Returns, replacements and issues.

Last updated: 8 September 2026

In short

• You can cancel free of charge at any time before your order is dispatched.
• Research compounds and bacteriostatic water cannot be returned or exchanged once dispatched, unless they arrive damaged, faulty or incorrect.
• If something is wrong, contact us within 7 days of delivery with your order number and photographs. Once we have checked the evidence, we send a replacement.

Cancelling before dispatch

Email team@kovalabs.co.uk with your order number. If the parcel has not yet been handed to Royal Mail, we cancel the order and return your payment in full to the method you paid with. Orders placed before 2pm on a working day are dispatched the same day, so contact us straight away. Once a parcel is with Royal Mail we cannot stop it.

Why research compounds cannot be returned after dispatch

Research compounds and bacteriostatic water are temperature- and handling-sensitive sterile products. Once they leave our controlled storage we cannot verify how they have been stored or handled, and they cannot be resold. For that reason they are exempt from the 14-day cancellation right as goods liable to deteriorate (regulation 28(1)(c) of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013), and any vial that has been unsealed is additionally excluded for health protection and hygiene reasons (regulation 28(3)(a)).

We therefore do not accept change-of-mind returns or exchanges of these products once an order has been dispatched. Please check the products, strengths and quantities in your basket before you pay. This rule never limits your rights when something is faulty, damaged or not what you ordered: see below.

Accessories and merchandise

For any non-sterile item, such as clothing or laboratory accessories, you may cancel within 14 days of the day you receive it and return the item unused and in its original packaging. Tell us within the 14-day window, using the model cancellation form below or any clear statement, then post the item back within a further 14 days. You pay the return postage and we recommend a tracked service. We refund within 14 days of receiving the item back, to the method you paid with. You are only liable for any reduction in the value of an item caused by handling beyond what is needed to inspect it.

Something wrong with your order?

We put right every order that arrives damaged, faulty, incorrect or short. Our standard remedy is a replacement of the affected item, sent tracked at our cost. Here is how to report it.

1. Keep everything. Do not throw away the item, the vial, the inner packaging or the outer box until we tell you the claim is closed.
2. Contact us within 7 days of delivery at team@kovalabs.co.uk with your order number and a short description of the problem.
3. Attach clear photographs. We need to see the problem, not just hear about it. The table below says what to photograph.
4. We reply within one working day. We may ask for another photograph, or ask you to return the item to us for inspection at our cost.
5. We dispatch the replacement by the next 2pm cut-off once the claim is accepted, and email you the tracking link.

What we need to see

A claim must be supported by evidence. We cannot act on a message that only says an order arrived damaged, is faulty or was short, and we check every claim against our packing and dispatch records and against Royal Mail's tracking data. If you genuinely cannot photograph the problem, tell us why and we will arrange for the item to come back to us for inspection instead.

Our remedy

Once a claim is accepted we send a replacement of the same product and strength, tracked, at our cost. If that product is out of stock, we offer the next available batch, an equivalent product, or a refund of that line, whichever you prefer.

Your legal rights sit alongside this process. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 you have 30 days from delivery to reject a faulty product for a full refund, and within six months you are entitled to a repair or replacement, or a price reduction or refund if that is not possible. The 7-day window above is a reporting window that protects the evidence: a fault reported later is still assessed, but the longer the gap, the harder it is to show the problem existed on delivery, and transit damage reported late usually cannot be claimed from Royal Mail.

Lost, delayed or marked as delivered

Royal Mail Tracked 24 is normally next working day and Tracked 48 takes 1-2 working days, but either can take an extra day or two during peak periods. If your tracking has not moved for 3 working days, contact us with your order number and we open an investigation with Royal Mail. Royal Mail does not treat a tracked parcel as lost until a set number of working days have passed after its due date. Once it confirms the loss, or that window passes, we send a replacement or, if you prefer, refund the order. If the original parcel later turns up, tell us: keep only one, and return the duplicate to us at our cost.

If tracking shows the parcel as delivered but you do not have it, check with everyone at the address, your neighbours and any safe place first, then contact us within 3 working days of the delivery scan. We ask Royal Mail for its delivery evidence (GPS location, photograph and any signature). Where that evidence shows the parcel was handed to someone at your address, or left where you asked Royal Mail to leave it, responsibility for the parcel had passed to you. We may still help at our discretion, and we will normally ask for a police crime reference number before we consider a replacement.

Parcels returned to us

If a parcel comes back to us because the address was incomplete or incorrect, delivery was refused, or it was not collected from Royal Mail, we contact you once it is back with us. We can send it again once you have paid the postage for the second attempt, or cancel the order and refund the product price. The original delivery charge is not refunded in that case.

Claims we cannot accept

• Change-of-mind returns or exchanges of research compounds or bacteriostatic water after dispatch.
• Claims with no photographs or other evidence, where you also decline to return the item for inspection.
• Transit damage reported outside the 7-day window where it can no longer be evidenced or claimed from Royal Mail.
• Photographs that appear altered, reused, or that do not match our packing and dispatch records.
• Repeated claims on the same account or address that indicate this process is being abused. We keep a record of every claim and may refuse further orders.

If a payment dispute or chargeback is raised for an order that our records and Royal Mail's evidence show was delivered as instructed, we contest it with that evidence.

When a refund is due

Where a refund is the right outcome (a cancellation before dispatch, an accessory return, a lost parcel, a line we cannot replace, or where you exercise a statutory right to reject), it goes to the method you paid with, usually within 3-5 working days and always within 14 days as the law requires. You receive an email confirmation once it has been sent.

Model cancellation form

Use this form to cancel an order that has not yet been dispatched, or to return an accessory or merchandise item within the 14-day window. You do not have to use it; any clear statement of your decision to cancel, sent within the cancellation period, works just as well.

Your statutory rights

Nothing in this policy affects your statutory rights as a consumer, including your rights in respect of faulty or misdescribed goods. The full terms are on our terms of sale page. For delivery options and timings, see our shipping and payment page.