Last updated: 9 October 2026
1. About this policy
This policy applies to purchases from Marnichem Pharmacy, operated by BLUE NIGHTINGALE TRADING 132 (PTY) LTD, community pharmacy registration number Y60152.
Our products include patient-specific compounded medicines, prescription-only medicines, Schedule 0 and other over-the-counter products, vitamins, supplements and natural health products.
Orders and deliveries are restricted to South Africa. We offer delivery within South Africa and collection at the pharmacy.
Nothing in this policy excludes or limits a right or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded under the Consumer Protection Act, Electronic Communications and Transactions Act or other applicable law.
2. Prescription approval and payment
A pharmacist reviews patient prescription orders before a payment request is sent. An order may be rejected if the prescription is invalid or the medicine cannot safely or lawfully be supplied.
Approved doctors may order directly through their accounts. Account approval does not remove applicable prescribing, dispensing or medicine-supply requirements.
Compounding begins only after payment has been received and the necessary prescription and supply requirements have been satisfied.
3. Cancelling an order
You may cancel an order before payment by contacting us with your order details.
For a non-compounded order, contact us promptly if you wish to cancel after payment. We will check its preparation and dispatch status and explain the cancellation rights and any lawful charges that apply. Where the CPA’s advance-order cancellation provisions apply, any cancellation charge must be reasonable.
Patient-specific compounded orders
We do not offer voluntary cancellation or change-of-mind refunds for a patient-specific compounded order after payment, including before dispatch.
These medicines are prepared for an individual patient and cannot be supplied to another patient. Please check the prescription, formulation, quantity and order details before paying.
This restriction does not remove a statutory cancellation right or a remedy for an error, defect, unsafe product, failure to supply or other breach. It also does not authorise us to retain money where doing so would be unlawful or unfair. If your prescription or treatment changes, contact the pharmacist promptly so that preparation and any available resolution can be considered.
4. Change-of-mind returns
We do not offer voluntary change-of-mind returns or exchanges, including for unopened non-compounded products.
This commercial policy is separate from any statutory cooling-off, cancellation or defective-product rights that apply to your purchase.
Medicines returned by patients are not placed back into saleable stock for supply to another patient. This safety restriction does not, by itself, remove a right to a refund or replacement.
5. Online cooling-off rights
Where section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act applies, you may cancel an online purchase of goods without giving a reason within seven days after receiving them. Only the direct return cost may be charged, and payments must be refunded within 30 days of cancellation.
Statutory exceptions include goods made to your specifications, clearly personalised goods, and goods that by their nature cannot be returned or deteriorate or expire rapidly. Patient-specific compounded medicines ordinarily fall within the personalised-goods exception. We assess other products individually rather than excluding every pharmacy product automatically.
Other statutory rights remain available where applicable, including rights relating to direct marketing, inadequate online disclosures and failure to fulfil an order.
6. Incorrect, damaged, unsafe or defective products
Contact us promptly if you receive the wrong item, a damaged parcel, an incorrectly prepared or labelled medicine, an expired product, or a product you believe is unsafe or defective.
Please provide your order number or other proof of purchase, a description of the concern and photographs where useful. Keep the product and packaging available for assessment where reasonably possible.
For goods that fail the CPA’s quality requirements, section 56 provides a six-month period after delivery in which the consumer may return them at the supplier’s risk and expense and choose a repair, replacement or refund. For medicines, a refund or lawful replacement will ordinarily be the appropriate remedy.
These rights apply to compounded medicines as well as other qualifying products. We do not require you to accept store credit instead of a refund to which you are entitled.
The six-month period is not a promise that every medicine has a six-month shelf life. Expiry dates, beyond-use dates, storage instructions and the circumstances of supply remain relevant.
Opening a package or discovering a problem after use does not automatically disqualify a valid claim. Prompt reporting helps us investigate, but we do not impose a shorter reporting deadline that removes statutory rights.
7. Treatment changes and medicine concerns
A change in treatment, an unwanted effect or a medicine not producing the hoped-for result does not automatically establish a product defect. The pharmacist will assess the concern, including whether the correct medicine was supplied and whether another remedy is required.
If you suspect a dispensing error, contamination or a damaged medicine, contact the pharmacist promptly for advice before using the affected product. Seek urgent medical assistance for a serious reaction.
If a product is recalled, we will explain the return arrangements and applicable remedy.
8. Arranging a return
Contact: Marieta van Aswegen
Email: sales@marnichem.co.za
Telephone: 072 961 9195
Please contact us before sending medicines by courier so that we can arrange suitable handling, packaging and, where necessary, temperature control. This coordination process does not remove your statutory rights.
Our pharmacy address is:
Marnichem Pharmacy
ERF 25112, Industrial Road
George Industria, 6529
South Africa
Please keep medicines in their original containers where possible and follow their storage instructions while a return is being arranged. Do not send sensitive prescription information unless we request it through an appropriate channel.
9. Return and delivery costs
Marnichem pays the reasonable return or collection costs for verified dispensing errors, incorrect supplies and qualifying defective or unsafe products. We also cover the delivery of a replacement supplied to resolve our error.
For a valid online cooling-off return, you are responsible only for the direct return cost permitted by law.
If we exceptionally agree to a voluntary return, any customer-paid return costs will be explained beforehand. No charge will be imposed where the law requires Marnichem to bear it.
Contact us about missing or damaged deliveries arranged through Marnichem. We will investigate with the courier; you do not have to pursue the courier alone to obtain a remedy from us.
10. Refund processing and inability to supply
We will explain the outcome of an assessment and the refund arrangements without unnecessary delay. Any statutory refund deadline takes priority over our internal processes.
Refunds will ordinarily be made through the original payment method, where available, or another securely verified method agreed with you. We will not deduct administration, payment-processing or restocking charges from a refund where those deductions are prohibited.
If we cannot supply a paid order, we will notify you and refund the amount due for the unsupplied items and any associated delivery charge that is no longer payable. We will not substitute a medicine without the necessary agreement and professional authorisation.
11. Unwanted medicines and disposal
Please contact the pharmacy for guidance on returning unwanted or expired medicines for safe disposal. Acceptance for disposal does not itself establish a refund entitlement, and it does not waive an existing valid claim.
12. Complaints
Please send order complaints to sales@marnichem.co.za or call 072 961 9195.
If a complaint remains unresolved, you may approach the appropriate consumer-protection authority, the South African Pharmacy Council or another competent dispute-resolution body. You retain any right to seek a legal remedy.