Terms and Conditions Usage of this site in any manner constitutes acceptance of the current policies and procedures as defined below. If you have questions or comments regarding this site or our company, please write us. If you have a need for any sort of office furniture, you may want to come visit us at our parent site, Evolutionary Office. If you would like to see a wide variety of coat trees, hooks and racks, you might enjoy our TreeHook site. The Step Stool Store c/o Evolutionary Office PO Box 1212 Manor, TX 78653-1212 512-272-4800 512-272-4811 Fax info@stepstoolstore.com Who are you? How long before my order arrives? Payment methods Sales tax Freight damage Freight carrier responsibilities Calling before delivery Shipping outside the United States Return policy Cancellations and changes Warranties Copyrights Contractual Obligations - Your Agreement Q. Who are you? A. The Step Stool Store is a part of Evolutionary Office, a contract furniture dealer in business since 1998. Please be aware our primary markets are business and government, not individual consumers. We are not really set up to track your single order from the date you order it until the time you receive it and are not interested in that sort of business. There are other companies which are set up to deal with individual consumers. We are not. Certainly we'll be happy to sell you a single stool. But processing the paperwork on a single item costs the majority of the profit on that item and we're not set up to sell that way. That's why our prices are lower. It's also why we sometimes reject orders from individuals. It's a workload balance and when the workload is high, we don't have time to work a single item order into the mix and it's unfair to you to make you wait. If you can wait, fine, and we thank you very much. If you can't wait, please purchase from a site geared towards the individual consumer. We apologize if this seems rude in any way, but we don't want to disappoint you. We would prefer not to get your order rather than irritate you. (Top) Q. How long does it take to get my order? A. Lead times, marked on every page under "Availability" are an average of the factory's lead times over the past year. Lead times vary based on the work load at the factory and all orders are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. All orders are shipped directly from the factory. We do not stock any product. Because orders are shipped from the factory, we do NOT have your tracking number. Please don't call us to check the status of your order. We don't know! We enjoy talking with folks but to check on your order we have to email a different location rather than having it at our fingertips. For fastest response, please email us at info@stepstoolstore.com. The easiest way to do this is to simply hit Reply to the order confirmation/receipt we emailed you when you placed your order. That email contains all the information we need to be able to find out where your order is in the process. Please note the Availability time is the approximate time that is our best knowledge of the manufacturer's current lead times and is subject to change without notice. The Availability is the time it takes to manufacture your order and ready it for shipment. Such times are variable due to the manufacturer(s)' current work loads and Evolutionary Office will not be responsible for either early shipment or delays under any circumstances and you specifically agree to this condition. We usually use ground transportation to get the product to you, absolutely free. How long it takes to get to you depends on where you live in relation to the factory. (Top) Q. What forms of payment do you accept? A. American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa, and checks. Purchase orders are not accepted, but we will be happy to provide a proforma invoice for any amount over $100.00. Upon receipt of your check, we will place your order. Orders requiring proforma invoices for less than $250.00 or purchase orders for less than $250.00 will require a $15.00 Service Charge per invoice generated. Please note that credit cards will be immediately charged upon receipt as a deposit on your order. The majority of our products cannot be canceled once in production without substantial restocking fees. If you prefer us to wait to charge your card until shipment, please make a note of it in the Notes section of the order form. In this event, the amount of 50% will be charged to your card upon order acceptance and the balance will be placed on the card on the date the product is shipped from the factory. Purchase orders are not accepted. We do not offer payment plans or open credit accounts to individuals or business. Sorry. On orders exceeding $5000.00, you have the option of paying 90% with either a credit card or check in advance and you may retain 10% of the total for 10 business days after receipt of the product, if you choose. Retainage which has not been paid after 30 days will be subject to being turned over to a collection agency. After 90 days, retainage which has not been paid will be subject to civil suit in Travis County, Texas. (Top) Q. What about taxes? A. If you're in Texas, we have to charge Sales Tax. If you're not, we don't. (Top) Q. What about freight damage? A. Inspect the boxes when you receive them before you allow the freight carrier's driver to leave. If there is the slightest mark on the box, open the item and inspect it. If there is any damage whatsoever, mark the freight carrier's delivery ticket with a notation of the damage. We are not responsible for freight damage, but we will assist you in filing a freight claim. Once the product leaves the manufacturer's dock, it belongs to the freight company. Your signature upon the freight company's bill of lading indicates your acceptance of the shipment in perfect condition, therefore, please do not sign the carrier's paperwork until you are certain it is indeed in perfect condition. Freight companies often deny claims for "concealed damage" or pay a fraction of the cost. Your only hope of getting the full amount of the cost of the product is to have noted the freight bill appropriately. As we are neither the shipper nor the freight line, we cannot replace your product without payment of full replacement or repair cost from the freight line. (Top) Q. What are the responsibilities of the freight carrier? A. The freight carrier driver is responsible for bringing the product to the end of the truck. They do not have to bring it any further than that point, although many truck drivers will assist you to take it a little further. However, do not rely on this. If you have a heavy shipment, please be sure to have sufficient help on-hand to assist you in unloading the truck and placing it where you wish. If you prefer inside-delivery and/or setup of your product, please contact us so we may provide you with a list of contractors for you to choose from. We do not provide inside-delivery or setup directly. (Top) Q. Will the freight carrier call before they attempt to deliver my order? A. Freight carriers will not call before delivery without payment of a $25 fee for this service. If you want this service, please contact us so the notation can be made on your order and your account billed accordingly. If you have requested this service and it is not performed, you have the right under Federal law to refuse the shipment and make the carrier redeliver the product 24 hours later, without redelivery charges. In practice, if you receive the product anyway, the carrier will not refund the call-before-delivery fee. If you are not able to accept a shipment between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM on weekdays which are not holidays, please let us know so we can make note of this to the manufacturer and they can alert the freight carrier. If the driver attempts to deliver your product and no one is there to receive it, the freight company may charge you a re-delivery charge, which is your responsibility to pay. (Top) Q. Do you ship outside the continental United States? A. Nope. (Top) Q. What's your return policy? A. Custom products, which are created with your selection of fabric or color are made to your specifications and are not returnable. Further, please note that the majority of our products do not exist prior to your order. These orders are considered to be custom regardless of color choice. We accept returns of unassembled non-custom merchandise up to 15 days after receipt of your order, however no merchandise may be returned without our written consent and shipping instructions and may be subject to a restocking fee of up to 40% of the List Price. Unauthorized returns will not be accepted. The cost of shipping the product to you and the cost of shipping to return merchandise will be your responsibility in any case and by use of and/or purchase from this site you specifically agree to these conditions. (Top) Q. What if I change or cancel my order prior to shipment? A. Changes or cancellations may only be made with our written agreement and a restocking fee will be assessed. This is dependent on the progress of your order at the manufacturer. In our case, if an error was made due to a manufacturer's discontinuation of the product or price increase or due to our own error, we will request your permission to either increase the amount of your order or cancel it. In either case, you will be informed of the change prior to your credit card being charged. (Top) Q. What about Warranties? A. All products we sell are covered by the manufacturers' warranties. In the unlikely event you receive a product with a defect, please contact us and we will send a factory representative of the manufacturer to evaluate and recommend a solution, replacement, or repair. (Top) Q. Can I copy information, photos or graphics from here? A. You may reproduce any information you find here for the purpose of demonstrating the products we represent to prospective purchasers. However, please be aware that the majority of the photographic and graphics material here is originally copywritten by the manufacturers represented and is used with their permission. The original copyright belongs to the manufacturer and we recommend that if you choose to use the information to promote the manufacturer's products without our logo information attached, you should contact the manufacturer directly for their permission. Copyright infringements, outside of the narrow definition above, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. (Top) Q. What am I agreeing to by using this site? A. Your use of this site and purchases from the site constitutes acceptance of and agreement with our current terms and conditions as defined on this web page. Waiver of any particular term or condition due to special circumstances can only be executed in writing by an officer of Evolutionary Office and you agree that such waiver will be a one-time event and will not invalidate these terms and conditions beyond that event. Evolutionary Office reserves the right to make changes or modifications to products and pages shown on this site. Errors on this site created due to changes or modifications by manufacturers, either by changes in specifications or pricing, will be communicated to the purchaser when relevant to an order-in-process and the purchaser will have the right to cancel the order-in-process without penalty if it is due to a manufacturer's change or modification. Cancellation of the order is not available once product is either in production or has been shipped without substantial restocking fees and some products, once ordered, may not be able to be canceled. Products shown here represent Evolutionary Office's best knowledge of the product on the day which the page was last updated and may be out of date due to modifications made by the manufacturers. Evolutionary Office is not responsible for errors, omissions or changes to product specifications by the manufacturer which were not communicated to Evolutionary Office by the manufacturer, but makes every reasonable effort to ensure that product pages are current. Credit card charges reversed without written permission of an officer of Evolutionary Office may constitute Fraud and may be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Please note that a processing fee of $65.00 per iteration plus applicable attorney's fees will be charged against your credit card for any chargeback decided in our favor and you specifically agree to these fees. We prefer to refund your money if we can do so without cost to Evolutionary Office, but most orders from this site cannot be canceled once entered without substantial restocking fees and some orders cannot be canceled at all. Your consideration and your patience are virtues when dealing with custom products made to your specifications. This agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas applicable to agreements negotiated, executed and performed entirely within the State of Texas. This agreement supersedes and will have precedence over any other agreements between you and any other parties within the broadest scope of such terms and conditions which are contained herein. Both parties agree to seek Arbitration through a nationally recognized arbitration organization to resolve disagreements prior to seeking legal recourse through the court system except in the case of criminal actions where Evolutionary Office reserves the right to immediately file charges. All costs of arbitration or civil litigation, including but not limited to arbitrator fees, attorney fees and/or court costs will be borne by the loser of any civil action, for both parties, regardless of outcome and you specifically agree to this clause. Any claim or action brought by one of the parties in connection with usage of this site and this agreement shall be brought in the appropriate State or Federal court located in Travis County, Texas and both parties specifically consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of such court. (Top) Thank you.