Terms and Conditions
This agreement sets out the terms under which we will provide our services to you, so it is important that you read it fully and in conjunction with our ‘Your Guide to Buckingham Gate’ document. If there’s something you do not understand, please ask us to explain it.
If you have a question or concern about any aspect of our services, please contact us at:
Telephone: 0203 478 2160
Email: contact@buckinghamgate.co.uk
Website: www.buckinghamgate.co.uk
In writing: Client Servicing Team, Buckingham Gate Estate Planning,
68 King William Street, London, EC4N 7HR.
Financial Crime
We are obliged to put in place controls to prevent our business from being used for money laundering and other forms of financial crime.
We will verify your identity before undertaking any business with you. To do this, we may use electronic identity verification systems and we may conduct these checks from time to time throughout our relationship, not just at the beginning. The check may leave a ‘footprint’ on your credit file but it will not affect your credit rating.
Conflicts of interest
Although we will always try to act in your best interests, there may be situations where we or one of our other clients has some form of interest in the business being transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other clients conflict with your own interests, we will write to you and ask for your consent to proceed before we carry out any business for you. We will also let you know the steps we will take to make sure you are treated fairly.
We have a conflicts of interest policy. If you want to see a copy of it, please ask us.
Communicating With You
Our normal ways of communicating with you are by telephone, post, email and in person. Our communications will be in English.
We may ask you to confirm your instructions to us in writing as this helps to avoid any future misunderstandings.
Recording Telephone Calls and meetings
To ensure we carry out your instructions accurately, to help us to continually improve our service and in the interests of security, we will record and may monitor your telephone communications or meetings with us.
Providing Information About Your Circumstances
Our advice will be based on the information that you give, so it is important that you provide us with accurate and up-to-date information when we request details about your circumstances and objectives. This will allow us to provide you with suitable advice. If the information you provide is inaccurate or if you limit the information provided, this could affect the suitability of the advice we give.
Payment For Services
By signing your Client Agreement, you are agreeing to pay the charges for our services as set out in the agreement. We will tell you if any payments are subject to VAT.
Our initial charges are payable on commencement of our agreed work and are payable within 7 days.
Accounting Advice
We are not qualified to provide accounting advice or to prepare any accounting documents. This means that the onus is on you to refer any point of accountancy that may arise during the course of discussions with us to an accountant.
Protecting Your Personal Information
To provide our services properly, we will need to collect information about your personal and financial circumstances. We take your privacy seriously and will only use your personal information to deliver our services.
Processing of your personal data is necessary for the performance of our contract for services with you. Generally, this is the lawful basis on which we intend to rely for the processing of your data. (Please see the reference to special categories of data below). Our policy is to gather and process only that personal data which is necessary for us to conduct our services appropriately with you.
We adopt a transparent approach to the processing of your personal data. Sometimes, we may need to pass your personal information to other organisations.
We may engage the services of third party providers of professional services in order to enhance the service we provide to you. These parties may also need to process your personal data in the performance of their contract with us. Your personal information may be transferred electronically (e.g. by email or over the internet) and we, or any relevant third party, may contact you in future by what we believe to be the most appropriate means of communication at the time (e.g. telephone/ email /letter etc.).
The organisations to whom we may pass your details also have their own obligations to deal with your personal information appropriately. Sometimes a product or service may be administered from a country outside Europe. If this is the case, the firm must put a contract in place to ensure that your information is adequately protected.
As part of this agreement, we will ask you to consent to the transfer of personal information in accordance with the protections outlined above.
Special categories of personal data: there are certain categories of personal data that are sensitive by nature. The categories include: data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership and data concerning health. Depending on the nature of the products and services that you engage us for, we may need to obtain your sensitive personal data particularly in relation to health. Our policy is that should we require any special category of personal data we will only gather this with your explicit consent.
If you are concerned about any aspect of our privacy arrangements, please speak to us.
Terms of Business
The following standard terms of business apply to all instructions accepted by the Company. All work carried out in the provision of services is subject to these terms except where changes are expressly agreed in writing. These terms of business form the basis of the contract between the Company and the Client.
1. Definitions and Interpretation
1. In these Terms and Conditions the following terms shall have the following meanings:
Calendar Day means any day of the year;
Cancellation Form means the form attached to these Terms and Conditions as Schedule 1;
Cancellation Notice means the notice attached to these Terms and Conditions as Schedule 1 or such other written document containing the same information, produced by the Client;
Contract means the contract for the purchase and sale of the Services under these Terms and Conditions;
Client means the individual purchasing the Services from the Business who shall be identified in the Order;
Order means the Client’s completed order for the purchase and provision of Services;
Excluded Services means any Services that are subject to financial regulation, including any regulated activity under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (or any successor legislation, or other laws that regulate financial activities) and/or are financial Services which are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (or any successor or replacement body), and any other Services that may be notified in writing by the Company to the Client from time to time as wervices which are Excluded Services;
Payment Information means all information required to take the required payments from the Client and includes, but is not limited to, credit/debit card details and residential address details;
Sales Literature means any and all brochures, catalogues, leaflets, price lists and other documents providing details of Services available and pricing information for those Services;
Seller means Buckingham Gate Estate Planning Ltd; and
Services means the Services which the Seller is to provide in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, any specific terms which apply only to those Services, and as may be specified in the Order, but in all cases excluding the Excluded Services.
2. Unless the context otherwise requires, each reference in these Terms and Conditions to:
1. “writing”, and any cognate expression, includes a reference to any communication effected by electronic or facsimile transmission or similar means;
2. a statute or a provision of a statute is a reference to that statute or provision as amended or re-enacted at the relevant time;
3. “these Terms and Conditions” is a reference to these Terms and Conditions and the Schedule as amended or supplemented at the relevant time;
4. a Schedule is a schedule to these Terms and Conditions; and
5. a Clause, Section or paragraph is a reference to a Section of these Terms and Conditions (other than the Schedules) or a paragraph of the relevant Schedule.
3. The headings used in these Terms and Conditions are for convenience only and shall have no effect upon the interpretation of these Terms and Conditions.
4. Words imparting the singular number shall include the plural and vice versa.
5. References to any gender shall include the other gender.
2. Procedures
1. On the initial appointment, your detailed instructions will be taken and appropriate advice given on matters relating to the services. Any queries or questions will be answered and a full explanation given to the contents and terminology used in the drafting of your Documents.
3. The Company undertakes to:
1. Comply with your instructions with reasonable skill, care and expedition appropriate to your needs.
2. Provide you with the best advice on matters relating to the services. In some cases this may mean advice to draw up other documents, or take other action, which may incur further fees. In such cases, full details of such charges will be given to you in advance and you are under no obligation to proceed with any ancillary services offered. However, in some circumstances you may be asked to sign a declaration stating that you are acting against the advice given.
3. Comply with the Client`s instructions using all due skill, care and expedition appropriate to the need of the client. Regarding the dispatch of documents, Company must adhere to the following timescales unless otherwise agreed in writing with the client at the time that the client’s instructions are received. The following timescales take effect immediately upon the Client providing all the information required to complete the agreed instructions.
- Dispatch of Draft documents – 20 working days
- Dispatch of executable documents AFTER drafts are approved – 20 working days
4. However, where circumstances occur, including those which are beyond the Company’s control, which result in the documents being delivered outside the above stated timescales, the client must be informed and upon their request must be provided with a full written explanation for the cause of the delays AND the opportunity to renegotiate the contract to the reasonable satisfaction of the Client.
5. Maintain the strictest confidentiality and not to pass on your details to any other organisation without your express written permission unless legally required to do so and shall comply with all legislation in force relating to data protection.
For more information on how we hold your data, please view our privacy notice, which will be provided to you in addition to these terms of business.
6. Offer an attestation service that supervises the signing and witnessing of your Documents at our offices. The Company will not take responsibility for ensuring the validity of your Documents where the attestation service has not been taken up and the execution supervised by an agent of the Company. The signing of your Documents must be carried out according to the law of England and Wales in order for your Documents to be valid. All Documents will be supplied to you with full written instructions of how these should be completed and the Company will check the documents for free after they have been signed to ensure validity. It is your responsibility to send the documents to our Company after you have signed them if you would like them checked.
7. Refund any money paid in respect of the preparation of your Will(s) should you change your mind within 14 days from the date of taking your instructions. After the expiration of this period, the Company reserves the right to charge you for the advice given and for any work already carried out on your behalf and in accordance with your signed instructions. An itemised bill will be produced for any charge falling due under this term.
8. The Company does not accept any liability or obligation to advise you of any changes in legislation or taxation which may affect you either directly or indirectly and may necessitate a review of your Documents. Any Will should be reviewed every three years and on the occasion of any material change in your circumstances, such as divorce, marriage, the birth of children or the inheritance of a large sum of money etc.
9. Where the company cannot legally or practically follow the instructions given by the client, the company must explain any differences between the client’s instructions or expectations and the documents to be provided.
4. Notice of the Right to Cancel
1. The Client has the right to cancel the Contract within the Cancellation Period as determined by The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.
2. The Seller is Buckingham Gate Estate Planning Ltd.
3. For the purposes of this Cancellation Notice, the Reference Number to be quoted in all communications is: As detailed on the Client’s invoice/receipt.
4. The Client has the right to cancel the Contract within 14 Calendar Days of receipt of this notice (the “Cancellation Period”).
5. The Client may be required to pay for Services provided if provision of the Services has commenced with the Client’s written agreement prior to the end of the Cancellation Period.
6. In the event that the Client chooses to exercise their right to cancel within the Cancellation Period, the Cancellation Form attached to these Terms and Conditions as Schedule 1 should be completed in full and returned to the Seller at the address provided in sub-Clause 4.7.1 below.
7. Cancellation Notices must be sent to the Seller at the following addresses:
- A Cancellation Notice sent by post or delivered by hand must be sent to: Buckingham Gate Estate Planning, 68 King William Street, London, EC4N 7HR ; and
- A Cancellation Notice sent by email must be sent to: contact@buckinghamgate.co.uk
8. Cancellation Notices shall be deemed served upon the Seller:
- In the case of a Cancellation Notice sent by post, at the time of posting; and
- In the case of a Cancellation Notice sent electronically, on the day it is sent.
9. Use of the Cancellation Form is optional; however all Cancellation Notices, in whatever format, must be in writing and must contain all information included in Schedule 1.
5. Refunds
1. If the Client chooses to exercise the Right to Cancel in accordance with Clause 4 above, the provisions of this Clause 5 shall apply in determining any refund to which the Client may be entitled.
2. The Client must inform the Seller of their exercise of the Right to Cancel within the period required by Clause 4.
3. If the provision of Services has commenced, at the Client’s written request, prior to the giving of notice by the Client and the end of the Cancellation Period, the Seller shall remain entitled to any monies constituting the value of such Services.
4. Where the Client has already made payment to the Seller, any refund issued shall be less the relevant sum determined under sub-Clause 5.3.
5. Where the Client is yet to make payment to the Seller, the sum due from the Client shall be adjusted accordingly.
6. The Seller will inform the Client in writing of the relevant calculations involved in determining sums deductible or payable under this Clause 5.
7. If the provision of Services has commenced prior to the giving of notice by the Client and the end of the Cancellation Period without the Client’s written request, the Seller shall not be entitled to any monies constituting the value of such Services.
8. If the Client requires their Documents urgently and requires that the Company commence work prior to the expiration of the cancellation period, the Client can agree to waive their rights under the Regulations by signing a waiver agreement. This will mean that they will be required to pay for any work completed should they decide to reinstate their right to cancel within the 14 days. This should be provided in writing.
6. Liability & subcontracting
1. If the Company fails to perform the Services with care and skill, it shall carry out remedial action at no extra cost to the Client.
2. The Company shall not be liable to the Client or be deemed to be in breach of these Terms and Conditions by reason of any delay in performing, or any failure to perform, any of the Company’s obligations if the delay or failure was due to any cause beyond the Seller’s reasonable control or where the Client has failed to meet their obligations under Clause 7 below.
3. The Company may subcontract or delegate the Services or any aspect of the Services to any third party. If the Company does so, the Company shall remain responsible for any Services carried out by the subcontractor. For the avoidance of any doubt, the Company shall not be liable in any way for any Excluded Services carried out by the subcontractor.
7. The Clients Obligations are:
1. To disclose all relevant facts and answers to all the questions asked to allow the Company to provide accurate advice and to produce an effective legal Document. The Company shall not accept liability in respect of information which was not disclosed, and therefore not documented by the person taking your instructions, and which comes to light at a later date as being of relevance and which may effect the validity or content of your Documents or advice given.
2. To read through the draft Documents provided, to confirm that they correctly reflect your wishes as to the distribution of your estate and that the names and addresses of the persons mentioned in your Documents are correct, adding any missing data not supplied at the time of taking your instructions.
3. To return the Documents together with any amendments to the Company as soon as possible. If you fail to return the Documents to the Company, the Company shall accept no liability for the draft Documents. The Company shall not be responsible for any delay due to your failure to comply with the above.
4. To pay the fee due for the provision of services in full and in accordance with the terms of our invoice.
5. If you are having the attestation service, you should arrange for the witnesses to be present at the time of the execution of your Will.
6. To notify the company if you have not received your draft documents within 20 working days of your instruction-taking meeting, unless this has already been agreed. Upon such notice, the company will explain the current status of your case and will provide an estimated date of delivery for your documents.
8. Client Care
1. The Company is committed to providing the Client with a high-quality service. An essential part of that service is that the Company will communicate effectively with the Client so that they are kept informed of progress.
2. The Company maintains a full complaints procedure to which any complaint should first of all be addressed. If the matter is unable to be resolved to your satisfaction, you may refer it, in writing, to the Complaints Department, The Society of Will Writers, Chancery House, Whisby Way, Lincoln, LN6 3LQ.
The Company complies with the Society’s Code of Practice of which a copy is available upon request.
A Client satisfaction survey is available from your consultant upon request. The survey is also available online at https://www.willwriters.com/public/Client-satisfaction-survey/
