48 hrsTo report damage or a short shipment
7 daysTo report a print or quality defect
5-10 daysFor an approved refund to land
$0Restocking fee, we don't charge one
Every box The Cardboard Boxes Hub ships is cut and printed for one customer only. It carries your dimensions and your artwork, so it has no shelf life and no resale value once it leaves the press. That is why we cannot accept change of mind returns, and why this policy focuses on something more useful: fixing real faults quickly and without an argument.
The short version. If the order does not match the proof you approved, or it arrives damaged, tell us inside the windows below and we will reprint, credit, or refund it. If the order matches the proof and simply isn't what you hoped for, we can't refund it, but we will still talk through what to change next time.
Three principles run through everything below:
- The approved proof is the reference. We measure the finished boxes against the digital proof you signed off on, not against what either of us remembers discussing.
- Speed matters. Faults get harder to prove the longer boxes sit in a warehouse. Short reporting windows protect both of us.
- Photos settle most things. Clear pictures of the fault and the shipping carton usually mean we can approve a claim without any goods travelling back.
This policy sits alongside our Terms & Conditions. Where the two overlap, read them together.
The clock starts on the day the carrier marks your order delivered.
| Issue | Report within | What to send us |
|---|
| Transit damage | 48 hours |
Photos of the outer carton and the crushed boxes inside |
| Short shipment or missing carton | 48 hours |
Carton count received and photos of the shipping labels |
| Print defect or wrong colour | 7 days |
Close up photos next to the approved proof |
| Wrong size, material or finish | 7 days |
A photo of a box being measured with a tape or ruler |
| Wrong order entirely | 7 days |
Photos of what arrived and the packing slip |
Miss the window and we can't process the claim. If your boxes are going straight into storage, please open one carton and inspect a few units on arrival anyway. Finding a fault three months later is too late for us to do anything about it.
03
What is and isn't covered
We'll make it right
- Boxes don't match the approved proof
- Dimensions outside our stated tolerance
- Wrong board grade, coating or finish supplied
- Misregistration, smudging, streaking or ink flaking
- Die cut or scoring faults that stop a box folding
- More than 5% short on quantity
- Crush or water damage in transit, reported in 48 hours
- We shipped the wrong job
Not covered
- Typos, wrong sizes or layout errors you approved on the proof
- Colour differences between a monitor and printed ink
- Slight shade shift between two separate print runs
- Quantity variance within 5% either way
- Change of mind, cancelled launch or over ordering
- Damage after delivery, including damp storage
- Boxes that don't fit a product whose size we were never given
- Carrier delays and missed delivery dates
- Low resolution output from a low resolution file you supplied
Corrugated board absorbs moisture and loses stacking strength. Storing boxes on a damp floor or outdoors will weaken them, and that isn't a manufacturing fault.
Stop and keep everything as it is
Don't discard the shipping cartons or the packing slip, and don't fold or use the affected boxes. We may need to see them exactly as they arrived.
Take clear photos
Wide shot of the pallet or cartons, close ups of the fault, and one photo showing the shipping label. For sizing issues, include a tape measure in the frame.
Email us within the window
Send everything to support@thecardboardboxeshub.com with your order number in the subject line and a rough count of how many units are affected.
We review and respond
Our production team compares your photos against the approved proof and the job file. You'll hear back within 2 business days with a decision or a request for more detail.
We agree the fix
Reprint, credit or refund. Once you choose, a reprint goes into the schedule with priority and a refund gets processed the same week.
05
What you get if we're at fault
Where a claim is approved, you pick one of these three:
| Remedy | What happens | Best when |
|---|
| Reprint |
We remake the affected quantity at no charge and cover the shipping |
You still need the boxes and have time |
| Account credit |
The value is credited against your next order, valid 12 months |
You reorder from us regularly |
| Refund |
The affected portion is returned to your original payment method |
Your launch has passed or you don't need a reprint |
If only part of the run is faulty, the remedy covers that part. A 20% defect rate means a 20% reprint or refund, not the whole order.
Our total responsibility on any order is capped at the amount you paid for that order. We can't cover downstream losses such as lost sales, a missed retail window, or the products you intended to pack.
Never ship anything back before we ask you to. Unauthorised returns are refused at the door and we can't refund the freight you spent sending them.
- Most claims are settled from photos alone. No goods move at all.
- If we do need the boxes back, we'll issue a return authorisation number and arrange a collection at our cost.
- Where a return is authorised, keep the goods in their original cartons until the carrier arrives.
- If a return is authorised because of an error you made rather than one of ours, the freight is yours and setup costs are not refundable.
Refunds go back to the original payment method. We can't send them somewhere else, and we can't refund to a different card.
| Method | Typical time to appear | Note |
|---|
| Credit or debit card | 5 to 10 business days | Depends entirely on your bank |
| PayPal | 1 to 3 business days | Usually the fastest |
| Bank transfer | 3 to 7 business days | We'll need your bank details in writing |
| Account credit | Same day | Applied instantly, valid 12 months |
We process approved refunds within 3 business days of agreeing them. Everything after that is your bank's processing time, which we have no way to speed up.
08
Cancelling before production
Cancellation depends on how far the job has travelled:
| Stage | Refund |
|---|
| Before prepress starts | Full refund, minus any non-recoverable payment fee |
| During prepress or proofing | Refund minus the design and prepress hours already spent |
| After you approve the proof | No refund. Plates and dies have been made |
| Once printing has started | No refund. Board is already cut |
To cancel, email us. A phone call alone isn't enough, because we need a timestamp to work out which stage the job was at.
Plain, unprinted stock boxes are the one exception on this page, because we can put them back on the shelf.
- Returnable within 14 days of delivery.
- Must be unused, unfolded, and in their original cartons.
- Return shipping is yours unless the item was sent in error.
- Refunded in full once received and checked. No restocking fee.
Anything printed, die cut to a custom size, or made to your specification does not qualify, even if it looks plain.
10
Samples and sample kits
Material sample kits and plain unprinted mock ups are sold at cost and are not returnable or refundable. They exist so you can check board feel and thickness before committing to a full run, which usually saves far more than the sample costs.
Custom printed pre-production samples are billed separately and are non refundable, since they go through the same prepress and setup as a full job.
11
Rush fees and shipping costs
- Original outbound shipping is refunded only when the fault was ours.
- Rush fees are refunded if we missed the promised production window. They are not refunded when a carrier delay or a late proof approval caused the delay.
- Customs duties, import taxes and clearance charges are never refundable once paid.
- Refused or undeliverable shipments are not refunded. Re-delivery is billed at cost.
12
Late or missing refunds
If we've confirmed a refund and it hasn't shown up yet, work through this in order:
- Check the account again, including pending transactions. Refunds often sit invisible for a day or two.
- Contact your card issuer. Posting times vary a lot between banks, and some hold credits for a full billing cycle.
- Still nothing after 10 business days? Email us and we'll send you the transaction reference so your bank can trace it directly.
If something's gone wrong, talk to us first. A chargeback filed before you've contacted us freezes the funds for weeks and stops us from doing the one thing that actually helps, which is reprinting your job.
We contest chargebacks raised on orders that match the approved proof, and we'll supply the proof, your approval timestamp, and delivery confirmation as evidence. Accounts with an unresolved chargeback are put on hold until it's settled.
