Refund policy

01The short version

The rest of this page explains each line. If your situation is not on it, write to us — a policy cannot anticipate everything, and we would rather talk than have you guess.

02Before analysis begins

Cancel at any point before we start analysis and you get the full amount back. That holds whether you cancel the same hour you ordered, while the package is still with the carrier, or after it has arrived and is sitting at intake.

The line is analysis, not shipping and not intake. Up to that moment nothing has been consumed except our time, and we would rather you cancel cleanly than feel trapped into work you no longer need.

You can see where a sample stands in your portal account at any time. The moment analysis starts is recorded in the chain of custody, timestamped, so neither of us has to rely on memory about which side of the line a cancellation fell.

03Once analysis has begun

Once we have started, the work is chargeable, whether or not you still want the result. Instrument time is booked, consumables are used, and an analyst has spent the hours. Those costs do not come back to us if you change your mind, so they cannot come back to you either.

This applies whether the analysis finishes, whether you collect the certificate, and whether you like what it says.

04Results are not grounds for a refund

We are paid to measure your sample and report what we find. We are not paid to find a particular answer. A result that is lower than you hoped, that fails your specification, or that is inconclusive, is still the service you bought, delivered correctly.

If you think a result is wrong — not unwelcome, but wrong — that is a different matter, and it is section 05. Tell us and we will look at it properly.

05When the mistake is ours

If we make an error — a sample mixed up, a method run incorrectly, a figure transcribed wrong, a certificate issued against the wrong lot — then:

• We re-test the same material at our cost and issue a corrected certificate. The original is withdrawn so it stops verifying, and the correction carries its own report ID.
• If a retest is not possible — the retention period has passed, the material is exhausted, or the error cannot be undone by re-running it — you get a full refund of what you paid for that sample.

Which of those applies is decided by whether a retest can actually fix it, not by which is cheaper for us.

We would rather hear about a suspected error and find it was correct than not hear about it. Write to support@sycamoreanalytical.com with the report ID.

06Samples we cannot test

Sometimes a sample arrives and we cannot do the work: the vial broke in transit, there is less than the minimum quantity, or the contents are not what was declared.

When that happens we contact you rather than guessing, and the full value of the order becomes credit toward a resubmission. Ship a replacement and the credit covers it — you do not pay twice for the same test.

Two exceptions, both narrow:

• Material we should never have been sent. A shipment refused under the shipping policy — a controlled substance, a biological specimen, hazardous material — earns no refund and no credit. We may be unable to return it or even to keep it. This is the practical reason to check first if you are unsure.
• If you would rather have the money. Ask, and where the sample was untestable through no fault of yours we will refund instead of crediting.

If we cannot perform the service — an instrument is down, we lack a validated method for what you sent, we have no capacity — you get a full refund, not credit. That failure is ours, and you should not be left holding a voucher for it.

07Late work

Our normal turnaround is 48–72 hours from intake. It is a working target rather than a contractual term, and being late is not by itself grounds for a refund. Instruments need servicing, and a result that looks wrong gets re-run rather than published — we would rather be a day late than publish a figure we do not stand behind.

What we will do is tell you when something is going to slip materially, rather than let the date pass quietly. If a delay on our side has made the result useless to you, say so and we will discuss it; that is a conversation, not an entitlement, and we will not pretend otherwise here.

Time spent waiting on you, or on a customs hold, does not count as our delay.

08How a refund is paid

The time it takes to reach your statement is your bank's, not ours. If it has been more than ten business days from our confirmation, tell us and we will send you the processor's reference so you can chase it.

09How credit works

Credit is applied at checkout against your account. If you would rather have a refund than credit in a situation where we have offered credit, ask — the answer is often yes.

10Chargebacks

If you believe a charge is wrong, tell us before you tell your bank. Almost every dispute we could have is one an email would settle faster than a chargeback, and we would rather fix a genuine problem than argue about one.

Where a chargeback is raised against a service we have delivered in accordance with this policy, we will respond to it with the order record, the chain of custody and the certificate. We may also suspend an account while a dispute is open, and we may decline future work from it. That is not a threat — it is what we would do, so it belongs in writing here rather than being a surprise.

A chargeback does not withdraw a certificate. A certificate someone else is relying on stays verifiable regardless of a payment dispute, because using it as leverage would make every certificate we issue worth less. That principle is in our terms and it cuts both ways.

11How to ask

Quoting the report ID lets us pull the raw data before replying, which usually turns three emails into one. If we say no and you think we are wrong, say so and we will look again — a policy is not meant to end a conversation.

This policy forms part of our terms of service and should be read alongside the shipping and sample handling policy. Where they appear to disagree, tell us and we will fix the wording rather than rely on whichever version happens to favour us.