Terms and Conditions

What this agreement covers

Once a consultation, a planting session or a layout plan has been agreed by email, these conditions become the contract between you and Pecan Riverbend for that piece of work. They sit beside the Terms of Service, which cover use of the website, and they do not take away any right you have as a consumer under Japanese law.

1. Making the contract

1. You write to us about your plot through a form, by email or by phone.
2. We reply, usually within a few working days, with what we suggest, a date, and a written quote (saplings and materials listed separately for planting sessions).
3. The contract starts when you confirm the quote and the date by email. Until then neither side is bound.
4. You must be 18 or older, and must own the plot or have the owner's permission to have work done on it.

2. Payment

• Fees are as quoted, in yen, with consumption tax included.
• We invoice after the service has been carried out. Payment is by bank transfer to the account named on the invoice, within fourteen days of the invoice date. The bank transfer fee is paid by you.
• We do not take card payments, and no payment is made through this website.
• Saplings and materials that we buy for you at your request are invoiced at the price we paid, as shown in the quote.

3. Moving or cancelling a booking

• You may move or cancel a booking free of charge up to three days before the agreed date. Please do it by email so that the change is written down.
• Within three days of the date, or if nobody can be reached on site, we may charge the cost of materials already bought for you, but never more than the quoted fee.
• If weather or the state of the river bank makes work unsafe, we will agree a new date without charge, as set out in the Terms of Service.
• If we have to cancel, for example because of illness, we will tell you as early as we can and refund anything you have paid for that date.
• Because a consultation can be held by phone, a consultation moved on the day itself can usually be held later in the week.

4. What you do

• Give safe access to the land for site visits and planting, and tell us about hazards we may not see: livestock, hidden pipes, soft ground, wasp nests.
• Tell us truthfully what you know about the plot, including past flooding.
• Obtain any permission needed for work near a river or on regulated land. We will flag where it may be needed.
• Care for the trees as set out in the notes we give you. Young trees die from drought and from mowers more often than from anything else.

5. What we do

We will carry out the work with reasonable skill and care, explain what we are doing, keep to the quote, and give you the written material described for the service. If the written material has a mistake, tell us and we will correct it at no charge. If you are unhappy with how a session went, write to us within fourteen days and we will look at it together before any other step is taken.

6. Trees are living things

We cannot promise that any tree will survive, bear nuts by a certain year, or withstand flood, frost, pests or disease. To the extent the law allows, our liability for a claim connected with one service is limited to the fee you paid for it, and we are not liable for indirect loss such as loss of use of land or of an expected harvest. None of this limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including liability for intentional or grossly negligent acts.

7. Things beyond our control

Typhoons, flooding, earthquakes, snow, illness and interruptions to public services can stop work. Neither side is in breach if that happens, and we will agree a new date as soon as the situation allows.

8. Disagreements

• Write to info@pecan-riverbend.com first. Most problems are settled by a conversation or a second visit.
• Japanese law governs the contract. If it cannot be settled between us, the courts of Japan have jurisdiction, subject to any consumer right to bring a case where you live.
• If a clause turns out to be invalid, the rest of the contract stays in force.

9. Changes

A booking is governed by the conditions in force on the day you confirmed the quote. We may revise these conditions for later bookings, and the date at the top shows the current version.