We want you to love your puzzle. If something has gone wrong — or you simply changed your mind — this page tells you exactly what you’re entitled to and how to go about it. Your rights under South African law are set out below, and nothing on this page limits them.
The short version
- Changed your mind? You have 7 days from receiving your puzzle to cancel, no reason needed. You pay to send it back; we refund everything else.
- Faulty, damaged, or not what was described? You have 6 months, and you choose whether we repair it, replace it, or refund you. We cover the return cost.
- Damaged in transit? Photograph it and email us — we’ll sort it out.
- Bespoke or personalised? Can’t be returned for a change of mind, because it was made specifically for you. Still fully covered if it’s faulty.
To start any of these, email soul@soulpuzzles.com with your order number.
1. Changing your mind — your 7-day cooling-off right
Section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act gives you the right to cancel an online purchase within 7 days of receiving the goods, without giving a reason and without penalty.
To use it:
- Email soul@soulpuzzles.com within 7 days of delivery, quoting your order number.
- Send the puzzle back to us unused, complete, and in its original packaging. The tins and boxes are part of the product, so please pack the whole thing as it arrived.
- We refund you once it reaches us and we’ve checked it’s complete.
What you get back: the full purchase price and the R120 delivery you originally paid. The law allows us to charge you only one thing — the direct cost of returning the goods to us — so the return courier or postage is yours to arrange and pay for. We recommend a tracked service; a puzzle that never arrives can’t be refunded.
A puzzle that comes back opened, part-assembled, or with pieces missing is no longer unused, and we can only refund part of its value in that case — or none of it, if it can’t be sold again. Please don’t open the shrink-wrap or the tin if you think you might send it back.
2. Faulty, damaged, or not as described
Sections 55 and 56 of the Consumer Protection Act give you a 6-month implied warranty on everything you buy from us: it must be of good quality, in working order, and free of defects. If it isn’t, you choose — repair, replacement, or a full refund. Not us.
That covers, for example:
- Pieces missing from the box, or pieces that don’t cut cleanly
- Printing that’s misaligned, faded, or damaged
- Warped or split wood
- A puzzle that isn’t the design, piece count, or size the product page described
Email us with your order number and a photograph of the problem. We pay the return cost on a faulty puzzle — you’re never out of pocket for our mistake. If you’d rather have the same puzzle again than a refund, say so and we’ll send a replacement.
This 6-month warranty runs alongside the 7-day cooling-off right above; it doesn’t replace it.
3. Damage in transit
Check your parcel when it arrives. If the puzzle is damaged:
- Keep the packaging. The courier claim depends on it, and we can’t pursue one without it.
- Photograph the outer box, the inner packaging, and the damage itself.
- Email the photos to soul@soulpuzzles.com as soon as you can, and within 7 days of delivery at the latest.
We’ll replace the puzzle or refund you in full, whichever you prefer. You don’t pay anything, and you don’t deal with the courier — we do.
4. What can’t be returned for a change of mind
- Bespoke and personalised puzzles — anything cut, printed, or engraved to your specification, including custom collages, personalised designs, and condolence puzzles. The cooling-off right specifically doesn’t apply to goods made to a consumer’s own specifications (ECTA s42(2)), because we can’t sell your puzzle to anyone else.
- Gift vouchers.
Both are still fully covered by the 6-month warranty in section 2 if they arrive faulty. “Made for you” doesn’t mean “sold as is”.
5. How refunds are paid
Refunds go back by the same route you paid:
- Card via PayFast — reversed to the card you used.
- EFT / direct bank transfer — paid into the bank account you send us. We’ll ask for those details in writing; we never ask for them over the phone, and we will never ask you for a card number, PIN, or online-banking password.
We process the refund within 30 days of approving your return, and usually a good deal sooner. How quickly it then shows up in your account after that is your bank’s business rather than ours — a card reversal in particular can take a few further days to appear on your statement.
6. Where to send a return
Please email us first and wait for confirmation. A parcel that arrives unannounced can’t be matched to an order, which slows your refund down considerably.
Soul Puzzles — Returns
4 Kildare Road, Glenwood, Durban, 4001
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Still stuck?
Email soul@soulpuzzles.com or use our contact page. We’re a small team in Durban and we’d rather fix a problem than argue about it.
Last updated: September 2026.