Podiatry treatment is offered subject to the following:
- Treatment fees are payable for all treatment/work given or received whether treatment is given or received in our surgeries, in the patient’s home or some other location agreed between our staff and the patient (or patient’s guardian).
- No credit will be given – fees are due at the time treatment is given or received, except for new patients who must pay at the time of booking.
- Fees will vary according to the treatment given or received. Normally a fee is due for the type of treatment given or received in addition to the time the treatment takes, therefore, if you receive treatment which is more highly skilled and/or takes longer than expected you may be charged a greater fee. The basic template of fees varies according to the area in which you live and is available by telephoning the branch you are visiting.
- Additional fees will be charged for online bookings, extra services and items/products used during your treatment, this may include dressings, anaesthetics, bandages, insoles/orthoses, medicaments, foot-care products, scans, further assessments and advice, etc. – this list should not be considered exhaustive.
- We shall not discriminate against you due to any disability you may have.
- We shall treat you with the same respect, professional care and professional conduct as anyone else regardless of your gender, gender identity, sex, sexuality, race, religion, disability or profession.
- We reserve the right to treat you or not treat you, and to withdraw treatment at any time, without notice, in accordance with the rules and codes of conduct of the College of Podiatry and the Health & Care Professions Council.
- Normal opening hours are posted in the surgeries and on this website, however, occasionally we may offer to see you earlier or later, on Sundays and bank holidays at our discretion. Appointments are mutually agreed between us and you, in advance, and upon acceptance of the appointment, verbally or otherwise, you are legally bound to keep the appointment, subject to the following:
Appointments – booking
- You may book an appointment by visiting or telephoning your nearest branch or using our on-line booking system. Home visits will only be offered to genuinely house-bound patients and are charged at a higher rate than clinic appointments.
- We do not currently accept bookings by email, all appointments must be made by telephone or the on-line booking system. If you choose to contact us by email, we will not be held responsible for any delay in responding to you.
- When you book your appointment on-line you are required to pay at the time of booking whether you are a new or existing patient. The fee you pay is slightly higher than the fee you would pay when you book an appointment off-line, as it includes an on-line booking fee, which covers the additional cost of taking your payment on-line. We use PayPal as our on-line payment system.
Appointments – cancellation, postponement and missed (failed visits)
- You may postpone, cancel or re-arrange your appointment, without penalty*, up to 24 hours before your appointment except when your appointment is on a Sunday or a Monday, in which case you must notify us by 5pm on the Friday before the appointment, by visiting or telephoning the surgery you have made the booking with or using the on-line booking system
- We do not accept notification by email under any circumstances. Failure to notify us face-to-face, by telephone or using the on-line booking system, within these limits, will result in you being charged the full appointment fee. All of our surgeries are equipped with telephone answering machines and/or BT call minder and record the day, date and time of messages.
- *If you booked online and cancel your appointment giving the required notice, you will receive a refund of the appointment fee less the online booking fee, which is the difference in cost between the on-line charge and the off-line charge (the amount you would pay for the appointment if you had booked over the telephone or in one of our branches). This is because we have to pay the on-line booking fee to PayPal at the time of booking and it is non-refundable.
- You will be expected to pay for all postponed, cancelled and/or missed appointments within 7 calendar days of the date of the failed, cancelled and/or missed appointment if you have not prepaid at the time of booking.
- You may not use our services again until any outstanding fees have been paid.
- If fees remain unpaid for more than 21 days we reserve the right to refer your outstanding debts to a debt collection agency/recovery service or to the Magistrates (small claims) Court for payment collection.
- We reserve the right to postpone, cancel or rearrange your appointment without notice. Please note: we will only do this in exceptional circumstances which may include sickness, accident, poor weather, any other incident which affects the ability of a team member to attend your appointment or where premises become unavailable due to circumstances beyond our control. We will endeavour to contact you as soon as possible if we need to do this giving you as much notice as possible.
- If you have a history of poor attendance we reserve the right to ask you to prepay for your appointments, and reserve the right to refuse treatment if you refuse to do so.
Methods of payment
- All new patients are required to pay for the cost of their appointment at the time of booking, no matter how they book an appointment.
- You may pay your bill with either cash (in sterling), or credit/debit card when you book off-line (in branch or over the telephone). When booking on-line you will be required to pay at the time of booking using your debit card/credit card or PayPal.
- We do not accept payment by way of barter e.g. goods or services in exchange/or to the value of the treatment fees due.
These terms and conditions apply to services provided by Head & Short Podiatrists Ltd (also trading as Head & Short Footwear & Podiatry) only, and are subject to change without notice (different terms and conditions may apply to third party services offered within our surgeries e.g. chiropractic, physiotherapy, reiki, massage, etc.). Up to date details can be requested by emailing us or writing to our Head Office.
Customer Returns/Refund Policy
Defective Products
Products should be checked upon purchase/delivery by you, the customer. If it appears that the products, at the time of purchase/delivery, are damaged or otherwise show material or manufacturing defects, return the products to us. Please follow the below procedure for returning any defective items:
- First, you need to have your receipt. The receipt allows you to return the defective product free of shipping charges and helps us to properly process your return (always bring your receipt with you or if you purchased on our Ebay shop send a copy to us with your returned product);
- A credit note will be issued for all unwanted products if you do not require an exchange;
- For returns without a receipt, administration costs for the amount of £4.95 will be deducted from the total amount and a credit note will be issued less this amount;
- You will get a credit note within 10 business days after we have received the original items. The credit note will be issued to the original named purchaser.
- Please be aware that if posting to us, your returned package should meet the following requirements:
- Maximum length is 60 cm
- Maximum length + width + height is 90 cm
- Maximum weight is 2 kilograms
When you have more than 2 kg (4.4 lbs) to return, please, send two separate packages.
NOTE: To obtain a refund for your shipping costs (if you are an Ebay purchaser), please send us a receipt for the shipping costs by e-mail to:
If you do not have an e-mail account, please send a hard copy of your receipt to Head & Short Footwear & Podiatry, 14 High Street, St. Albans, Herts. AL3 4EL, including your name, address, and telephone number. Please make a copy of your receipt prior to posting and send you parcel recorded delivery. If you do not and the delivery gets lost we accept no liability for the return whatsoever.
Upon receipt of the goods we will assess the nature of the defect and if the defect falls under our warranty terms we will either send you new product or a credit note depending on which option you have chosen. It is possible that an item ordered by you might not be in stock at the time of processing your return. In that case we will send you new product once we have the product in stock.
If you have purchased the items in one of our shops you will not receive a refund of your shipping costs. If you choose to return the item to us in this way then you, the customer, will be liable for all postage and packing costs for sending the item(s) to us and us sending a replacement item(s) to you (payable prior to us sending items out).
Non-Defective Products
If, after you have accepted delivery, you are not happy with what you ordered for any reason other than a defect under our warranty terms (e.g. you are not happy with the colour or size), and wish to return the products, you may do so within 14 calendar days after purchase/delivery, as long as:
- the products are unwashed and not used in any way;
- the products are in their original undamaged packaging (a carefully opened package will not be considered damaged);
- the product is complete: e.g. both items of a pair must be returned;
You may not return:
- products that are tampered with;
- products which are personalised in any way;
- product bought in shops other than ours;
- non-returnable items such as gels, medicines, creams, etc. As legally we are not allowed to resell these items due to hygiene laws.
The procedure for returning non-defective products is the same as described above for returning defective products, with the exception that we will only give you a credit note to the value of the purchase price of any returned, non-defective products (not a refund). We will not refund the shipping costs you originally paid. You will also have to pay for the shipping costs to us of any such returned non-defective products.
All shop-bought items should be returned to the
branch in which they were purchased
All Ebay product returns should be sent to:
Product Returns, Head & Short Footwear & Podiatry,
14 High Street, St. Albans, Herts. AL3 4EL
If you wish to contact our Customer Service, you may telephone us on 01727 865343 or email us at (expect an email response within 3 days): returns@headandshort.co.uk