Terms & Conditions

IMPORTANT SAFETY WARNING - OUR PRODUCTS ARE NOT TOYS - PLEASE READ:

The items on this site are NOT TOYS, they are detailed miniatures designed for mature collectors, gamers and modellers. Our white metal products are not suitable for children aged under 14 years, or for unsupervised use by anyone who cannot be trusted to handle them responsibly.

Most of our products are cast in a high quality WHITE METAL, which is an alloy of lead and tin plus small amounts of other metals. Items containing LEAD can be dangerous if chewed or swallowed. Items may also have small parts and/or sharp points or edges, which can injure if handled incorrectly. Do not smoke, eat or drink when working with unpainted metal castings, and ensure that you always wash your hands thoroughly after handling unpainted models and parts. Suitable eye protection is strongly advised when cleaning up and assembling models and figures. All use and safety instructions should be read and followed when using any modelling paints, glues, sprays and tools to work on our products.


VAT

Ground Zero Games (GZG) is registered in the UK for VAT. Our VAT number is 700 0031 30. VAT is charged at the prevailing UK rate (currently 20%) on all items (except books) that are shipped to addresses in the UK or EU. For customers OUTSIDE the EU (eg: USA, Canada, Australia and rest of world), VAT is NOT charged. The store will display retail prices either with or without VAT, you can change this setting at will via the control on the store interface. If you are in a country where the VAT is not applicable, then click the control to the "VAT exclusive" setting to see the actual price you will be charged for each item.

When you place your order, the store will determine whether or not VAT should be charged according to the country the order is going to; Please note that in all cases, wherever the order is being shipped to, the final complete order will have all prices dispayed EXCLUSIVE OF VAT, and any relevant VAT amount that is charged will be displayed separately in the "tax" box on the order confirmation/invoice.

 

SHIPPING/POSTAGE COSTS

When you place an order, the store software will calculate and add on a shipping charge depending on the value of the order and where it is going to.  Please note that such charges do not simply reflect the cost of postage, they also contain elements of packaging and order processing costs.

For most orders except very small ones, we will usually (at our discretion) use tracked and/or registered services like UK Recorded, UK Special Delivery or International Signed-For service. The cost of these is factored into the way the store calculates the shipping costs - there is no extra separate charge for these services, they are used for our protection as well as yours. Most overseas orders are sent by Small Packet airmail which has a maximum parcel weight of 2kg, and we will commonly break down larger orders into two (or sometimes even three) separate packets to keep each under the weight limit. When we do this, each packet will be clearly marked as "1 of 2 packets", "2 of 2 packets" etc., so that you know that there is more than one package to come, as they may well arrive on different days despite all being posted by us at the same time. For EXTREMELY large or heavy orders we may instead pack everything in one box and send it by Parcelforce's services, but this is unusual.

The store shopping cart system will show you the amount of shipping that you will be charged when you go to the checkout stage, before you make your payment; if you are not happy with the amount billed, please DO NOT complete payment on your order. Completion of the checkout process and making payment of the requested amount confirms your acceptance of the shipping charges made. Customers are responsible for paying any and all customs, duty and handling charges that may be levied on their orders by Customs and other authorities in the country of receipt.

 

DISPATCH TIMES

Under normal circumstances we will dispatch your order within a few days of it being placed, however under exceptional circumstances it may take longer - please allow up to 28 days for dispatch, although delays of this sort should be very unusual. If there is likely to be an abnormal delay in dispatch, we will do our best to notify you and explain the situation. After dispatch from us, delivery time to you is dependant on the postal services - for all orders outside the UK please allow sufficient time for clearance through Customs and other security checks where appropriate.

Wherever possible we process and pack orders in sequence on a "first come, first served" basis, but occasionally this may vary according to stock levels and other circumstances.



CONTACT DETAILS

For details of how to get in touch with us, please refer to the "CONTACT US" section of the store site.

 

GENERAL

All items are sold unpainted and unassembled. Painted and/or assembled figures shown anywhere on the site are for display and inspirational purposes only.  Some photos may show other items which are not included in the particular kit or product in question - in particular, some customer-submitted photos in the store and galleries may show models which have been accessorised with extra parts not included in the basic kit and/or have been subject to minor conversion work.

The manufacturing process (centrifugal casting into rubber moulds) used to make white metal models inevitably results in some degree of mould lines and flash on most castings. Figures and parts will therefore usually require some cleanup work with modelling files, snippers, knives etc. to remove mould lines, flash and any other waste metal before they are ready for painting. Multi-part metal kits require some modelling experience to assemble - while we do our best at the design stage to ensure that our models are as easy to assemble as possible, it must be understood that centrifugally cast parts are not as precise as, for example, an injection-moulded plastic kit. Please apply all reasonable safety precautions when working with modelling tools, paints, glues etc, and always read and follow all safety instructions on such products.

Composition of units, squad, platoon and fleet packs may vary from that stated depending on stock availability and other circumstances. In the event of substitutions having to be made, they will be of equal or greater value to the regular listed items.

Prices are subject to change at any time without prior notice.

Payments made through our online checkout systems by card or by PayPal are taken at the time of ordering. Please note that payments made this way are processed by external merchant services providers, we at GZG do not get to see your financial details at any point.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Certain of our ranges have "adult" themes and are suitable for over 18s only; by viewing any range or item that has a "over 18" warning on it, or by ordering any item from our GC, GCS or SLT ranges and confirming that you have read and understood these terms and conditions when you place the order, you certify that you are over 18 and have no moral or ethical objections to miniature figures depicting nudity and/or other adult themes.


CONFIRMATION OF ONLINE ORDERS

Once you have made your order and completed the online checkout process, we will be notified that your order has been placed and paid for. We will check and review the order as soon as possible within working hours (please bear the time difference in mind if you're ordering from outside Europe), and once we accept the order you will be sent a confirmation email. Please note that the store does NOT generate a confirmation email as soon as you've placed the order - you will not receive this until we check and accept the order, though you may check the status of your order online at any time to confirm that the store has received it. We (GZG) reserve the right to decline and refund orders where errors arise in the price, code or description in the store, or if insufficient payment is sent. We also reserve the right to decline any order that appears to be potentially fraudulent or suspicious in any way. If there is any problem with your order, or there is anything in it that is likely to cause a significant delay in processing it, we will do our best to contact you by email as quickly as possible - to facilitate this, please ensure that your email and filters are set up to allow messages from our addresses (see "contact us" section).

Please email us separately if you have any special requests regarding your order so that we can confirm whether the request is possible, and therefore whether we can accept your order. Please do NOT put special order requests in the "message" boxes of Paypal payments.

 

CREDIT CARD ORDERS

All credit and debit card payments are processed at the point of order, by our chosen Merchant Services Provider (Barclaycard Merchant Services). They are processed on a separate secure site to which you will be redirected by the store checkout system. The services provider may require you to complete various security checking procedures, such as the "Mastercard Securecode" or "Verified by Visa" scheme, before completing your payment; please comply wih all on-screen instructions to complete these procedures, they are for your protection as well as ours.

Invoicing address details on all cards must match the registered address of the cardholder in all cases.

Orders paid for by credit card must have a valid telephone number that allows the cardholder to be contacted in the event of any problems or other matters arising.

 


LOST PARCELS

You should allow up to 15 days (UK) and up to 25 days (Europe and Worldwide) for your order to reach you after receiving dispatch advice from GZG. The Royal Mail search and claims process for lost or delayed parcels cannot be started until 15 days (UK) or 25 days (Europe and Worldwide) have elapsed. However, typical transit times under normal circumstances should be around 1-2 days in UK, 3-5 days to Europe and 7-14 days to the USA and RoW (these are approximate delivery times AFTER the date that we actually dispatch the parcel). If your order has not appeared in that time, it is worth checking with your local postal delivery office to make sure the package is not waiting there for you to collect - from past experience, we know that not all postal services are 100% sure to leave a card notifying you that a parcel is there for collection!

In the (very rare) event that an order goes astray in the post, we will first make enquiries to the postal services to try to locate it; if this fails, then we will replace the order, or cancel it and give you a full refund at our discretion. We appreciate the assistance of customers in pursuing claims against the postal service for lost parcels.

We obtain proof of posting for all orders that we dispatch. Proof of posting verifies the time and date of dispatch, and the weight of a parcel. Parcel weights may be used to verify the contents of a parcel to substantiate claims for missing items.

IMPORTANT NOTE: very, very occasionally, with larger overseas parcels (despite our best efforts to label and describe the packets accurately) there can be cases where some faceless airport security worker arbitrarily decides that he doesn't like the look or feel of the parcel, slaps a "do not fly" sticker on it and chucks it into a bin for surface (sea) mail only. If this happens (and I know of only 4 or 5 times it has occurred in the last few years, of all the thousands of packets we ship), there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it except wait the extra time for it to arrive (up to 6-8 weeks) - Royal Mail will accept no responsibility at all, blaming the airlines, and will pay out no compensation for the services paid for but not provided. Should you have a case where a parcel does not arrive within the normal time from you receiving the advice of dispatch, please contact us and we can investigate to see if this is what has happened to it.

 

CANCELLATIONS, RETURNS & REFUNDS

Under the Distance Selling Regulations, UK and EU customers may change their minds and cancel and return an order within seven working days of receipt of that order, for any reason, and receive a full refund (including shipping charges originally paid). You can find full details of the DSR via the Office of Fair Trading's website, here: www.oft.gov.uk

Customers must return all goods supplied to them if they cancel an order.

Customers are bound to take good care of goods they receive and to return unwanted items in good condition. Customers that do not return unwanted items in good and resaleable condition are liable for the cost of such items.

Customers must return goods at their own expense.

Please note that under UK law distance selling regulations do not apply if customers have seen and examined figures in person at a show and then ordered online at a later date.

We will of course replace items that are damaged in transit, or that are incomplete or faulty. While we always do our utmost to ensure that only good castings and complete models are dispatched, there will inevitably be occasional cases when a miscast item slips through the checking, or where a multi-part kit is missing a piece - if this occurs please contact us as soon as possible (email is prefereable for this) and we will do our best to sort it out in a timely manner. We may at our discretion require that faulty or damaged items are returned to us for inspection before being replaced.

If the postal services attempt delivery to you and fail, then they should notify you by leaving a card, telling you that a package is awaiting your collection at the post office. If this occurs, it is your responsibility as customer to ensure that it is collected within the time period indicated by the postal services. If a package is returned to us by the postal services because it has not been collected in time from the sorting office, we will contact you to determine if you wish to cancel the order (in which case we will refund the full purchase cost of the goods, but NOT the original shipping costs) or to re-send it to you, in which case we will need to levy an additional charge for the re-shipping cost. The Royal Mail can take three to eight weeks to return a domestic package, potentially much longer for an overseas one.


QUERIES & COMPLAINTS

We put a very high priority on good customer service, and want you to be happy with our service and products. In the unlikely event of a problem, we will always do our best to sort it out quickly and to your satisfaction. If you have a query or complaint about your order please contact us by email in the first instance. If you wish to phone instead (see the "contact us" section), please leave your name and a contact phone number and we will return your call as soon as possible.

Please check your order carefully on receipt and advise us as quickly as possible of any discrepancies between what you have ordered and what you have received. Please check that all multi-part kits and multi-figure sets are complete. Missing or damaged items must be notified to us in writing (email) within THREE days of your receipt of the parcel.



CONFIDENTIAL DATA

Information collected on this site is held in a database as part of our online shop, and used exclusively for order processing purposes. We will not pass on this information to any other person or organisation, nor use it in unsolicited marketing. Please see the "privacy" section for more details.


DISCOUNTS

From time to time we may run special promotional discount offers on part or all of our product ranges; please watch our news announcements for details of anything like this.

 

SAMPLES

Sorry, but we do not send out free samples of our products. If you wish to inspect samples before making a bulk purchase, we recommend that you come and see us at one of the wargame shows we attend - if that is not possible, then please contact us by email and we will arrange for some suitable samples to be sent out in return for a payment via Paypal. Please note that samples are non-returnable.

 

LEGAL

All information given on this site is provided in good faith and is correct to the best of our knowledge; however we (GZG) cannot be held responsible for any errors, omissions or oversights, or for any events, loss or damages arising from such. The laws of England and Wales apply to all transactions and other matters arising from this site and our business. Should any clause or part of these terms and conditions be judged to be unenforcable under English Law, that in no way negates any other clauses or terms.

Your statutory consumer rights are unaffected by these terms and conditions.


 

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