microEngineering Labs, Inc. Policies

Listed below is information about the way we do things and what you can expect from us.  If you have additional questions or suggestions for this page, contact me directly at charles@melabs.com 

Thanks for shopping at microEngineering Labs,
Charles Leo

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Shipping

Actual Shipping Charges are always displayed before you are asked for payment!

Domestic Shipping:  FedEx is available for all shipments.  USPS is available for select products in single quantity.

International Shipping:  We currently offer FedEx International methods as well as USPS Express Mail International.  USPS requires an extra day of processing time before the order is shipped.  We are well-versed and automated when it comes to customs documents.  We have shipped thousands of orders to destinations on all seven continents.  A few countries are restricted by our government, and so don't appear in the country list during checkout.

Shipment Processing Time:  Most orders placed before 1pm Mountain Time - Monday through Thursday - are shipped the same day.  Our shipping office is closed on Fridays.  Notable exceptions to this are:

• Orders shipped by USPS.  Postal orders are usually delayed one day for extra processing time and pickup scheduling.
• Orders for large quantities of a single product.  Our stock levels are determined by past history.  It is possible to surprise us with a large order, forcing us to buy/build more product.  If this happens, you will be contacted, informed of lead times, and offered options.
• Orders for programming adapters.  Programming adapters are assembled after they are ordered.  This may delay shipment 1-3 days.
• We need more information or suspect credit card fraud.  In these cases, we try to contact you via the email address that you gave us when you ordered.  Please monitor your email and respond to our inquiry so that we can resolve any issues and expedite your order.
• Some days we are swamped and fall behind.  It happens occasionally.  If it's one of those days, we give priority to air and express shipments.  Otherwise, shipments are processed in the order in which the orders were received.

Estimated Shipment Transit Time:  The table below shows the estimated time in transit for the shipping methods we offer.  These are conservative estimates based on our experience.

Ship method	Days in transit (estimated)
FedEx Ground/Home - Continental US	1-7 days, depending on distance from our Colorado office.
FedEx Express Saver	3 days in most cases
FedEx 2Day	2 days, very reliable
FedEx Standard Overnight	1-day, very reliable
FedEx International Priority (international)	2-5 days to local customs.  Clearing customs takes a day or so in most countries.
USPS Express Mail International	7-14 days to local customs.  Clearing customs takes a day or two in most countries.

Tracking Information:  A shipment notification email with a tracking number is always sent to customers when the order is processed.

Shipping Method Substitution:  We make it a point to try always to ship using the method that you choose during checkout, but this is not always possible  We reserve the right to change to the next best method if necessary, without notification.  If there are problems that require a drastic change, for example to an alternate carrier, we will ask permission first.

Handling Charges:  We don't add handling charges on orders within the United States.  We try our best to charge you exactly what the carrier charges us.  The shipping charges on international orders are estimates that might be slightly higher (sometimes lower) than actual charges.  These calculations are periodically adjusted in an attempt to offer you the lowest charges possible.

Hidden Charges:  There are none.  What you see during checkout is what we charge.  Customers outside the US may be subject to additional customs fees upon delivery, but we have no way to control or estimate these charges.

Insurance:  We insure select shipments at our expense.  The decision to insure is based on the size, contents, destination, and shipping method of the order.

Required Signature:  Signatures are not required except in special circumstances.  We will notify you before we ship if a signature will be required.

Unattended Delivery:  Many customers ask for us to "leave the shipment at the door".  The truth is, we have no control over this.  We normally don't require a signature.  The decision to drop a shipment at your door or on your porch is totally at the discretion of your local delivery driver.

Shipping COD or on Customer's Accounts:  We don't offer COD shipping. Occasionally, when circumstances justify it, we will charge shipping to a customer's UPS or FEDEX account. If you wish to request this service, YOU MUST CONTACT US PRIOR TO PLACING THE ORDER!  (support@melabs.com)

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Returns

Unopened products (except integrated circuits) may be returned within 30 days for a full refund of the purchase price.  Shipping charges will not be refunded.

No refunds are available on downloaded software, or on physically-shipped software that has been opened.

No refunds are available on microcontrollers and other integrated circuits.

No refunds are available on shipping charges.

Opened packages are returnable for 30 days, but we charge a 25% testing and restocking fee.  Refunds will only be approved if the product is in absolutely like-new condition and our testing finds that it is in complete working order.

Contact melabs technical support to arrange a return.

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Warranty

All products except microcontrollers and other integrated circuits carry a 30 day warranty.  We will repair or replace defective products at our discretion.  Warranty will not be honored if we feel that the product has been damaged from misuse.

You must contact technical support to determine whether the problem can be resolved without a return.  If a support technician feels that the product is defective, you will be instructed as to the return procedure.

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Tax-Exempt Sales

We do not collect sales tax on orders shipped outside the states of Colorado and North Carolina.

Colorado or North Carolina organizations that require tax-exempt status may submit a photocopy or scan of their tax exempt certificate only after creating an account on our online store.  You may send the image, along with your store username, via fax to 719-520-1867 or email to support@melabs.com..  Your store account will then be made tax-exempt and future orders will not be charged tax.

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Pb-free / RoHS Compliance

This new standard is in effect in Europe and will be spreading throughout the world. It requires discontinuing the use of hazardous substances, most notably lead, from manufactured products.

Most of our products are now RoHS compliant and pb-free. Some, however, must be ordered pb-free by special request, and some products are not likely to ever be compliant.  The state of compliance is shown in each product listing.

If your order will be shipped to a country that requires RoHS Compliance, please don't order products that don't meet this requirement!  Doing so will only delay your order.

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Privacy Statement

microEngineering Labs, Inc. (melabs) is the sole owner of the information collected on this site.  We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement.  microEngineering Labs, Inc. collects information from our users at several different points on our website.

Order:  We request information from the user on our order form.  Here a user must provide contact information (like name and shipping address) and financial information (like credit card number, expiration date).  This information is used for billing purposes and to fill customer’s orders.  If we have trouble processing an order, this contact information is used to get in touch with the user.

Software Products:  When software is purchased from melabs, all order information (except for payment details) may be supplied to the publisher of the product that was purchased.  The publisher of the software may use email or other contact information to contact users with notifications of available updates and/or promotional/advertising materials.  This only applies to software publishers that have requested the information and only to users that have purchased one or more software products from these publishers.  The software publishers are obligated to supply a convenient "opt-out" method for users that do not wish to be contacted again.

Cookies:  Cookies are small bits of data used on melabs to enhance the site's functionality and make your shopping experience easier and more personalized.  If you web browser does not accept cookies, some of the features on our site will not function.

Log Files:  We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.  IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Sharing:  We may share aggregated demographic information with our partners and advertisers. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person.  We may use an outside credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

Links:  This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites.  We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information.  This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Web site.

Surveys:  From time-to-time our site requests information from users via surveys.  Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information.  Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address), and demographic information (such as zip code, age level).  Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site.

Security:  This website takes every precaution to protect our users’ information.  When users submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and off-line.  When our registration/order form asks users to enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number), that information is encrypted and is protected with SSL.  While on a secure page, such as our order form, the lock icon displayed by web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to un-locked, or open, when you are just ‘surfing’.  We also do everything in our power to protect user-information off-line.  All of our users’ information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices.  Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, our billing clerk or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information. Furthermore, ALL employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. 

Email Promotions and Feedback:  We reserve the right to contact customers via email for promotional and feedback purposes.  All email sent for this purpose will include information that the customer can use to opt-out of future promotional/marketing email.  Emails will concern only melabs products.  We will not sell or otherwise disclose your email to other companies for marketing purposes, except as disclosed above.

Product Notifications:  We reserve the right to send email to customers in order to notify them of important facts concerning products that they have purchased from us.  This may include, but is not limited to, changes to license agreements, notification of software bugs or hardware defects that are considered dangerous, and notification of scams or phishing activities that pretend to be from melabs.

Passwords and phishing:  microEngineering Labs will never ask you, via email or phone, to update your account password or personal information.  Any such requests should be considered fraudulent.  Account information may be updated any time by visiting our online store.