Our guarantee
What we guarantee, and where each promise stops
A guarantee is worth exactly what its edges are worth, so this page prints them. Every promise below is written with its limit attached — same card, same size, same weight — because a promise you have to find the small print to understand is not a promise, it is an advertisement. Nothing here is new either. This is our return, shipping and cancellation policies written out as promises you can hold us to, arranged in the order things actually go wrong.
Before anything else
We are not going to print a hundred per cent
Most pages like this one open with a round number and the word guarantee, and every reader already knows how that sentence works: the number is the headline and the conditions are somewhere else. We would rather do it the other way round, starting here.
Here is what is actually true. If an order arrives damaged, arrives wrong, arrives short, or does not arrive at all, tell us and we will put it right — with a replacement, a reshipment, a refund, or another resolution that fits what happened. That is a real commitment, it is written into our return and refund policy, and this page exists to say it in plainer language. What it is not is automatic. Every case is looked at by a person, and being looked at means the answer is occasionally no, or not in full, and that we tell you why rather than going quiet. A hundred per cent that gets reviewed case by case is not a hundred per cent. Printing it would mean choosing to be believed for a week instead of trusted for a year.
The second thing usually printed next to that number is a delivery time, so let us be equally plain about that. Our published estimate is 15 to 20 days after dispatch, and it is an estimate, not a guarantee. International routes are genuinely variable, customs queues are nobody's to control, and a date we would have to apologise for is worth less to you than a range we will stand behind. We say that in the shipping policy, in the return and refund policy and in the FAQ, and we are saying it again here rather than quietly taking it back on the page called Guarantee.
The five things we do guarantee
Every case is read by a person
Not scored by a form, not routed by a dropdown. And if you think the first answer was wrong, reply on the same thread and say why: a second person looks at the case, and what you get back is the reasoning rather than the first answer typed out again. That is in the return and refund policy, which makes it a commitment rather than a courtesy.
The outcomes are named in advance
A replacement, a reshipment, a refund, or another resolution that fits what happened. You can see the shape of the answer before you write to us, because each case below says which of those it can reach.
Where the fault is ours, the shipping comes back too
A refund on an order that arrived damaged, arrived incorrect, or was confirmed lost covers the shipping charge as well as the price. Where a duties-paid price already included import duty, that duty comes back with the item. And where we asked you to send something back because of our mistake, the return postage is ours.
We publish the clock
The delivery estimate, the day it becomes worth chasing us, the day you can ask about a refund, and the point after which a claim becomes hard to verify are all printed further down this page. None of them is a condition you discover afterwards.
Your legal rights are untouched by any of this
Whatever you are entitled to where you live, you remain entitled to. A guarantee written by a shop sits on top of those rights; it does not replace them and it cannot sign them away on your behalf.
Six things that go wrong
Find your situation
These are the six ways an order actually fails. Each card answers the same four questions — what we do, what we need from you, when to raise it, and where it stops. That last one is set in the same size and the same weight as the first, on the other half of the same card, because a limit that has to be hunted for is not a limit anyone agreed to. There is no strip of grey type at the bottom of this page quietly doing the real work.
01
It arrived damaged
- What we do
- A replacement or a refund, once we have seen photographs of the item and of its packaging.
- What we need from you
- Two photographs, and the order they are taken in matters. Photograph the outer packaging first, then the item, before you unpack any further. Send them with your order number. Of everything on this page, damage in transit is the failure with the cleanest evidence — and the evidence is the box.
- When to raise it
- As soon as you have seen it, and before the packaging goes in the bin. This is not a deadline; it is the one case where waiting costs you the thing that would have settled it.
- Where it stops
- We decide once we have seen the photographs, and we need both of them — the item on its own does not show us how the parcel travelled. Damage that happened after delivery, from heat, damp, or how it was stored, is not covered, and neither is a product whose seal or original packaging has been opened. Those limits are about safety rather than about making a claim difficult: once a medicine has left our control we cannot know how it has been kept, and we will not put it back into stock for somebody else.
02
The wrong product, strength or pack size arrived
- What we do
- We send the correct item, or we refund it. You will not usually be asked to return the wrong one.
- What we need from you
- A photograph of what actually arrived, with the name and the strength legible, and your order number. If the difference is a strength or a pack size rather than a different product, say which one you were expecting — it is the fastest way to tell a picking error from a listing that needs fixing.
- When to raise it
- As soon as you notice. This one waits on no clock.
- Where it stops
- “Not usually” is carrying weight in that sentence and we are not going to pretend otherwise — occasionally we do ask, and when we do we say why and tell you exactly how and where to send it. Either way, do not post anything back before you hear from us. A parcel that arrives here without the reference we gave you can be impossible to identify and impossible to refund.
03
Part of the order is missing
- What we do
- We check whether the missing part shipped separately, then either send it or refund it.
- What we need from you
- The order number and a note of what is not there. A photograph of what did arrive, laid out, saves a round of questions — and it is worth checking inside the packaging first, because small items are sometimes packed inside larger ones.
- When to raise it
- Once you have unpacked properly. There is no waiting window on this one.
- Where it stops
- We do not re-price the order against what turned up. There is no pay-only-for-what-arrived process here, and describing one on a web page would not bring it into existence. The order stands as placed; the part that did not arrive is either sent to you or refunded, and neither of those involves a new charge.
04
The parcel is confirmed lost in transit
- What we do
- A reshipment or a refund. Where a parcel is already confirmed lost we do not make you sit out a waiting window for form's sake — we can act sooner than the timings in the next section.
- What we need from you
- The order number and the tracking reference. If the tracking shows a delivery you did not receive, say so in those words: a parcel marked delivered that is not in your hands is a different investigation from a parcel that stopped moving, and telling them apart at the start saves a week.
- When to raise it
- Thirty days from the order date, or sooner if we have already confirmed the parcel is lost — and before eight weeks from the ship date, which is where the window closes.
- Where it stops
- “Confirmed” is the word holding that promise up. Tracking that has not moved for a while is not by itself evidence that a parcel is lost: scans are added at checkpoints, and there can be long gaps between one checkpoint and the next on an international route. Until it is confirmed lost, the timings in the next section are what apply. And after eight weeks from the ship date a carrier trace is often no longer possible, and a claim may be difficult or impossible to verify.
05
Delivery failed and the parcel went back to the sender
- What we do
- We contact you to confirm the address and arrange a reshipment.
- What we need from you
- An answer to that email, quickly. A parcel that cannot be delivered is usually held for collection for a period and then returned to sender, so the day the email arrives is the day worth answering it.
- When to raise it
- You will usually hear from us first. If the tracking shows a failed delivery and you have not heard from us, write with the order number.
- Where it stops
- A further shipping charge may apply, where the original address was incorrect or the parcel was not collected. That second journey is a real cost and we would rather say so here than surprise you with it later. If the address was wrong or incomplete to begin with, the next card is the one that applies.
06
The address supplied was wrong or incomplete
- What we do
- We will still try to help. Tell us the moment you notice: before dispatch we can usually correct an address at no cost at all, and that is by some distance the best outcome available here.
- What we need from you
- The order number and the corrected address, in one message, as early as you can. Check the unit or apartment number especially — a missing one is a common cause of a failed delivery.
- When to raise it
- Immediately, and ideally before dispatch. Correcting an address before dispatch costs nothing. Correcting it afterwards usually is not possible.
- Where it stops
- This is the one place the guarantee genuinely does not reach. Where the address supplied was incorrect or incomplete, a free replacement or a full refund may not be available, and a reshipment may carry a further shipping charge. We have put that here rather than in a footnote for two reasons: it is the most common reason an order never arrives, and a missing unit number is a thirty-second fix beforehand and sometimes an unfixable one afterwards.
Timing
There are two Day Zeros, and the rules run from different ones
Almost every argument about a late parcel turns out to be an argument about which day the counting started on. There are two candidate days here, they are not the same day, and mixing them up is what turns a normal wait into a bad week. So here they are separately. And note what each of these is: a day on which you become entitled to something specific from us. None of them is a day a parcel arrives.
Day 0
the day you place the order
More than 30 days from the order date and still nothing has arrived — ask us about a refund or a reshipment. That window exists because parcels do turn up after long silences, and an order refunded on day twenty that arrives on day twenty-four is awkward for both of us. Where a parcel is already confirmed lost, we can act sooner.
Day 0
the day it is dispatched
15 to 20 days is the typical delivery estimate. Inside it there is nothing to do — tracking sitting unchanged for several days while a parcel is in transit or with customs is normal, not a warning sign.
More than 7 days past that window — get in touch with your order number so we can investigate with the carrier. That means a real query raised against your parcel, not a reassuring email. You are not being a nuisance; the day is printed here so you do not have to decide whether you are.
More than 8 weeks from the ship date — report it now. After that point a carrier trace is often no longer possible, and a claim may be difficult or impossible to verify. This is the one mark on the page that closes rather than opens, and it is the reason the three before it exist.
Between those two days sits the part nobody can put a number on
Payment for this store is arranged away from the website, and preparation does not begin when you place the order — it begins when a person has independently verified your payment and recorded it against the order. How long that takes depends on the payment channel and on how quickly the payment reference reaches us. That is why you will not find an order-to-doorstep figure anywhere on this site, and why we are not going to invent one on the page named Guarantee. We publish the leg we can stand behind, and we tell you plainly where the other one starts.
| Where the order has got to | What to do |
|---|---|
| Inside the 15–20 day estimate | Nothing yet — this is normal. Tracking may sit unchanged for several days while a parcel is in transit or with customs. |
| More than 7 days past the estimated window | Contact us with the order number so we can investigate with the carrier. |
| More than 30 days from the order date and still nothing | Ask us about a refund or a reshipment. We may act sooner where a parcel is already confirmed lost. |
| More than 8 weeks from the ship date | Report it now. After this point a carrier trace is often no longer possible, and a claim may be difficult or impossible to verify. |
The money
What a refund covers, line by line
There is no version of this that is more useful when it is vague. This is the same table as the one in the return and refund policy, printed here so you do not have to go and find it, and kept identical so the two can never drift apart. Read the rows that say “usually not” first — they are the ones that cause the arguments, and they are much easier to accept before you are owed something than after.
| Charge | Refunded? |
|---|---|
| The price of a product that was damaged, incorrect, or confirmed lost | Yes |
| The price of an agreed, approved return received in acceptable condition | Yes |
| Shipping charge, where the order was incorrect, damaged on arrival, or confirmed lost | Yes |
| Shipping charge, on a return for any other reason | Usually not |
| Return postage you pay to send an approved return back | Only where the return is because of our error |
| Import duties included in a duties-paid price | Refunded with the item price where the item itself is refunded |
It is arranged, not reversed
Because payment is taken outside this website, there is no card charge sitting on a statement for anyone to cancel. An approved refund is arranged through a method agreed for the order, and how long it takes depends on that channel and on the details needed to complete it. We will tell you exactly what we need, and confirm when it has been sent from our side — which is the only half of that journey we can actually see. What we will not do is quote you a number of working days for a channel whose speed is not ours to set.
It comes back in the currency you paid in
Where your bank or the payment channel applies its own fee or its own exchange rate on the way back to you, that part is outside our control, and outside this guarantee. We would rather name that now than have you find a shortfall at the end and wonder who took it.
Duties-paid means the duties come back too
Where the price you paid already included import duties, those are refunded along with the item price whenever the item itself is refunded. Nothing is quietly kept back.
Before it ships
The strongest promise on this page is the one that runs out first
Everything above is about putting something right after it has gone wrong. This one is about stopping it before it does, and it is the cheapest and most certain remedy we have. It is not decided by how long ago you ordered, though — it is decided by how far the order has physically travelled, which is why the answer can be yes an hour after you order and no the next morning.
1
Placed, payment not yet recorded
Yes
The order exists but nothing has been paid or prepared. Tell us and it stops there; nothing has been charged and nothing will be.
2
Payment verified, not yet packed
Usually yes
We have recorded your offline payment and the order is queued for preparation. Still possible if you reach us before packing starts — but preparation begins as soon as a payment is verified, so this window can be short. Speed matters here more than anything else you could do.
3
Packed, or already with the carrier
No
The return and refund policy applies from this point on, and the six cases above are what apply.
4
Delivered
No
The same: the return and refund policy applies rather than this one.
A change is often possible where a cancellation is not
At stages one and two we can usually correct a delivery address, swap a pack size or a strength, add or remove an item, or update a phone number that actually reaches you when a carrier calls. A price difference is settled before the order moves on. Ask for the change you actually want rather than for a cancellation you do not; if it turns out not to be possible we will say so, and cancelling is still on the table. And where a cancelled order had not shipped, the shipping charge is refunded together with the items.
An unanswered request is not a cancellation
Send the order number with the word cancel in the subject line, and treat the order as live until we have confirmed in writing that the request was in time. We would much rather you chased us than assumed.
What this page is not
The limits, in one place
Gathered here rather than scattered through the sections above, so nobody has to read the whole page to find the one line that applies to them. These five are the ones a shorter, friendlier version of this page would quietly have left out.
There is no automatic refund
A refund is one of four possible outcomes — a replacement, a reshipment, a refund, or another resolution that fits what happened — and which one applies is decided from the case rather than triggered by asking. We would rather name all four than promise the one you were hoping to read.
We do not send an alert when a parcel stalls
There is no system here that watches your parcel and messages you when it is delayed, held at a border, or turned back, and we are not going to describe one that does not exist. What exists is smaller and real: an order confirmation, the offline payment instructions, confirmation once a person has verified your payment, a dispatch email with tracking where the carrier provides it, and carrier scans as checkpoints are passed — plus a tracking link on the order in your account. Which means silence is not a signal in either direction. It does not mean something has gone wrong and it does not mean everything is fine. The marks in the timing section are what tell you when to act.
There is no ticket system and no refund section
Some pharmacy sites send you to a refund area to raise a ticket with a case number. We do not have one, and drawing you a button that goes nowhere would be a worse answer than admitting it. There is no reference number to quote at us and no queue to jump.
The address carve-out is real
Where the address supplied was incorrect or incomplete, we will still try to help — but a free replacement or a full refund may not be available, and a reshipment may carry a further shipping charge. It is the one case where the outcome turns on something that was outside our hands before the parcel ever moved.
The window closes
More than eight weeks from the ship date, a carrier trace is often no longer possible and a claim may be difficult or impossible to verify. We would much rather print that here than have you discover it at the end of a long and patient wait. If you are anywhere near that line, today is the day.
Making a claim
There is no ticket system. There is a person and an order number.
You may have seen pages like this one point you at a refund section, or a ticket queue with a case number. We do not have either, and sending you off to look for one would burn the days that matter most. Here is the route, and it is short. What genuinely speeds a case up is not which door you use — it is what is in the first message.
- The contact form
Choose the topic “Shipping or returns”. It is the quickest route because it arrives already labelled, which means it lands with the right person without anyone having to read it twice first.
- care@essentialmedicine.store
Put the order number in the subject line; for a cancellation, put the word cancel in it too. If you already have a thread with us about this order, reply on that one rather than starting a new one — the history is worth more than a fresh start.
- Your order pages
Worth opening before you write to us: the order number, everything that was on the order, and the tracking link where there is one are all on that page, and most of what we are about to ask for is already sitting there. Sign-in required.
What to include
The order number
It is on the order in your account and on your confirmation email. Everything is faster with it and slower without it, and that is the whole of its significance.
What happened, in a sentence or two
Not a formal complaint, and no need to be apologetic about it. “Arrived yesterday, box crushed on one corner, two blister strips split” is a better opening than three paragraphs of context — it tells us which of the six cases you are in before we have finished reading.
Photographs, where the case needs them
Damaged: the outer packaging and the item, both, before you unpack any further. Wrong item: the pack you received, with the name and the strength legible. Missing item: what did arrive, laid out where we can see it. If you are not sure whether yours needs a photograph, take one anyway — it is easier to ignore than to recreate.
The tracking reference, for anything delivery-related
It saves a round trip, and a round trip on an international parcel is a week.
And wait for our reply before posting anything back
This is the one instruction on the page that costs real money to ignore. A parcel sent back without agreed instructions can arrive somewhere it cannot be identified, and we may not be able to link it to your order or refund it. If a return is the right answer we will tell you how and where, and you should keep proof of postage.
If you disagree with the answer
Reply on the same thread and say why. A second person looks at the case, and what you get back is the reasoning rather than the first answer typed out again. That is not a formal appeals process with a name and a target time attached, and we are not going to dress it up as one. It is a second person reading it properly, which is the thing that actually changes outcomes. Nothing in any of this affects the statutory rights you hold where you live.
Straight answers
Questions this page answers
- Do you offer a 100% money-back guarantee?
- No, and we would rather say so on the page than in a footnote. What we offer is a reviewed resolution: tell us what happened, and where an order arrived damaged, arrived incorrect, arrived short, or is confirmed lost, we offer a replacement, a reshipment, a refund, or another resolution that fits the case. Every case is looked at by a person, so the answer is occasionally no or not in full — and when it is, we tell you why, and a second person will look again if you disagree.
- How long does delivery take from the day I order?
- We do not publish an order-to-doorstep figure, because the first leg is not ours to time. The estimate we publish is 15 to 20 days after dispatch, and it is an estimate rather than a guarantee. Preparation begins when your payment has been independently verified and recorded, not when the order is placed, so the time before dispatch is its own stretch and is not inside the estimate.
- Will you tell me if my parcel is delayed or held?
- No. There is no system here that alerts you when a parcel is delayed, held or turned back. You get an order confirmation, the offline payment instructions, confirmation once payment is recorded, a dispatch email with tracking where the carrier provides it, and a tracking link on the order in your account. The timing marks on this page are what tell you when to get in touch.
- How do I open a refund request — is there a ticket system?
- There is no ticket system and no separate refund section. Email us with your order number and a clear description of what happened, or use the contact form and choose “Shipping or returns”. Include photographs for damage or a wrong item, and the tracking reference for anything delivery-related. Neither route needs a reference number.
- Only part of my order arrived. Do I pay only for what turned up?
- That is not how it works here. We check whether the rest shipped separately, and then either send the missing part or refund it. The order is not re-priced against what arrived, and there is no separate charge for a partial delivery.
- How long should I wait before asking for a refund on a late order?
- At least 30 days from the order date, unless we have already confirmed the parcel is lost — in which case we can act sooner. Before that: nothing to do inside the 15 to 20 day estimate; get in touch once you are more than 7 days past it; and report it before eight weeks from the ship date, because after that a carrier trace is often no longer possible.
Tell us what happened
You do not need to work out which of the six cases you are in, and you do not need to have read the policy first. Send the order number and a plain description of what went wrong, and we will tell you which case it is and what happens next. If there are photographs, attach them to that first message — it is usually the difference between a case that settles this week and one that takes three. And if the honest answer is that this is still inside the window and there is nothing to do yet, we will say that too, and tell you the date to come back. Being told to wait is a worse answer than being told a refund is on its way. It is a much better answer than being told nothing.