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Handy Hippo Help Guide

• How do I order?
• I have a discount voucher. How do I use it?
• What payment methods can I use?
• How is my order delivered?
• What are your postage and packing charges?
• What is the Handy Hippo Safe Shopping Guarantee?
• How do I contact Handy Hippo?
• What are the terms and conditions?
• What is the returns policy?
• What is your privacy policy?
• What is your policy on recycling and the environment?
• What is an News Feed? (They look like this... )

How do I order?

Shopping is easy and secure at Handy Hippo. Just browse around the store and add the items you want to your shopping basket. When you are ready, click on one of the 'Proceed to Checkout' buttons and enter your details into the form.

Finally, choose how you would like to pay - Handy Hippo lets you pay using almost any credit or debit card either over the phone, or securely online.

We will send you an email to confirm your order details, and another one when your order is packed and sent out to you. You can also track the progress of your order from Your Account.

You will need "cookies" enabled on your web browser to shop at Handy Hippo. Most web browsers, including Internet Explorer have this feature on by default, so you should have no problems. If you need to enable cookies, but don't know how, Google has a useful guide that you can read by clicking here.

I have a discount voucher. How do I use it?

Using your discount voucher is easy. Just go through the checkout like normal. When you reach the Order Summary page after you have entered all your details, look for the voucher box just under your address information. Type your voucher code into the box, carefully entering all the letters, number and dashes in the voucher. All Handy Hippo vouchers are made up from 3 blocks of letters and numbers, separated by dashes.

Press the "Apply" button when you are done and your voucher will be added to your order. Check your order to make sure the voucher shows up - you should see it mentioned at the bottom of your order.

If there was a problem, a message will let you know what was wrong. A common problem is confusing capital o and the number 0, or capital i and the number 1.

How does Handy Hippo Deliver?

Handy Hippo uses DHL@Home for many orders. This is a special home delivery service from DHL that offers deliveries to residential addresses across the UK, at times that are convenient for you. Deliveries can be made between 7:30am and 9:00pm, ensuring it fits it with your busy schedule. If you are out when the first delivery attempt is made, you will be left a card and can call to arrange a suitable delivery time.
We also ship smaller and lighter orders using Royal Mail's first class delivery service.

How quickly is my order delivered?

We normally aim to dispatch orders within 1 to 2 working days. You can check our current dispatch times by looking at our home page. If part of your order is out of stock, we may dispatch the items that are in stock right away and send on the remaining items as soon as they are back in stock. You will not be charged any additional postage if we send your order in more than one part.
If part of your order is likely to be out of stock for a while, we will contact you to give you the option of cancelling that part of your order.

Normally we expect items to be delivered in 1 to 2 days of dispatch, however we can not guarantee delivery times and we cannot be held responsible for delays by the courier / postal service.

Please allow up to 28 days for delivery.

What are your postage and packing charges?

Delivery is FREE for all orders over £ 40.00. For orders under £ 40.00, we charge a flat fee of £ 2.95 regardless of destination or weight.

If you go to the View Basket page, the delivery costs for your order will be fully itemised, so you can see the total value of your order before you go through the checkout.

Where does Handy Hippo deliver?

We are able to deliver to most UK addresses, including addresses in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, we are not able to deliver to the Channel Islands at this stage.

Incomplete orders and damaged goods

If your order arrives and some items are missing or damaged, then please contact us immediately and we will endeavour to resolve the problem. Please have your order number ready, as this will help us track your order more efficiently.

What payment methods does Handy Hippo accept?

We accept payment from Paypal and most popular credit and debit cards, including MasterCard, Visa, Maestro and Delta.

Can I pay online?

Yes! Our online payment system (provided by Worldpay, a division of the Royal Bank of Scotland) uses all the latest technology to ensure your transaction is secure. Use the Handy Hippo checkout and choose the "Pay Online" option when you are asked which payment method you would prefer.

Can I pay over the phone?

Yes! Shop like normal at Handy Hippo and when you are ready to pay, go to the checkout. When you reach the order summary page, you will be asked which payment method you would like to use. Just click on the "Pay by Phone" option, call us up and quote your order number. We can take your card details over the phone and complete your order.

Terms and Conditions

Please read our terms and conditions.

Returns Policy

If you are not completely satisfied with any of our products, you can return them to us for a refund within 30 days of purchase.

Simply contact us for a Returns Number and send the goods back within 30 days of purchase. All goods and packaging must be in resalable condition. We will be able to refund you for the value of any goods returned to us.

Please note that we can only offer refunds for CD-ROMs if they are returned to us unopened and unused.

If you have received damaged goods or the incorrect items in your order, we will either offer you a full refund or a replacement. We will also refund any postage costs you incur, if the error was ours.

Please also note that if your order qualified for free postage and packaging, and you decide to return some items that would bring your order below the free postage line, we will refund your goods minus our standard postage charge of £ 2.95. In addition, if your order included a multibuy discount that you would no longer qualify for after returning items, the discount you received will be taken off your refund amount.

Under the terms of the distance selling regulations, you also have a 7 day cooling off period from the day you receive your order. During this time you can change your mind and cancel your entire order with us. You must contact us inside the 7 day period, in writing (email or fax can be used) to let us know that you want to cancel your order. When we receive all the goods back, we will be able to issue you with a full refund.

Privacy Policy

Handy Hippo makes a commitment to protecting your privacy and promises only to use information collected about you in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

We collect your name, address, phone number and e-mail address when you place an order. We need this information so we can complete your order and contact you if there is a query.

We do not store your credit card details.

Recycling and the Environment

Everyone at Handy Hippo is concerned about the environment. We use several approaches to limit the resources we use and to recycle whatever we can...

• All the boxes that we purchase are 100% recyclable. Many of the boxes we use are made from 100% recycled material as well, but we try to ensure that all boxes are made from at least 75% recycled material. Please recycle your boxes if possible so that one day they might be made into new boxes that we can use.
• We receive many deliveries from suppliers and occasionally they will use expanded chips to help protect the goods in the delivery. So far these have all been the environmentally friendly bio-degradable ones that can be fully recycled. However, instead of throwing these away, we reuse them to help protect your orders. These are safe to compost.
• Any cardboard boxes and packaging that we receive from suppliers that can not be reused is sent off to be recycled.

What is a News Feed?

News feeds allow you to see when web sites have added new items without having to visit the page. You can use the Handy Hippo news feed to find out about new products as soon as they are made available, for example.

For a detailed explaination of what news feeds are and how you can benefit from them, see the BBC's detailed explanation.

Safe Shopping Guarantee

We realise that some of our customers might be worried about using their credit cards on the internet. As a result of this, we offer the following guarantee...

Secure server software encrypts all your personal information, including name, address and credit card details before it leaves your computer. We make use of the highest quality encryption technology available (technically 256 bit SSL encryption). In addition to this, we do not store your credit card information.

In the unlikely event of someone making a purchase from Handy Hippo using your card without authorisation, most banks and card issuers will cover all the charges or limit your liability to just £ 50. If your Bank expects you to pay the first £ 50 of the claim, then we will reimburse you, provided that the unauthorised purchase was made through no fault of your own.

This guarantee only applies to purchases made using Handy Hippo's secure server.

All our payment processing is handled by WorldPay, a part of The Royal Bank of Scotland , or Paypal.

Contacting Handy Hippo

You can get in touch with us using the following methods...