Returns and Refunds Policy

Last updated: 29 August 2026

1. Cancelling before dispatch

Please contact us as soon as possible when you wish to cancel or change an order.

Where an order has not been dispatched or prepared as a personalised item, we will normally cancel it and issue a full refund.

Once it has been dispatched, the online cancellation and return arrangements below will apply.

2. Changing your mind about an online wine order

For most ordinary online wine purchases, you may cancel the order within 14 days beginning the day after the goods are received.

You must tell us clearly that you are cancelling. You then have a further 14 days to return the goods.

To notify us, contact:

Email: simon@beyondthecork.co.uk
Telephone: 07711 876033

Please provide your name, order number, the products concerned and the date received.

3. Condition of returned products

Please return products:

• Unopened. 
• Securely packaged in appropriate wine packaging. 
• With labels, seals and presentation packaging intact where reasonably possible. 
• In a condition suitable for resale. 

You may inspect products as you would reasonably be able to do in a shop. We may reduce the refund to reflect loss in value caused by handling beyond that level.

Opening a wine bottle ordinarily makes it unsuitable for resale. We may therefore deduct up to the full value of an opened bottle from a change-of-mind refund.

This does not apply where the wine is faulty, corked, damaged or not as described.

4. Returning an order

Please contact us before sending wine back. We will confirm the appropriate return or collection arrangements.

Return address: 19 The Hamlet, Waterford Gardens, Climping, BN17 5RY

Unless the products are faulty, damaged, incorrect or not as described, the customer is responsible for the direct cost of returning them.

Where we arrange a collection for a change-of-mind return, we will tell you the cost beforehand and may deduct that direct cost from the refund.

Wine should not be sent through a carrier that prohibits glass bottles, alcohol or liquids.

5. Refunds for change-of-mind cancellations

For a valid cancellation of the entire order, we will refund:

• The price paid for the returned goods; and 
• The cost of our least expensive standard delivery option. 

We do not have to refund the additional cost of an upgraded, express, timed or premium delivery option.

Where only part of an order is returned, the original delivery charge will not normally be refunded unless the returned product was faulty, damaged, incorrect or not as described.

Refunds will be made using the original payment method unless otherwise agreed.

We will make the refund no later than 14 days after receiving the returned goods or satisfactory evidence that they have been sent back. We may withhold the refund until we receive the goods or evidence of return.

These arrangements reflect the statutory 14-day cancellation period, return period, standard-delivery refund and diminished-value rules applying to most distance purchases. 

6. Faulty, corked or oxidised wine

Please contact us promptly where you believe a wine is corked, oxidised or otherwise faulty.

Where reasonably possible, please:

• Retain the bottle, closure and remaining wine. 
• Take photographs of the bottle, label, closure and fill level. 
• Keep the bottle for up to 30 days after notifying us, unless we confirm it can be discarded. 
• Provide the order number and a brief description of the problem. 

We may arrange collection, ask for the bottle to be returned or agree another reasonable way to assess the problem.

Where a product is confirmed or reasonably believed to be faulty, we will offer an appropriate replacement or refund and cover reasonable return costs.

A wine simply not matching a customer’s personal taste is not necessarily faulty. However, customers are encouraged to contact us and we will consider whether a goodwill solution is appropriate.

Nothing in this policy limits the legal requirement for goods to be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described, or the consumer’s statutory remedies for faulty goods. 

7. Bottles damaged in transit, missing or incorrect

Please check your order as soon as reasonably possible.

Where a bottle is broken, leaking, missing or incorrect, please contact us, ideally within 48 hours, with:

• Your order number. 
• Details of the problem. 
• Photographs of the outer packaging and damaged products where possible. 

The 48-hour request helps us investigate with the courier but does not remove your statutory rights.

We will arrange a replacement, refund or other appropriate remedy.

8. Personalised and bespoke products

The statutory change-of-mind right may not apply to goods made to the customer’s specifications or clearly personalised, such as specially printed or engraved packaging.

Standard wine, standard gift boxes and ordinary handwritten gift messages are not automatically treated as personalised goods merely because they have been chosen as a gift.

Faulty, damaged or incorrectly supplied personalised products remain covered by legal rights.

9. Gift vouchers

An unused gift voucher purchased online may be cancelled within the applicable statutory cancellation period, subject to any legal exception.

A voucher that has already been redeemed cannot subsequently be cancelled as an unused voucher.

Refunds for purchases made wholly or partly with a gift voucher will normally be returned first to a replacement voucher or voucher balance, with any remaining amount returned to the original payment method.

10. Tastings and ticketed events

A wine tasting or event booked for a particular date is a leisure service for a specific date. The general statutory 14-day cooling-off right does not ordinarily apply to that booking. Our own cancellation terms below therefore apply. 

Customer cancellation

For public ticketed events and private tastings:

• At least seven clear days before the event: a full refund or transfer to another available event will normally be offered. 
• Fewer than seven clear days before the event: there is no automatic refund, but the booking may be transferred to another suitable person. Where we successfully resell the place, we will issue a refund. 
• Failure to attend: no refund will normally be available. 
• Bespoke private bookings: agreed non-recoverable costs for specially ordered wine, food, venue hire or personalised materials may be deducted where clearly disclosed before booking. 

Where reasonably possible, we will consider moving a private tasting to another date.

Cancellation by Beyond the Cork

If we cancel an event, customers will be offered:

• A full refund; or 
• A transfer to a suitable alternative event or date. 

Where we make a material change to the date, venue or nature of the event and the customer does not accept the change, a refund will be offered.

11. Wedding and party sale-or-return orders

Sale-or-return is available only where agreed in writing before the order is placed.

Unless the written quotation states otherwise:

• No more than 25% of the quantity supplied of each approved wine line may be returned. 
• Products must be returned within seven days after the event. 
• Bottles must be unopened, undamaged and suitable for resale. 
• Labels, foils and presentation must be intact. 
• Bottles should be returned in their original cartons. 
• Special-order, personalised, discontinued or clearance products cannot be returned unless agreed. 
• Bottles that have been chilled, water-damaged, excessively handled or stored in unsuitable conditions cannot be returned. 
• The customer is responsible for agreed return or collection costs. 
• Refunds will be based on the price originally paid for the eligible returned bottles. 

The 25% cap is a commercial Beyond the Cork policy rather than a legal requirement. It is based on the useful structure used by specialist wine retailers for event orders and protects you from receiving most of a large wedding order back after stock has been committed. 

12. Statutory rights

Nothing in this policy affects rights provided by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 or other applicable consumer law.