Preorder terms of sale

1. These terms, and what you are agreeing to

These terms apply when you place a preorder for a cato8 machine. Placing a preorder means you have read them. If anything here is unclear or seems unfair, tell us before you order rather than after, and we will either explain it or change it.

We may update these terms for future orders. The version that applies to you is the one in force on the day you placed your preorder, and we will keep a copy of it. Changes are never applied backwards to an order already placed.

2. What a preorder is, and is not

A preorder reserves your place in the queue for a machine that is not finished yet. It is not a purchase of a finished product sitting in a warehouse, and we would rather you understood that clearly than discovered it later.

Concretely: the specification may still change, we have not committed to a date, and you have not committed to buy. All three of those are covered below.

3. Your deposit

A deposit of £250 reserves your place. It is fully refundable at any time before your machine ships, for any reason, and you do not have to give one. Email us and we will return it to the payment method you used.

We aim to process refunds within five working days. The deposit is the only money we take at the preorder stage.

• Refundable in full, any time before shipping
• No explanation required and no fee deducted
• Reserves your position in the queue
• Deducted from the final price, not added to it

4. We have not committed to a shipping date

We are deliberately not publishing one. Hardware timelines slip, and a date we are not confident in would be worth nothing to you.

When we have a date we believe in, we will tell you directly rather than announce it. If our expectations change materially, we will tell you that too, including when the news is bad. You can cancel for a full refund at any point in the meantime, which is the protection that actually matters while there is no date.

We ship by DHL. You will get a shipping estimate and tracking once your machine is ready to ship and the remaining balance has cleared, not before, because any earlier figure would be a guess.

5. The specification may change before shipping

The machine is still in development. Components change availability, and we would rather substitute a part than miss a year.

Any change we make will keep the machine at least as capable as the specification you preordered against. If a change would make it less capable in a way that matters, or if we change the price, we will contact you and you can cancel for a full refund instead of accepting it. We will not quietly downgrade what you ordered.

6. Price, VAT and import duties

Prices shown exclude VAT and include installation by a SetupMyAI engineer. There is no delivery surcharge, no setup fee, no activation charge, and no subscription needed to use the machine.

We ship worldwide from the United Kingdom. UK orders have VAT added at checkout at the prevailing rate, currently 20%. Orders delivered outside the UK are zero-rated for UK VAT, so you pay the price shown with nothing added.

Your own country may then charge import duty, customs handling or local sales tax when the machine arrives. Those are set by your government rather than by us, we cannot pay them on your behalf, and they are your responsibility. We mention it because it is the part people are most often caught out by.

Your price is fixed at the point you preorder. If prices rise before your machine ships, you keep the price you were quoted. If they fall, you get the lower one.

7. Paying the balance

The balance is not charged when you preorder. We contact you when your machine is ready to build, tell you the total, and take payment then.

If you have changed your mind at that point, say so and nothing further is charged. Your deposit is returned. If we cannot reach you, we will hold your place rather than charge you, and we will keep trying before we release it.

8. If we cannot deliver at all

If we cancel the product, or the company stops trading before your machine ships, deposits are refunded. We are stating that plainly because preorders have a poor reputation and the reason is usually that nobody addressed this question in writing.

Once your machine has shipped, it is not dependent on us continuing to exist. Models are on the drive, the weights are open, the operating system does not check a licence, and nothing phones home. If we disappeared, your machine would keep working. That is a deliberate design decision, not an accident.

9. Delivery, installation and cancellation after delivery

We ship worldwide by DHL, with tracking. Installation is on-site across the UK and UAE, and remote everywhere else, which is included either way. We agree a date with you, and we ask for reasonable access plus someone available who can make decisions about your systems. If we cannot finish for reasons on your side, we reschedule rather than charge you twice.

After delivery your statutory cancellation rights apply. Where you are a consumer buying at a distance, those rights are not affected by anything in these terms. Tell us and we will arrange collection.

10. Warranty, and your longer statutory rights

Your machine comes with a one year limited warranty against defects in materials and workmanship, running from the day it is delivered. If it fails within that year through no fault of yours, we will repair it, replace it, or refund you, at our option.

This warranty is in addition to your legal rights and does not replace them. That distinction matters more than the warranty itself: under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a consumer in England, Wales or Northern Ireland can bring a claim about goods that were not of satisfactory quality for up to six years from delivery, and five years in Scotland. Those rights are yours regardless of what any warranty says, and nothing in these terms limits them.

Not covered by the warranty: accidental damage, liquid, unauthorised physical modification, or a failure caused by software you installed yourself outside the supported system. Opening the case to add storage does not void your warranty; breaking something while doing it is not covered.

Outside the UK, your local consumer law may give you longer or stronger rights than the warranty. Where it does, those apply.

11. What the machine does and does not do

AI models produce output that can be wrong, including confidently and plausibly wrong. The machine is a tool, and checking its output before relying on it is your responsibility. This matters most for anything legal, medical, financial or safety-related.

We make no claim that any model’s output is accurate, complete or fit for a particular purpose. We do claim that the machine runs those models locally and privately, and that claim we will stand behind.

12. Liability

We do not limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not permit us to limit.

Beyond that, our liability in connection with your order is limited to the amount you paid for it. We are not liable for lost profits or lost data. Keep backups, as you would with any computer.

13. Your data

What we collect when you preorder, why, and how long we keep it, is set out in our privacy policy. The short version: we hold what we need to build and deliver your order, and the machine itself sends nothing to us.

14. Governing law

Cato8 Technologies Ltd is a company registered in the United Kingdom, and these terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.

If you are a consumer, that does not take away the protection of the consumer law where you live. Many countries give consumers rights that cannot be signed away by a contract, and where that is the case those rights still apply and you can still bring a claim in your local courts. We are stating the governing law so there is a default, not to move the goalposts.

15. Contact

Email hello@cato8.com. A person reads it. For anything about your deposit, put "deposit" in the subject line.

Our privacy policy is here.