Refunds and Returns Policy

Overview

Vortechs offers refunds and returns within 14 days of your purchase. If more than 14 days have passed since you received your order, we’re unable to offer a change-of-mind refund or exchange, though any fault covered by warranty is handled separately (see “Faulty or Defective Items” below), regardless of how much time has passed.

To be eligible for a change-of-mind return, your item must be unused and in the same condition you received it, in its original packaging, with all accessories, manuals, and seals intact.

Full Refund vs. Partial Refund

Because we sell computer hardware, the condition your item is returned in makes a real difference to how much of a refund we can offer:

  • Unopened items, returned within 14 days in original, unused condition, qualify for a full refund.
  • Opened items, returned within 14 days, qualify for a partial refund, subject to a 15% restocking fee. This applies as long as the item is complete, undamaged, and resaleable, with all original packaging and accessories included.
  • Items returned after 14 days are not eligible for a change-of-mind refund at all, see the warranty section below if the item has developed a fault.

Items That Cannot Be Returned

A few categories of goods can’t be accepted back for a change-of-mind refund, whether opened or not, unless they’re faulty:

  • Opened software, digital licence keys, or downloadable products
  • Opened consumables, such as thermal paste or cleaning products
  • Items marked as final sale or clearance stock

To process any return, we’ll need your order number or proof of purchase. Please don’t send items back to the original manufacturer, all returns go through Vortechs directly.

Backorder and Pre-Order Items

Delivery timelines depend on stock availability at the time of your order:

  • Normal (in-stock) orders ship within 7–10 working days of payment clearing.
  • Backorders and pre-orders, items sourced specially or ordered ahead of stock arriving, typically take 2–3 months to ship. This extended timeframe is noted on the relevant product page or in your order confirmation.

The 14-day return window for a backordered or pre-ordered item begins from the date it’s actually delivered to you, not from the date you placed the order.

Faulty or Defective Items

If an item develops a fault, whether within the first 14 days or later, it’s covered under the manufacturer’s warranty or, where applicable, an additional Vortechs warranty. This includes repair, replacement, or refund as appropriate under the Consumer Protection Act, and isn’t limited by the 14-day change-of-mind window described above.

Certain kinds of damage, such as bent CPU socket pins, visible chips, burns, or scratches on a motherboard, or thermal paste inside a CPU socket, are treated as customer-induced physical damage and fall outside any warranty. Please take care during installation.

Sale Items

Only regularly priced items are eligible for a refund. Items purchased on sale or clearance pricing are final and cannot be refunded, except where faulty.

Bundled and Custom-Built Items

  • Where a component was purchased as part of a discounted bundle, any refund or replacement is based on the price actually paid within the bundle, not the component’s individual retail price.
  • For custom-built PCs assembled to your specification, cancelling after assembly has started may result in a deduction for parts already committed and labour already performed. We’ll always confirm this with you before proceeding.

Cancellations

Cancelling a standard order after it’s been confirmed but before it ships may incur a cancellation fee of up to 15% to cover payment processing costs already incurred. Orders cancelled after they’ve shipped are treated as a standard return under this policy.

How Refunds Are Processed

Once your returned item is received and inspected, we’ll email you to confirm we’ve received it, followed by a second email confirming whether the refund has been approved.

Approved refunds are returned to your original payment method, where you paid via a third-party payment provider (such as a card gateway or buy-now-pay-later service), the refund is processed through that same provider and may take longer, as we don’t control their processing times.

Refunds are issued within 14 business days of us receiving and inspecting the returned item, less any applicable restocking or cancellation fee.

Late or Missing Refunds

If your refund hasn’t arrived yet:

  • Check your bank account again, processing can take a few days to reflect.
  • Contact your card issuer, as it can take time for a refund to post officially.
  • Contact your bank directly, there’s often additional processing time on their end.

If you’ve done all of this and still haven’t received your refund, please contact us at info@mail.vortechs.co.za.

Shipping Your Return

Unless the return is due to our error or a fault covered by warranty, return shipping costs are your responsibility, and the item remains at your risk until we receive it. For higher-value items, we’d recommend using a trackable courier or shipping insurance, we can’t guarantee that an uninsured return will reach us.

Please contact us at info@mail.vortechs.co.za before sending anything back, so we can confirm the return and provide our return address, unarranged returns may be refused at our premises.

Need Help?

For any questions about a return, refund, or warranty claim, contact us at info@mail.vortechs.co.za.