Terms & Conditions
Last updated: 16 September 2026
These Terms & Conditions apply to the use of the CMS website and to goods and services supplied by Christopher Milton Stevens Limited.
We want your experience of CMS to be safe, secure and enjoyable. Please read these Terms carefully before placing an order or commissioning work from us.
Nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer.
1. About Us
The website is operated by:
Christopher Milton Stevens Limited
De Montalt Lodge
Summer Lane
Combe Down
Bath
BA2 7EU
England
Company number: 02860880
Registered in England and Wales
VAT registration number: 639 6730 04
Telephone: +44 (0)7768 694504
Email: info@cmsjewellers.com
In these Terms, “CMS”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Christopher Milton Stevens Limited.
“You” and “your” mean the person using the website or purchasing goods or services from us.
Our website is principally intended for customers in the United Kingdom. Please contact us before placing an order requiring delivery outside the UK.
You must be at least 18 years old to place an order or enter into a contract with us.
2. The CMS Website
Our website is designed both to show existing CMS designs and to help begin the design conversation for bespoke jewellery.
You may:
- enquire about or purchase an existing design;
- discuss changing gemstones, precious metals or other elements of an existing design;
- collect designs and ideas using website features such as an Ideas List; or
- begin a bespoke design commission to create an individual piece of jewellery.
An enquiry, Ideas List or other communication through the website does not in itself create a contract between us.
3. Product Information, Images, Errors and Omissions
We take reasonable care to ensure that information, descriptions, specifications, images and prices displayed on our website are accurate and up to date. However, occasional errors, omissions or inaccuracies may occur.
We reserve the right to correct an error, omission or inaccuracy and to update information where necessary.
If we discover an error relating to the price, description, specification or availability of an item after you have submitted an order but before we have accepted it, we will contact you as soon as reasonably possible.
You will have the option of proceeding on the basis of the corrected information or cancelling the order and receiving a full refund of any amount already paid.
Nothing in these Terms permits us to increase an agreed price after a contract has been formed without your agreement, except where you subsequently request a change to the agreed work or specification.
Images and CAD renders
Every reasonable effort is made to represent our jewellery accurately.
Photographs, CAD renders, videos and illustrations are intended to help you understand how an item will look. Colours and appearance may vary slightly according to lighting, photography and the screen or device on which they are viewed.
Images may also be enlarged or reduced and should not be relied upon as showing the physical size of an item unless dimensions are specifically given.
For bespoke commissions, the specification and design expressly agreed with you will take precedence over general images or information appearing elsewhere on the website.
Natural gemstones and materials
Gemstones, pearls and other natural materials are individual.
Natural variations may occur in colour, saturation, tone, inclusions, pattern, dimensions and appearance. These natural characteristics are part of what makes an individual gemstone unique and are not necessarily faults.
Where you are choosing an individual significant gemstone, we may provide photographs, video, certification or other information to enable you to approve the stone before it is used.
Unless expressly stated otherwise, dimensions, carat weights and other measurements on the website may be approximate and are provided for guidance.
Details contained in an independent gemstone or diamond certificate will take precedence in relation to the characteristics specifically covered by that certificate.
4. Prices and Quotations
Prices displayed for consumer purchases include VAT at the applicable rate unless clearly stated otherwise.
Any unavoidable delivery or other charges applicable to an order will be made clear before you commit to the purchase.
Precious metal and gemstone prices can fluctuate. We may therefore change website prices or quotations before an order or commission has been accepted.
Once we have accepted your order at an agreed price, we will not increase that price because our own material or production costs subsequently change.
The price may change if:
- you ask us to change the design, gemstones, materials or specification; or
- additional work becomes necessary because of circumstances that could not reasonably have been identified beforehand, particularly when repairing, altering or remodelling existing jewellery.
Where additional work is necessary, we will explain the reason and obtain your agreement to any material additional cost before proceeding.
A bespoke quotation will remain valid for any period specified in the quotation.
5. Orders and Formation of a Contract
Placing an order, making an enquiry or making a payment does not necessarily mean that we have accepted your order.
For an existing item purchased through an online checkout, we may send an acknowledgement confirming that we have received your order. Unless the acknowledgement expressly says otherwise, it is not acceptance of the order.
The contract will normally be formed when we confirm that we have accepted the order or, for an item ready for dispatch, when we send confirmation that it has been dispatched.
For bespoke work, a contract will normally be formed when the design or commission, price and relevant specification have been agreed and we confirm acceptance of the commission.
We may require a deposit or other payment before commencing work.
If for any reason we cannot accept an order, any payment taken for that order will be refunded.
6. Bespoke Design and Commissioned Jewellery
Bespoke jewellery is created collaboratively and may involve a number of stages including discussion, design development, CAD modelling, rendering, 3D printing, gemstone selection, casting, assembly, setting, finishing and polishing.
We will work with you to develop the agreed design and specification.
You are responsible for checking design information supplied to you and telling us promptly if anything appears incorrect.
Where we ask you to approve a CAD design, render, gemstone, specification or other material aspect of a commission, manufacture may not begin until that approval has been received.
Once you have approved the design and specification, later alterations may involve additional design work, materials and manufacturing costs.
We will tell you about material additional costs before proceeding.
CAD and 3D printed models
CAD renders and 3D printed models are important design tools but are not the finished jewellery.
Minor differences arising from casting, hand finishing, polishing, stone setting and the individual characteristics of natural materials are normal.
The finished jewellery will nevertheless conform to the material design and specification agreed with you.
Timescales
We will give you an estimated or agreed timescale for your commission.
Bespoke work involves a number of specialist processes and sometimes third-party craftspeople or suppliers. If a delay occurs, we will keep you reasonably informed.
A timescale may need to change where you request design changes, delay an approval, change the specification or where another circumstance outside our reasonable control affects production.
If a specific completion or delivery date is essential, please tell us before entering into the contract so that we can confirm whether we can meet it.
7. Deposits, Design Work and Cancellation of Bespoke Commissions
The amount and payment schedule for a bespoke commission will be set out in the quotation or order confirmation.
A deposit may be requested to cover design work, gemstone sourcing, materials or other costs associated with the commission.
Where you have a statutory right to cancel, that right is not removed merely because a deposit has been paid.
Starting design work during a cancellation period
Where a separately identifiable design or other service is subject to a statutory cancellation period and you ask us to start work during that period, you expressly request that we begin providing the service before the cancellation period has expired.
If you then exercise a statutory right to cancel after we have started that work, you may be required to pay a reasonable amount proportionate to the work supplied up to the time you cancel, where the law permits us to make that charge.
If, at your express request, the service has been fully performed during the cancellation period and you have acknowledged that your cancellation right will be lost once the service has been fully performed, that right may end when the service is completed.
Made-to-order and personalised jewellery
The normal statutory right to cancel a distance purchase because you have changed your mind does not apply to goods made to your specifications or clearly personalised.
This will generally include genuinely bespoke commissions and may include jewellery specifically manufactured, engraved, altered or personalised for you.
Where appropriate, we will make it clear before you commit to the purchase that an item is being made to your specification and that the usual change-of-mind cancellation right therefore does not apply.
Selecting an option offered on our website does not automatically mean that an item is bespoke or personalised for this purpose.
Cancelling a bespoke commission
Even where there is no statutory right to cancel, please contact us as soon as possible if you wish to stop a commission.
Where cancellation is possible, we will act reasonably in assessing the work undertaken, materials ordered or committed to, and other costs reasonably incurred in fulfilling your commission.
Any amount retained will reflect reasonable costs and work actually incurred rather than operate as an arbitrary cancellation penalty.
Any balance due to you will be refunded.
Nothing in this section affects your rights where goods or services are faulty, not as described or otherwise do not conform to the contract.
8. Payment
Available payment methods will be explained when you order or will appear at checkout or on our invoice.
Payment may be processed by a third-party payment provider and may also be subject to that provider’s own terms and security procedures.
Goods remain our property until they have been paid for in full, although responsibility for risk during delivery is dealt with separately below.
We reserve the right not to release or dispatch completed jewellery until all amounts properly due under the relevant contract have been paid.
9. Delivery
For items held in stock, we will provide an estimated dispatch or delivery time.
For bespoke and made-to-order jewellery, delivery will take place following completion of the agreed work.
Unless a different period has been agreed with you, goods purchased under a consumer contract will be delivered within the period required by law.
We normally use a tracked delivery service appropriate to the nature and value of the jewellery. We will provide dispatch and tracking information where available.
Please check the delivery address carefully. We are not responsible for a delay caused by incorrect or incomplete information supplied by you, although we will make reasonable efforts to assist.
The goods remain at our risk until they come into your physical possession or the possession of a person you have identified to receive them, except where the law provides otherwise because you have independently commissioned your own carrier.
10. Your Right to Cancel Standard Distance Purchases
Where you are a consumer and purchase a standard, non-personalised item online, by telephone or by another distance-selling method, you will normally have a statutory right to change your mind.
You generally have 14 days beginning on the day after you receive the goods to tell us that you wish to cancel.
After telling us that you wish to cancel, you normally have a further 14 days to return the goods.
You can cancel by contacting us at:
When cancelling a standard purchase because you have changed your mind, you are responsible for the direct cost of returning the item unless we have agreed otherwise.
Because jewellery may be valuable, we strongly recommend using an appropriately insured, tracked and secure delivery service.
You must take reasonable care of the item while it is in your possession.
We may make a deduction from a refund where permitted by law if the item’s value has been reduced because it has been handled beyond what would reasonably be necessary to establish its nature, characteristics and functioning.
Where the statutory cancellation right applies, we will refund payments as required by law, including the standard outbound delivery charge where applicable.
Additional amounts paid for an enhanced or premium delivery service do not have to be refunded beyond the cost of our standard delivery service.
11. Exceptions to Change-of-Mind Cancellation Rights
The statutory change-of-mind cancellation right does not apply in certain circumstances.
These include goods which are made to your specifications or clearly personalised.
It may also not apply to sealed goods which are not suitable for return for health protection or hygiene reasons once they have been unsealed.
Accordingly, earrings for pierced ears may only fall within the hygiene exception where the legal requirements for that exception are met.
These exceptions apply only to change-of-mind cancellations.
They do not remove your statutory rights if an item is faulty, not as described or otherwise fails to conform to the contract.
12. Faulty or Incorrect Goods
We take considerable care over the manufacture and inspection of our jewellery.
If an item is faulty, damaged when delivered, not as described or materially different from what was agreed, please contact us as soon as reasonably possible.
Your rights are governed by applicable consumer law, including the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Depending upon the circumstances and the time that has passed, those rights may include repair, replacement, price reduction or rejection and refund.
Nothing in these Terms imposes a seven-day limit on your statutory rights.
Where goods are being returned because they are faulty or otherwise fail to conform to the contract, we will bear reasonable return costs in accordance with our legal obligations.
Please contact us before sending valuable jewellery so that an appropriate return method can be agreed.
13. Our Guarantee
In addition to your statutory rights, jewellery manufactured by CMS is guaranteed against manufacturing faults for its lifetime from delivery unless we tell you in writing that a different guarantee applies.
The guarantee does not cover damage resulting from normal wear and tear, accidental damage, misuse, neglect, inappropriate storage or damage caused by work carried out by another person.
Repair or alteration by another jeweller will not remove statutory rights that cannot legally be excluded. However, our voluntary guarantee does not cover a fault or damage caused by that third-party work.
Gemstones and jewellery should be inspected and maintained appropriately. We are happy to advise you about suitable care, cleaning and periodic checking of settings.
14. Ring Sizes and Alterations
Please take reasonable care to obtain an accurate finger size before ordering a ring.
If you are unsure, please contact us and we will advise you.
Many rings can be resized, but this depends upon the design, gemstones, setting style and construction.
Where resizing is required because an incorrect size was supplied to us, we may charge for the necessary work, materials, delivery and insurance.
Where the incorrect size results from our failure to follow the agreed specification, your statutory rights will apply.
15. Customers’ Existing Jewellery and Gemstones
We are happy to discuss remodelling existing jewellery and, where appropriate, using gemstones or materials supplied by you.
Older jewellery and gemstones can contain wear, previous repairs, inclusions, fractures, hidden weaknesses or other characteristics that may not be apparent before work begins.
We will exercise reasonable skill and care when handling your property.
However, we cannot guarantee that a gemstone or component with an inherent or previously existing weakness will withstand unsettting, cleaning, resetting, repair, heat, pressure or other processes necessary to carry out the agreed work.
We will not exclude responsibility for loss or damage caused by our failure to exercise reasonable skill and care.
If, after work begins, we discover a problem which materially affects the proposed work, we will discuss the options with you before undertaking significant additional work or incurring significant additional costs.
Unless specifically agreed otherwise, any valuation attributed to customer-supplied jewellery or gemstones for insurance or other purposes should not be inferred merely because we have accepted the item for work.
16. Intellectual Property and CMS Designs
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, copyright, design rights and other intellectual property rights in the CMS website and in designs, drawings, CAD files, renders, photographs, text and other material created by CMS remain the property of Christopher Milton Stevens Limited or the relevant rights holder.
Purchasing a piece of jewellery does not automatically transfer copyright or other intellectual property rights in its design.
CMS designs and CAD files must not be copied, reproduced, manufactured or supplied to a third party for manufacture without our permission where those acts would infringe our intellectual property rights.
Nothing in this clause prevents the normal personal use and enjoyment of jewellery you have purchased from us.
Material supplied by you
You retain ownership of intellectual property in photographs, drawings or other material which belongs to you and which you provide to us.
By providing such material, you give us permission to use it to the extent reasonably necessary to discuss, design, manufacture and administer your commission.
You must have the necessary rights or permission to provide material belonging to another person.
We will not acquire ownership of your material merely because you have supplied it to us.
17. Use of the Website
You may use the website for lawful, personal purposes.
You must not deliberately interfere with the operation or security of the website, attempt unauthorised access to systems or accounts, introduce malicious software, misuse another person’s account or use website material in a way that infringes our or another person’s rights.
Where the website allows you to create an account, you are responsible for taking reasonable steps to keep your password and login information confidential and should tell us promptly if you believe your account has been compromised.
We may suspend or restrict access where reasonably necessary to protect the website, our customers, our systems or our legal rights.
18. Ideas Lists, Images and Information You Send Us
Our website may allow you to save ideas or send us photographs, sketches, comments and other information.
The purpose of this facility is to help begin and develop the design conversation.
Providing an image or idea to us does not necessarily mean that you own intellectual property rights in the underlying design.
Where you send us material created by someone else, it may be used as inspiration or to explain particular characteristics you like, but we will not knowingly reproduce another person’s protected design unlawfully.
Please do not send sensitive personal information through an Ideas List or other public or shared function unless it is necessary and you understand how that information will be used.
19. Third-Party Websites and Services
The website may contain links to websites or services operated by third parties.
These links are provided for convenience or information.
We are not responsible for the content, availability or privacy practices of an independent third-party website, and the inclusion of a link does not necessarily mean that we endorse everything on that website.
Where you purchase directly from a separate third party, that purchase will normally be governed by your contract with that third party.
20. Website Availability
We aim to keep the website accurate, secure and available but cannot guarantee that it will always operate without interruption.
We may temporarily suspend or alter website functionality for maintenance, security, updates or circumstances outside our reasonable control.
This does not affect obligations we have already undertaken under an existing contract with you.
21. Liability
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where it would be unlawful to do so.
In particular, nothing excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any liability or consumer right which cannot legally be excluded or restricted.
If you are a consumer, we are responsible for loss or damage that is a foreseeable result of our breach of contract or failure to exercise reasonable care and skill.
We are not responsible for losses that were not reasonably foreseeable when the contract was made.
These Terms are intended for consumers purchasing for personal purposes. We are not responsible under a consumer contract for business losses such as loss of profit, revenue, business opportunity or business interruption.
22. Privacy and Cookies
We take the protection of personal information seriously.
Our collection and use of personal information is governed by our separate Privacy Policy, which should be read alongside these Terms.
Our use of cookies and similar technologies is explained in our Cookie Policy and, where legally required, non-essential cookies will not be used without the appropriate consent.
Questions concerning personal information can be sent to:
Nothing in these Terms limits your rights under applicable UK data-protection legislation.
23. Competitions and Promotions
If we run a competition, prize draw, promotion or special offer, additional terms may apply.
Those specific terms will be made available with the relevant competition or promotion and should be read together with these Terms.
If there is an inconsistency, the specific competition or promotion terms will take precedence in relation to that promotion.
24. Complaints
We hope that any problem can be resolved quickly and personally.
If you have a complaint concerning an order, commission, product or service, please contact:
Christopher Milton Stevens Limited
De Montalt Lodge
Summer Lane
Combe Down
Bath
BA2 7EU
Email: info@cmsjewellers.com
Telephone: +44 (0)7768 694504
Please provide your name, contact details, order or commission information and a brief description of the problem so that we can investigate it.
25. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time, for example because of changes to our website, business practices or applicable law.
The version applying to a purchase or commission will generally be the version in force when the relevant contract was entered into.
We will not retrospectively change the material terms of an existing contract without your agreement unless a change is required by law.
26. General
If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue to apply.
A delay or failure by either party to exercise a legal right does not automatically mean that the right has been waived.
No person other than you and us has any right to enforce the contract between us unless the law provides otherwise.
27. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These Terms and contracts entered into under them are governed by English law.
If you are a consumer living elsewhere in the United Kingdom, you also retain any mandatory protections available to you under the law applicable where you live.
Nothing in these Terms prevents a consumer from bringing proceedings in a court which applicable consumer law permits them to use.
