The small print, in plain English

Terms of Service

Last updated: [date]

These terms explain how our photo scanning service works and what you and we agree to when you place an order. Please read them before you pay. If anything is unclear, send us a message and we'll explain.

1. Who we are

Bournemouth Photo Scanning is a trading name of Factory 97 Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 06604793). Our VAT number is GB528438470.

You can contact us using the contact form on our website. "We", "us" and "our" mean Factory 97 Ltd. "You" means the person placing the order.

2. Our service

We scan loose printed photographs into digital files. We post you a collection pack, collect your sealed bag from your doorstep, scan your photos at our base in Bournemouth, and return your original photos to your doorstep with a USB key and a link to a private online album.

We only collect from and return to addresses with postcodes BH1 to BH15 (Bournemouth and Poole). We check your postcode before you pay. If an order is placed for an address outside our area, we'll cancel it and give you a full refund.

We aim to return your photos within 10 working days of collection. This is a target, not a guarantee. If we expect to take noticeably longer, we'll let you know.

3. Ordering and paying

• You choose a bag size and pay in full online before anything is collected. All prices include VAT.
• The bag size sets the price. You can fill the bag with as many prints as it will hold while still sealing properly. The photo counts we give for each size are a guide only.
• Your contract with us starts when we email you to confirm your order.
• If you order on behalf of someone else, such as a parent, you confirm that they're happy for us to collect from them and handle their photos, and you agree to these terms for the order.
• Prices are those shown on our website when you order. We may change prices for future orders, but never for an order you've already paid for.

4. Preparing your photos

Before you pay, you confirm that the photos you send will be:

1. loose prints, taken out of any albums and frames;
2. free of Blu Tack, tape, glue or anything sticky, on the front and back;
3. dry, not mouldy, and not stuck together;
4. prints only, no larger than A4, with no slides, negatives or film;
5. yours, or photos you have permission to have copied; and
6. free of any inappropriate, indecent or illegal content.

Our scanner can take prints from 2 × 2 inches up to 8½ inches wide, including instant photos and panoramic prints up to 36 inches long. Fragile, curled or worn prints should go in the separate fragile envelope; we scan these by hand on a flatbed scanner. Up to 25 fragile prints are included per order. If you send more, we'll contact you before scanning them.

Please keep back any photo you could not bear to be without, especially any that are very old, fragile or one of a kind.

5. Collection and return

• Once your pack arrives, you book a collection slot online. A member of our team collects your sealed bag from your doorstep. We don't need to come into your home.
• Please make sure someone is in during your slot. If nobody is available and we can't collect, we'll contact you to rebook. If a second collection also fails, we may charge an admin fee of £39 to cover our time and travel before booking a third.
• We return your photos to the same address at a time we arrange with you. If we can't return them after two attempts, we'll keep them safely and contact you. If we haven't been able to arrange a return within 90 days despite reasonable efforts, we may post them to you by tracked and signed-for post at your cost.
• You must be the person who placed the order, or someone at the collection address acting for them, when handing over or receiving photos.

6. Photos we can't scan

Some photos can't be scanned safely or well because of their condition or what they're made of. This includes photos that are stuck together, damp, mouldy or flaking, have sticky substances on them, are too thick, too large or too small for our scanners, or aren't prints. We'll return any such photos to you unscanned.

Where a photo can't be scanned because of a fault on our side, such as an equipment problem, we'll scan it another way or refund it fairly.

7. Overfilled bags

If a bag is so full it can't be sealed properly, please order another bag rather than forcing it closed. If we find a bag has clearly been overfilled beyond its size, we'll contact you and you can either pay for an extra bag or have the extra photos returned unscanned.

8. What you receive

• Every scannable photo is scanned at 600 dpi.
• You receive master files exactly as scanned, plus a second set of copies with automatic colour restoration and red-eye removal. The automatic copies are produced by software and results vary from photo to photo.
• A scan can only be as good as the original. We can't improve the sharpness, focus or detail of the original print.
• We return your originals and a USB key containing your files. USB keys are a convenient copy, not a permanent archive. We strongly recommend keeping at least one other copy of your files.
• Photos are returned with your order, but we can't guarantee to return them in the exact order in which they were packed.

9. The online album

• Every order includes a private online album for one year from return. Anyone with the link and password can view and download the photos, so please share it only with people you trust.
• We'll remind you before the year ends. You can renew for £49 a year. If you don't renew, the album is closed and our copies of your photos are deleted 30 days after the renewal date.
• If you don't keep the online album, we delete our copies of your scans 90 days after we return your order.
• We aim to keep the album available at all times, but we can't guarantee uninterrupted access. Please download any photos you want to keep permanently.

10. Cancelling and refunds

• Before collection: you can cancel at any time for a full refund. This covers your legal 14-day right to cancel.
• After collection but before scanning starts: by booking a collection you ask us to start the service. If you then cancel, we'll return your photos unscanned and refund what you paid, minus an admin fee of £39.
• Once scanning has started: we can't offer a refund, unless we haven't provided the service with reasonable care and skill.

To cancel, use our contact form, giving your order number. Refunds go back to the card you paid with within 14 days.

11. Looking after your photos

We provide our service with reasonable care and skill. Your photos are kept in locked, fire-resistant storage at our base in Bournemouth, handled only by our own team, and never posted to or handled by other companies, except as set out in section 5.

If we lose or damage your photos through our fault, we'll refund the price you paid and compensate you for any other loss that was a foreseeable result of our failure, up to a maximum of [£X] per order. We can't put a value on the sentimental worth of family photos, which is why we ask you to keep back any you couldn't bear to lose.

We're not responsible for the existing condition of photos, or for changes that happen naturally to very old or fragile prints when handled with proper care.

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that the law doesn't allow us to limit. Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights.

12. Ownership and content

• Your photos and the digital files we make from them belong to you. You give us permission to handle, scan, store and process them only to provide our service.
• We never use your photos for marketing, never share or sell them, and never use them to train AI.
• You confirm that you own the photos or have permission to have them copied.
• We may refuse to scan any material we reasonably believe is illegal or harmful. If we find material we believe to be illegal, we may report it to the appropriate authorities and won't return it.

13. Things outside our control

We're not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as severe weather, illness, road closures, or failures of postal or internet services. If this happens, we'll let you know as soon as we can and do our best to keep any delay short. If the delay is long, you can cancel and receive a refund for anything we haven't done.

14. Complaints

If you're unhappy with any part of our service, please use our contact form and we'll do our best to put it right. We aim to respond to every complaint within 5 working days.

15. Other important terms

• We may update these terms from time to time. The terms that apply to your order are the ones shown when you placed it.
• If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest still applies.
• These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales can hear any dispute.