Cancellation and Refund Policy

1. Scope and contact

Hello Chef is a trading name of HELLO CHEF LTD, a private limited company registered in England and Wales with company number 17560331. Registered office: 59 Dominion Road, Bristol, England, BS16 3ES. Email: contact@hello-chef.co.uk.

This policy applies to cooking bookings made through the Hello Chef marketplace. The named chef provides the cooking service. Hello Chef facilitates the booking and payment administration and remains responsible for its own obligations.

Statutory cancellation rights and remedies for a breach of contract take priority over the ordinary booking rules. A charge shown automatically is not conclusive evidence that it is legally owed.

2. When you cancel a visit

At least 24 hours before the confirmed start: cancellation is free, including at exactly 24 hours. An unpaid scheduled collection is stopped; any cooking payment already collected for the cancelled visit is refundable in full.

Less than 24 hours before the confirmed start: the standard customer cancellation fee is 25% of the cooking price for that visit. It is not 25% of the ingredients or of every visit in a recurring arrangement.

For example, the standard fee for a £140 visit is £35. If the full £140 has been paid, the ordinary cancellation refund is £105. If an administrator approves a full return of the fee after review, a further £35 is refunded. A withdrawal right or a smaller justified loss can require the fee to be reduced or waived.

The standard 25% fee is calculated automatically on a late cancellation. To request a refund of that fee, email contact@hello-chef.co.uk with your booking reference and reason. An administrator reviews the loss directly caused by the cancellation, reasonable evidence, saved costs, replacement work, mitigation and applicable withdrawal rights. Any amount not lawfully due must be reduced, waived or refunded. The retained amount cannot exceed either 25% of the cooking price or the justified recoverable loss; there is no double recovery of the same loss.

You may ask for the basis and calculation of the fee and challenge it at contact@hello-chef.co.uk. An automatic calculation does not override your rights. An emailed request does not itself trigger a refund: an administrator records the decision and initiates any refund that is due.

Hello Chef takes no commission on a valid cancellation fee. Actual payment-processing costs are allocated from the chef's cancellation proceeds, not added as an undisclosed extra charge to you.

3. If the chef cancels or does not arrive

If the chef cancels the visit, you pay no customer cancellation fee, whether cancellation occurs more or less than 24 hours beforehand. Any cooking payment collected for that visit is due for full refund and any unpaid collection must be stopped or reconciled.

The system does not automatically assign another chef. A replacement currently needs a new request and booking. Contact support for assistance; we do not promise that a replacement will be available.

If the chef does not arrive, contact them through the booking and report the non-arrival to support. Explain that the service was not provided so that it is not treated as an ordinary change-of-mind cancellation. An incorrect automatic fee must be reviewed and corrected. A refund does not remove other remedies available by law.

4. Access, unsafe conditions and exceptional events

If the chef reports customer absence, missing access or an unsafe kitchen, the administrator will review what happened. The chef's report does not by itself establish that the customer caused the problem or owes a fee.

Where a customer-caused cancellation fee is justified, the same 25% standard, withdrawal protection and fair-loss limit apply. Review includes the confirmed arrangements, attempts to make contact, evidence, responsibility and statutory rights. Safety must not be compromised to avoid a cancellation.

Tell support about illness, emergencies or other events outside the parties' control. These require a fair assessment, not an automatic assumption that all payments are forfeited.

5. Rescheduling

Request a different date or time through the available controls. A change must be accepted by the chef and confirmed by the platform, subject to availability and cutoff checks. The ordinary rescheduling process requires agreement at least 24 hours before the original start.

A pending request or chat message does not change the original booking. For an accepted change, payment timing and any required reconciliation must be shown. Contact support if the controls are unavailable or the change is urgent.

6. Recurring bookings

Where agreed continuation is enabled, a recurring arrangement can add eligible future visits to the booking window. Review the dates and charges in your account.

Pausing is free and cancels the affected qualifying future unstarted visits, with full cooking refunds where payments have been collected. Returning early does not automatically reinstate cancelled visits; a new accepted schedule may be needed.

Stopping ends future continuation. The ordinary late-cancellation rule may apply to the nearest confirmed visit if it is inside 24 hours; later future visits are cancelled without that fee. All statutory and fairness safeguards still apply. An already started service requires separate resolution.

7. Statutory withdrawal and service rights

For real bookings under these terms, we provide 14 days from booking confirmation to withdraw without a fee from a cooking service that has not started. The period ends at the end of the 14th day after the day the booking is confirmed. This protection takes priority over the ordinary 24-hour and 25% rules, including when the booked date is within that period.

For a recurring arrangement, withdrawing from the initial arrangement within that period cancels its unstarted visits and stops continuation without a cancellation fee. For a later visit added by continuation, we also allow 14 days from that visit's confirmation to withdraw from that unstarted visit. Any broader statutory right remains unaffected.

A real service must not start during the withdrawal period without your separate express request. If you then withdraw after it has begun, a proportionate charge for the service actually supplied may be due only where the required information, request and legal conditions are satisfied. It is not an automatic 25% charge on top of payment for the same work.

A statutory withdrawal right ends on full performance only where the legal conditions have been met, including your prior express request and acknowledgement where required. No acknowledgement is created simply by reading this policy. We do not assume that every in-home cooking or recurring contract is exempt as date-specific catering.

Unsafe, missing or defective service is different from a change of mind. Depending on the circumstances, your rights may include repeat performance, a price reduction or a refund. No cancellation provision removes rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.

8. How to request cancellation or a refund

Use the relevant booking control or send a clear cancellation statement to contact@hello-chef.co.uk or to HELLO CHEF LTD, 59 Dominion Road, Bristol, England, BS16 3ES. Include the booking reference, visit date and a way to contact you. You do not have to use a particular button or form to exercise a withdrawal right.

Optional cancellation form: To Hello Chef, at the address or email above. I give notice that I cancel my contract for [service and booking reference], confirmed on [date]. Customer name: [name]. Customer address: [address]. Date: [date]. Signature: [only for a paper notice].

We will acknowledge your request and explain the refund or any proposed deduction. Where a full refund is due following withdrawal or a chef cancellation, we will initiate it without undue delay and within 14 days after receiving the cancellation notice or confirming the chef cancellation. Statutory deadlines and remedies take priority.

Refunds are normally made to the original payment method unless another lawful arrangement is expressly agreed. Exercising statutory refund rights does not incur a fee. A processor refund instruction and the date the bank credits the funds are different stages; contact us if the status is unclear.

If you disagree with a decision, ask for the calculation, reasons and reconsideration. You retain access to applicable ADR information, consumer authorities and courts. Contacting us does not prevent you from exercising those rights.