. However, due to circumstances beyond our control such as weather and traffic conditions, we may not always be able to deliver by the time specified. In this situation we shall try to deliver later in the day and will refund the paid delivery charge. We shall attempt to contact you prior to the driver leaving a failed delivery, because we are keen to make sure that the service works for you, but we can't guarantee we shall be able to get hold of you. We reserve the right to restrict deliveries in certain areas and this includes the right to withdraw the service altogether, depending on the demand on our kitchen.
6. CLICK & Collect
We’ll do all we can to make sure your order is ready on time and that all of the meals are available, but we can’t be liable for any other loss, costs or damage caused by a delay to your collection, or for any part of the order being out of stock. Wherever possible we’ll contact you in advance to let you know if anything’s missing or will be delayed. Missing meals will be refunded, or may be swapped for an alternative item(s) of the same price.
Outside of Christmas we'll generally try to hold your order for 7 days after we expect to see you, at which point we’ll contact you to see if you still want your goods and to arrange a refund if you decide you no longer want the order. For some shops this 7 day window may be more difficult to manage due to reduced storage space so we reserve the right to request collection on or nearer your selected collection date. During peak times at Christmas you will need to collect within 1 day of your collection date, otherwise we will need to cancel the order.
Please note that refunds may take 2-3 working days to be credited to your account, and can only be refunded to the card used for payment.
If you want someone to collect on your behalf they must bring a payment card with your name on it as proof of ID and either our order confirmation email or SMS confirmation. We will accept Gift Vouchers and promotional vouchers (where stated in individual promotion T&CS) for Click & Collect orders, however the voucher(s) must brought in when the order is collected; if a voucher can’t be verified then this amount will be charged separately and must be paid for before the order can be taken away.
7. Plastic Bags Charge For Online Orders
When ordering online for Click & Collect you’ll have the option to opt in for carrier bags at the online checkout. If you’re doing a Click & Collect order and you opt out of carrier bags, please bring a bag to put your order in when you collect (otherwise we’ll need to charge you for bags at the till). For our national courier delivery service there will be no change as your order will arrive in an insulated box. For local deliveries that used to be delivered in bags we’ll arrive with your order in trays or boxes that you can unpack from (but we’ll need to take the trays or boxes back to re-use for future orders). The money you pay for bags (minus VAT) will got to Foodcycle (a registered charity no. 1134423).
8. Cancelling an order
(United Kingdom Distance Selling Regulations)
As an online retailer we are governed by the UK Distance Selling Regulations. However, as we are selling perishable goods, the regulations relating to the return of unwanted goods do not directly apply to us. For more information, please go to www.dti.gov.uk Orders can be cancelled up to two full days before the delivery day.
9. What if I'm not happy with my goods?
Our refund policy
If you are unsatisfied with any of the items in your order or any part of the delivery service from COOK please contact us - either by emailing us via the Contact Us page of the website or by telephoning 01732 759 020 and asking for Home Delivery. If you would like to make a comment or recommendation regarding our food, then please visit the Contact Us page of the website and select "Comment about our food". As we sell perishable goods, we ask that you - the customer - inspect the food once you have opened the box. If you are unhappy with the goods, please contact us immediately on 01732 759 020 and ask for Home Delivery. We shall be happy to exchange or refund any item you feel does not our quality standards, or any item that has been damaged in transit. If we have sent you an incorrect item, please notify us as soon as possible. If you would like us to replace the incorrect item with the item that you ordered, we shall send you the correct one as soon as possible. Obviously we shall not charge you for incorrect item. We operate an open and honest policy at COOK and will work our hardest to make sure we can accommodate and act on any problems or suggestions.