General Business Conditions

 

Article 1 : Legal notices

The Internet site www.abanico-chocolat.com is operated by SICHOCO SAS, a simplified joint-stock company with 450,000 Euros in capital registered in the Paris Commercial and Companies Register under number 514788934, with registered office located at 7 rue Portalis, PARIS (75008).

President of the Company: Pascal Houssin

The intra-Community VAT number for the aforementioned SICHOCO SAS is FR 35514788934.

 

Customer service for the Internet site www.abanico-chocolat.com can be reached by telephone at 0811031316 (cost of a local call) Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. or by e-mail to the following address:  charlotte@abanico.fr (hereinafter “Customer Service”).

Conception and development : Ylly

Hosting service:  Online.net

 

 
Article 2 : Preambule

These General Business Conditions (hereinafter “GBC”) of SICHOCO SAS, as identified at Article-1 (“the Company”), set the terms and conditions by which any adult individual buying for his own personal, non-professional needs, and any corporate body buying for its needs other than those involving its professional activity (hereinafter “the Customer”) orders and purchases the products sold by the Company, as part of a distance selling system over the Internet.

The products are merchandise defined in the sales catalogue of the Internet site www.abanicochocolat.com (hereinafter “the Site”).

Online sales are reserved exclusively for the aforementioned persons who agree to fill in the required fields presented at the time of registration, and having a delivery address located within Metropolitan France, Corsica, Monaco and the Overseas Departments (DOM).

These conditions alone govern relations between the Company and the Site’s Customers, to the exclusion of any other document.

 

Article 3 : Application and effects of the General Business Conditions

Before confirming any order, the Customer must read and accept the GBC by checking the box “I have read and accepted the General Business Conditions" before clicking on the box “I confirm my order.”

Before this confirmation, there is a mechanism available to the customer for correcting or modifying his choices. This mechanism can be accessed at each of the stages of the order input process.

Any confirmation by the Customer of an order input on the site signifies full and complete acceptance of the present G.B.C. and of the special conditions of his order (articles ordered as presented on the Site within the limit of any quantities mentioned, name, price, components, etc.).

Only these G.B.C. will be applicable to the contract, to the exclusion of any other document, including in particular the catalogues or marketing proposals issued by the Company.

Any condition contrary to these G.B.C. imposed by the buyer, failing express acceptance by the Company, will therefore be void and of no effect against the Company, regardless of when it may have been brought to its attention.

 

Article 4 : Essential characteristics of the goods offered

The products offered to the Customer appear in the catalogue published on the Site within the limit of available stocks and subject to the proper functioning of the Site.

Each product offered on the Site features a brief presentation indicating its name, quantity, price, a description, and a photograph.

The photographs of the products are provided indicatively and do not enter into the contractual field unless they are very specific and bear on the essential elements. In addition, the Company does not accept complaints regarding minimal variations between the photograph and the delivered product to the extent that these variations do not bear on essential elements of the Products in question.

If errors are introduced, the Company may in no case be held liable for them.

 

Article 5 : Length and validity of the offer

The Company’s offers are valid only during the period that they are presented online and within the limit of available stocks.

If a product ordered is unavailable or out of stock, when the order is submitted the Company will contact the Customer by e-mail as quickly as possible to inform him of this.

The Customer may then:

- Cancel the order and be reimbursed for the price paid within 30 days from confirmation of reimbursement by the Company;

- Accept the delayed delivery pending resupply of the product, when that is possible;

- Ask for the product to be replaced by another product equivalent in quality and price.

 

For the specific case of Tasting Workshops, people interested in this service have to contact the Company in order to select a date among those we select, subject to availability.

A minimum of 8 persons is required for a Tasting Workshop. Below this limit, the Company reserves itself the right to cancel and report the workshop. Registered people will be informed 48h before.

Article 6 : User name and password

Every Customer who does not have a customer number must follow a registration procedure enabling him to obtain his customer number.

At the time of the first order, a user name and password are chosen by the Customer.

The username and password constitute proof of the Customer’s identity and bind him to all orders submitted using them.

 

The Customer is solely responsible for his user name and password and he alone will bear the consequences that may result from any fraudulent use by third parties who may have knowledge of them, unless he demonstrates that knowledge of this user name and password results from direct misconduct by the Company.

If the Customer forgets his user name or password, there is a function on the Site enabling him to retrieve his user name and have his password sent to him again.

 

Article 7 : Orders

The Customer may submit his order online using the online catalogue on the Site, or by mail to the following address:  SICHOCO SAS, 7 rue Portalis-75008 PARIS.

The Customer must provide his first name, last name  and address.

The information provided by the Customer, when the order is taken, bind the Customer:  in the event of error in the addressee’s coordinates, the Company may not be held liable for its inability to deliver the product.

Every order signifies acceptance of the price and of the description of the products available for sale.
Orders become final only when they have been confirmed by payment of the price by the Customer.

Tasting Workshops are suitable for people above the age of 12. Chocolates contain nuts, lactose and gluten. People allergic to these ingredients cannot attend these workshops.

Abanico’s tasting Workshops take place in Paris, but the location can vary from one workshop to the next one. Participants will obviously be informed in advance.

 

 

Article 8: Recording, confirmation and shipment

A simultaneous summary is provided for every order input before the Customer is invited to confirm his order by indicating his choices as to delivery address and means of payment.

The Customer is then asked to validate his order.

With this operation, the order is automatically recorded and becomes firm and final, subject to the reservation cited in the following paragraph.

 

Any order involving the choice to pay by credit card or payment card is considered effective only when the payment centres in question have given their consent.

If these centres reject the payment, the order is automatically cancelled, and no compensation may be demanded by the Customer, who is notified by a message on the screen by the payment centre.

Once the order is recorded, the Customer will receive by e-mail – or by regular mail in the event the order was submitted by post and the Customer’s e-mail address has not been validated -- a message confirming his order.

The order of the Customer represents an offer to the Company to purchase a product. The acceptance of the Company will be complete at the time it sends to the customer a written confirmation of his order. Any product on the same order which the Company has not confirmed in writing do not for part of that contract.

Every confirmed order will be followed by shipment.

 

No order in the process of being shipped can be cancelled. Conversely, any request for cancellation and, where appropriate, reimbursement from the Customer prior to the processing of the order must be honoured in a reasonable period of time by the Company.

 

For Corporate Customers, in the event of payment by cheque, the order will not be validated and processed until after receipt of the cheque at the address and to the attention of the department indicated when the order was placed, and subject to its encashment.

In the case of payment at 30 days end-of-month after receipt of the invoice, the order will not be validated and processed until after receipt of the signed purchase order and payment of a 30% advance on the total amount of the order.

 

Article 9 : Order validity

The Customer number as specified at Article 6 herein is personal.

In all cases the credit card number and final validation of the order supplied online will constitute proof of the completeness of said order and will constitute payability of the sums committed by the order.

This validation constitutes a signature and express acceptance of all operations made on the site.

However, in the event of fraudulent use of the Customer’s credit card, the Customer is invited to contact Customer Service as soon as he notices this use, at the following address: charlotte@abanico.fr.

The computerised logs kept in the Company’s computer systems under reasonably secure conditions will be considered proof of communication of orders and payments made between the parties.

Except in the case of manifest error by the Company, it is expressly agreed that the data kept in the Company’s data system have probative value with regard to the orders submitted by the Customer. Data in computer or electronic format constitute valid proof and, as such, are admissible under the same conditions and with the same probative force as any document prepared, received or kept in writing.

The Customer may at any time have access to the data stored in his Customer account and may collect any information he wishes regarding these data from Customer Service at the following e-mail address:  charlotte@abanico.fr.

The purchase orders and invoices are filed on a reliable and durable medium so as to correspond to a true and lasting copy.

 

Article 10 : Price

Prices are given in Euros for all EU countries, except the United Kingdom where they are expressed in Pounds.

The prices indicated with the product info do not include shipping.
The amounts of the shipping costs as of the day of the order are indicated on the Site and no later than before the Customer sends in an order.

The total price excluding tax indicated in the order confirmation is the total price of the order with all taxes included, including VAT.

This price includes the price of the products and the shipping costs.

 

Article 11 : Payment

At the time of ordering, the Customer can pay for his purchases by:

-Credit card

-Payment card

No delivery will be made without confirmation of the order as specified in Article 8 above.

The invoice will be sent by e-mail to the address indicated on the user account. The Customer may at any time consult his personal account, access the invoice statement and print the invoices if necessary.

For Corporate Customers, payment can also be made by cheque or by paying the invoice after it is received.

In the case of payment by cheque, the cheque must be drawn on a bank domiciled in Metropolitan France, Corsica, Monaco or in an Overseas Department.
The cheque is sent for encashment as soon as it is received.
To enable the Company to better manage the order, the cheque must be made payable to the order of SICHOCO SAS and must be sent together with a printout of the order confirmation e-mail (mentioning the order number) as specified at Article 8 above, within two business days following order confirmation, to the following address:  SICHOCO SAS, 7 rue Portalis-75008 PARIS.

No delivery will be made without confirmation of the order as specified in Article 8 above.

The invoice will be sent by e-mail to the address indicated on the user account. The Customer may at any time consult his personal account, access the invoice statement and print the invoices if necessary.

 

 

Article 12 : Delivery

12-1- Conditions

The order cannot be shipped without full payment of the merchandise and shipping costs.

For Corporate Customers, payment may be made after receipt of invoice.

 

12-2- Delivery time

France :

Delivery is made in Metropolitan France, Corsica, Monaco or in the Overseas Departments within the time indicated when the order is taken and reconfirmed in the order confirmation e-mail.

The time frame is met either by direct delivery of the product to the addressee’s specified address, or, if the recipient is absent, by notice of attempted delivery placed in the addressee’s mailbox.

Other EU countries (excluding Malta and Cyprus):

Delivery is made within the time frame indicated when the order is taken and reconfirmed in the order confirmation e-mail.

The ordered products are delivered to the direction indicated on the order and within the time frame indicated here. In case of absence of the addressee, the products are shipped again to the addressee on the following day. If the addressee is still absent, then the products are shipped back to France, at SICHOCO - SAS Office.

 

In the event of delay, a form will be available to customers in the Contact section of the Internet site, and a reply will be given within 24 hours and a solution provided on a case-by-case basis.
SICHOCO will not be held liable for a delay in delivery or the impossibility of delivering associated with incorrect or incomplete information provided by the customer concerning delivery of the order.

In any case, in accordance with legal provisions, if delivery is delayed for more than 7 days not due to a case of force majeure as specified at Article 18 herein, the Customer may cancel the order within 60 business days from the date indicated for delivery. In this case, if the Customer has received the product after cancellation, the Company will reimburse the Customer for the product and one-way shipping costs when it receives the product, complete and in its original condition.

 

12-3- Costs

Shipping costs are not included in the product prices indicated on the Site. These costs vary according to the place of delivery and the day of delivery chosen by the Customer.
The precise amount of these costs is indicated in the order summary before confirmation and payment.

12-4- Liability

The Company may not be held liable for delayed delivery in the case of incorrect input of the delivery data, or incomplete information, or in a case of force majeure as defined at Article 18 herein.
The Company will inform the Customer by any appropriate means of the existence of an event of force majeure so as to enable the Customer to withdraw the order simply by sending a reply by mail.

If a delivery address is incomplete or inaccurate, the Company reserves the right to contact the addressee directly by telephone in order to complete the missing delivery information, provided that the telephone number is not mistaken and the addressee is available.

Orders indicating a post office box will not be accepted and processed.

 

 

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