Terms & Conditions

Use of This Website

Welcome to our website. If you continue to browse and use this website, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions, which together with our privacy policy govern David Fickling Comics Ltd (trading as The Phoenix)’s relationship with you in relation to this website. If you disagree with any part of these terms and conditions, please do not use our website. The terms ‘The Phoenix’ or ‘David Fickling Comics Ltd’ or ‘our’ or ‘us’ or ‘we’ refer to the owner of the website whose registered office is 6-7 Citibase, New Barclay House, 234 Botley Road, Oxford, OX2 0HP, UK and whose business address is 26 Beaumont St, Oxford, OX1 2NP, UK. Our company registration number is 7481057 in the United Kingdom. The term ‘you’ refers to the user or viewer of our website. The use of this website is subject to the following terms:

  • The content of the pages of this website is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice.
  • Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.
  • Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.
  • This website contains material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance, graphics and illustrations. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.
  • All trademarks reproduced in this website which are not the property of, or licensed to, the operator are acknowledged on the website.
  • Unauthorised use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence.
  • From time to time this website may also include links to other websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information. They do not signify that we endorse the website(s). We have no responsibility for the content of the linked website(s).
  • Your use of this website and any dispute arising out of such use of the website is subject to the laws of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

 

SUBSCRIPTIONS

At time of purchase you confirm that you are aged 18 or over and therefore able to give consent with this order.

Cancellations and Refunds

You can manage or cancel your subscription at any time via the Solo portal (account.thephoenixcomic.co.uk) or by contacting our Subscription Customer Service Department at [email protected] or +44 (0) 1858 438818. If contacting us by email, please ensure you include your customer number and delivery address in the email so we can locate your subscription. If contacting us by phone, please have your customer number and delivery address ready to provide. Cancellations and amends made by the Solo portal are processed at midnight each day. Cancellations and amends requested by email will be processed within 1 working day. Cancellations and amends requested over the phone take effect immediately. You should always cancel your Direct Debit via your bank in addition to cancelling your subscription.

Trial periods
You can cancel your subscription during your trial period. If you cancel within 14 days of receiving your first issue (the trial cooling-off period), you will receive a full refund and you will not be sent any further issues. If you cancel during the trial period but after the trial cooling-off period you will not receive a refund and will receive all of the issues you have already paid for but you will not be charged further and your subscription will not continue beyond the trial period.

Auto-renewing subscriptions (Direct Debits and recurring card payments)
Following the trial period, you can cancel within 14 days of receiving your first non-trial issue (the renewal cooling-off period) and you will receive a full refund. If you cancel after the renewal cooling-off period, you will continue to receive issues until the end of your current billing period (i.e., you will receive all of the issues you have already paid for) but you will not be charged again and your subscription will not renew. We do not offer prorated or partial refunds for cancellations made partway through the subscription term.

If you have renewed from a non-renewing one-off payment subscription to an auto-renewing subscription, you can cancel within 14 days of receiving your first renewal issue (the renewal cooling-off period) and you will receive a full refund. If you cancel after the renewal cooling-off period, you will continue to receive issues until the end of your current billing period (i.e., you will receive all of the issues you have already paid for) but you will not be charged again and your subscription will not renew. We do not offer prorated or partial refunds for cancellations made partway through the subscription term.

Monthly, quarterly and 6-monthly (bi-annually) auto-renewing subscriptions are subject to just 1 renewal cooling-off period. There is a renewal cooling-off period every time an annual subscription auto-renews.

Non-renewing one-off payment subscriptions (sometimes referred to as Cash With Order subscriptions)
If you are cancelling a non-renewing one-off payment subscription, you can cancel within 14 days of receiving your first issue (the cancellation period) and receive a full refund. If you cancel after the cancellation period, you are not entitled to a refund of the remainder of your subscription. We do not offer prorated or partial refunds for cancellations made partway through the subscription term.

You are entitled to a refund in full if you cancel your subscription and a Direct Debit or a recurring card payment is accidentally taken after cancellation.

We reserve the right not to fulfil and to cancel orders if we are unable to obtain payment authorisation from the issuer of your payment card and/or rejection of your bank details.

 

Trial periods and special offers

We will often offer you a trial period at the start of your subscription or a longer term special offer subscription rate. Please note that Direct Debit and recurring card payment trials are for UK customers only. The length and cost of any trial or offer will vary from time to time, but full details will always be made available at the time of purchase. We have no obligation to keep any offer open for a certain length of time. We will deliver the subscription to the address you provide us with when you place your order. Please allow up to three weeks for delivery of your first subscription issue (up to five weeks overseas).

At the end of your trial or offer period, your subscription will continue automatically at the standard rate* that we have advertised as part of that offer. You may cancel your subscription at any time during your trial or offer period.

We will only offer you one trial or special offer subscription in any 12-month period, and we reserve the right to refuse sale to customers who take advantage of our trial offers or repeatedly cancel during their trial period in order to take out a new trial subscription.

*The advertised cost of individual issues on subscription deals is calculated over the first year of payment.

 

Subscription gifts (including gift cards)

If you have purchased a subscription that includes a free gift, please allow up to 28 days for delivery. The gift will be delivered to the bill payer’s address and will arrive separately from your subscription. The gift cannot be refunded or exchanged for anything. If payment fails we reserve the right to recall the gift.

We reserve the right to substitute the gift advertised for one of equal or greater value if necessary. If a subscription offer includes a gift that is available only while stocks last, gifts may no longer be provided once out of stock. Please refer to the specific offer’s terms and conditions at the time of ordering for full details. Any discounts applied to the subscription price will still remain valid.

If you have purchased a subscription that includes a free gift card for The Phoenix Shop, please allow up to 28 days for this to be emailed to you from [email protected]. Your gift card will be emailed to the bill payer’s email address and it is your responsibility to check your inbox including your junk folder for this email. If we do not have your email address on file, it is your responsibility to provide us with your email address in a timely manner by contacting our Subscription Customer Service Department at [email protected] and supplying your customer number, delivery address and a request to link your email address to your account so we can send you your gift card. The gift card can only be redeemed on The Phoenix Shop (thephoenixcomic.shop) and cannot be spent on a subscription to The Phoenix. The gift card is valid for 1 year from the date it is emailed to you. The gift card cannot be refunded or exchanged for anything. If payment fails we reserve the right to deactivate the gift card.

 

Payment

If you are taking advantage of one of our trials or special offers, you will pay the introductory price for the relevant trial or offer period in advance when you place your order. Similarly, when your trial or offer period ends and your membership continues as a monthly, quarterly, 6-monthly (bi-annual) or annual subscription, we will collect your payments each month, quarter, 6 months or year in advance.

Some of our offers are only available by Direct Debit through our website. Direct Debit payments are covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee. Other offers may be paid for by credit or debit card through our website or over the telephone +44 (0) 1858 438818. In addition to Direct Debits, we accept one-off and recurring payments via Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Apple Pay. There is no VAT charged on a magazine subscription.

All credit or debit card payments will be subject to validation checks and authorisation by the card issuer. If the issuer of your card refuses to authorise payment to us, then we will not be able to confirm your order and no contract will exist between us.

 

The Direct Debit Guarantee

This Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that accept instructions to pay Direct Debits.

If there are any changes to the amount, date, or frequency of your Direct Debit CDS Global Ltd re Phoenix Comics will notify you 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If you request CDS Global Ltd re Phoenix Comics to collect a payment, confirmation of the amount and date will be given to you at the time of the request.

If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit by CDS Global Ltd re Phoenix Comics or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society.

If you receive a refund, you are not entitled to, you must pay it back when CDS Global Ltd re Phoenix Comics asks you to.

You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply contacting your bank or building society. Written confirmation may be required. Please also notify CDS Global Ltd re Phoenix Comics.

 

Delivery

We use a second-class large letter postal service and we post The Phoenix out on the same day every week. Your first issue of The Phoenix may take up to three weeks to arrive (up to five weeks overseas) and you should receive 1 issue per week thereafter. Most subscribers receive their issue on the same day each week (typically a Thursday or Friday) but this can be affected by your local postal delivery services.

For UK customers only
If you have not received your issue by the end of the Monday after your normally delivery date, please contact us to request a replacement issue. You can request a replacement issue via the Solo portal (account.thephoenixcomic.co.uk) or by contacting our Subscription Customer Service Department at [email protected] or +44 (0) 1858 438818. If contacting us by email, please ensure you include your customer number and delivery address in the email so we can locate your subscription as well as the missing issue number. If contacting us by phone, please have your customer number and delivery address ready to provide as well as the missing issue number. We will always supply a replacement copy where possible and will extend your subscription term by 1 issue if a replacement copy is out of stock. We reserve the right to cancel and refund your subscription if you repeatedly report missing issues.

For non-UK customers
If you have not received your issue within 5 working days of your usual delivery day, please contact us to request a replacement issue. You can request a replacement issue via the Solo portal (account.thephoenixcomic.co.uk) or by contacting our Subscription Customer Service Department at [email protected] or +44 (0) 1858 438818. If contacting us by email, please ensure you include your customer number and delivery address in the email so we can locate your subscription as well as the missing issue number. If contacting us by phone, please have your customer number and delivery address ready to provide as well as the missing issue number. We will always supply a replacement copy where possible and will extend your subscription term by 1 issue if a replacement copy is out of stock. We reserve the right to cancel and refund your subscription if you repeatedly report missing issues. If your replacement issue is returned to us marked as ‘undeliverable’, we will not be able to supply further replacement copies and will instead extend your subscription by 1 issue. We are not liable for any local taxes or customs charges incurred on subscriptions delivered outside of the UK.

 

Changes to your subscription

You can cancel or make changes to your subscription at any time via the Solo portal (account.thephoenixcomic.co.uk) or by contacting our Subscription Customer Service Department at [email protected] or +44 (0) 1858 438818. If contacting us by email, please ensure you include your customer number and delivery address in the email so we can locate your subscription. If contacting us by phone, please have your customer number and delivery address ready to provide.

 

Contact us

For help relating to subscriptions purchased via thephoenixcomic.co.uk only, you can contact our Subscription Customer Service Department by email at [email protected] or phone on +44 (0) 1858 438818.

For help relating to anything else, please visit our contact page to find the correct details: thephoenixcomic.co.uk/contact.

 

COMPETITIONS & USER GENERATED CONTENT

Competitions

By entering a competition held by us or promoted by us in our publications or via any of our social media channels, you agree to and acknowledge the following:

  • By submitting an entry you accept that you have read these rules and that you will follow them.
  • You will submit an entry by post (The Phoenix, 26 Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2NP, UK) or by email ([email protected]). If you are sending a video, you will share it via a file sharing service.
  • Both permanent UK residents and International residents are allowed to submit an entry unless otherwise stated in the specific competition rules. You must have your parent’s or guardian’s permission for your entry to be considered if you are under the age of 18.
  • All intellectual property rights in your entry will remain with you. However, we retain the non-exclusive right to publish the winning idea or ideas in their original form and the exclusive right to publish the professionally illustrated version physically and digitally in The Phoenix comic and any compilations and annuals published by us or our partners in all media throughout the world for the full term of copyright. This is so we can continue to sell back issues and make books of our content as we do with all of our content.
  • By submitting an entry you are accepting responsibility if it is not your work.
  • Our competitions are all about encouraging human ingenuity and creativity, therefore we will not consider stories, images or any content generated by AI.
  • If your entry is selected, you will not receive remuneration in exchange for allowing us to use your entry or related artwork or ideas in future marketing material, books, merchandise, promotional material, or any form of media.
  • You consent for your first name and your entry to be printed in our publications, and used on our social media platforms.
  • Entries submitted by post will not be returned.
  • The winning entries will be selected by our editorial team.
  • To be eligible for a prize, entries must be received by 11:59pm (UK time) on the published deadline.
  • All prizes are non-exchangeable and non-refundable, and cannot be exchanged for cash. Some prizes are restricted to UK residents only and there will not be an alternative prize supplied for non-UK residents that enter.

 

User generated content

By submitting user generated content (UGC) to us, you agree to and acknowledge the following:

  • Each user generated content call-out campaign will have its own set of terms and conditions that apply in addition to the below.
  • You consent to us using your content in marketing and communications material in print and digital form across any of our publications and platforms. If you later change your mind, you can remove those permissions by contacting us at the email address provided in the specific campaign call-out. If you remove these permissions, we will not use your content in any new marketing or communications materials and will replace your content where we are able to as soon as we can but you acknowledge that it may not be possible to remove all uses from existence.
  • Any content submitted that includes photography of a child must be uploaded by the child’s parent or guardian who has full rights to the image and can consent to use of the image on the child’s behalf. Content submitted must not contain the full name or any part of the child’s address, nor any identifiable details (such as school uniform containing the school name).
  • Unless agreed otherwise as part of a partnership deal, you will not receive remuneration for submitting user generated content whether we use it or not.
  • You will submit your content by email to the address or file sharing service provided in the specific campaign call-out.