Terms of service
These terms cover orders placed on LegionellaSampling.co.uk for sampling kits, laboratory analysis, reports, and related guidance.
1. About us
The site is operated by Legionella Sampling (“we”, “us”, “our”).
- Website: https://legionellasampling.co.uk
- Email: hello@legionellasampling.co.uk
We supply sterile sampling kits, instructions, prepaid return packaging, and written reports based on analysis carried out by UKAS-accredited laboratories to ISO/IEC 17025. Guidance is aligned with HSE Approved Code of Practice L8 and HSG 274, in particular Part 2 for hot and cold water systems, where that guidance is relevant to the sample.
2. These terms
By placing an order or creating a subscription you agree to these terms and to our privacy policy. If you order for an organisation, you confirm you have authority to bind it. “You” means the customer named on the order.
If you are a consumer (an individual acting wholly or mainly outside your trade, business, craft, or profession), you also have rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Nothing in these terms reduces those rights. Most of our customers are businesses. Business terms are marked where they differ.
3. What we do, and what we do not do
A completed order normally includes:
- sterile bottles and return packaging posted to the address you give us;
- sampling instructions;
- prepaid courier return of the samples to the laboratory;
- analysis by a UKAS-accredited laboratory;
- a written report, usually within 10 to 14 days of the laboratory receiving a valid sample; and
- practical interpretation of that result.
Unless we agree otherwise in writing, we do not:
- carry out a Legionella risk assessment, written scheme of control, or management audit;
- attend site to take samples (sampling is done by you or your staff, following our instructions);
- clean, disinfect, treat, or alter your water system;
- act as your statutory duty holder, responsible person, or competent person under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, COSHH, or ACOP L8; or
- give legal advice. Reports support your compliance records. They do not replace your own duties.
4. Orders and the contract
Product pages are an invitation to order, not a binding offer. A contract is formed when we email you an order confirmation. We may refuse an order, for example if a kit is unavailable, if there is a pricing error, or if we cannot deliver to the address.
Please check the confirmation. Tell us promptly if anything is wrong.
Prices are shown in pounds sterling and exclude VAT unless the page says otherwise. VAT is added at checkout where it applies. Delivery of the kit is included unless the page says otherwise. We may change prices for future orders. A confirmed order keeps the price quoted on it, unless we agree a change with you.
5. Payment
Payment is due when you order, unless we have agreed account terms in writing. We may suspend kits, analysis, or reports if a payment fails or an invoice is overdue. Title in physical kit components passes on delivery. Unused consumables remain our property until paid for, where the law allows.
6. Subscriptions
Subscription bundles renew for the period shown on the product page (for example every month or every three months) until you cancel. We will take the payment method you provided for each renewal and dispatch the next kit on the schedule described at purchase.
- You may cancel a subscription at any time from your account or by emailing us. Cancellation stops future renewals. It does not refund a kit already dispatched or a sample already booked into the laboratory.
- Cancel before the next renewal is processed if you want that renewal stopped. There is no minimum notice period.
- We may change subscription contents or price for future periods. We will email you at least 30 days before a price increase. You may cancel before it takes effect.
- We may end a subscription if you break these terms and do not put things right within 14 days of us asking, or immediately if a payment fails and is not resolved.
7. Delivery, sampling, and sample condition
Kit delivery dates are estimates. Risk in the kit passes to you on delivery. Check the contents promptly and tell us within 5 working days if something is missing or damaged.
You are responsible for:
- taking samples in line with the instructions, from the outlets you choose;
- completing the chain-of-custody details accurately, including date, time, and location;
- returning samples promptly using the prepaid packaging, so they reach the laboratory within the holding time for the method (Legionella culture samples should be kept cool and reach the laboratory as soon as practicable, normally so analysis can start within 24 hours of sampling, and no later than the laboratory’s stated limit);
- site access, health and safety, and any permit your premises requires; and
- telling us if a sample relates to a known incident, so the laboratory can be alerted.
A result is only as good as the sample. We are not responsible for a rejected, delayed, or misleading result caused by incorrect sampling, an unlabelled bottle, temperature abuse, late posting, or incomplete paperwork. If the laboratory rejects a sample for a reason within our control (for example we sent the wrong bottle), we will replace the kit or repeat the analysis at no further charge.
8. Reports and how to use them
Reports state the laboratory result for the sample received. A “not detected” result is a snapshot of that outlet at that time. It is not a guarantee that a system is free of Legionella, Pseudomonas, or other bacteria, and it is not a certificate that control measures are adequate.
Detection of Legionella, or a count above a guidance threshold, means you should follow your written scheme and the relevant HSE guidance. We will explain the result in plain language and may suggest practical next steps. Urgent action on site remains your responsibility. If we believe there is an immediate risk, we will say so in the report or by email or phone, but we do not notify the HSE or a local authority for you unless the law requires us to, or you ask us to and we agree.
Turnaround of 10 to 14 days is typical for culture methods and is not guaranteed. Interim or delayed results can happen if the laboratory needs to confirm a colony or if a sample arrives in poor condition.
You may use reports internally and share them with your responsible person, insurer, auditor, local authority, or the HSE. You may not alter a report or present an excerpt as the full result.
9. Cooling-off and cancellations
Consumers
If you are a consumer, you may cancel an order for unused goods within 14 days of receiving them, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations. Sealed goods that are not suitable for return once unsealed for health-protection reasons — including opened sterile bottles — cannot be returned once the seal is broken. Analysis that has already started, at your request during the cooling-off period, is not refundable to the extent of the work done. To cancel, email hello@legionellasampling.co.uk.
Business customers
If you are buying for a business, you may cancel before we dispatch the kit. After dispatch, kits are non-refundable unless they are faulty or not as described. Analysis fees are non-refundable once the sample has been logged by the laboratory, except where we are at fault.
10. Faulty kits and our liability
We will replace a kit or repeat analysis if the kit or report is faulty, not as described, or not carried out with reasonable care. This is in addition to any legal rights you have.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot legally be limited.
Subject to that:
- we are not liable for loss of profit, loss of business, loss of goodwill, or indirect or consequential loss;
- we are not liable for a regulatory fine, outbreak, or closure arising from your water system, your sampling, or your failure to act on a result or on your own risk assessment;
- our total liability arising out of an order is limited to the charges you paid us for that order (or, for a subscription, the charges paid in the 12 months before the claim).
If you are a consumer, the limit in the last bullet does not apply to a remedy the Consumer Rights Act does not allow us to exclude. We do not exclude liability for failure to provide services with reasonable care and skill.
11. Your information
You confirm that site and contact details you provide are accurate, and that you have a lawful basis to share them with us and with the laboratory. Personal information is handled as described in our privacy policy.
12. Intellectual property
The website, instructions, and report format belong to us or our licensors. You receive a non-exclusive licence to use the instructions and the report for the premises they relate to. Laboratory methods and accreditation belong to the laboratory.
13. Events outside our control
We are not liable for delay caused by something beyond our reasonable control, including courier failure, laboratory capacity, postal disruption, or utility failure. If a delay is likely to be more than 30 days, you may cancel the affected order for a refund of sums paid for work not yet done.
14. Complaints
Email hello@legionellasampling.co.uk with your order reference. We will acknowledge within 3 working days and aim to respond fully within 14 days. If you are a consumer and we cannot resolve a dispute, you may use an approved alternative dispute resolution provider, or the courts.
15. Other terms
- We may update these terms. The version in force when you order applies to that order. For subscriptions, an updated version applies to renewals if we have given you at least 30 days’ notice.
- If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies.
- Nobody other than you and us may enforce these terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
- These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. If you are a consumer living in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you may also bring a claim in your local courts.