Refund policy

1. Introduction

We understand that you may sometimes wish to return a product. This policy explains how you can return products to us under appropriate circumstances.

This policy applies to:

1.1 All customers, irrespective of geographical location.

1.2 All orders submitted through our website.

This policy does not affect your statutory rights under UK consumer law, such as the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 or the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

2. Returning Faulty or Damaged Goods

Your consumer rights for returning Faulty or Damaged goods falls under the Consumer Rights Act (which replaced the Sale of Goods Act in October 2015) which gives you the statutory right to return something and seek a refund if products purchased prove to be faulty.

2.1 Your 30 day right to return - You have the legal right to a refund if you return your faulty goods within 30 days of receiving it.

2.2 After 30 days - If you do not reject the goods within the first 30 days, and find a fault within the first six months of possessing your faulty goods, please contact us. At this point, we are legally entitled to offer to make a repair or offer a replacement. Should this be impossible, you may request a refund.

2.3 After six months - After the first six months from the receipt of goods, the burden of proof switches to you to prove the fault you've found was present at the time you purchased the goods in a store or first took ownership of it if you bought it online. We will ask you to provide evidence that your goods were faulty or damaged at the point where you received the goods. While your goods may still be covered under warranty, the matter may need to be dealt with by the manufacturer. In such cases, you may not be entitled to a refund and may instead be offered a repair.

You can use our Returns portal to start the returns process.

3. Warranty

Please see below for details of our warranty period:

3.1 Brand New products: 12 month manufacturer warranty (except ESU products which carry 24 months).

3.2 Pre-owned products: 90 days warranty.

4. Change of Mind & Other Returns

In accordance with the Consumer Contracts Regulations, if your item was bought online, over the phone or by mail order, as a customer you have consumer returns rights.

4.1 The Consumer Contracts Regulations gives you a cancellation period that starts the moment you place your order and ends 14 days from the day you receive your goods.

4.2 You then have a further 14 days from the date you notify the retailer that you'd like to cancel your order to return the goods to them.

4.3 If you have no other legal right to return a product and receive a refund or exchange, then you will nonetheless be entitled to return a product to us and receive a refund in accordance with this policy if:

• We receive the returned product within 30 days following the date of dispatch of the product to you.
• The returned product is unused, in its original unopened packaging (with any seal or shrink-wrap intact), with any labels still attached, and otherwise in a condition enabling us to sell the product as new.
• You comply with the procedure set out in this policy in relation to the return of the product; and None of the exclusions set out in this policy apply.

5. Order Cancellations and Amendments

5.1 Pre-Orders

5.1.1 You can cancel a pre-order at any time up to the arrival of the product. This can be done by contacting us.

5.1.2 You will not be charged and you have the right to cancel at any time.

5.1.3 If a deposit has been paid, this is non refundable or transferable. This will not be refunded unless under certain circumstances at the company’s discretion.

5.2 S Orders

5.2.1 Once an order has been placed, cancellations cannot be guaranteed. It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that their order details are correct at the time of purchase.

5.2.2 Please note that our departments operate at different times, and orders may begin processing shortly after being placed.

5.2.3 We will always do our best to cancel your order upon request; however, this cannot be guaranteed once processing has begun.

5.3 Amendments

5.3.1 Amendments to existing orders — such as changes to items, quantities, delivery address, or payment details — cannot be guaranteed.

5.3.2 Whether an amendment is possible depends on the stage your order has reached in our warehouse.

5.3.3 We will always try our best to make amendments if feasible, but once your order has been processed or dispatched, no changes can be made.

6. Returns Procedure

6.1 The Rails Return portal

All returns should be submitted through the Rails Return Portal whenever possible:

• Standard Returns: Covered under Section 3. A return label will be automatically generated, and handling fees apply.
• Warranty Returns: Covered under Section 2. All requests are reviewed. If approved, you'll receive a free return shipping label. If denied, we'll notify you with the reason.

6.2 International Customers

Currently, international customers cannot submit returns via the portal. Please contact our customer service team for assistance.

6.3 Returns Outside the Portal

If you are unable to submit a return through the portal for any reason, you must contact customer service to obtain a Return Authorisation (RA) number. Your product should then be sent to us with a covering note quoting the RA number.

Except for cases involving faulty, damaged, or recalled products, customers are responsible for all postage costs associated with returns under this policy.

5.4 Return Address

Products returned under this policy must be sent via Royal Mail Signed For to:

 

Rails of Sheffield Ltd, 21-29 Chesterfield Road, Sheffield, England, S8 0RL

7. Exclusions

The following types of products may not be returned under this policy:

• Products liable to deteriorate within the period of 30 days following dispatch
• DVDs, CDs and other audio or video or audio-visual recordings
• Computer software (whether on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or otherwise)
• Newspapers, periodicals, magazines or similar products
• Any product made or modified to order
• Gift vouchers

8. Refunds

8.1 We will give you a refund for the price you paid to us in respect of any product properly returned by you in accordance with this policy.

8.2 Except in the cases of faulty, damaged or recalled products, we will not refund to you the original delivery charges relating to the returned product.

8.3 In the case of faulty, damaged or recalled products, we will:

• In the UK, issue you a postage paid returns label for you to apply to your packaging for deposit at any Post Office.
• Overseas, we will refund reasonable postage costs. Please note that we cannot refund more than the value of the original purchase. Where this is the case we will issue store credit for the difference.
• All refunds must be issued to the same payment method from which the original purchase was made.
• We will process the refund due to you as soon as possible and, in any event, within 30 days following the day we receive your returned product.

8.4 Change of Mind & Other Reasons Refunds:

• Using the Rails Returns Portal all standard returns incur a handling fee, which will be deducted from your refund or store credit to cover return shipping. If you return items at your own expense without using the portal, no handling fee will be charged. This applies only to standard returns.

9. Return Outcomes Using the Rails Returns Portal

9.1 Returned items may be eligible for a refund, store credit or exchange*, providing your return is in line with the rest of our policy.

9.2 You can also now opt for our Shop Now return method which allows you to choose from the below options: Exchange for something different: Exchange your unwanted item(s) for anything across our website, excluding pre-order items. Any additional cost will be paid by the customer upon submitting the return. If the item you choose costs less than the returning item you can decide to receive the remaining amount via a refund or store credit, subject to policies.

9.3 *Exchanges are dependent on stock availability. Non-returnable items won't be eligible for return. Items must be returned within the relevant return time frames and policies specific to store credit, exchange, Shop Now and refunds.

9.4 All exchange orders will be shipped via Standard Royal Mail shipping, unless manually changed due to the price, weight or size of the goods and you’ll receive a new order confirmation email once the exchange has been processed.

9.5 We also offer Instant Exchanges for your convenience. With an Instant Exchange, your replacement order is processed as soon as you register your return—no need to wait until we’ve received your original item(s). Please note, this service excludes self-posted returns that do not use the label or QR code provided through the Rails Return Portal. Once your return has been submitted, your new order will be picked, packed, and prepared for dispatch. You will receive an order confirmation within 24 hours. For security, the full order value will be temporarily held on your card. This hold will be released once your returned item(s) have been posted back to us. You will be required to provide your card details at the time of registration. Please note that we reserve the right to charge your payment card the full value of any exchanged items if the goods are not returned, or if items returned are not the property of the company.

10. Improper Returns

10.1 If you return a product in contravention of this policy, and you do not have any other legal right to a refund or exchange in respect of that product: We will not refund the purchase price or exchange the product. We may retain the returned product until you pay to us such additional amount as we may charge for re-delivery of the returned product; and if we do not receive payment of such additional amount within 14 days of issuing a request for payment, we may destroy or otherwise dispose of the returned product at our sole discretion without any liability to you.

11 Unreasonable Claims / Fair Use Policy

11.1 Our team closely monitors unusual return patterns and activity, therefore if we suspect fraudulent activity within your account, we may have to withhold issuing a refund, block your account and any associated accounts entirely, or implement restocking fees as appropriate.

11.2 Fraudulent activity includes, but is not exhaustive to: claims relating to orders not being received, items missing, unusual patterns of returns activity.

11.3 If you return items that do not match what you originally ordered, we reserve the right to take legal action against you. This includes returning items that are significantly different from the purchased products or attempting to return items that do not belong to the company.

12. Rewards Points

12.1 Points earned: If you return anything from your order, the points you earned will be deducted for those item(s). This is why we have ‘Pending’ points, so that any returns made don’t affect your live (redeemable) points.

12.2 Points redeemed: Any points / money you redeemed on the order will be lost.

See our Rails Rewards FAQ

13. Our details

This website is owned and operated by Rails of Sheffield Ltd.

Our principal place of business is:

Rails of Sheffield Ltd, 21-29 Chesterfield Road, Sheffield, England, S8 0RL

You can contact us:

• by post, using the postal address above;
• using our website contact form;
• by telephone, on +44 (0) 114 2551 436; or
• by email, using info@railsofsheffield.com.

This policy has been created in accordance with UK consumer law and is designed to provide a clear, fair, and hassle-free returns experience for all customers, whether using our Rails Return Portal, powered by Loop Returns, or processing returns directly through our customer service team.

E&OE last updated 26th September 2025