Policies for Hidden Earth Payments

This page explains our policies regarding customer payments relating to Hidden Earth — the annual conference organised by volunteers from UK's caving clubs, the British Cave Research Association and the British Caving Association.

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General Terms and Conditions

The conference is deemed to start when the admissions desk opens on the Friday evening.
We accept Advance Bookings for the annual Hidden Earth event, up to a specified closing date, which is usually one week in advance of the event.
Advance bookings can only be made online via our official booking form and BCRA's Payment Service Providers (see below), which can accept a range of credit and debit cards.
Items that can be booked online include an admission ticket, plus optional payments for camping, conference T-shirt, conference dinner, club and trade stands. Delegates may be able to pay for other items, as advertised from time to time.
The conference dinner must be booked in advance by the advertised deadline. It cannot be booked at the admissions desk during the conference weekend.

If the event is cancelled or modified by the organisers (e.g. the dinner is cancelled, or camping is not available, or the entire event is called off), then a refund of the appropriate item will be given.
The organisers shall not be liable for any consequential losses. (e.g. if your hotel fee is not refundable, or if you decide not to travel because we withdraw camping).

Advance bookings may be amended or cancelled by the customer at any time up to the closing date for bookings. After that date, bookings may not be added to.
If you cancel or modify your booking before the closing date for advance bookings, we will give you a full refund.
If you cancel all or part of your booking after the closing date for advance bookings, we will give you a 50% refund.
If you make no cancellation but do not turn up, you will not be entitled to any refund.

Tickets bought in advance by delegates who subsequently receive discount vouchers will be refunded in full, according to the terms on the discount voucher (e.g. the voucher might only give you a discount for a single day).
We reserve the right to make deductions to any refund where we would incur a loss due to your cancellation. For example, if you book a large club stand and we have to hire additional display boards or tables to accommodate you, then we may have to charge you for a late cancellation.
Complaints about items we buy-in, such as the conference T-shirts, and the conference dinner will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, with reference to the supplier where appropriate.

Refunds on Advance Bookings will be issued via our Payment Service Provider to the credit or debit card account that you used to make the payment.
No handling fees will be charged.
Except where otherwise stated, all claims for a refund must be made before the start of the conference. Refunds will be limited to the amount of the payment made to us for services provided by us. (If we assist you by booking accommodation or travel for you, you must claim any refund directly from the organisation concerned and we will not accept liability for any cancellation charges associated with those bookings).

When you complete our online form, your data will be collected and stored by the British Cave Research Association. Your payment information will also be collected and stored by our Payment Service Providers (see below).
The data we are collecting is the data you provide on the booking form, which allows us to fulfil your booking. This will include your contact email address, your telephone number and postal address. This information will only be used to service your booking -- e.g. to provide a receipt, or to ask for further information or to provide information about the event. In particular, it will not be used for general mailshots by the Hidden Earth team or BCRA, and it will not be passed to any third party.
Hidden Earth is run by volunteers who are based at different locations around the country. We have no paid office staff, and no central office. Therefore, your personal data will likely be stored on more than one computer, at different locations, and may also be stored on paper.
After the conference, electronic copies of your data will be deleted, leaving only our central booking record, which we will keep for a year, in case of enquiries or other necessary follow-up.

We use two service providers to process online payments – BCRA uses Nochex and BCA uses PayPal. We might use either of these accounts to process your transaction. Each of our online systems is coded to use a specific PSP and it is not usually possible to offer you a choice.
We might use other point-of-sale systems at our meetings and events.
Please note that both PayPal and Nochex allow you to make a payment using your credit or debit card without opening an account with the provider. We receive a number of enquiries from confused customers who claim that PayPal has 'forced' them to open an account, but this is a customer misunderstanding. If you follow our instructions, and use the URLs that we issue you will not have to open an account.
You should not make a payment to an email address at PayPal or Nochex that we have not explicitly asked you to use for your current transaction. We might do this via an web page or an email message. If you make a payment to an email address or an account name that is invalid, incorrect, or not currently in use we will not be able to collect it and your transaction will be deemed to be unpaid. It is your responsibility to recover your payment from the PSP. (Reportedly, this can take some time).

Where cheques are accepted, please note that they must be made payable to "BCRA". Cheques made payable to "Hidden Earth" cannot be accepted.

Hidden Earth is managed by a sub-committee of the British Cave Research Association, with assistance provided by the British Caving Association and a great many caving clubs and similar organisations throughout the UK. BCRA is a UK registered charity, number 267828. Our registered address is Old Methodist Chapel, Great Hucklow, Buxton, SK17 8RG.
Neither BCRA nor BCA is registered for VAT. This means that we cannot issue you with a VAT receipt. Your transaction with us is "outside the scope of VAT".