Personally, I’d prefer to live in a world where terms and conditions were not needed. Especially after writing these out. Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in.

It will be assumed that these terms and conditions are accepted by all users of this site, and by all readers and contributors.

Standard warnings

Caving and all other activities associated with underground exploration are potentially hazardous. Anyone participating in these activities does so entirely at their own risk. Descent and Stalactite Publishing cannot be held responsible for any accident, injury, loss, damage or any other problem that arises whether directly or indirectly linked to the use of this site or our publications.

We accept articles and contributions in good faith, but inclusion of a location within our publications does not mean that access is necessarily permitted. Finding out about access is always the responsibility of the individual or group visiting the location.

All contributors are responsible for the content of their submissions. More information is given on our page: Guidelines for Contributors. We generally accept original content only, but in the event that a contributor has submitted something that is not their own and failed to credit appropriately, the responsibility lies solely with the contributor, not the editor/publisher.

Website and cookies

The internet is rife with cookies and I’m afraid we can’t avoid them. 

To see your browser’s approach to cookies, click the following link:

Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en

Edge: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy

Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences

Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies

Opera: http://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/cookies/

Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac

Disclaimer regarding information on this site and in our publications

All information provided by Stalactite Publishing is given in good faith, but should not be seen to constitute legal or professional advice.

Access to the website

We reserve the right to make changes to this website, including to these terms and conditions, without advance notice and we are not liable if the site should be unavailable at any time. Material posted on this website and in our publications is, to the best of our knowledge, correct at time of publication, but can of course go out of date at any time.

Intellectual property rights and copyright

This website is copyright © Stalactite Publishing. For Descent and associated titles, the content is both the copyright of the author and of Stalactite Publishing. We are grateful to Chris Howes, the owner of Wild Places Publishing and former editor of Descent, for his work with the layout of Descent and for his help with setting everything up, including this website. We respect the copyright of all authors, photographers, artists etc. and we ask that our copyrights are respected too: please do not reproduce anything from any of our publications without asking permission. This includes articles you have written yourself, because we will change the format and layout before publishing.

Ordering items from our site

After placing an order on our website, you should be sent an email with an order number. If this is not received, please contact us via the drop-down menu. You will receive another email when the item is despatched or when your subscription is activated, and it is at this point that our contract with you begins. If for any reason the sale needs to be cancelled, we will do our best to let you know; but, again, if you are ever unsure about what is going on, please contact us.

Our office is a fair distance from the nearest post office and we quite like going on caving expeditions, so please understand that goods may sometimes take a while to be delivered. We will try to let you know if there is likely to be a delay, but please contact us in advance if your item needs to be received in a hurry. 

Prices on this website include postage, so if ordering for delivery to a country outside the UK, the price will be adjusted before checkout. If this has not calculated correctly and you have been undercharged (at UK prices for worldwide delivery, for example) we will have to cancel the order.

EU/Worldwide Customers

The following refers to EU customers at present, but may also apply elsewhere at some point in the future.

On 1 July 2021 the EU removed all exemptions for tax and customs duty on low-value items posted from the UK to the EU, meaning that although VAT is 0% on books and magazines in the UK, it is charged within the EU and the VAT (potentially plus a handling fee) now applies to all orders to the EU.

All small publishers in the UK are now in the same position – we are unable to post any items to the EU with VAT or other duties paid.

When ordering any item from Stalactite Publishing, including a Descent subscription, you accept responsibility for paying the VAT and any other local charges on delivery.

Stalactite Publishing is not able to cover any charges levied by your country; it is your responsibility to accept these when placing an order.

We apologise for this situation, but please understand that it is outside our control. 

Refusal to accept the charge levied by your country will not be accepted as a reason for the item to be returned or refunded.

Cancellations and returns

Under the UK’s Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, any cancellation of an order must be made in writing within 14 days of receiving the goods. If you wish to return an item, please contact us first. You will be responsible for all postage and packaging charges, unless the item is being returned as it is faulty or is not what was ordered. Any returned item must be in its original condition and must be received within 14 days of cancellation. The item remains your responsibility until we have received it. Refunds will be made within 14 days of receiving the returned goods. 

Prices displayed online include postage to the UK, but please be aware that we may have to deduct the price of the postage when refunding goods.

Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations, we are under no obligation to receive returns or make a refund for magazines already supplied. Some of our products, including Descent, are despatched direct from the printers, who are given address details in advance of the publication date. We are unable to recall issues already booked for despatch, so cannot accept cancellations for these issues. This is something that rarely happens, but if for whatever reason you cancel your subscription partway through, there is a high chance that we will have already committed at least one future issue to be despatched from the printers, so will have to deduct the cost of that from any partial refunds we give you.

We tend to use Royal Mail for deliveries. In the unlikely event that anything is lost in the post, a claim must be made for non-delivery within six weeks. Overseas buyers will need to check with their local rules, but it is likely to be a similar timescale.

If items are returned to us as undeliverable, or have not been collected from the post office/carrier, we reserve the right to charge for redelivery. Any delivery instructions are between you and the carrier. 

Jurisdiction

Any dispute or claim arising from this website shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.

Viruses, hacking etc.

Any attacks on our site – including but not limited to: introducing viruses, trojans, worms or logic bombs; gaining unauthorised access to our sites, servers, computers or databases; denial-of-service attacks – will be considered criminal offences and will be reported to the police. Anyone guilty of such actions, regardless of the outcome of a police investigation, will be banned from using this site.

We cannot be held liable for any loss or damage caused by an attack on our sites, servers, computers or databases, or by any material that you have downloaded from this site or any site we have linked to.

Links from our site

We may provide links to other websites, but we are not responsible for any of their content.

Liability summary

To summarise, we are a small business doing our best to help people to enjoy reading about the great outdoors, particularly the underground world. To find fault in something we have done and try to sue us would be pretty darn uncool of you.

Material on this website and in our publications is provided without guarantees of accuracy and cannot legally bind us to be liable for any problems of any kind, howsoever caused.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us and we will do our best to help you.