To access proof that we have posted your order and for any information relating to your packet, please enter your tracking number (from your Order Dispatch e-mail) here (please e-mail us if you are unable to access your Tracking Number); www.postoffice.co.uk (Track & Trace tab) or www.royalmail.com (Personal Customers - Tracking tab) 24 New Road is the Post Office that processes our packets. You will be provided with details of the date we posted your parcel. UK customers - Recorded Delivery items can take a minimum of three working days and a maximum of fifteen working days before delivery. The Tracking status for Recorded Delivery items will not change until the package is delivered, or a delivery attempt is made. Overseas packages will state that the package has been handed over to the relevant countries mail handlers. Overseas customers should then track their packages, (using the same original tracking number), on their own postal web sites, for the USA this is www.usps.com) Please note that we have a number of overseas customers who are attempting to track their parcels , within their own country, very prematurely. Ten days is the minimum delivery time for any overseas packet. Please do not ask us to trace parcels where ten working days have not passed. There is always a period of several days, where our postal service will have handed the package over to the overseas carrier. but the postoffice in the country of destination will not yet have the package on their system. This period is the travelling time and customs processing time, at which time the package will neither be in the hands of our post office or your post office. Royal Mail will not investigate, nor accept a claim for non-delivery, within the UK, until 15 working days have passed. Working days exclude Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. Whilst we used to be able to obtain information from Royal Mail by ringing them on 0845-7740740 , this has now become a pointless exercise and customer service representatives will not discuss non-delivery until the 15 working days have passed. http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content2?catId=70700722&mediaId=79800735#72800818 Compensation for loss will not be considered for an item that Royal Mail has not delivered or attempted to deliver until after These time scales take into account the length of time it takes for Royal Mail packages to be returned to the sender, that being with consideration for standard delivery times, sorting office holding time, (awaiting customer collection), and then return delivery time to the sender. Due to Royal Mail's Terms & Conditions regarding claims for loss, we are unable to enter a claim for loss until 15 working days have passed. Whilst it remains our responsibility to insure customers receive their orders, and losses are our responsibility, we have 28 days within which to meet our legal responsibility to deliver goods. In the past we have replaced goods for customers and asked that they return the first delivery, when it has finally been delivered. Unfortunately, whilst we know from the Tracking Numbers that the delayed packets have subsequently been delivered to the customer, we are not then receving these packets back, despite customers assurances that they would return the items should they receive both packets. This has resulted in us reviewing our policy with regards to the re-dispatching of orders and we make no promises that we will re-dispatch on customer demand. We are very quick to dispatch orders and customers report that many packages are delivered less than twelve hours later. However, whilst it is very nice when packages arrive quickly, Royal Mail advise a delivery time of five working days for Recorded Delivery items and they do not accept any packet as being 'lost' until 15 working days, (excludes Saturdays, Sundays & Bank Holidays), have passed. Due to the promptness of our dispatch and the often quick delivery by Royal Mail, customers are assuming that the same delivery time will apply to every order we dispatch and as a result, customers are often leaving just two days delivery time for Birthday gifts. When the package then does not arrive, we are then receiving quite nasty e-mails advising us that we have caused great inconvenience in regards to a Birthday present not arriving on time. Customers must consider Royal Mails delivery time advisories for all orders placed. We have no alternative open to us in terms of the delivery service we use. Our packets are just too small for the majority of carriers and experience has shown that customers are just not prepared to pay the flat rate of £4.95 postage and packaging charges that would result from us using some of the well known alternatives to Royal Mail. We have also been advised that whilst appearing to be 'alternative services' may carriers of mail still use Royal Mail as the 'end delivery carrier' and therefore, there is little to be gained from using alternative carriers. Whilst everything runs smoothly and very few customers have cause to complain about deliveries, we can not be held responsible for the non-delivery of packages that are expected in a time frame that is outside of Royal Mail's advisory delivery time. We can not claim for losses until 15 working days have passed, and legally we have 28 days in which to ensure customers goods are delivered. Please consider this before placing an order that is required urgently. Special Delivery guaranteed next day services are available from our web site by typing 'Special Delivery' in the Quick Search. |
