Servicing terms and conditions

These terms apply to the assessment and warranty servicing of Cross writing instruments carried out by Manuscript Pen Company Ltd ("we", "us"), registered in England and Wales, company number 02414044, registered office Manuscript House, Netherton Lane, Highley, Bridgnorth, Shropshire WV16 6BF. We are the exclusive distributor for A.T. Cross in the United Kingdom and Ireland and administer the Cross lifetime mechanical warranty in those territories. The warranty itself is Cross's, and its full terms are published at uk.cross.com; these terms cover how we handle your pen.

1. What the warranty covers

The Cross lifetime mechanical warranty covers mechanical failure — the pen not working as it was built to. It does not cover accidental damage, wear, misuse, or damage caused by a non-Cross refill, at any age and however the pen was bought. Whether a fault is mechanical is decided by us when we have the pen in hand.

2. The two ways in

Free claim. If your pen was bought from uk.cross.com within the last twelve months, or was bought elsewhere and the seller has refused to help, has not replied, or is no longer trading, you may claim without charge from us. You send us the details and photographs through the claim form; we check the claim by hand; if it qualifies we email you a confirmation with an order number. A claim that does not qualify is offered the paid assessment instead. Sending the form does not create an order and is not acceptance of a claim.

Paid assessment. For any other Cross pen, the lifetime warranty still applies, and the assessment charge shown when you book is what it costs us to handle the claim. Paying gives you an order number at checkout.

Either way, you need an order number from us before you post anything. We cannot match a parcel that arrives without one.

3. What the assessment charge is for

The assessment charge pays for us to receive your pen, inspect it, decide whether the fault is mechanical, and return your pen or its replacement to you within the United Kingdom. It is not refunded, whichever way the decision goes, including where we find the fault is covered by the warranty and where we find it is not. It is not a deposit against repair work, because we do not carry out chargeable repairs.

4. If the fault is covered

A covered fault is settled by replacing the pen with the same model or, where that is no longer available, its nearest equivalent. Occasionally, where we have the parts, we may clean or repair the pen instead; that is at our discretion and is not something you can request or that we quote for. If we replace your pen, the original is not returned to you and no further claim can be made on it. Replacement pens are not engraved, and we cannot reproduce existing engraving or other personalisation.

5. If the fault is not covered

If we find the fault is accidental damage, wear or anything else outside the warranty, it is not something we can put right. We tell you what we found and return your own pen to you unchanged. There is no quote and no chargeable repair option.

6. Getting your pen to us

You arrange and pay for postage to us, on both routes. We strongly recommend a tracked and insured service: until your parcel reaches us it remains your responsibility, and we cannot accept liability for pens lost or damaged on the way to us.

Please send one pen per order, pack it properly, and put a printed copy of your order confirmation inside the parcel. Do not send boxes, presentation cases, pouches or other packaging you wish to keep; we cannot guarantee the return of anything other than the pen itself.

7. While your pen is with us

We take reasonable care of pens in our custody and insure them against loss and damage while on our premises. If we lose or damage your pen beyond repair while it is with us, we will replace it with the same or an equivalent Cross pen, or refund its current retail value where no equivalent exists.

8. How long it takes

We do not offer a guaranteed turnaround. Assessment usually takes a few weeks from the day your pen reaches us. Lead times on replacement pens vary, and a discontinued or unusual model can take longer to match. Time is not of the essence in this agreement.

9. Returning your pen

Return postage within the United Kingdom is at our cost and is sent tracked; we email you the tracking when it is despatched. We can post to addresses in the Republic of Ireland; where the cost of doing so exceeds standard UK postage we will tell you before despatch.

10. If we cannot reach you

If we need to contact you about your pen, we will use the details on your order and follow up at least twice over a period of not less than 30 days. If we have had no response 12 months after our first attempt, we will write to you giving a further 30 days' notice, after which we may dispose of the pen under the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977. Any proceeds of sale, less our reasonable costs, remain yours to claim.

11. Your statutory rights

Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights. If you bought your Cross pen from a retailer and it is faulty, you may also have rights against that retailer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015; the Cross warranty is offered in addition to those rights, not instead of them.

Because an assessment is a service carried out at your request, your right to cancel under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 ends once we have begun it. You may cancel a paid assessment and receive a full refund at any point before your pen reaches us.

12. Liability

We do not exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded. Subject to that, our liability in connection with a servicing order is limited to the replacement value of the pen, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss.

13. Your information

We use the details you give us to handle the claim, contact you about it and return your pen. Photographs you send with a claim are kept with the claim record. We do not use your details for marketing unless you have separately asked us to.

14. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Disputes are subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales; if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you may bring proceedings in your local courts.