Last updated: 29/12/2020
Dear Customers,
You will no doubt be aware of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) that currently provides a significant threat to public health in countries around the world.
First of all, we recognise the difficulties and stress this situation will undoubtedly be causing for families. Health must at all times remain the greatest priority and we encourage all of our amazing customers to take care and stay safe throughout this challenging period.
With many of us confined to our homes for longer periods than usual, we understand that we have a small role to play in providing materials, kits and tools so that we can enjoy our creative projects at home. Therefore we would also like to take this opportunity to update consumers on the things we are doing to try and ensure our services can be provided with as minimal interruption as possible.
Delivery of parcels:
First of all, our courier Royal Mail have advised that there is no risk of contracting the virus from parcels sent in the post, as viruses of this type will not survive long on parcel surfaces. We do however strongly recommend consumers to wash their hands thoroughly on receipt of goods, in line with the guidance issued by Public Health England.
We also assure all customers that we are taking every possible step to ensure we are meeting the highest standards of hygiene with the packing process and movement of stock items.
In line with the current guidance from the British government, we are able to continue delivering parcels to the post office. We are beginning to increase our frequency of posting once again now, and are aiming to send parcels on every day during the week. There may however be exceptions where this has not been possible on a given day.
Royal Mail are encountering logistical issues that are arising with staff shortages. This coupled with the general increase of online ordering worldwide is leading to potentially longer delivery times both domestically and internationally.
International Delivery:
We continue to offer worldwide delivery at the time of writing, however a rapidly evolving situation has led to the implementation of travel bans and border closures which have the potential knock-on effect of severe delays to the normal delivery schedule for international air mail parcels. In addition, the lack of available air mail transport has restricted delivery to the countries listed below.
These potential delays are location-specific and we kindly request customers to contact us in advance of placing orders if they have questions regarding the delivery of their parcel. As an approximate guideline, we are typically seeing international air mail take between 4-6 weeks to arrive. We recommend all international customers to select the tracked shipping service as tracked parcels seem to be arriving faster, and in the case of any delay we will be able to locate the parcel.
We will seek to advise customers in line with the status updates provided by Royal Mail, however we may be unable to appraise the situation in individual countries with regards to local postal services, and customs clearance times.
Countries - Mail on Suspension of Service:
- Haiti
- Nicaragua
- Turkmenistan
- Ukraine (Crimea / Sevastopol)
- Venezuela
Stock availability:
We are investing heavily into trying to ensure that we can maintain good stock levels of as many products as we can during this period of uncertainty.
We do however advise that due to the above-mentioned constraints on delivery and customs clearance, and the uncertainties that this pandemic presents, there is a potential for stock shortages
We are working hard to ensure the impact to our customers will be as minimal as possible, however we do apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause to crafters who rely on the supply of our products.
We once again encourage customers to contact us if they have any questions regarding stock availability of specific items, and we will be glad to advise to the best of our ability.
We sincerely thank you all for your continued support of our small business, and for your kind understanding of the current situation. Should any further developments occur, we will provide updates accordingly and communicate this here and through social media channels.
Finally, we would like to wish everyone the very best of health and would like to announce that we stand ready to support our amazing customers in any way we can during this period.
Stay safe.
Kind regards,
Tiffany & Ali
Sweet Pea Dolls
