Orders & Shipping

Enquiries regarding an order or before placing an order can also be made via the telephone, email or regular post (please see the 'contact us' page for our contact details).

All orders received after 2:00pm GMT will not be dispatched until, at least, the next working day. All orders will normally be processed and dispatched within 24 hours of receipt of order, subject to availability.

Livestock orders will default to next working day courier delivery and will only be dispatched Monday to Thursday for delivery Tuesday to Friday. Every livestock order includes packaging and sufficient insulation to ensure safe arrival.

Courier deliveries dispatched on a Friday or Saturday will not be delivered until the following Monday.

Orders of 2Kg or over in weight are shipped by next working day courier delivery by default, orders under 2Kg are sent by Royal Mail 1st class post by default but you are given the option to pay extra for a courier delivery at the checkout if this is the case. If there is no optional courier delivery displayed at the checkout then your order is 2Kg or over in weight and will be sent by courier delivery by default. Orders over £150 in value will be dispatched by courier free of charge.

We also provide our online customers with a 'Store Pickup or Free Local Delivery option, which you can choose if you are able to collect your order directly from our retail premises or if you are within 10 miles of our shop we will deliver ourselves, thus saving you any shipping charge. If you do choose to collect your order from our premises then we will contact you via email once your order has been made up ready for collection.

All customers will be informed via email of stock availability, charges and expected delivery date on receipt of order.

If any item you order is not in stock you will be informed via email and given the option to cancel your order, just recieve the rest of your order, await the arrival of stock or accept a suggested replacement which may be offered at our discretion.

Should you wish to check on the progress or query any order placed with us, please contact us ensuring that you quote your order number. We regret that we will be unable to check on the progress of any order without the provision of such information.

As a customer you have the right to cancel any order within seven days of your sales contract with The Animal Zone, or within seven days of receipt of the goods (whichever is the longer).

If an order is cancelled prior to dispatch we will return the customers payment immediately but if the customers order has already been dispatched or delivered then all goods must be returned first, payment will then be refunded upon our receipt of the returned goods in unused, undamaged condition.

We ship to the UK mainland only. Delivery charges are applied depending on the weight of your order.

The Animal Zone denies any liability for any delays in delivery, or any consequential loss arising from such delays, once the goods have left our premises due to circumstances beyond our control.

All courier deliveries must be signed for on receipt of delivery and are carried out during working hours, Monday through Friday; you should ensure that someone is available to sign for the goods. Royal Mail deliveries are carried out Monday through Saturday.

We are happy to send your goods to any address that you choose, or to neighbours, relatives, or place of work, as long as there is someone there to sign for the goods.

In the event that any parcel is undeliverable due to no-one being available at the delivery address, and that parcel is returned to us, we reserve the right to deduct the original carriage charge from any refund, or to charge additional carriage if we have to resend the same parcel to either the original address or to a new address.

Refunds & Returns

All returns must be authorised in advance by a member of The Animal Zone staff, you MUST first contact us for authorisation.

Returns should be made by the cheapest method available, and you should obtain proof of posting of such goods, in the event that the goods are not received by us.

Do not send items back by Special Delivery as we will not be responsible for refunding this additional cost to you.

Goods that are returned without the full documentation or that are not in unused, undamaged condition will be treated as abandoned to us and dealt with as such.

All goods returned due to purchaser's error are done so at your own expense, in an unused, undamaged condition together with receipt of purchase and will incur a 15% handling charge plus the carriage costs.

Until the goods are received by us, you remain responsible for any loss or damage to such goods.

In the event that goods were faulty or broken when received:

Once we have received the goods and the nature of the damage or fault is identified by us, a replacement, repair, exchange for alternative item or a complete refund of the purchase price and return shipping costs will be given at our discretion.