Hire Agreement
– Updated May, 2022.
Below is our Hire Agreement. This applies to all garments booked through the Haute Kids website, unless otherwise specified.
CONTRACT
By placing an order on the Haute Kids website that contains any garments that are for hire, you are entering a legally binding contract between yourself and Haute Kids.
The terms on this page are specific to the hire of a garment from the Haute Kids website. For more generic terms that apply to the use of the Haute Kids website, please see our Terms of Service page.
PAYMENT
By entering this agreement, you authorise Haute Kids to charge the selected payment method according to the terms outlined in this agreement. You certify that you are authorised to use this credit card/account and you agree not to dispute the payment with your provider if Haute Kids fulfils its responsibilities in providing the hire garment(s).
You also authorise Haute Kids to charge the supplied payment method for any additional fees as outlined in this agreement (such as damages or late return fees). If a charge against the supplied payment method cannot be made, we will provide you with an invoice for the fees which you agree to pay within 5 working days.
If for some reason, your payment for an order is reversed or rejected, you agree to pay the outstanding amount within 48 hours of demand. Failure to do this will result in immediate cancellation of the booking. If the garment(s) have already been dispatched you will still be liable for the full amount.
Haute Kids reserves the right to take all steps necessary to recoup any amounts owing as per this agreement, including the use of debt collection agencies and taking legal action. This may increase the amount owed by the customer, to cover the costs of these services.
TITLE TO HIRE GARMENTS
At all times, the hire garments are and remain the property of Haute Kids. Haute Kids reserves the right to retrieve the garments at any time.
BOOKING PERIOD
The hire period you have selected for your hire is ‘inclusive’. For example, a 4-day hire period can mean that your garment will arrive by Friday and you will post it back on Monday. In this example, both the Friday and the Monday are included in the 4-day period.
DELIVERY
For all garments on Haute Kids, you are asked to select a “Delivery Date“. You should select a Delivery Date which is 1 or 2 days before the day you intend to wear the garment(s).
In the majority of cases, your garment(s) will arrive on or before your Delivery Date (sometimes referred to as the “Arrives by” date). Due to unforeseen circumstances, usually related to issues with the postage provider (e.g. Australia Post) it may arrive 1 or 2 days later.
No refund or credit will be offered in this instance unless the garment arrives too late for your little one to wear it for their planned event. If your order was placed 3 or more business days prior to your chosen delivery date, it will be a full refund. Otherwise it will be considered a “last-minute order” and you will have the option of a full credit note or a refund minus $28 to cover two-way express postage costs.
You will receive a tracking number to your supplied email address when the garments have been dispatched. If you haven’t received this 1 day prior to your selected Delivery Date, feel free to get in touch.
You may request that a garment be left in a safe place without signature on delivery. Even if this request is passed on to Australia Post, it is still not a guarantee that it will be left without signature. Australia Post makes this decision at the time based on whether they believe it is safe to do so, and this is completely out of Hate Kids’ control.
If your delivery fails because you have provided an incorrect or incomplete address, you will not be entitled to a refund or credit. It is your responsibility to ensure that the address you enter is accurate and complete according to Australia Post and in some cases, other postage providers. This includes providing a valid apartment/unit number, company name or any other information required for postage providers to deliver to you.
ISSUES WITH FIT OR APPEARANCE
We try to provide as much information as we can regarding the fit of the garments available for hire on our website. We take no responsibility if you choose a size or garment which does not fit your little love or does not suit them. There will be no refund or credit offered in this circumstance.
You acknowledge that the garments being sent to you may or may not be brand new and may have some signs of wear.
CUSTOMER CANCELLATIONS
Cancellations are allowed in the first 24 hours after an order was first placed on Haute Kids, unless the garment(s) have already been dispatched to you, or unless the cancellation request was received less than 72 hours prior to your booking start date. You will be eligible for full refund.
Cancellations are also allowed if a cancellation request is received 7 or more days prior to your booking start date. In these cases you will be given a full refund equal to the amount paid for the booking and postage costs.
In exceptional circumstances, we will consider a cancellation outside the allowances above, but reserve the right to decide. Please get in touch to explain your situation for our consideration.
CANCELLATIONS BY HAUTE KIDS
Haute Kids may cancel your booking, for any reason. The compensation to you will be limited to the amount you paid to Haute Kids for the booking and postage. Haute Kids will not be responsible for any consequential damages that result from cancellation of the booking.
Reasons Haute Kids may cancel your booking include, but are not limited to:
- The garment is damaged by a customer that has hired the garment prior to you;
- The garment is lost or stolen by a customer that hired the garment prior to you;
- It is deemed that it is not possible to deliver the garment to you in time for your booking, due to previous late return by a customer, or for any other reason, such as postage network delays (particularly during periods of COVID-19 restrictions).
In all cases above, you will be entitled to a full refund.
RETURN OF GARMENTS
All garments hired via Haute Kids will be delivered in a resealable postage box with a prepaid Australia Post Express Post label for returning the garment back to Haute Kids. Please carefully pack your garment in the original postage box and affix the pre-paid Express Post label before posting.
If you lose the resealable postage box or prepaid Express Post label, you will need to pay for one yourself. Get in touch to let us know you’ve done this and include the tracking number.
Garments should be returned over the counter at an Australia Post store or depot, on or before the specified booking return date. This will be labelled the “Return on” date during checkout and in your order confirmation email.
If your “Return on” date falls on a Sunday or a public holiday, you may post the garment on the next working day.
If for any reason you aren’t able to attend an Australia Post store or depot to post back the garment over-the-counter on the “Return on” date, please return the parcel via a yellow Australia Post Express Post street postbox. This is at your own risk. If the PARCEL IS LOST and is never scanned by Australia Post, you may be LIABLE FOR REPLACEMENT.
CLEANING
We know small accidents happen, and we dry-clean all garments when they are returned after your hire. There will be no fees charged as long as stains can be removed.
You agree that under no circumstances will you attempt to clean the hire garment(s) yourself, or have them cleaned by anyone else.
If you attempt to clean a garment and cause damage, or cause a stain to be permanent, Haute Kids reserves the right to bill you a fee up to, but not more than 100% of the full RRP of the garment. This fee will be on top of any amount already paid for hire or postage.
DAMAGE OR LOSS
If damage (stains, rips, etc.) is observed when your garment arrives, please take photos of this and let us know right away. If you don’t do this and there was no known damage prior to delivery, it may be assumed that the damage was caused by you.
If damage is done to a hire garment, do not attempt to repair it. If it can be easily repaired (e.g. sewing on a button, re-stitching) it will be taken care of with no additional cost to you. It’s also not a problem if the garment is stained, as long as it comes out when it is dry-cleaned after you’ve returned the garment.
You agree that under no circumstances will you attempt to clean the hire garment(s) yourself, or have them cleaned by anyone else. Do not cut, alter or hem tape any garment hired from Haute Kids.
If a garment is damaged and is not covered by minor repairs as mentioned above, you may be liable for the cost of restoring or replacing the garment. In the case the garment cannot be restored to a suitable condition, the fee charged may be up to, but not more than, 100% of the original RRP of the garment.
If you’ve lost or not returned a garment, you will be liable for up to 200% of the RRP of the garment.
The garments available for hire on our website are sourced from top designers, and have quite significant retail prices when compared to the hire fees. This may lead to some people hiring a garment and not returning it, or saying it is lost, so that they are able to obtain something they want to keep. This, along with loss of earnings from potential future hires, is why there is a 200% of RRP fee for lost and unreturned garments.
If a garment is lost by Australia Post, then there will be no fees charged to you. This is why it is important that you return the garment by posting it over-the-counter at an Australia Post office or depot.
By doing this, the garment will be scanned and there will be a record of you posting the garment in their tracking system. This will not happen when you put it into a street post box, as a system record won’t be created until it reaches a scanning depot, and there will be no evidence of you having posted the garment, meaning you would be liable for the loss.
By accepting this agreement, you give permission for Haute Kids to charge fees for damages or loss of a garment to the payment method you used when placing your order. You will be given the option of using an alternative payment method before the charge is made.
LATE RETURN
If for any reason you post back the hire garment(s) on a day after the “Return On” day specified, late fees may apply. We will often allow a grace period of 1-2 days for this, but only if it doesn’t affect a future booking for another customer. If it does affect this, late fees will almost certainly be enforced.
The fee charged for each day late will be your hire price divided by the number of days you’ve hired for, up to 120% of the original RRP of the garment. For example, if you selected a 4-day hire and the hire fee was $100, late fees would be charged at $25 for each day late.
By accepting this agreement, you give permission for Haute Kids to charge late fees to the payment method you used when placing your order. You will be given the option of using an alternative payment method before the charge is made.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
By accepting the hire agreement, you agree that Haute Kids will not be liable for any loss, damage, costs or expenses of an indirect or consequential nature incurred or suffered by you as a result of:
- Cancellation of a hire booking;
- Late delivery of a hire garment;
- Non-delivery of a hire garment;
- An issue with the quality of a delivered hire garment.
This includes but is not limited to economic loss, loss of goodwill, emotional suffering, loss of opportunity or other loss of turnover, profits or business.
Haute Kids’ liability will be limited to any amount paid by the customer to Haute Kids.
CHANGES TO THE HIRE AGREEMENT
Haute Kids reserves the right to change the Hire Agreement at any time, so it is important you review and accept them each time you place an order with Haute Kids.
The terms that apply to an order will be in accordance with the Hire Agreement as they stood on the date the order was placed