1. Overview
Whatever has changed, call us at (209) 561-5180 as soon as you can. The sooner we know, the more we can do — both for you and for the next family waiting on that time.
This policy applies to bookings made through edencrestvet.com and forms part of our Terms & Conditions. It covers the in-home visit, travel fees, aftercare, urns, and keepsakes.
Two rules cover almost every situation:
- If your pet passes away before the appointment, the visit is refunded in full — no fee, no deadline. See section 4.
- For a cancellation for any other reason, tell us at least four hours before your appointment time and we refund what you paid, less a $100 cancellation fee. See section 3.
Rescheduling is always free. Where this policy sets out a general rule, we retain the discretion to be more generous than it requires. Nothing here limits any right you have under California consumer protection law.
2. When payment is taken
Payment is taken in full at the time of booking, through Stripe. This confirms your appointment and takes the question of payment off the table on the day of the visit — there is nothing to settle while you are saying goodbye.
Choosing a time on the booking page only places a temporary hold on the slot. Until payment is completed, no charge is made and nothing is owed; unpaid holds are released automatically.
3. Cancelling or rescheduling
Call (209) 561-5180 or email hello@edencrestvet.com as soon as you know. Because we send one veterinarian to one family at a time, an early call lets us offer the slot to another family who needs it.
To cancel with a refund, we need to hear from you at least four hours before your scheduled appointment time. If your appointment is at 6:00 PM, we need to know by 2:00 PM.
The window is what makes a refund possible: past it, the day is committed, the medication is drawn, and the time cannot be offered to another family.
| Situation | What you receive |
|---|---|
| Your pet passes away before the appointment At any time, however close to the visit |
Full refund. No cancellation fee. See section 4. |
| You cancel for any other reason Four or more hours before the appointment |
Refund of everything you paid, less a $100 cancellation fee. |
| You cancel for any other reason Less than four hours before the appointment |
The visit and travel fee are not refundable. Aftercare, urns, and keepsakes are still refunded under sections 6 and 7 if they have not yet been carried out or made. |
| You reschedule At any time |
No fee. Your payment moves to the new appointment. See below. |
| After the procedure has been carried out | The visit is not refundable. Aftercare and keepsakes follow sections 6 and 7. |
Rescheduling
Moving an appointment is free, carries no cancellation fee, and there is no limit on how many times you may do it. What you have paid simply moves with you to the new time. We will always try to find you something soon, though a specific replacement time depends on availability.
If you reschedule and then later cancel, the four-hour window is measured against the appointment as it stands at that point.
4. If your pet passes before we arrive
If your pet passes on their own before the appointment, everything you paid is refunded in full. No cancellation fee applies, and the four-hour window does not apply — it does not matter how close to the appointment it happened. Please call so we know, and so we can help you with what comes next.
This is the one situation in which a booking is refunded in full. Every other cancellation falls under section 3.
If you would still like us to handle aftercare — transport, aquamation, and the return of ashes — we can usually do that, and you keep whatever aftercare and keepsakes you had already chosen; only the visit itself is refunded. If you would rather make your own arrangements, those items are refunded in full as well.
5. If we cannot complete the visit
If we cancel or cannot attend
If we have to cancel or reschedule because of illness, an emergency, weather, or anything else on our side, we will contact you as soon as we can and offer the earliest alternative we have. If that does not work for you, everything you paid is refunded in full.
If the veterinarian declines to proceed
As set out in our Terms, Dr. DiGenova may decline to proceed where doing so would be unlawful, unsafe, or clinically inappropriate — for example where authority to consent cannot be established, or where a rabies observation or quarantine obligation applies. If she declines before travelling to you, everything you paid is refunded in full with no cancellation fee. If the reason only comes to light once she has arrived, the $100 cancellation fee applies and the rest is refunded.
If we cannot reach you or gain access
If nobody is at the address at the scheduled time and we cannot reach you by phone, we will wait a reasonable period and then leave. This is treated as a cancellation with no notice: the visit and travel fee are not refunded, and aftercare, urns, and keepsakes not yet carried out or made are refunded under sections 6 and 7. Please call — if something went wrong on the day, we would rather hear it than assume.
If the visit is ended for safety
If a visit has to be ended because the environment is unsafe or someone present is abusive, the visit fee is not refunded. Aftercare and keepsakes not yet produced are refunded.
6. Aftercare refunds
Aftercare is carried out by our aftercare partner, and what can be refunded depends on how far along it is.
- Before your pet is transported to the aftercare facility, aftercare is fully refundable.
- After transport but before the process has begun, aftercare is refundable less any transport already carried out.
- Once aquamation has begun, it cannot be stopped or refunded.
With communal aquamation, pets are processed together and ashes are scattered respectfully — they cannot be identified or recovered afterwards, and the choice cannot be changed once the process has begun. If you are unsure which to choose, please call us before the appointment rather than after.
If you switch from communal to individual aftercare before the process begins, we will charge the difference. If you switch from individual to communal in the same window, we refund the difference.
7. Urns & keepsakes
Keepsakes are made by hand, and some are personalised. Once an item has been made or engraved for your pet, it cannot be resold or returned.
| Item | Refundable until |
|---|---|
| Paw prints & nose prints | The print has been taken. If a usable print cannot be taken — which occasionally happens — we tell you and refund that item automatically. |
| Engraved name plate | Engraving has started. |
| Included urn (bamboo or Circle of Life) | Included with individual aquamation at no charge, so there is nothing to refund. |
| Mango wood photo urn (upgrade) | The urn has been prepared for your pet. Before that, the upgrade is refunded in full. |
| USPS Priority shipping | The package has been handed to the carrier. |
| Professional hand delivery | The delivery window has been scheduled and the courier dispatched. |
If an item arrives damaged, or is not what you ordered, tell us within 14 days of receiving it and we will replace it or refund it. Photographs help us sort it out quickly. Natural variation in wood grain, colour, and the appearance of a hand-taken print is inherent to these items and is not a defect.
If a keepsake is lost or damaged in transit by a carrier, contact us — we will pursue it with the carrier and make it right where we can.
8. Travel fees
Travel is included inside our free-travel zone, so most bookings have no travel fee at all. Where one applies, it is shown to you before you pay.
Where a travel fee applies, it is part of what you paid and follows the same rules as the rest of the booking: refunded in full if your pet passes away first, refunded less the $100 cancellation fee if you cancel four or more hours ahead, and not refunded if you cancel inside the four-hour window. There is no separate travel charge on top of the cancellation fee.
9. Price adjustments
Aftercare is priced by weight. If your pet’s actual weight falls in a different tier than the weight entered at booking, the aftercare price changes accordingly:
- If the correct tier costs less, we refund the difference automatically — you do not need to ask.
- If the correct tier costs more, we tell you the difference before proceeding, and you decide whether to continue, change the aftercare option, or make your own arrangements.
We will never charge more than the amount you authorised without speaking with you first.
10. How refunds are issued
- Refunds go back to the original payment method through Stripe. We cannot refund to a different card or by cash or cheque.
- We process approved refunds within 3 business days of agreeing them with you.
- Your bank or card issuer then takes its own time to post the credit — typically 5 to 10 business days, occasionally longer. That part is outside our control.
- You will receive an email confirmation from Stripe when the refund is issued.
- Partial refunds are itemised so you can see exactly what was returned and what was retained. Where the $100 cancellation fee applies, it is shown as a separate line so the deduction is never a surprise.
11. Billing questions & chargebacks
If a charge looks wrong, please call (209) 561-5180 or email hello@edencrestvet.com before contacting your bank. We can almost always resolve a billing question the same day, and a direct refund reaches you faster than a chargeback does.
Filing a chargeback opens a formal dispute with the card network that can take weeks and freezes our ability to refund you directly while it runs. If a chargeback is filed for a service that was provided as agreed, we will respond to the card network with our records of the booking, the visit, and any aftercare carried out.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time; the “Last updated” date at the top shows when. The version that applies to your booking is the one published when you completed payment.
13. How to contact us
For anything to do with a cancellation, a reschedule, or a refund, the fastest route is a phone call.