InstaHedge® (Metalforce Ltd) Terms & Conditions

Orders and Payments

• Customers who do not have established accounts must pay for their orders in full at time of order/tagging. In the case of orders with long lead times due to the stock still rooting-out, a 50% deposit is required on the entire order at the time of the order to hold the trees. The balance is due 7 days before the scheduled delivery date.
• Orders placed by telephone will be confirmed in writing to ensure that no miscommunication occurs and to ensure your complete satisfaction. We will mail, fax or email you an order confirmation detailing the plant material, delivery address and time frame.
• All orders made and requested urgently by un-established accounts, must be paid for with cleared funds prior to the tree/plants/products being delivered. If delivery is in less than 7 days and the customer has requested that the tree/plants/products be shipped urgently within that time they have waived their statutory rights and the 50% re-stocking fee applies.
• All orders cancelled after seven days are liable for a 50% restocking/cancellation charge if agreed, less all transport costs unless if any have been occurred.
• On return orders, we must be notified within 7 days and will be liable for a 50% restocking/cancellation charge if agreed, less all delivery/transport costs unless any have been occurred.
• All orders that are to be held longer than 30 days outside of agreed time-frames will require any balance outstanding be paid in full and may also incur maintenance charges.
• All special orders for stock bought in cannot be cancelled, unless agreed to by the management, and then with a cancellation fee that may exceed 50%.
• A 1.5% per month interest charge is incurred by all accounts which are not paid within the agreed 30 days from invoice date. It is unlikely further shipments will be made until your account is current and all further purchases will be on a cash basis. Management reserves the right to rescind account status of past due accounts although sales on a cash basis will always be welcome.
• All Credit card payments have a 2.6% transaction fee and Debit card, online payments and cheque payments have a 0% transaction fee.

Reserve Orders

• As a courtesy we allow a potential customer in good standing the opportunity to select and reserve stock for one week (7 days), except when the stock is in flower or autumn colour when no reserve is allowed. However, reserve orders are only allowed on the stock you fully intend to purchase and not a rambling selection that you may purchase a minor percentage of.
• If after your visit, another customer wishes to purchase the stock you have reserved, we reserve the right to call you to verify that you are still interested in it and intend to purchase it. However, in the case where a potential customer regularly reserves stock but rarely converts; we reserve the right to either refuse to reserve stock or sell it to another customer within the seven days if they are not available to confirm.
• All reserve orders will expire after 7 days. We will not necessarily remove the reserve label immediately, but it will be saleable to anyone. If you find that you do not need the stock we would appreciate knowing this as soon as possible.

Deliveries

• Most of our transport is contracted out and delivery charges calculated by the mile. Rates vary according to the type of vehicle required, and whether you request a particular day.
• We will do our utmost to facilitate your requested delivery date and window of time. However, we will confirm prior to delivery the date and approximate time, and are not liable for any damages customer may claim due to delays from weather, war, road closures, mechanical breakdowns, acts of God or any event out of the control of InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd).
• The purchaser must have someone available to carefully check the order and sign, confirming that the trees have been delivered in excellent condition and are accepted. If this is not possible, we will not accept liability for missing or damaged trees.
• Before delivery we may agree that we will provide additional equipment (such as a forklift, etc.) and/or staff to unload the trees. Our drivers will be happy to moreover, but cannot be held responsible you any damage that results. However, additional InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) employees can be provided at an additional fee if arranged in advance.
• Congestion charges are passed on to the client at cost included in the delivery cost agreed.
• Parking permits and/or adequate parking space for the delivery vehicles must be arranged and paid for by the client prior to delivery. If this is not done and parking tickets occur, outside of our control, the cost will be passed on to the client. Additionally, if there is nowhere to park and the delivery has to be abandoned due to no fault of our own there will be a redelivery charge. Furthermore, if we are unable to park close to the project so that it significantly increases the amount of labour required to offload, we reserve the right to notify you of the additional cost you will incur.
• Our driver has the right to reasonably refuse to offload if she/he deems conditions to be unsafe or if conditions are such that the lorry or equipment might get stuck. Furthermore, if required or if you have requested a Moffett truck mounted forklift to offload your trees, but the driver feels that the off road conditions are poor, our driver has the right to decline to place your trees further than they deem safe and reasonable.
• If our truck is stopped from unloading and standing time results, a £45 per hour fee, per truck, will be charged. Having to return the trees to our nursery and redeliver them later will result in an additional labour charge and redelivery fee, unless the error was by InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) or any member of our team.

Collections

• At least 24 hours’ notice is necessary to prepare orders for collection from our nursery, although we may, at times be able to accommodate quicker turnarounds. Outstanding amounts must be settled prior to preparation unless otherwise agreed. When collecting, please ensure that your vehicle is long enough and has ample cover to protect the stock during transit. Weekend collections are possible subject to arrangement.
  Planting
• It is the responsibility of the buyer to mark out exact locations of underground services (electricity cables, gas, etc) on site. InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) can accept no liability for damage to underground services which might occur during excavation of tree/plant pits, unless their precise locations have been clearly marked out prior to commencement of planting works.
• The buyer is given the opportunity to approve precise planting locations of trees/plants prior to excavation of tree/plant pits. Should the buyer change their mind about the positioning after planting pits have been dug, InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) reserves the right to charge for the additional labour required to re-site tree/plant pits. In such cases, InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) also reserves the right to postpone/reschedule completion of planting works in order to meet scheduling commitments to other customers. Furthermore, with very large trees it may be impossible or prohibitively expensive to move a tree once it has been planted without very large additional equipment.
• If planting on ground that the customer does not own freehold, or where covenants require permission from others, it is the responsibility of the buyer to ensure that all permissions have been received prior to planting. If at any time either immediately prior to planting or on the day of planting we have to stop and pull off and/or reinstate the planting area, the cost for this extra work will be borne by the customer. If the job is cancelled the normal restocking charges apply.
• Our staff use their professional judgment as to the best way to secure your tree at planting based on the information you give them. However, if the planting team, once on site, deems the method selected as inadequate due to conditions not disclosed at time of purchase, InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) has the right to request that you pay for the additional cost of securing your tree(s). If not agreed the warranty will be invalid should the tree fail due to insecure anchoring. Of course InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) will bear any additional costs if it was due to an error on our part.
• Client dug tree pits must be excavated to correct depths. It is the responsibility of the client or client’s representative to confirm planting depths with their InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) member of staff to excavation. Furthermore it is critical that an appropriate amount of the best topsoil is left beside the tree pit and that it is not trampled down or frozen. If at all possible dig the tree pits no more than one day in advance and please ensure that the tree pit does not fill up with water prior to our arrival. With client dug tree pits, any extra soil left over after planting will not be removed by InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd). Any deviation from the above including incorrect planting depth or excessive width that requires correction by our staff will result in additional labour charges.
• Occasionally, the planting crew will arrive on site to plant your tree(s)/plant(s) and decide for various reasons that it is not possible to use the digger as quoted. These reasons may include that it may do more damage than it is worth, we cannot get the digger in due to inadequate access, etc. As a result it may mean a more labour-intensive and a much harder hand dig, and at a minimum the digger hire will be applied to the labour fee. If excessive an additional fee may have to be charged if we feel that the job was in any way misrepresented, however unintentional. Furthermore, the planting crew may decide that due to poor ground conditions, plant material that is in the way that may be damaged or other unforeseen circumstances, that it makes more sense to hand dig which may increase the cost, but they will consult the office/and or yourself prior to making any decision.

General Terms

• Our Availability List is subject to items remaining unsold at time of order.
• These terms and conditions shall take precedence over any other that customers may attach to their orders.
• Although every effort is made to maintain the prices shown on our availability list for the entire season, InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) reserves the right to modify prices without advance notice.
• We hereby reserve the right to the property of any goods sold until payment in full has cleared.
• All plants are believed to be true to name, but in the event of an error on our part, we shall exchange to correct one of equal measure.
• If a client requests and purchases evergreen or semi-evergreen hedging that contravenes the ‘Hedging Law’, InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) in no way liable for any fines or enforcement action should there be a problem.
• We do our utmost to ensure that plants are undamaged, but as we have no control over the plants supplied by us once they have left our hands, we give no warranty, expressed or implied except for that stated under the ‘Warranty’ section, as to the growth or suitability of the plants to their ultimate location, after acceptance of delivery or collection. Any trees or plant material that is unacceptable must be rejected at the time of delivery or alternative arrangements made with the office. Failure to do so will deem those goods as being accepted by the customer.

Guarantee

Supply Guarantee – If InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) does not plant the tree(s)/plant(s) or the establishment guarantee is not taken out prior to planting, the only guarantee offered is that the stock was supplied structurally sound, had a good root system, was in good health, and true-to-type. It is the customer’s responsibility to check the stock on arrival. We will investigate any complaints in good faith, and replace/refund in cases where legitimate problems are found due to fault on our part. The cost of this limited guarantee is included in the price of the tree(s)/plant(s).

Conditions – This guarantee does not cover accidental or malicious damage, vandalism, and/or failure by client, his employees/staff or subcontractors to provide the correct amount of water and care to the tree during the course of the warranty period. Acts of God such as storm, excessive wind, flooding, drought, earthquake and the like are not covered by the warranty.

• If the trees should fail and it is agreed that InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) is responsible for its replacement, we agree to do our utmost to replace the tree with the same type and size as originally ordered. However, in certain cases, exact replacements may not be possible, in which case you will be notified and an agreement made regarding an alternative choice. The warranty is also based on unchanged access/delivery. We will also take away the original tree and replant the new tree at no further charge, subject to unchanged access. However, in the event that a tree is replaced, the warranty is not extended, but continues and expires in due course as if the tree had never been changed.
• InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) cannot provide a warranty on trees that are selected by the customer or the customer’s agent that are unsuitable for the soil, location or conditions where the tree is planted.
• The customer and/or customer’s subcontractors must not plant the plant material deeper than originally planted or increase the soil depth round the trunks of the trees after planting as this will most likely cause tree failure.
• At no time will InstaHedge (Metalforce Ltd) be responsible for more than the value of the original tree and delivery. If neither party can agree, an independent arbitrator that is mutually acceptable will rule on liability.
• All closeout and sale items are sold ‘as is’ and there is no warranty expressed or implied. No returns are possible once the sale has been completed by the exchange of invoice and payment.

Advice

• In cases where a site visit has been undertaken, we are not able to guarantee against adverse site conditions which were not apparent during the site visit or not disclosed by the customer (i.e. seasonal flooding or high winds). Furthermore, should site conditions materially change after our site visit it is the responsibility of the customer to inform us prior (i.e. at least 48 hours in advance) to the scheduled planting. Obviously, any resultant additional costs will be billable.
• In cases where plant identification is requested to repair or extend an existing hedge or tree line of unknown variety, we are pleased to offer the benefit of our experience, but can only guarantee that the stock supplied is the stock the customer has ordered. In such circumstances the customer is encouraged to seek the advice of an arboricultural consultant for a second opinion to make a firm identification of the species or variety required prior to placing an order.