Research-grade compounds are not a category where customers should have to argue with a vendor. This Refund Policy is the bilateral commitment that says: certificate failure, cold-chain failure, lost shipment. Zerovial refunds or replaces, on a tight workflow, every time.
The Refund Policy collapses to three commitments. Each is described in the sections that follow with the operational detail a researcher needs to actually invoke them. The commitments are cumulative: a single Order can be eligible for more than one at the same time, and Researchers do not have to choose.
Every lot ships with two PDFs from Janoshik Analytical (Czech Republic): an HPLC purity certificate and a separate pH test certificate. Both PDFs are linked from the relevant product page before the lot ships, and are referenced on the order paperwork. The certificate is the binding statement of identity, purity and pH for the lot.
If the Researcher's own analytical work, or an independent third-party laboratory, demonstrates that the delivered lot fails to match the Janoshik certificate stated identity, purity (within the certificate published margin) or pH band, Zerovial refunds or replaces the Order in full. The Researcher is not required to disclose internal protocols, lab identity or proprietary methods to invoke this guarantee. A statement of result, the Researcher role, and the lot identifier are sufficient.
If a cold-chain box is lost, damaged, seized at customs without a Researcher-side resolution path, or fails on cold-chain integrity at delivery, Zerovial replaces the Order on the next UK working day after the issue is reported, free of further charge. This guarantee is independent of carrier-side investigations: we do not wait for the carrier to formally declare a loss before re-shipping.
Researchers can cancel any Order before the carrier collects the cold-chain box from the UK warehouse and receive a same-day refund to the original payment method. Cancellations are accepted by email at shipping@zerovial.com or via WhatsApp; the Order is removed from the dispatch queue, the cold-chain box is unsealed and the components returned to stock.
Once the carrier has collected the box, the Order can no longer be cancelled. It can be intercepted, but the carrier intercept fee is then the Researcher's cost (typically 15-25 GBP depending on carrier and destination), and the cold-chain box on the way back to the warehouse cannot be reabsorbed into stock.
For safety and traceability reasons, Zerovial does not accept returns of delivered cold-chain Orders into inventory. Once a sealed cold-chain box has left the UK warehouse, the lot is no longer guaranteed within Zerovial chain of custody. The temperature record, light exposure and storage conditions outside the warehouse cannot be verified. Returning the lot to inventory would compromise the integrity of every subsequent lot we ship.
Where a Researcher invokes the certificate guarantee or the same-day replacement, the original Order does not need to be physically returned. Please dispose of the contents in accordance with local hazardous-waste rules. Where a Researcher returns Product anyway, Zerovial does not refund again on the returned shipment and disposes of the returned material at the Researcher expense.
Defective Product (for example, a pen that does not dial, a cracked cartridge, a missing seal) is treated as a same-day replacement under section 03. The Researcher is asked to send a single photograph of the defect and the pen lot label; Zerovial re-ships from the next available lot the next working day, with the matching Janoshik certificates.
Damaged-on-receipt (outer box crush, broken tamper seal, ice-pack thaw, pen damage) must be reported within twenty-four (24) hours of delivery for the cold-chain insurance to apply. Reports after twenty-four hours are still considered, but the burden shifts to the Researcher to demonstrate that the damage occurred in transit and not after.
Approved refunds are issued to the original payment method within five (5) UK business days of acceptance. The actual time the funds appear in the Researcher's account depends on the bank or processor: we have observed credit-card refunds appear in 2-5 business days, bank-transfer refunds in 1-3 business days, and stablecoin refunds within thirty (30) minutes of broadcast confirmation. Refunds to a different payment method than the original are exceptional and require written authorisation from the Researcher.
Where the original processor is not available (for example, the card has been closed, the bank account has been closed), Zerovial contacts the Researcher to arrange a substitute method. Zerovial does not retain the refundable balance as account credit unless the Researcher explicitly opts into that, in writing.
If a payment dispute is initiated through the Researcher bank or card-network before the Researcher has contacted Zerovial about the issue, Zerovial is required to defend the dispute with the documentation on file: the order confirmation, the research-use attestations, the lot Janoshik certificates, the carrier tracking and POD record, the WhatsApp / email message thread, and the cold-chain photographs where applicable. Successfully defended chargebacks are reported back to the Researcher Account and may result in restriction of future Orders.
Bad-faith claims (for example, asserting non-receipt against a clear POD signature, asserting cold-chain failure with no photographic evidence on a thawed lot delivered ten days earlier, or invoking the certificate guarantee on a lot that the Researcher has no analytical chain of custody on) are treated as a material breach of the Terms of Service. The Account is closed, the Researcher is added to a denied-party register, and any pending Orders are refunded.
The workflow below applies to every refund category. Step 01 is the same; the diverging branch starts at Step 03. The whole flow is designed so that an in-scope refund is decided within forty-eight (48) UK business hours of the report.
The certificate guarantee window is ninety (90) days from delivery. The cold-chain integrity claim window is twenty-four (24) hours from delivery. The pre-dispatch cancellation window closes when the carrier collects the box. Outside those windows, claims are reviewed on the merits but Zerovial is not contractually obliged to refund.
Nothing in this Refund Policy excludes or limits the Researcher statutory rights under English consumer law, including the rights of a consumer where the consumer-protection regime applies in parallel to a research-use attestation, or under any equivalent mandatory consumer-protection regime in the Researcher home jurisdiction. Where statutory rights provide a longer window or a stricter standard than the corresponding clause above, statutory rights apply.
Every lot ships with two PDFs from Janoshik Analytical (Czech Republic): an HPLC purity certificate and a separate pH test certificate. Both PDFs are linked from the relevant product page before the lot ships, and are referenced on the order paperwork. The certificate is the binding statement of identity, purity and pH for the lot.
If the Researcher's own analytical work, or an independent third-party laboratory, demonstrates that the delivered lot fails to match the Janoshik certificate stated identity, purity (within the certificate published margin) or pH band, Zerovial refunds or replaces the Order in full. The Researcher is not required to disclose internal protocols, lab identity or proprietary methods to invoke this guarantee. A statement of result, the Researcher role, and the lot identifier are sufficient.
If a cold-chain box is lost, damaged, seized at customs without a Researcher-side resolution path, or fails on cold-chain integrity at delivery, Zerovial replaces the Order on the next UK working day after the issue is reported, free of further charge. This guarantee is independent of carrier-side investigations: we do not wait for the carrier to formally declare a loss before re-shipping.
Researchers can cancel any Order before the carrier collects the cold-chain box from the UK warehouse and receive a same-day refund to the original payment method. Cancellations are accepted by email at shipping@zerovial.com or via WhatsApp; the Order is removed from the dispatch queue, the cold-chain box is unsealed and the components returned to stock.
Once the carrier has collected the box, the Order can no longer be cancelled. It can be intercepted, but the carrier intercept fee is then the Researcher's cost (typically 15-25 GBP depending on carrier and destination), and the cold-chain box on the way back to the warehouse cannot be reabsorbed into stock.
For safety and traceability reasons, Zerovial does not accept returns of delivered cold-chain Orders into inventory. Once a sealed cold-chain box has left the UK warehouse, the lot is no longer guaranteed within Zerovial chain of custody. The temperature record, light exposure and storage conditions outside the warehouse cannot be verified. Returning the lot to inventory would compromise the integrity of every subsequent lot we ship.
Where a Researcher invokes the certificate guarantee or the same-day replacement, the original Order does not need to be physically returned. Please dispose of the contents in accordance with local hazardous-waste rules. Where a Researcher returns Product anyway, Zerovial does not refund again on the returned shipment and disposes of the returned material at the Researcher expense.
Defective Product (for example, a pen that does not dial, a cracked cartridge, a missing seal) is treated as a same-day replacement under section 03. The Researcher is asked to send a single photograph of the defect and the pen lot label; Zerovial re-ships from the next available lot the next working day, with the matching Janoshik certificates.
Damaged-on-receipt (outer box crush, broken tamper seal, ice-pack thaw, pen damage) must be reported within twenty-four (24) hours of delivery for the cold-chain insurance to apply. Reports after twenty-four hours are still considered, but the burden shifts to the Researcher to demonstrate that the damage occurred in transit and not after.
Approved refunds are issued to the original payment method within five (5) UK business days of acceptance. The actual time the funds appear in the Researcher's account depends on the bank or processor: we have observed credit-card refunds appear in 2-5 business days, bank-transfer refunds in 1-3 business days, and stablecoin refunds within thirty (30) minutes of broadcast confirmation. Refunds to a different payment method than the original are exceptional and require written authorisation from the Researcher.
Where the original processor is not available (for example, the card has been closed, the bank account has been closed), Zerovial contacts the Researcher to arrange a substitute method. Zerovial does not retain the refundable balance as account credit unless the Researcher explicitly opts into that, in writing.
If a payment dispute is initiated through the Researcher bank or card-network before the Researcher has contacted Zerovial about the issue, Zerovial is required to defend the dispute with the documentation on file: the order confirmation, the research-use attestations, the lot Janoshik certificates, the carrier tracking and POD record, the WhatsApp / email message thread, and the cold-chain photographs where applicable. Successfully defended chargebacks are reported back to the Researcher Account and may result in restriction of future Orders.
Bad-faith claims (for example, asserting non-receipt against a clear POD signature, asserting cold-chain failure with no photographic evidence on a thawed lot delivered ten days earlier, or invoking the certificate guarantee on a lot that the Researcher has no analytical chain of custody on) are treated as a material breach of the Terms of Service. The Account is closed, the Researcher is added to a denied-party register, and any pending Orders are refunded.
The workflow below applies to every refund category. Step 01 is the same; the diverging branch starts at Step 03. The whole flow is designed so that an in-scope refund is decided within forty-eight (48) UK business hours of the report.
The certificate guarantee window is ninety (90) days from delivery. The cold-chain integrity claim window is twenty-four (24) hours from delivery. The pre-dispatch cancellation window closes when the carrier collects the box. Outside those windows, claims are reviewed on the merits but Zerovial is not contractually obliged to refund.
Nothing in this Refund Policy excludes or limits the Researcher statutory rights under English consumer law, including the rights of a consumer where the consumer-protection regime applies in parallel to a research-use attestation, or under any equivalent mandatory consumer-protection regime in the Researcher home jurisdiction. Where statutory rights provide a longer window or a stricter standard than the corresponding clause above, statutory rights apply.
All six documents form one binding agreement between Zerovial and every researcher with a Zerovial account or order on file.