Cancellation Policy

1. How to cancel or reschedule

Telephone is our official cancellation method. We ask you to call rather than email because a call is immediate: it lets us stop personnel being allocated, equipment being loaded and travel being started, which is exactly what keeps any cancellation cost to a minimum — for both of us.

If you cannot reach us by telephone, please leave a message giving the details in section 2 and follow up by emailing info@neatfieldcleaning.help. An email alone is acceptable, but a call will always be dealt with faster.

There is no penalty for calling early, and no advantage in delaying. If you think work may need to be moved, tell us as soon as you think it — an early conversation is almost always cheaper than a late one.

2. What to tell us when you call

Please have the following to hand so we can identify the work quickly:

• Your booking or quotation reference, if you have one;
• The property address where the work was to be carried out;
• The scheduled date, and time if applicable;
• Whether you are cancelling or rescheduling — and if rescheduling, any dates that would suit;
• Your name and a contact number or email address so we can confirm back to you;
• Whether the change affects one attendance or an ongoing arrangement.

If you do not have a reference to hand, do not let that delay the call. The property address and scheduled date are normally enough for us to find the work.

3. When a request is treated as received

A cancellation or rescheduling request is treated as received:

• at the time of your telephone call, where you speak to us directly;
• at the time you leave a voicemail message containing the details in section 2;
• at the time your email arrives, where you contact us by email.

Where a request is received outside ordinary working hours, it is dealt with at the next reasonable opportunity — but the time of receipt for the purposes of this policy remains the time your call or message was made.

The time a request is received matters, because it determines how much of the resourcing for that attendance could still be stood down.

4. Our confirmation

We will confirm your cancellation or rescheduling request back to you, normally by email or text message, stating what we have understood and what has been changed or cancelled.

Please check that confirmation. If it does not match what you asked for, tell us straight away. A cancellation is not fully settled until you have our confirmation, and if you have not received one within a reasonable time, please call us to check rather than assuming the request has been processed.

Where a cancellation cost applies, our confirmation will explain what it is and why, so you are not left to work it out from an invoice later.

5. Enquiries, quotations and confirmed work

These three stages are treated very differently, and it is worth being clear which one you are at.

5.1 An enquiry

An enquiry places no obligation on you whatsoever. There is nothing to cancel and no cost of any kind. You may simply stop corresponding, or tell us you no longer need a quotation. We would appreciate being told, so we can stop working on it, but you are under no obligation to.

5.2 A quotation you have not accepted

A quotation is an offer from us. Until you accept it there is no agreement, nothing to cancel and no cost. You may decline it, ignore it, or let it lapse at the end of its validity period. You do not need to give a reason.

5.3 Confirmed work

An agreement exists once you have accepted a quotation and we have confirmed that acceptance — see section 5 of our Terms and Conditions. From that point, cancelling means cancelling an agreement, and this policy applies in full.

Even then, cancelling well in advance of a scheduled attendance will very often involve no cost at all, because nothing has yet been committed on our side.

6. Cancellation terms in your quotation

Where specific cancellation terms apply to a particular piece of work, they are set out in the quotation before you accept it. You will never encounter a cancellation term for the first time when you try to cancel.

Specific terms are most likely where work involves commitments we make in advance on your behalf — for example specialist equipment hired for a defined date, materials ordered specifically for your premises, a large team booked to meet a fixed handover deadline, or attendance arranged outside ordinary hours.

Where a quotation contains cancellation terms, those terms apply to that work in place of the general position described in section 7, and they are subject to your statutory rights in section 11.

We do not apply:

• automatic fixed-percentage cancellation penalties;
• flat same-day cancellation fines;
• universal non-refundable deposits;
• charges that bear no relation to any actual loss or cost.

7. Costs already incurred or committed

Where no specific term applies, the general position is straightforward: we may ask you to cover costs we have actually incurred, or irrevocably committed, in preparing for the cancelled work, and which we cannot reasonably avoid.

Depending on the circumstances, that may include:

• equipment or vehicle hire booked for the date and not cancellable;
• materials or consumables purchased specifically for your premises and not usable elsewhere;
• staffing costs already committed for the scheduled period which cannot be reallocated;
• travel already undertaken before the cancellation reached us;
• third-party charges, permits or access arrangements already paid;
• a proportionate amount for work already carried out, where the cancellation is part-way through.

Any cancellation cost we ask for will be:

• disclosed before agreement, where it arises from a term in your quotation;
• fair and proportionate to the circumstances;
• connected to reasonable direct loss or costs genuinely incurred or committed;
• consistent with the accepted quotation;
• subject to your applicable statutory rights;
• explained to you, with a breakdown, rather than presented as an unexplained figure.

In many cases — particularly where you tell us in good time — there will be no cost at all, and we will say so.

8. How we mitigate loss

We take reasonable steps to reduce any loss arising from a cancellation before asking you to cover anything. In practice that means standing down personnel and reallocating them to other work where possible, cancelling equipment or vehicle hire where the hire terms allow, using materials elsewhere where they are not specific to your premises, and offering the released time to other customers.

Anything we successfully avoid or recover is not charged to you. The purpose of a cancellation cost is to cover genuine unavoidable loss — not to profit from a cancellation.

9. Rescheduling

Rescheduling is usually easier and cheaper than cancelling, for both parties, and we would generally rather move work than lose it.

Where you ask to reschedule with reasonable notice and we can accommodate the new date, there is normally no charge. Where a reschedule is requested very close to the scheduled attendance and resources have already been committed, section 7 may apply — but we will always look first at whether the commitment can simply be moved to the new date.

Availability for a new date depends on scope, location and our capacity at the time. We will tell you honestly what we can offer rather than agreeing to a date we cannot hold.

Repeated rescheduling of the same work may mean we need to review the arrangement with you, and in some cases re-quote it — for example where the condition of the premises has changed materially in the meantime.

10. If we cannot gain access or begin work

Where we attend at an agreed time and cannot gain access to the premises, or cannot begin the agreed work because the premises are not in the state assumed by the quotation, we will contact you immediately to try to resolve it.

If the work cannot proceed, the attendance may be treated as a cancellation at short notice, and section 7 may apply — reasonable costs actually incurred, such as travel already undertaken and staffing committed for that period.

This is not a penalty, and it is not automatic. We will look at what actually happened and what could reasonably be recovered. Where the reason was outside your control, or where we could reallocate the time, we will take that into account.

Your responsibilities in relation to access are set out in section 8 of our Terms and Conditions. The simplest protection for both of us is a phone call as soon as you know access may be a problem — we would far rather reschedule than send a team to a locked building.

11. Consumer statutory rights

Where you deal with us as a consumer — that is, wholly or mainly outside your business, trade, craft or profession — you have statutory cancellation rights in addition to everything above.

11.1 The 14-day right to cancel

Where an agreement is made at a distance (for example entirely by telephone, email or through this website) or off-premises (for example during a visit to your home), you generally have the right under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 to cancel within 14 days of the agreement being made, without giving any reason and without any cost, subject to section 12 below.

11.2 How to exercise it

Tell us clearly that you wish to cancel, within the 14-day period. Calling +44 7828 789 641 is the quickest route; you may also email info@neatfieldcleaning.help. Any clear statement of your decision to cancel is sufficient — you do not have to use a particular form of words, and you do not have to give a reason. We will acknowledge your cancellation.

11.3 Refunds

Where you cancel under this right, we will refund any sums you have paid, without undue delay and within 14 days of being informed of your decision, using the same means of payment you used unless you agree otherwise. Section 12 explains the one situation in which a proportionate amount may be retained.

11.4 These rights sit above this policy

Nothing in this policy, in our Terms and Conditions, or in any quotation removes, reduces or restricts your statutory rights. Where anything conflicts with a statutory right that cannot lawfully be excluded, the statutory right prevails.

You can obtain free, impartial advice about your consumer rights from Citizens Advice.

12. Work beginning within the cancellation period

This point matters in practice, because cleaning is often wanted quickly.

If you are a consumer with a 14-day cancellation right and you ask us to begin the work during that 14-day period, we will ask you to make that request expressly, so that it is recorded and so that you understand what follows.

If you then cancel within the 14 days after work has begun at your request, you still have the right to cancel. What changes is that you may be required to pay a proportionate amount for the service actually supplied up to the point you told us you were cancelling, calculated against the total price of the agreement.

Where the service has been fully performed within the 14-day period at your express request, and you acknowledged that you would lose the right to cancel once it was fully performed, the cancellation right is lost for that service.

If you would prefer to keep the full 14-day right, simply ask us to schedule the work after the cancellation period ends. We will explain the position when the work is arranged, so this is never a surprise.

13. Business customers

Where you are contracting in the course of your business, trade, craft or profession, the statutory consumer cancellation rights in sections 11 and 12 do not apply.

For business arrangements, cancellation is governed by the terms of the accepted quotation, together with sections 1 to 10 of this policy and our Terms and Conditions.

The principles in section 7 still apply. Any cancellation cost will be disclosed before agreement, fair and proportionate, connected to reasonable direct loss or costs actually incurred or committed, and consistent with the accepted quotation. We do not apply automatic percentage penalties or universal non-refundable deposits to business customers either.

14. Cancellation or rescheduling by us

Occasionally we may need to cancel or move a scheduled attendance — for example because of illness, equipment failure, a vehicle problem, severe weather, or another event beyond our reasonable control.

Where this happens we will:

• contact you as soon as reasonably practicable, by telephone where the attendance is imminent;
• explain the reason honestly rather than giving a vague excuse;
• offer the earliest realistic alternative date we can genuinely commit to;
• not charge you for an attendance that did not take place;
• refund any sums paid in advance for work not carried out, where you do not wish to reschedule.

Where we end an agreement because we are unable to continue providing the service, we will give you reasonable notice, refund any sums paid in advance for work not carried out, and where we can, suggest how you might arrange alternative provision.

Our position on events beyond reasonable control is set out at section 19 of our Terms and Conditions.

15. Recurring arrangements

For recurring work, there are two different things you may want to do, and they are treated separately.

15.1 Cancelling a single attendance

Skipping one visit — because the premises are closed, a floor is being refurbished, or the building is unusually quiet — is dealt with under sections 1 to 9. Tell us by telephone as far ahead as you can, and it will normally involve no cost.

15.2 Ending the arrangement

Ending a recurring arrangement altogether is governed by the notice period in your accepted quotation. Where no notice period is stated, either party may end it by giving reasonable notice in writing, as set out at section 23 of our Terms and Conditions.

Work carried out up to the end of the notice period remains payable in the ordinary way. We will not make ending an arrangement difficult, and we will not require you to give a reason.

16. Prepaid sums and refunds

Where you have paid in advance — whether a deposit agreed in your quotation or payment for a scheduled piece of work — and that work is cancelled:

• any amount relating to work not carried out is refunded to you, except for any cancellation cost properly payable under section 7 or under a term disclosed in your quotation;
• where a cancellation cost applies, it is deducted from the prepaid amount and the balance refunded, with a breakdown explaining the deduction;
• where the cancellation is by us under section 14, the full prepaid amount for work not carried out is refunded with no deduction;
• where you cancel under a consumer statutory right, refunds are made in accordance with section 11.3 and, where applicable, section 12;
• refunds are made without undue delay, using the same payment method you used unless we agree otherwise with you.

We do not treat deposits as automatically non-refundable. Where a deposit has been agreed, its treatment on cancellation will be set out in the quotation you accepted.

17. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how a cancellation, reschedule, cost or refund has been handled, please tell us. We would rather resolve it directly.

• Telephone: +44 7828 789 641
• Email: info@neatfieldcleaning.help
• Post: NEATFIELD FACILITIES LTD, 66 Paul Street, London, England, EC2A 4NA

Please give us the property address, the date concerned and a description of the problem. We will look into it and respond, explaining our position and what we propose to do.

If you are a consumer and remain dissatisfied, you can obtain free, impartial advice from Citizens Advice, and nothing in this policy affects your right to pursue the matter through the courts. Governing law and jurisdiction are set out at section 25 of our Terms and Conditions.

18. How to contact us

• Telephone: +44 7828 789 641
• Email: info@neatfieldcleaning.help
• Enquiry form: neatfieldcleaning.help/contact.html
• Registered office: NEATFIELD FACILITIES LTD, 66 Paul Street, London, England, EC2A 4NA
• Company number: 17361616, registered in England