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unKeep Complaints and Dispute Resolution Policy

Last updated: 25 June 2026

This policy explains how to complain to unKeep, how quickly we will respond, how to escalate if you are not happy, and what we can and cannot put right. It also explains the internal route through which we refund the 1.00 GBP reservation fee when a collection cannot go ahead through no fault of yours. It is written to be read by everyday users, not just lawyers. If anything here is unclear, contact us at connect@unkeep.co.uk.

This policy forms part of, and should be read with, our Terms of Service, our Buyer Terms, our Seller Terms, our Subscription Terms, our Reservation Fee Policy, our Fees and Pricing information, our Acceptable Use Policy, our Prohibited and Restricted Items Policy, our Community and Safety Guidelines, and our Privacy Policy. Buyer-side reservation cancellation rules live in the Buyer Terms, seller-side cancellation consequences live in the Seller Terms, and how collection and the QR handover work in person is covered in the Buyer Terms, the Seller Terms, and the Community and Safety Guidelines. Where any of those documents and this one disagree on how complaints and disputes are handled, this policy takes priority on that subject.

1. The short version

1.1. unKeep is a marketplace where sellers list second-hand items for collection in person. You pay the seller for the goods directly, in cash, when you collect. unKeep never touches the goods money and is not a party to the sale.

1.2. If something goes wrong, tell us. Email connect@unkeep.co.uk or use the "Get help" option in the app. For a data protection request or complaint (for example to see, correct, or delete your data, or to complain about how we handle it), use our form at unkeep.co.uk/complaints; we handle those under the statutory timescales in our Privacy Policy, not the service timescales in section 1.3. There is no charge for complaining and you will not be treated any differently for doing so.

1.3. For complaints about the unKeep service, we aim to acknowledge within 2 working days and to give you a full answer within 10 working days. If a complaint is complicated and will take longer, we will tell you why and give you a new date. Data protection requests and complaints are the exception: they follow the statutory timescales in our Privacy Policy (acknowledged within 30 days, with longer where the law allows), not the timescales in this section.

1.4. We can fix things that are about unKeep and the unKeep service: your account, your subscription, the Ultra Radius add-on, the 1.00 GBP reservation fee, listings that break our rules, safety and harmful content, and your data rights.

1.5. We cannot decide who is right in a dispute about the goods themselves. The sale is between you and the seller, sold as seen, inspect on collection. We hold no goods money to refund and we did not witness the handover. What we can do is help with safety, rule-breaking, and the reservation fee, and point you to the right people for the rest.

1.6. Because unKeep has no in-app chat and keeps no message trail between buyers and sellers, we take a generous, give-you-the-benefit-of-the-doubt approach to refunding the 1.00 GBP reservation fee. If a collection could not go ahead and it was not your fault, we will normally refund the fee without asking you to prove anything. See section 7.

2. Definitions

For this policy:

  • "Complaint" means any time you tell us you are unhappy with unKeep or the unKeep service and you want us to look into it. It does not have to use the word "complaint".
  • "Working day" means Monday to Friday, excluding any day that is a bank holiday anywhere in the UK.
  • "Reservation fee" or "the 1.00" means the 1.00 GBP reservation fee charged immediately when you reserve an item, as described in the Reservation Fee Policy. It is unKeep's platform service fee for facilitating the reservation: reserving the item for you, taking it off the market for other buyers, revealing the handover location, and arranging the QR-confirmed collection. It is a real charge taken at reservation, not a hold or an authorisation.
  • "Refund" means returning the 1.00 GBP reservation fee to your card in the seller-fault situations set out in section 7.
  • "Completed collection" means you and the seller meet, you inspect the item, and the handover is confirmed by the QR code (you show it, the seller scans it).
  • "Buyer no-show" means you reserved an item and did not complete collection by the agreed time or window, for a reason that is not the seller's fault.
  • "Seller-fault failure" means a collection that cannot go ahead for a reason that is not your fault, for example the seller cancels, does not turn up, delists the item, sells it elsewhere, the item is not as described, or the seller closes their account.
  • "Downvote" means the automatic negative rating applied to whichever party did not turn up to a reserved collection. After a completed collection the buyer and seller rate each other; a no-show auto-applies a downvote to the party who failed to attend.
  • "The goods" means the second-hand item itself. "The sale" means the sale of the goods between a buyer and a seller.
  • "ADR" means alternative dispute resolution: an independent third party who helps resolve a dispute without going to court.
  • "Ombudsman" means an independent, usually free, body that investigates complaints about a business in a particular sector.

3. How to complain

3.1. You can raise a complaint in any of these ways:

  • Email us at connect@unkeep.co.uk with "Complaint" in the subject line.
  • Use the "Get help" or "Report a problem" option in the app, which routes to the same place.
  • Write to us at 5 Golden Mede, Waddesdon, England, HP18 0NG.

3.2. You do not have to use any special form or wording. Telling us you are unhappy and what you would like us to do is enough.

3.3. To help us look into it quickly, it helps if you include:

  • your account email or username;
  • the listing, reservation or invoice the complaint is about, if any;
  • what happened, with rough dates and times;
  • what you would like us to do to put it right.

3.4. If you need to complain in a different format because of a disability or accessibility need, tell us and we will make a reasonable adjustment. We can take a complaint by phone or in another format if email or the app does not work for you.

3.5. Complaining is free. You will not be charged, and raising a complaint will never on its own count against you, affect your standing, or trigger any suspension. We will not apply a downvote or cancel a subscription as a reaction to someone making a complaint.

4. Our response timescales

4.1. We will acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days, telling you we have it and who is handling it.

4.2. We will give you a full written answer within 10 working days of receiving the complaint.

4.3. If a complaint is complex and we genuinely cannot answer within 10 working days, we will, before that deadline, tell you why, tell you what we are still doing, and give you a realistic new date. We will aim to resolve every complaint within 8 weeks at the latest.

4.4. Our full answer (sometimes called a "final response") will:

  • summarise what you told us;
  • explain what we found;
  • say what we will do, or explain why we are not upholding the complaint;
  • tell you how to escalate if you are still not happy, including any ombudsman or ADR route that applies.

4.5. These timescales are targets we hold ourselves to, not a promise that creates legal rights on their own. They do not cut down any stronger statutory deadline that applies to a particular kind of request (for example, the one-month deadline for most data subject rights requests under UK GDPR, which is handled under our Privacy Policy).

5. What unKeep can resolve

5.1. We can look into and put right things that are about unKeep and the unKeep service, including:

  • account problems: sign-up, sign-in, account access, account closure;
  • subscription and billing matters: the Seller Agent subscription, the Buyer Agent subscription, the Ultra Radius add-on, auto-renewal, cooling-off and pro-rata refunds, and billing errors. These are handled together with the Subscription Terms and our Fees and Pricing information;
  • the 1.00 GBP reservation fee: refunding it in the seller-fault cases set out in section 7 and in the Reservation Fee Policy (with buyer-side cancellation rules in the Buyer Terms and seller-side cancellation consequences in the Seller Terms);
  • listings that break our rules: inaccurate or misleading AI-drafted copy that the seller confirmed, prohibited or restricted items, or anything that breaches our Acceptable Use Policy or Prohibited and Restricted Items Policy;
  • safety and harmful content under the Online Safety Act 2023: we operate notice-and-takedown and will act on reports of illegal or seriously harmful content or conduct;
  • privacy and data matters: how we handle your personal data, location privacy, EXIF and GPS stripping, and your data rights, handled under our Privacy Policy;
  • bugs and service faults: the app not working as it should, QR handover confirmation failing, or notifications not arriving.

5.2. Where a listing breaks our rules, we can edit it, hide it, remove it, warn the seller, or suspend or close the seller's account. We will act on safety and illegal-content reports promptly and, for the most serious matters, urgently.

5.3. Where we have made a billing error, we will correct it and refund any amount you should not have been charged.

6. What unKeep cannot resolve

6.1. unKeep is not a party to the sale of the goods. The sale is a direct contract between the buyer and the seller. Goods are sold as seen, you inspect them on collection, and there are no returns through the app.

6.2. This means we cannot:

  • decide who is right in a dispute about the goods, for example whether an item was as described, whether it was faulty, or whether a fair price was paid;
  • order a refund of the goods price, because the goods price is paid in cash directly between buyer and seller and unKeep never holds, handles or routes it;
  • recover an item, force a sale to go ahead, or make a seller or buyer turn up;
  • act as a judge of what was said in person at the handover. unKeep has no in-app chat and keeps no message trail between users, so we usually have no record of what was agreed beyond the listing and the reservation itself.

6.3. None of this removes your legal rights against the other person. A buyer who pays a private seller for second-hand goods still has the protections the law gives in a private sale: most importantly, the goods must match how they were described and the seller must have the right to sell them. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 protections that apply to traders are more limited in a genuinely private, person-to-person sale. If you believe the other person was in fact acting as a business (a "trader"), more of those protections may apply.

6.4. Although we cannot decide the goods dispute for you, we will:

  • act on the parts we can, such as removing a misleading listing or a rule-breaking account;
  • deal fairly with the 1.00 reservation fee under section 7;
  • point you to the right next step, such as the routes in section 9.

7. The internal route for the 1.00 reservation fee

7.1. This is the one money matter unKeep itself controls, because the 1.00 GBP reservation fee is a fee for the unKeep service, not part of the goods sale. The fee is charged immediately when you reserve: the money leaves your account at reservation in return for the reservation service. We can refund it in the seller-fault situations set out below. We cannot do anything similar with the goods price, which we never hold.

7.2. The normal, expected outcome is that you collect the item. You have already paid the 1.00 reservation fee at reservation, and a completed collection means you received the service you paid for, so the fee is kept and is not refundable. Nothing extra is charged on collection. If you cancel your reservation, or do not turn up to collect (a buyer no-show), the reservation fee is also non-refundable, because you paid for the reservation service and unKeep provided it. The detail of when the fee is and is not refundable is in the Reservation Fee Policy, with buyer-side cancellation rules in the Buyer Terms and seller-side cancellation consequences in the Seller Terms.

7.3. Seller-fault failures result in a refund. If a collection cannot go ahead for a reason that is not your fault, the 1.00 is refunded to your card. Examples include the seller cancelling, the seller not turning up, the seller delisting the item, the seller selling it elsewhere, the item not being as described, or the seller closing their account. unKeep cancelling a reservation (for example a prohibited item, a takedown, or a seller suspension) is also a refund situation. You should never be left out of pocket for the reservation fee because of something the seller did or failed to do, or because of an unKeep cancellation. Where unKeep can determine fault automatically, for example when the seller closes their account, the refund is automatic; otherwise contact us and we refund.

7.4. Our generous, benefit-of-the-doubt posture. Because there is no in-app chat and no message trail, we accept that neither side can usually produce a transcript of what happened at or before a handover. We do not ask you to prove a negative. So:

  • if you tell us a collection could not go ahead and it was not your fault, we will normally refund the 1.00 to your card without requiring evidence;
  • we resolve genuine uncertainty in your favour. Where we cannot tell from the limited information who was at fault, we treat it as a seller-fault failure and refund the reservation fee.

7.5. How to ask us for a refund. Email connect@unkeep.co.uk or use "Get help" in the app, tell us which reservation it relates to, and say briefly what happened. You do not need to send screenshots or proof. We aim to deal with reservation-fee refund requests faster than the general timescale in section 4, normally within 2 working days.

7.6. Limits on the generous posture. The benefit-of-the-doubt approach is to make sure honest users are never out of pocket for something that was not their fault. It is not a free pass for misuse. We may decline a refund where there is a clear pattern of abuse, for example repeated reservations that are never collected, coordinated activity designed to take items off the market, or attempts to use the refund route dishonestly. The maximum of 5 active reservations per buyer also limits exposure. Where we decline a refund, we will explain why and you can escalate under section 8.

7.7. The consequence of a buyer no-show is reputational, not extra money. The reservation fee was already taken at reservation and nothing further is captured if you do not turn up. Instead, a no-show applies an automatic downvote to your rating. After a completed collection the buyer and the seller rate each other; if either party does not turn up, the downvote is auto-applied to the party who failed to attend. There is no seller credit, no subscription credit, and no rebate of the fee to anyone: unKeep keeps the reservation fee for a buyer no-show or a buyer cancellation as the price of the reservation service, and does not move money between users.

7.8. The reservation fee is not a deposit, not stored value, not a wallet or e-money, not customer money held by unKeep, not a penalty, and is not transferable or spendable. There is one reservation fee per reservation. Refunding it under this section is not a refund of goods money or an admission about the goods dispute. It is simply unKeep dealing fairly with its own service fee. Nothing in this section makes unKeep a party to the sale or a holder of customer money.

8. Escalating inside unKeep

8.1. If you are not happy with our first answer, you can ask for it to be reviewed. Reply to our final response, or email connect@unkeep.co.uk with "Escalation" in the subject line, and tell us why you think we got it wrong.

8.2. A different, more senior member of the team, who did not handle the original complaint, will review it. We aim to give you a review outcome within 10 working days of your escalation.

8.3. The review outcome is unKeep's final response on the matter. It will tell you clearly whether we have changed our decision, and it will set out any external routes that are open to you, as described in section 9.

8.4. You can go to an external route described in section 9 instead of, or after, asking us to review. You do not have to exhaust our internal process first, though it is usually quicker if you let us try to fix things.

9. External and independent routes

9.1. unKeep is a marketplace that connects private buyers and sellers. There is no single financial-services ombudsman or general consumer ombudsman with automatic, binding power over a complaint about a service like ours, because we are not a party to the goods sale and we deliberately stay outside the financial-services, e-money and payment-services perimeter. The routes below depend on what your complaint is about.

9.2. About the goods, against the seller. A dispute about the item itself is between you and the seller. Your options include:

  • raising it directly with the seller (bearing in mind goods are sold as seen, inspect on collection, no returns through the app);
  • if you paid by a card or method that offers its own protection, asking your card provider or bank, though note the goods price is paid in cash in person, so card protections will usually not apply to the goods money;
  • the Money and small claims route: in England and Wales, a claim in the County Court (often called the "small claims" track for lower-value claims); in Scotland, the Simple Procedure in the Sheriff Court; in Northern Ireland, the Small Claims Court;
  • free guidance from Citizens Advice, including the Citizens Advice consumer service, on your rights and next steps.

9.3. About unfair trading, fake reviews or hidden pricing. If your complaint is about unfair commercial practices, drip pricing, or non-genuine reviews, these are regulated under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and earlier consumer-protection law. You can report concerns to Trading Standards (via the Citizens Advice consumer service) and, for wider market issues, to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

9.4. About harmful or illegal content and online safety. unKeep is a user-to-user service in scope of the Online Safety Act 2023. If you are unhappy with how we handled a report of illegal or harmful content, you can raise it again with us under this policy. The independent regulator for online safety is Ofcom. Ofcom does not usually resolve individual complaints, but it oversees how services like ours meet their duties.

9.5. About your personal data and privacy. If your complaint is about how we handle your personal data, please complain to us first under this policy and our Privacy Policy. If you are still not satisfied, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator.

9.6. About payments and your card. Payments to unKeep (the subscription, the Ultra Radius add-on, and the reservation fee) are processed by Stripe. If your complaint is specifically about a card payment, you can also raise it with your card provider or bank. Because unKeep does not hold customer money, issue e-money, or provide payment services, complaints to a payment-services or e-money ombudsman about unKeep itself will not usually apply.

9.7. Independent ADR. Where an approved ADR or ombudsman scheme covers a complaint of your type, we will name it in our final response and tell you how to use it and any time limits.

9.8. Online dispute resolution. The contact and signposting details for the external bodies named above are kept current in the app and at 5 Golden Mede, Waddesdon, England, HP18 0NG; ask us at connect@unkeep.co.uk for the latest contact details for any of them.

10. How we handle complaints fairly

10.1. We treat all complaints seriously, in good faith, and without taking it out on the person who complained.

10.2. We will not use unfair terms or processes. Nothing in this policy is meant to take away rights you have under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, or other consumer-protection law. If any part of this policy were found to be an unfair term, that part would not apply and the rest would still stand.

10.3. We keep a record of complaints and how we resolved them so we can spot patterns and improve the service. We handle that information in line with our Privacy Policy.

10.4. We do not charge for handling complaints, and we will not ask you to give up any legal right as a condition of resolving a complaint.

11. Vulnerable users and accessibility

11.1. If you need extra help to make or follow a complaint, tell us. We will make reasonable adjustments, give you more time where you need it, and accept a complaint from someone helping you if you ask us to.

11.2. If you are in immediate danger or a crime is in progress, contact the police on 999. unKeep is not an emergency service and cannot intervene at a handover in real time.

12. Changes to this policy

12.1. We may update this policy from time to time, for example to reflect changes in the law or in how the service works. We will change the "Last updated" date above and, where the change is significant, tell you in the app or by email.

12.2. The version of this policy in force when you raised your complaint is the version that applies to that complaint.

13. Contact

  • Complaints and general help: connect@unkeep.co.uk
  • Postal address: AllMumsTalk Limited, 5 Golden Mede, Waddesdon, England, HP18 0NG
  • Company number: 08233578
  • Data protection contact: connect@unkeep.co.uk