Direct Debit Terms of Sale

IVC Evidensia Pet Health Club™ Terms & Conditions

Welcome to the Pet Health Club™ from your Veterinary Practice. This contract is between You and Your Veterinary Practice. Your Plan is administered by Easy Direct Debits Limited for and on behalf of Your Veterinary Practice. This includes passing the fees on to Your Veterinary Practice on a monthly basis.

The following points make up the terms and conditions of the Contract between You and Your Veterinary Practice. These are very important and we recommend that You read through them carefully at the start of Your Pet’s Plan.

1. Definitions of terms used

• Contract means the Plan agreement between You and Your Veterinary Practice which You have signed and which comprises these terms and conditions.
• Your Veterinary Practice means the veterinary practice named as the provider of Your Pet’s treatment on the Plan application form.
• You means the holder of the Plan who has signed the application form and who is named as the primary contact for the Plan in our records.
• Your Pet means the animal named on the application form as beneficiary of the Plan.
• Plan means the pet health plan offered by Your Veterinary Practice that covers specified treatment required to maintain Your Pet’s health.
• Plan Year means an iterative cycle of twelve consecutive months starting from the beginning of the Contract and any 12 month period thereafter.
• Your Monthly Plan Fee is the monthly amount charged by Your Veterinary Practice to cover the cost of the treatment provided to Your Pet under the terms of this Contract.
• The Application Form is the document that is completed by Your Veterinary Practice at the start of the Plan which sets out the Plan category and Monthly Plan Fee.
• An Approved Practice is a practice owned by Independent Vetcare Ltd.

2. Treatment to which Your Pet is entitled

The Contract entitles Your Pet to receive the routine and preventive treatment required to maintain Your Pet’s health as prescribed by Your Veterinary Practice. This includes twice-yearly health assessments, routine vaccinations and regular control of parasites. A full list of inclusions are available from Your Veterinary Practice, which may include any references to discounts on other items of treatment and retail goods. These terms and conditions should be read in conjunction with Your Veterinary Practice’s specific Plan details.

3. Treatment to which Your Pet is not entitled

This Contract is limited to the provision of routine preventive health care and only entitles your pet to the treatment required to monitor its health, as specified by your practice. There is no insured benefit under The Contract, and this Contract is not a substitute for pet insurance. The Contract does not entitle Your Pet to:

• The cost of consultations that may or may not precede clinical treatment
• Any treatment that is deemed clinically necessary by Your Veterinary Practice in the event of
• illness (short-term or long-term) and injury
• Any drugs or general health improvers (such as vitamins or ‘neutraceuticals’) which are not
• clinically necessary in the opinion of Your Veterinary Practice
• The cost of food, including prescription and special dietary food
• Treatment provided by Your Veterinary Practice outside of normal surgery hours and/or outside
• of the surgery, including home visits
• Any treatment that continues after the Contract has been cancelled

4. Treatment of other animals

The Contract is for Your Pet named on the Application Form and is not transferable between animals.

5. Treatment at another surgery

Your Contract is between You and Independent Vetcare Ltd as the owners of Your Veterinary Practice. Your plan can only be transferred to an Approved Practice that is owned by Independent Vetcare Ltd (trading as IVC Evidensia) but cannot be transferred to another practice outside of the Independent Vetcare Ltd Group. Where you choose for your pet to have routine preventive treatment anywhere other than an Approved Practice, Your Pet will not be covered by this Contract. If you wish to transfer Your Contract to another Approved Practice, please ask Your Veterinary Practice for details.

6. Monthly Plan Fee

Your Monthly Plan Fee will be determined by your pet’s species. Your Veterinary Practice reserve the right to make changes to the plan and monthly fee with no less than 4 weeks’ notice.

7. Payment of fees

Your Contract is a monthly contract and will continue from month to month until it is ended by either You or Your Veterinary Practice. You must pay the monthly fee by Direct Debit in favour of Easy Direct Debits Limited as collecting agent for Your Veterinary Practice. Any other amounts due to Your Veterinary Practice for treatment not covered by this Contract are payable directly to Your Veterinary Practice. Your liability to pay the monthly fee continues until the Contract is ended in accordance with these terms and conditions (see sections 10 and 11). No refund of fees will be allowed except in the case of administrative error or death of Your Pet or client.

8. Alteration of Monthly Plan Fee

Your Veterinary Practice will normally review Your Pet’s Monthly Plan Fee once a year and Your Monthly Plan Fee may change as a result. You will be given at least 4 weeks’ notice of any changes to your monthly fee and any notice sent to the payer’s email address (if provided) or last known postal address will be treated as adequate notice. You will be entitled to terminate if you do not accept the increased Monthly Plan Fee pursuant to Section 11. If you tell us you want to terminate during the 4 week notice period detailed in this Section, you will not be charged the increased Monthly Plan Fee.

9. Direct Debit Changes

Following a decrease in your monthly fee, your Monthly Plan Fee will be changed at the next available Direct Debit collection date. Where You are given notice of an increase in your monthly fee, your Monthly Plan Fee will be increased at the end of the notice period. If You need to change your bank details or Direct Debit collection date, please contact your veterinary practice at least 10 working days before the next collection is due.

10. Your Responsibilities

You are responsible for ensuring Your Pet attends Your Veterinary Practice regularly for health checks, vaccinations and parasite control and that You comply with the advice and treatment Your Veterinary Practice prescribes. If in the reasonable opinion of Your Veterinary Practice, they are not able to maintain Your Pet’s health due to any act or omission on your part, your practice may end the Contract with immediate effect.

11. Ending the Contract

You may cancel the Contract by giving no less than one calendar months’ notice in writing to Your Veterinary Practice or Easy Direct Debits Limited expiring on the last payment date. If you cancel at any time other than on an anniversary of joining the plan, your practice may charge you either the outstanding amount for treatment received, or the monthly payments due until the anniversary of your plan, whichever is lower.

Your Veterinary Practice may end your Contract for any reason by giving You not less than one month’s notice and notice given will be deemed valid if sent to the payer’s last known postal address.

If in the reasonable opinion of Your Veterinary Practice, they are not able to maintain Your Pet’s health due to any act or omission on your part, our practice may end the Contract with immediate effect. Your Practice may also end this Contract if in our reasonable opinion You, and or any person who brings Your Pet to Your Veterinary Practice in relation to Your Pet’s care, are aggressive and/or abusive to any of Your Veterinary Practice’s staff.

12. Non-payment

Failed Direct Debit payments cause a significant increase in administration costs for the practice. Your Veterinary Practice therefore reserves the right to charge an administration fee of £10 for each failed payment. This administration charge will be added to your account.

After a failed Direct Debit payment, Easy Direct Debits Limited will re-present the payment request to your bank after 3-5 working days. If the second payment request also fails, a second administration charge may be added to your account. A third and final payment request will be made to your bank after a further 3-5 working days. If this payment request is unsuccessful your Pet Health Club™ membership will be cancelled automatically, and your pet will no longer receive the associated benefits and discounts.

If your Pet Health Club™ membership is cancelled automatically because of failed direct debits, your account will be reviewed and you will be charged the full price of any products and services received during the course of your membership, minus any membership fees received to date.

13. Refunds

If your monthly payment is refunded by Easy Direct Debits Limited for whatever reason, the plan will be subject to the conditions of Non-Payment (see Section 12) for those months that have been refunded.

14. Variation of these terms and conditions

The terms and conditions of your Contract may be varied by Your Veterinary Practice or by Easy Direct Debits Limited on Your Veterinary Practice’s behalf. You will be given at least one month’s written notice of any changes. Details of the variation will be sent to the Plan Fee payer’s last known postal address. If you don’t want to accept the changes you have the right to cancel – in line with Section 11 of these Terms and Conditions You will not have to pay any more than one month’s Plan Fee if you are cancelling because of the variations to the terms. You will be deemed to have accepted the variations to the terms if you have not cancelled your Plan membership within one month of receiving written notice of those changes.

15. Liabilities

Easy Direct Debits Limited administers Your Pet’s Plan on behalf of Your Veterinary Practice. The Contract is not with Easy Direct Debits Limited, and to the extent permitted by law Easy Direct Debits Limited has no liability to You whether in respect of tort (including negligence), breach of contract, defective or unsatisfactory treatment in connection with any Plan it administers on behalf of Your Veterinary Practice. This does not affect any right or remedy You may have against Your Veterinary Practice. Easy Direct Debits Limited has no obligation to pay to Your Veterinary Practice any fees not received by us from You, or any monies owed to You by Your Veterinary Practice.

Your practice’s liability to you in respect of the Plan shall not exceed 12 times the Monthly Plan Fee.

16. Your personal data

Easy Direct Debits Limited and Your Veterinary Practice will hold and use your personal data (as defined by UK data protection laws) for the purpose of administering your preventative healthcare plan.

Both Your Veterinary Practice and Easy Direct Debits Ltd may record and monitor inbound and outbound telephone calls for training purposes. These calls may also be referred to in relation to any future queries.

Your Veterinary Practice and Easy Direct Debits Limited will take all reasonable precautions to ensure the security of your data. Your data will not be shared with anyone else unless there is a legal requirement for us to do so.

You have the right to see your personal data. If you have any queries about the data we hold, or how we use it, please write to either Your Veterinary Practice or Easy Direct Debits Limited, 99 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth BH8 8DY.

Your Practice will only use your personal information as set out in its privacy policy, which can be found here: www.thepethealthclub.co.uk/privacy-policy.

17. Complaints and disputes

All disputes relating to treatment should be directed to Your Veterinary Practice in accordance with their in-house complaints procedure.

Should You have a complaint about the administration of your Plan please contact the Easy Direct Debits Limited, 99 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8DY or email at help@easydirectdebits.co.uk.

18. Governing law and jurisdiction

This contract shall be governed by and construed exclusively in accordance with the Law of England and Wales. 

1. Terms and conditions

1.1 What these terms cover. These are the terms and conditions on which you may join and use Pet Health Club™. These terms include important information - please read them carefully. We recommend that you print a copy of these terms for future reference. By joining and using Pet Health Club™, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these terms. If you do not agree to these terms, you must not join or use Pet Health Club™.

2. Information about us and how to contact us

2.1 Who we are. We are Independent Vetcare Limited, trading under the name below.

2.2 Our company details. Our company details are as follows:

2.3 How to contact us. You can contact us by post, email or telephone as follows:

2.4 How we may contact you. If we have to contact you we will do so by telephone or by writing to you at the email address or postal address you provided to us when you register with us.

3. Our contract with you

3.1 Pet Health Club™ is only available for pets that are registered at a participating practice. A list of participating practices is available on our website.

3.2 You can apply to join Pet Health Club™ in a participating practice or online at our website. Your subscription with Pet Health Club™ is a contract between you and us (not between you and the participating practice) and is subject to these terms. That contract comes into existence, and your subscription starts, when we or the practice confirms to you that we have accepted your application.

3.3 You are responsible for registering your pet at a participating practice. Your registration with a participating practice is a contract between you and that practice (not between you and us) and is subject to their terms and conditions - please read them carefully before you agree to register with them. If your pet is not registered at a participating practice, you must do so within 30 days of us accepting your application to join Pet Health Club™. We do not promise that a participating practice will accept your registration.

4. Pet Health Club™

4.1 Pet Health Club™ is a preventative pet healthcare plan. It is not a pet insurance policy or intended to be a replacement for a pet insurance policy. We recommend that our clients take out appropriate pet insurance for their pet with a reputable insurer. We do not provide pet insurance or arrange pet insurance for our clients.

4.2 Your subscription is specific to your pet identified in your application. When you apply to join Pet Health Club™ you will be asked to identify your pet. Your subscription is specific to that pet and cannot be used for any other pet or transferred to another pet.

4.3 Your subscription can only be used at your chosen practice. We may at our discretion agree to change your chosen practice to another participating practice (such as when you are moving house).  You can request a change in your chosen practice. We will endeavour to deal with your request within 14 days. If your chosen practice no longer participates in Pet Health Club™, we will let you know by post or email (including details of alternative participating practices in your area and your rights to cancel your registration).

4.4 The veterinary services and benefits that you will receive depend on your chosen plan. These are limited to the routine preventative healthcare treatments and discounts set out in the published details of the plan. We will provide you with details of the plans available when you register to join Pet Health Club™. Your subscription does not include any of the following:

• 4.4.1 The cost of consultations that may or may not precede clinical treatment;
• 4.4.2 Any treatment, drugs, medications or general health improvers (such as, but not limited to, vitamins or ‘nutraceuticals’) that is not expressly included in the published details of the plan that is deemed clinically necessary by your chosen practice in the event of illness (short-term or long-term) and injury;
• 4.4.3 Any food products (including, but not limited to, prescription and special dietary food);
• 4.4.4 Treatment provided by your chosen practice outside of normal surgery hours and/or outside of the surgery; and
• 4.4.5 Any treatment that continues after your subscription has been cancelled.

4.5 Veterinary services under your subscription will be provided by your chosen practice. Your contract for the performance of veterinary services will be between you and your chosen practice and is subject to their terms and conditions - please read their terms carefully before you agree to receive services from them. You will not be required to pay the practice for those veterinary services covered under your subscription (up to any limits set out in your chosen plan). You will be responsible for paying your chosen practice directly for veterinary services not included in your subscription.

4.6 We may make changes to the veterinary services and benefits under your subscription. We may do so annually when the contract automatically renews or during a contract year if any veterinary services or benefits under your subscription are no longer available and will let you know at least 30 days before the change will take effect. If you do not agree to the change, you may end the contract by letting us know at least 7 days before the date that the change will take effect.

5. Term of your subscription

5.1 Your subscription is an annual rolling contract. The price of your subscription is based on the provision of veterinary services and benefits over a 12-month period. Your subscription starts when we or the relevant practice confirms to you that we have accepted your application to join Pet Health Club™ and continues for a 12-month period and then automatically renews for successive 12-month periods (each 12-month period being referred to in these terms as a “contract year”).

6. Your rights to end your subscription

6.1 Ending your subscription when you have changed your mind (Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013). If you apply to join Pet Health Club™ online, you have a legal right to change your mind and cancel your subscription immediately within 14 days of the date that we send you an email confirming that we have accepted your application. You do not have a right to change your mind where you have started using or you have received any benefits under your subscription, even if the cancellation period is still running.

6.2 Ending your subscription if you are unable to register your pet with a participating practice. You can end your subscription immediately if your pet is not registered at a participating practice and you are unable to do so within 30 days of us accepting your application to join Pet Health Club™.

6.3 Ending your subscription where your pet has died. You can end your subscription immediately if your pet dies.

6.4 Ending your subscription because you no longer wish to maintain your subscription. You can end your subscription at any time for any reason, including a change of services or a change of price.

6.5 Ending your subscription if you do not want it to automatically renew. If you do not want your subscription to automatically renew at the end of a contract year, you must let us know at least 7 days before the end of that contract year.

7. Consequences of ending your subscription

7.1 At the end of your subscription your contract with us will automatically terminate. You will no longer be entitled to any of the benefits or discounts under your subscription.

7.2 You will be entitled to a refund of the price paid for your subscription or to pay us additional charges as follows:

• 7.2.1 If you end your subscription under clause 6.1 or clause 6.2, or we end your plan under clause 9.1, we will refund any subscription fees that you have already paid for that subscription.
• 7.2.2 If you end your subscription under clause 6.3, the subscription will be terminated free of charge.
• 7.2.3 If you end your subscription under clause 6.4 or we end your subscription under clauses 9.2 or 9.3: (i) if the value of the veterinary services and discounts that you have received in that contract year is less than the amount that you have already paid us in that contract year, we will refund the difference to you; and (ii) if the value of the veterinary services and discounts that you have received in that contract year is more than the amount that you have already paid us in that contract year, we reserve the right at our discretion to ask you to pay us the difference.

7.3 Ending of your subscription and your contract with us does not affect your registration and contract with your practice. Your rights to end your registration and contract with your practice depends on the terms of that contract.

8. How to end your subscription

8.1 You must tell us that you want to end your subscription by email to your chosen practice. Please provide your name, home address, details of your pet, details of the practice at which your pet is registered and, where available, your phone number and email address.

9. Our rights to end your subscription

9.1 Ending your subscription if you don’t or are unable to register your pet with a participating practice. We can end your subscription immediately if your pet is not registered at a participating practice and you don’t or are unable to do so within 30 days of us accepting your application to join Pet Health Club™.

9.2 Ending your subscription because of something you have done or not done. We can end your subscription immediately at any time for any of the following reasons:

• 9.2.1 if the information that you provided to us on registration is inaccurate, incomplete or misleading;
• 9.2.2 if your pet ceases to be registered with your chosen practice (or alternative practice that we have approved under these terms) except where your pet has died; or
• 9.2.3 if you break any of the terms of the contract, including if you do not make any payment to us when it is due and you still do not make payment within 7 days of us reminding you that payment is due.

9.3 Ending your subscription in any other circumstances. We may end your subscription at any time for any other reason. We will write to you to let you know at least 30 days before the contract ends.

10. If there is a problem with the services

10.1 How to tell us about problems. If you have any questions or complaints about your subscription or the veterinary services that your chosen practice has provided to you or about any of our staff, please contact us at our email address or telephone number above.

10.2 How to tell us about problems with payments. If you have any questions or complaints about any payments under your subscription or your direct debit mandate, you can contact us at the email address or telephone number above. 

10.3 Summary of your legal rights. We are under a legal duty to supply services that are in conformity with this contract. See the box below for a summary of your key legal rights in relation to services product. Nothing in these terms will affect your legal rights.

11. Price and payment

11.1 You must pay the price for your subscription in advance in monthly instalments. You must pay the price for the first month to us by debit or credit card when we accept your application. After that, you must pay the price for each month to us by direct debit. We are unable to accept payments by cash, cheque, electronic payment (such as paypal) or bank transfer. We will provide you with a direct debit mandate (or a link to set up your direct debit online) when you apply to join Pet Health Club™. You must let us know about any changes to your direct debit details at least 14 days before your next payment is due.

11.2 We may take further action if your direct debit payment fails. If your direct debit payment has failed, we will re-present the payment request to your bank within 3 - 5 working days. If your direct debit payment has failed 3 times, we reserve the right at our discretion to terminate the contract immediately. We reserve the right to charge an administration fee of £10 for each failed direct debit payment to cover our additional administration costs.

11.3 We may increase or decrease the price of your chosen plan. We may do so annually when your subscription automatically renews or may also do so during a contract year if the cost of providing the benefits under your chosen plan substantially increase and will let you know at least 30 days before the change will take effect. If you do not agree to the change, you may end the contract by letting us know at least 7 days before the date that the change will take effect.

12. Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

12.1 We are responsible to you for foreseeable loss and damage caused by us. If we materially fail to comply with these terms, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or our failing to use reasonable care and skill, but we are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen, for example, if you discussed it with us during the sales process.

12.2 We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury to human beings caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

12.3 Our liability to you is limited. Subject to the above exceptions, our liability to you for any damages, losses, claims, costs or expenses arising out of our supply of any products or services shall not exceed the total fees payable by you for your Pet Health Club™ subscription and the veterinary services in question, even if the amount of professional indemnity insurance that we carry is higher.

13. How we may use your personal information

13.1 When you apply to join and participate in Pet Health Club™, we will collect personal data about you. We will only use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy (available on our website).

14. Other important terms

14.1 We may transfer this agreement to someone else. We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under the contract.

14.2 You need our consent to transfer your rights to someone else. You may only transfer your rights or your obligations under these terms to another person if we agree to this in writing.

14.3 Nobody else has any rights under this contract. This contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms.

14.4 If a court finds part of this contract illegal, the rest will continue in force. Each of the paragraphs of these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

14.5 Even if we delay in enforcing this contract, we can still enforce it later. If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these terms, or if we delay in taking steps against you in respect of your breaking this contract, that will not mean that you do not have to do those things and it will not prevent us taking steps against you at a later date. For example, if you miss a payment and we do not chase you but we continue to provide the products, we can still require you to make the payment at a later date.

14.6 Which laws apply to this contract and where you may bring legal proceedings. These terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in the English courts. If you live in Scotland you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in either the Scottish or the English courts.

15. We may make changes to these terms

15.1 We may amend these terms from time to time. We recommend that you check them each time you use our website or place an order to make sure that you are aware and understand the terms that apply at that time.

15.2 These terms were most recently updated on 28 October 2022.