Hire Returns, Cancellations & Refunds

SMH Events supplies equipment on hire, not for sale. Your payment covers the agreed hire and any services included in your booking. Ownership does not transfer to you, and the equipment must be returned or made available for collection at the end of the agreed hire period.

This policy explains returns, cancellations and refunds for our UK equipment-hire bookings. Read it alongside your accepted quotation or online order summary and our Hire Terms and Conditions. Nothing here limits your statutory rights.

1. Returning equipment at the end of your hire

Follow the return or collection arrangements in your booking confirmation. Where SMH is collecting, have the equipment and all supplied accessories ready at the agreed site and time, with safe access for our team. Keep the equipment secure until it has been collected.

Equipment should be returned in the condition in which it was supplied, allowing for fair wear and tear. Follow any care, packing and dismantling instructions provided. Do not dismantle installed marquees, staging or other structures unless we have agreed that you may do so.

Please contact us before sending equipment back yourself. We will confirm the correct location and arrangements. Do not send equipment to our registered office unless we have expressly agreed this.

2. Collection and return costs

Normal delivery and collection charges are those agreed in your quotation or online order summary. Returning hired equipment is part of the hire arrangement, not a retail postal-return service.

Contact us before changing a collection date, location or access arrangement. We will explain any proposed additional charge before agreeing the change. Any costs arising from missed access, late return, loss or damage must have a basis in your agreed terms and applicable law; this policy does not introduce a new fixed return or restocking fee.

3. Cancelling or changing a booking before delivery

Contact us as soon as you wish to cancel, reduce quantities or change dates. Email is helpful because it gives both sides a record. Include your name, booking reference and hire dates.

Unless a statutory cancellation right or another legal remedy applies, cancellation charges are governed by the terms agreed for your booking, including section 10 of our Hire Terms and Conditions. We will explain the applicable charge and any refund due. Changes are not confirmed until we have agreed them with you.

For consumer bookings, any cancellation charge must be fair and reflect our reasonable losses, taking account of costs saved and replacement bookings where relevant. Your legal rights take priority over a contractual cancellation charge.

4. Fixed-date event bookings and cancellation rights

Where your booking qualifies as a service related to leisure activities for a specified date or period, the statutory 14-day cooling-off right does not apply, under regulation 28(1)(h) of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. Business-to-business bookings do not have consumer cooling-off rights. We do not offer an additional voluntary cooling-off period.

This exemption is not a blanket exclusion for every equipment-hire booking. Where a statutory cancellation right applies, it remains unaffected. For an applicable online or telephone hire contract, the cancellation period normally ends 14 days after the day the contract is made. You may cancel by any clear statement using the contact details below; you do not need to use a particular form or wait for us to approve your cancellation.

If you expressly request that performance starts during a statutory cancellation period, we may charge only for what the law permits and where its information and consent requirements have been met. Booking, paying or starting hire does not by itself waive a statutory right.

5. No change-of-mind refunds once hire starts

Once the agreed hire period has started, we do not offer change-of-mind refunds or credits for unused equipment, reduced use, early returns or a decision to finish the hire early. The agreed hire charge remains payable, subject to the legal protections below. Contact us before changing collection arrangements.

This restriction does not apply to any refund, price reduction or other remedy that you are entitled to by law, including where equipment is faulty, not as described or not supplied as agreed. It also does not prevent a statutory cancellation right where one applies.

6. Faulty, damaged or incorrect equipment

Please check the equipment on arrival and tell us promptly about missing items, damage, faults or an incorrect delivery. Stop using anything that may be unsafe. Provide your booking reference, details of the problem and photographs where practical and safe.

We will assess the problem and arrange an appropriate remedy, which may include repair, replacement, collection, a price reduction or a refund, according to the circumstances and your legal rights. We will not require you to accept a repair or replacement where the law entitles you to reject the equipment and receive a refund.

Where the problem is our responsibility, we will arrange the necessary collection or agree reasonable return costs with you without charging you to put our error right. Contact SMH even if equipment was supplied through one of our hire partners. Prompt reporting helps us resolve problems during your event; it is not a blanket cut-off for statutory claims.

7. When SMH cannot fulfil an online order

Payment and an automated acknowledgement confirm receipt of your order; the booking is confirmed when SMH accepts it. If we cannot fulfil your online order, we will notify you promptly and provide a full refund, including delivery charges and VAT, without a cancellation fee. This does not limit any other rights you have.

8. How refunds are paid when due

This section applies where a refund is due under this policy or required by law; it does not create a change-of-mind refund entitlement once hire has started.

Refunds are made to the original payment method unless you expressly agree otherwise, without a refund-processing fee. Once we agree that a refund is due, we will issue it without undue delay and within 14 calendar days. Where the law requires an earlier refund or a different starting point for that deadline, we will follow that requirement. In particular, a statutory cancellation deadline is not postponed while we approve your request.

We will confirm the amount and explain any lawful deduction. You do not have to accept a credit note instead of a refund to which you are legally entitled. Your bank or payment provider may take additional time to display the refund after it has been issued.

9. Security deposits, loss and damage

Where your quotation includes a security deposit, the existing hire terms provide for its return, or the remaining balance, within 14 business days after the rental period ends. Any shorter legal deadline takes priority. A security deposit is separate from a refund of hire charges.

Any deduction for an unpaid amount, missing equipment or damage must be justified under your agreement and applicable law. We will explain the reason and amount. Fair wear and tear is not treated as chargeable damage.

10. Contact and complaints

Email: hire@smh-events.com
Phone: 07908 009 266

SMH Events Limited
Company number: 14748497
Registered office and postal correspondence: 34 Coram Green, Hutton, Brentwood, England, CM13 1LN.

The registered office is not an unarranged equipment-return point. Please contact us to agree equipment collection or return. To raise a complaint, give your booking reference, explain what went wrong and tell us the outcome you are seeking.

Consumer rights apply where you are acting wholly or mainly outside your trade, business, craft or profession. Business customers retain their contractual and other legal rights, but do not automatically receive consumer cooling-off rights. Nothing in this policy excludes rights or liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.