Terms of service

These terms cover repair and data recovery services from Trace Lab, a service of Creative IT, Castle Street, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, N91 H73C, Ireland. Phone +353 44 93 81033. Registered in Ireland, CRO No. 390462.

1. Assessment and quotes

Every device gets a free initial assessment when it arrives. If a deeper diagnostic is needed (for example board-level fault finding or data recovery), we quote it in writing before we start. No repair or recovery work is carried out until you approve a written quote by email.

Quotes include return shipping to the address you give us. A quote is valid for 14 days.

2. No data, no recovery fee

If we cannot recover the files you told us matter when you approved the quote, there is no recovery fee. A separately quoted diagnostic that you approved remains payable. You pay only the return postage.

3. If you don’t go ahead

If you decline a quote, we return your device in the condition it arrived, and you pay only the cost of return postage (or collect it free from the workshop). Any diagnostic stage you approved separately is payable.

4. Your right to cancel (consumers)

If you are a consumer and you arrange our services at a distance (online, by email or phone), you have the right to cancel within 14 days of the day the contract is made, without giving a reason.

When you approve a quote, we ask you to confirm that you want us to start straight away, within that 14-day period. If you do, and then cancel, you pay for the work done up to the point you tell us. Once the service is fully completed at your request, you lose the right to cancel.

To cancel, email or call us with a clear statement that you are cancelling. We refund any payment due within 14 days, using the same payment method.

5. Warranty

Repairs carry a 12-month warranty on the parts we fitted and our workmanship, from the day you receive the device back. It does not cover new physical or liquid damage, or faults unrelated to our repair. This warranty is in addition to your statutory rights, which it does not affect.

6. Your data

Back up anything you can before sending a device. Where a repair carries a risk to your data, we tell you before we start. For data recovery, we only open files as far as needed to verify the recovery, and we delete our working copies once you confirm you have everything.

7. Shipping

You are responsible for the device until it reaches us; please use a tracked service and insure anything of value. We are responsible for it from arrival until it is delivered back to you.

8. Uncollected devices

If a device is not collected or a return address is not provided within 90 days of our last contact, we may dispose of it responsibly after giving you written notice.

9. Complaints and law

Talk to us first and we will try to put it right. These terms are governed by Irish law. If you live elsewhere in the EU, you keep the protection of the mandatory consumer laws of your country.