Refund policy

We want the children in your life to love what you buy from us. If something isn't right — or if you simply change your mind — this page tells you what happens, how long you have, and who pays for what.

The rules below are the same wherever you live.

Changing your mind

You can cancel your order for any reason. You don't have to give us one, and nothing has to be wrong with the product.

You have 14 days to tell us, and a further 14 days to send the item back.

  • The 14 days start the day after your order arrives. If your order came in more than one parcel, they start the day after the last parcel arrives.
  • Once you have told us you are cancelling, you have another 14 days to get the item into the post.
  • You can cancel from the moment you place your order — you don't have to wait for the parcel. If we haven't sent it yet we will stop it. Once it is on its way we cannot recall it, but your cancellation still counts: the parcel arrives and you send it back.

How to cancel

Email marketing@ponyabc.co.uk with your order number. Any clear message will do — you can use the cancellation form at the bottom of this page if you prefer, but you don't have to. You can also write to us at PonyABC, 34 Redbourne Avenue, London N3 2BS.

You do not need our approval, a returns number, or a reply from us before you post. We would simply rather hear from you first, so we can look out for the parcel.

You can open it and have a proper look

Please do open the box and examine what you have bought, exactly as you would in a shop: pick it up, try the pen, turn the dial, see how it feels in a child's hands. Opening something is never a reason for us to refuse a return.

What we ask is that you send it back unused and in its original packaging wherever you can, with all the parts and accessories. It helps us check the item quickly and get your money back to you.

If an item reaches us damaged, incomplete, or used beyond the sort of handling you would reasonably be allowed in a shop, we may reduce your refund by the amount of value that has been lost. If we ever need to do that we will email you first and tell you the amount and the reason. The reduction can never be more than you paid for the item. We will not refuse your return.

Who pays to send it back

You pay the cost of posting the item back to us when you have changed your mind. That is the same everywhere, the United Kingdom included. We are a small company in London and return postage is not something we can cover when an order is simply not wanted. Please take it into account before you order.

This applies to changing your mind only. If an item is faulty, damaged or not what you ordered, we pay the postage — see the next section.

One practical note if you are posting from outside the UK: on the customs label, describe the contents accurately, give the value, add your order number, and write clearly "Returned goods — relief claimed". Without those words the parcel can be held at the UK border or charged import tax a second time, which delays your refund.

If something is faulty, damaged or not what you ordered

This is different from changing your mind, and the 14-day deadline above does not apply.

We pay the postage both ways — to return it, to repair it, and to send a replacement. You will never be out of pocket for a mistake of ours.

Email marketing@ponyabc.co.uk with your order number and a photo of the problem. A photo often means we can put it right straight away without you posting anything.

  • Within 30 days of delivery you can reject a faulty item and have all your money back.
  • After 30 days we will repair or replace it, at our cost. If that doesn't put it right, you can have a refund or a reduction in price.
  • If you reject an item in the first six months, we make no deduction for the use you have had of it.

These are your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and nothing on this page affects them. They last far longer than 30 days: for a fault that was there when you bought it, you have up to six years to bring a claim in England and Wales, and five years in Scotland.

Warranties on the reading pens

The P5 pen in the Time-Capsule Voice Sticker set

This pen comes with a one-year warranty from the date of purchase, given by MacroKinetic MediaTech Limited (trading as PonyABC), 34 Redbourne Avenue, London N3 2BS. It is valid in every country we ship to.

To use it, register the pen at register.ponyabc.uk, then email marketing@ponyabc.co.uk with the serial number — it begins PABC- and is printed on the pen and the box. We will arrange a repair or a replacement. You can register at any point during the year, including when you contact us.

This warranty is an extra, on top of your legal rights. Your legal rights apply whether or not you register the pen, and they last longer than the warranty does.

The pen in the Trilingual Encyclopedia set

This pen is the original publisher's own product. It has no PonyABC serial number, we hold no spare parts in the UK, and repairs are only possible at the original factory. PonyABC gives no additional warranty on it.

Your legal rights are not affected. If it is faulty, you bought it from us and you deal with us — email marketing@ponyabc.co.uk and we will help, which may include arranging a repair with the original manufacturer. In practice, a faulty item bought from us is refunded. If you bought the set somewhere else, the shop you bought it from is the one to contact.

Things we can't take back

Very little, and the law sets the list.

  • Items made to your own specification or clearly personalised — something with a child's name on it, for instance. Nothing in our current range is made that way, so this does not apply to anything you can buy from us today. If we ever do offer a personalised product, we will say so plainly on the product page before you buy it.
  • Digital downloads, once you have started the download and agreed that you lose the right to cancel by doing so. We will always ask for that agreement first, and until you give it the normal 14 days apply.

Everything else can be returned under "Changing your mind" above, whether or not you have opened it — the reading pens, the encyclopedia, the flash cards, the recordable stickers, the AR tangram and all the 3D-printed toys. We do not treat cards or stickers as unreturnable for hygiene reasons.

How to send it back

Send returns to:

PonyABC
34 Redbourne Avenue
London N3 2BS
United Kingdom

  • Put your order number in the parcel, on a slip of paper or the original delivery note. It is the single thing that most often delays a refund when it is missing.
  • Pack it so it survives the journey. If the original box has gone, any sturdy packaging is fine.
  • Keep your proof of posting. Until the parcel reaches us it is your responsibility, so a tracked service protects you — and it lets us start your refund as soon as you have posted it.

When you get your money

We refund you within 14 days of whichever of these happens first:

  • the item arriving back with us, or
  • you showing us you have sent it — a photo of the Post Office receipt or a tracking number is enough.

If you cancelled before we sent anything, we refund within 14 days of you telling us. In practice we are usually quicker than any of this. We do check items when they come back, but checking never delays your refund beyond those 14 days.

Your refund includes the standard delivery charge you paid on the original order.

  • If you paid extra for Express delivery, we refund what standard delivery would have cost, not the premium you paid for speed. Where standard was the only option for your country, we refund all of it.
  • If your order qualified for free delivery, there is no delivery charge to refund.
  • If you send back part of an order and keep the rest, we refund the price of the items you send back. The delivery charge stays, because we still delivered the order.

The money goes back to the card or account you paid with, unless you ask us to do it another way. We never charge a fee for a refund.

Exchanges

The quickest way to swap something is to send the original back under "Changing your mind" above and place a new order for what you actually want — the new item is then on its way to you instead of waiting on the return. If you would rather we handled it as a straight exchange, email marketing@ponyabc.co.uk and we will do our best.

Nurseries, schools and business buyers

If you are buying for a nursery, a school, a childminding business or any other organisation, you are buying as a business rather than as a consumer. The 14-day right to change your mind does not apply to business purchases — it is a consumer right, and the law does not extend it to businesses.

  • Faulty, damaged or incorrect items are handled exactly as above. We pay the postage, and we repair, replace or refund. We will not treat a setting worse than a parent on something that is our fault.
  • Change-of-mind returns are not automatic, but we are a small company and we would rather talk than stand on the rule. Email marketing@ponyabc.co.uk and we will agree it in writing where we can.
  • If you are ordering in quantity and want to see something first, ask us before you order.

Your legal rights

Nothing on this page reduces your legal rights.

If you live in the United Kingdom, your right to cancel comes from the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, and your rights over faulty goods from the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

If you live in the European Union or Norway, you have the same 14-day right to withdraw, and the consumer law of your own country applies to you as well.

We give everyone else the same 14 days, because one clear rule is easier for everybody than a different one per country.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled a return, email marketing@ponyabc.co.uk and ask for it to be looked at again. We would much rather put it right ourselves.

Model cancellation form

You do not have to use this form — any clear message telling us you are cancelling will do. It is here because the law says we must offer it, and because some people find a form easier than a letter. Copy it into an email to marketing@ponyabc.co.uk, or print it and post it to the address above.

Model cancellation form
(Complete and return this form only if you wish to cancel the contract.)

To: MacroKinetic MediaTech Limited (trading as PonyABC), 34 Redbourne Avenue, London N3 2BS, United Kingdom — marketing@ponyabc.co.uk

I/We [*] hereby give notice that I/We [*] cancel my/our [*] contract of sale of the following goods [*]:

_______________________________________________

Ordered on [*] / received on [*]: _____________________

Name of consumer(s): _____________________

Address of consumer(s): _____________________

Order number: _____________________

Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is sent on paper): _____________________

Date: _____________________

[*] Delete as appropriate.

Contact us

PonyABC
34 Redbourne Avenue
London N3 2BS
United Kingdom

Email: marketing@ponyabc.co.uk
Phone: 07353 224040

We answer emails on working days and we read every one.

PonyABC is a brand of MacroKinetic MediaTech Limited, registered in England and Wales, company no. 16420643. Registered office: 128 City Road, London EC1V 2NX.