Thank you for hiring with Parent Sanctuary CIC. We hope you enjoy ‘slingysnuggles’ as much as we have.
Slings and carriers have many benefits to both parent and baby, they really are such a great addition to any family’s tool kit.
Please take a read of our terms and conditions, and sign to say you have read them.
Us/we is referring to Parent Sanctuary CIC, it’s staff and volunteers.
Sling refers to Sling, Carrier, Carrying Aids, or accessories.
You/member is referring to the person hiring the carrier, the person who will be responsible for ensuring these terms are met, and its consequences.
We presume you have no known medical reasons why you or baby should not be using a sling. We can work with many different conditions and can help support most people to wear their baby safely, but you must inform us of any additional needs you have that are relevant to the way we communicate with you, your learning need or in respect to carrying your child. Our staff member may cut short an appointment to rebook you with someone more qualified.
The basics
- You will pay for the hire, rehire or late fees as due, including any repair or replacement due to accidental damage or loss (excluding wear and tear).
- You will be on a monthly membership for 12 months minimum or pay a deposit of £40 to hire each carrier.
- You will provide us with correct contact information, and ensure you are receiving emails by adding info@parentsanctuary.co.uk to your address book so mail doesn’t go to spam/junk.
- You will look after the sling and do your best to not damage it, whilst using it for it’s intended purpose and living life to the full.
- You will return the sling by it’s return date or arrange to rehire before the time is up or be aware that late fees will be added to your account.
- We can keep a payment method on file and take payment if you do not contact us/return the sling (further explained below).
- You will contact us info@parentsanctuary.co.uk if you are experiencing difficulties with the sling, or with regards to payment. We want you to get the best from your experience for the lowest cost to you.
Hiring
- To hire we require a membership to be agreed and a payment method to be set up.
- We will store your details in our MyTurn database according to the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR.
- We will only contact you regarding your hire unless you consent to activity communications. We will not share your data, except for non-payment, when we will use a third party to collect payment from yourself privately or through the court system.
- We have a range of slings and carriers, carrying aids, and accessories available to hire. You are advised to have an appointment or attend a group to discuss your personal needs. This ensures our staff can adequately assess your personal needs and wants from a carrier before suggesting something to try.
- Our minimum term is 4 weeks, and in some situations, you may be advised to take a 5-week hire. For example, some sessions are only run once per month, hire fee for one week is cheaper and safer than postal return.
- A deposit of £40 may be required or be included in your membership type.
- Hire fees and late fees are non-refundable. A deposit is refunded on return of the sling hired, subject to quality checking and discussion of any damages.
- By arrangement we can provide postal hire, you will be responsible for payment of postal fees to yourself and back to Parent Sanctuary CIC.
- Our maximum term is 3 months, but you may rehire with us on a new agreement, in accordance with the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
What you can expect from us
· Your sling will be clean and in good working order.
· We will assess your need and make suggestions based on what you tell us.
· We will do our best to meet your personal needs and make you feel comfortable.
· We will be open to feedback and suggestions.
· Should we not be able to run a session due to sickness or unexpected leave, we will do our best to inform people we are expecting at a session. Your sling will not be marked as late until we reopen.
· We will be available for you to ask questions via email info@parentsanctuary.co.uk or via our Parent support group on Facebook. We may not respond immediately.
· We will be open and honest and inform you of the ways to get best value out of your membership with us.
What we expect from you
· To be open and honest with us about your needs.
· To pay for your hire, rehire promptly and return on time – and bring any accessories that were included or connected to the sling, such as hoods or chest straps that may have been detached.
· To not share or sublet your sling, except for immediate household/caregivers of your child. Another family should hold their own account with us.
· You will use the sling safely as instructed within manufacturer's guidelines.
· You will not use the sling to cook in, or subject it to oil stains, strong odours such as cigarette smoke, or excessive pet fur. Normal dirt and signs of wear are welcomed, please do not be afraid to wear the sling.
· You will use the sling to enhance your experience of parenting in the way that feels right for you and ask questions of us if you forget instructions or need clarification.
· You will inform us at the earliest opportunity if the sling is damaged through wear and tear or accidentally and be reasonable in our approach to resolving the matter.
Contact/correspondence
Our primary method of contact is email from info@parentsanctuary.co.uk
Our office address Connect House, 156 Trinity Street, Huddersfield, HD1 4DX.
Our postal address Maron House, 21 Busker Lane, Scissett, HD8 9JU
We may need to contact you via phone or letter.
Should you not return our sling, and not reply to emails to work out a solution then our next attempts would be to phone and write letters. We may pass this to a third-party debt collection agency, the police, and the court system in attempts to recover unreturned slings or hired items.
Returning, late fees, and non-communication.
The majority of our customers return our slings on time. They understand the benefits of hiring and that other families can get use from the carrier. We also run a scheme for vulnerable parents who need additional support who can receive a free sling from ourselves – subject to referral from a health professional and suitable sling being sourced.
Lost items – hoods, carry bags and chest straps are often lost. Please do your best to keep track of these. Any lost items will need to be replaced at your expense, including postage and a £5 admin fee.
Wear and tear – this is something we expect and write into our costings for hire and replacement. Please do not be afraid to use the carrier or inform us of wear and tear. We are experienced at spotting malicious or accidental damage and differentiating between that and wear and tear. Be open and honest and we will be reasonable. We are making positive steps to avoid over consumption and promote the use of hiring, second hand and sharing of resources over buying new. We know over time and use slings will show signs of wear and eventually some parts will fail. We will never hire a failed carrier, but we may sell an end-of-life carrier on, re-distribute it to another charitable cause or destroy carriers that are unsafe for repair and reuse.
Accidental damage or loss. Occasionally accidents happen and we will aim to replace the carrier with a new carrier at as low a cost to you as possible. We have set our standard replacement cost at £150; some carriers will be more than this, some will be much lower. We will work out an affordable payment plan should you not be able to afford the full replacement cost immediately. You can also keep and repair at your cost the damaged carrier. Accidents we have come across in our journey so far; buckles being shut in car doors; dogs chewing the carrier and being stolen on holiday or from a car. You may be able to claim on your insurance to assist in payment. The main thing is that we have open and honest discussions right from the first opportunity.
Some people are forgetful and return slings late. We do our best to be amicable and understandable to your circumstances. Please discuss with us as soon as you realise.
A minority of people do not return slings. Due to the scale of our business, we must take a hard line on this, and it is in our best interest to serve the majority of people that we have a clear procedure in these cases.
A typical hire term is 28 days.
Late fees occur from day 29 onwards until resolution at £2 per day. In the case of 5 week hire day 36 onwards.
We will make attempts to contact you via email, phone, and letter.
By day 56 we will attempt to recover the late fees owed and the full replacement cost (default setting at £150) by payment method held.
We will then close your account and you will no longer be able to hire from us, but you will be able to keep the sling.
Should this fail, we will immediately refer you to our debt collection agency who will handle all proceedings, police, and court matters on our behalf.
We have never had to use the final option, and hope that we never need to in the future.
Washing/Laundry
Slings have different washing instructions based on their composition. Each wash degrades the sling and means we may need to replace sooner than anticipated.
We ask that you do not wash the sling.
A simple spot wash is all that is required in most cases. If you feel it needs a full wash, then please consider swapping to an alternative whilst we launder the item. We will do this free of charge.
Points we consider important for all families to be aware of or things we would like to change for the better:
Disability and differently abled
We are aware that our main office is not wheelchair accessible. We would love more accessible premises, and until that time we will liaise with you to make it work in the way that is right for you.
We are happy to make adaptions to our work, where possible, to make our service accessible and we ask that you tell us what will be beneficial for you.
We are aware that not all disabilities are visible and strive for inclusivity in all our activities. We welcome your voice, your feedback, and your opinion.
We are working towards understanding more about autism, ADHD, and other neurodiversity. We have been aware that many of our attendees have or are considering their own neurodiversity. We are a safe space for you.
LGBTQIA+
We aim to be allies and welcome people.
Raising kids is hard enough, family set ups isn’t something that worries us.
We aim to use your preferred pronouns and preferred terms.
Tummy mummy, birthing person, chest feeding, surrogate….What is important is loving parents, and we say Hi! Come on in!
We hope that carrying helps you build your attachments and supports your journey.
Trauma informed.
1 in 3 people experience birth trauma, and we mainly work with people who have birthed or witnessed the birth of their baby.
We aim to help you feel secure to talk as you need to and support or signpost as relevant.
We hope your carrying journey will help you feel more safe and secure, enhancing bonding.
If you are feeling different to what you expected, we have perinatal mental health support workers and volunteers please reach out and we can help you.
Safeguarding.
Please be aware that we will take actions to help safeguard vulnerable children and adults. A copy of our safeguarding policy is available by request. info@parentsanctuary.co.uk
ALL SLINGS, CARRIERS, CARRYING AIDS, EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES CONTINUE TO BE THE PROPERTY OF PARENT SANCTUARY CIC AT ALL TIMES DURING THE HIRE PERIOD AND ANY LATE PERIOD UNTIL RESOLUTION.
