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Terms of Service

Terms of Service

Nature of Service

The Kindest Goodbye is a booking and referral agency. We are not a veterinary clinic and we do not provide veterinary, euthanasia or cremation services ourselves. We connect families with a network of independent home-euthanasia veterinarians and independent aftercare and cremation providers across the UK.

All euthanasia services are provided by independent, registered veterinarians or veterinary clinics, who are solely responsible for those services under British law and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ guidelines. All cremation and aftercare services are provided by independent cremation providers who are solely responsible for those services. The Kindest Goodbye arranges and administers your booking with these independent providers and is not a party to the clinical or cremation service itself.

Our Role and Fees

The Kindest Goodbye acts as agent in arranging and administering your booking with an independent provider, who performs the service and is the supplier of that service to you. The total price shown to you before you confirm comprises the independent provider’s charge for their service together with our fee for arranging and administering your booking. We collect the total payment as agent, pass the provider’s charge to them, and retain our arranging and administration fee as consideration for our own services. The independent provider, not The Kindest Goodbye, is responsible for performing the service.

Cancellations, Changes & Refund Policy

The Kindest Goodbye acts as booking agent for the independent veterinarians and cremation providers who carry out our services. The fees below are the agreed provider prices for each service, and we collect them on the provider’s behalf.

Changes and cancellations may be made by calling our customer care team on 0330 2366 999 or via the link in your booking confirmation email. A cancellation or change takes effect at the time your request is submitted via the link, or at the time of your call, whether or not the call is answered immediately.

Late cancellation or rescheduling

For cancellations or rescheduling within 60 minutes of the start of the appointment arrival window, the following fees apply to compensate the veterinarian for their time, travel and the potential loss of another booking:

Any travel fee the veterinarian added to the visit at the time of booking will also be passed to the veterinarian. For a cancellation, the balance of your payment will be refunded. For a rescheduled appointment, the balance will be applied to the new booking as described below.

Earlier cancellation

For cancellations made more than 60 minutes before the start of the appointment arrival window, an administration fee of £10 will apply, and the balance of your payment will be refunded.

Rescheduling

Appointments may be rescheduled free of charge more than 60 minutes before the start of the appointment arrival window. Rescheduling within 60 minutes attracts the late fees set out above, and any travel fee for the original appointment will be passed to the veterinarian, who will generally already be travelling to you. In either case, payment already received, less any applicable fees, will be held and applied to your new appointment. Any travel fee for the new appointment will be set by the veterinarian allocated to it, and may differ from the original travel fee or may not apply. If the new appointment costs more, the difference will be charged to your booking. If it costs less, the difference will be refunded to you.

If your pet passes away before the appointment

Where a cancellation is due to a pet passing away of natural causes, a full refund will be issued, unless the cancellation is made within 60 minutes of the start of the appointment arrival window. In that case, a fee of £70 plus any travel fee the veterinarian added at the time of booking will apply. If the veterinarian collects your pet and transfers them to the crematorium, the following collection and transfer fees will apply in place of that fee:

Any travel fee the veterinarian added at the time of booking will also be passed to the veterinarian. Where one of our cremation partners collects your pet instead, their own collection charges apply, and we will rearrange timing as best we can to suit you.

Change of mind after the veterinarian arrives

Should the veterinarian attend and you decide not to proceed with euthanasia, a home visit and consultation fee will apply, plus any travel fee the veterinarian added at the time of booking:

Any balance of payment already received will be refunded to you.

Where the service cannot proceed safely

The veterinarian may decline to proceed where, in their professional judgement, it is not safe to do so. In that case, the late cancellation fees set out above will apply, plus any travel fee the veterinarian added at the time of booking, and the balance of your payment will be refunded.

Incorrect booking information

If an incorrect date or address is provided at the time of booking, additional fees may be payable. If, as a result, the veterinarian attends at the scheduled time and the euthanasia does not proceed, the applicable late cancellation fee and any travel fee will apply. If additional travel is incurred due to an incorrect address and the service proceeds, the veterinarian may charge an additional travel fee. If the service is cancelled or postponed because an incorrect address leaves insufficient time to provide it, a late cancellation fee will apply in addition to any travel fee.

If your veterinarian becomes unavailable

Where unforeseen circumstances make the booked veterinarian unavailable for an appointment, The Kindest Goodbye will contact you as soon as possible on the phone number provided at booking to offer an alternative veterinarian or appointment time. If no alternative is acceptable to you, a full refund will be issued.

Service concerns

In the unlikely event that you are unhappy with the service provided by a veterinarian booked through The Kindest Goodbye, please contact us. A full refund may be issued after consultation with company management.

Aftercare and cremation

Transfer. Where the veterinarian transfers your pet to the crematorium after euthanasia, the transfer fee is charged as part of your booking and collected by us on the veterinarian’s behalf. If you cancel the transfer before your pet has been taken into the veterinarian’s care, the transfer fee will be refunded. Once your pet has been taken into the veterinarian’s care, the transfer fee is non-refundable.

Communal cremation. Where you choose communal cremation, payment is collected by us on the crematorium’s behalf as part of your booking. If you change from communal to individual cremation before the cremation has taken place, the communal cremation charge will be refunded in full. If you cancel a communal cremation before it has taken place, the charge will be refunded less an administration fee of £10. Any questions or concerns about the transfer or a communal cremation should be directed to us.

Individual cremation. Depending on the crematorium, payment for an individual cremation is either collected by us on the crematorium’s behalf or made directly to the crematorium. In either case, the individual cremation and any memorial items are provided by the crematorium, and its own terms, including its cancellation and refund terms, apply. Where we collected payment on the crematorium’s behalf, we will pass on any refund due under those terms, less an administration fee of £10. If you change from individual to communal cremation, any refund of the individual cremation charge will be determined by the crematorium under its terms, and the communal cremation charge will be added to your booking. Enquiries, changes, cancellations and disputes relating to an individual cremation or memorial items should be directed to the crematorium. We are happy to help you get in touch with them.

Return of your pet. If you would like your pet returned to you after they have been taken into the veterinarian’s care, please contact us as soon as possible. We will arrange for your pet to be made available for collection or, for an additional fee, returned to you. Timing will depend on the availability of the veterinarian or cremation partner. If your pet has already been transferred to the crematorium for individual cremation, the return will be arranged by the crematorium.

Refunds

Refunds are made to the original payment method unless you request otherwise. They are processed immediately but, depending on your bank or card provider, may take a few working days to appear in your account.

Your statutory rights

If you book online or by phone, you have a legal right to cancel within 14 days under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. By booking an appointment that takes place within that period, you ask for the service to begin during it. If you then cancel, you must pay for any service already provided, which the fees in this policy reflect. Once a service has been fully performed, the right to cancel it no longer applies. Nothing in this policy affects your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

All prices are in pounds sterling and include VAT where applicable.

Service Complaints

The euthanasia and cremation services are provided by independent providers who are responsible for the quality of those services. If you are unhappy with a service provided by an independent veterinarian or cremation provider, please raise this with us and we will assist by referring the matter to the relevant provider. Any refund of the provider’s fees is at the discretion of that provider. Disputes concerning aftercare and memorial items are handled by the relevant cremation provider directly.

Variation to Standard Service

Your independent veterinarian may need to vary their clinical approach. For example, if your pet is severely debilitated at the time of arrival, the veterinarian may discuss with you proceeding without giving sedation first, as sedation may make it impossible to gain intravenous access if your pet’s blood pressure is already extremely low. Alternative injection methods, including intracardiac, intrarenal and intrahepatic, may occasionally be necessary or even desirable where IV access is not possible or practical. The attending veterinarian should always discuss any such approach with you in advance of proceeding. Please also be aware that in some rare instances where pets are very unstable, peaceful euthanasia may be achieved with the first injection alone, and an intravenous injection may not be required. All clinical decisions are made by your independent veterinarian in their professional judgement.