Postal Strike - Deliveries still affected

The recent strike action by Royal Mail continues to cause disruption to businesses including Fabulous Photo Gifts.

We are aware of certain outstanding deliveries and want to assure all our customers that we continue to monitor the situation very closely via our own customer feedback, that of other businesses and our local Royal Mail point of contact, and of course the Royal Mail's website.

It's very upsetting for us that our customers have had to wait so long for their photo gifts and that some are still waiting.

One customer today (25th October) wrote...

"Sorry to keep pestering but I still have no parcel. I am slightly concerned now that I have lost both my money and my jigsaw"

Here's our reply....

Dear *****,

I fully understand the need to 'keep pestering' but please don't worry that you have lost your money. Mail order companies are governed by postal rules which basically say that we have to give the post office 28 days to deliver (ridiculous but true) before they will accept any responsibility for lost post. The advice in the email below is still the advice that I am sending to my customers who are still awaiting delivery from the strike period.

I know that people are saying that the post is back to normal but we seek advice daily due to outstanding parcels and this is today's advice from the Royal Mail website:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=1000002&mediaId=51600692

Industrial Action
October 24th Update
There is no strike action currently taking place and we are making good progress in getting our services back to normal as quickly as possible. There is a build-up of mail that will take some time to clear and which is being cleared in the order that it was received.

We apologise for the disruption and inconvenience the strikes have caused our customers and sincerely apologise for suspending service promises for other products. We will reinstate these as soon as we feel able to honour them and will continue to keep you informed as and when the situation develops.

I can only apologise on behalf of Royal Mail, when I posted your order it was in good faith they would deliver it, if they do not and the 28 days from the date of posting comes then I will duly print you another order. You will not lose your money - I couldn't possible take people's money and not supply the goods but we are bound by postal regulations to wait 28 days before re-supplying.

You can of course contact the Post Office for your area but I suspect the advice will be the same as their website. We have proof of posting for all our parcels but most orders are not sent recorded.

I hope this helps but please don't hesitate to write again and if it does turn up please let me know.

Many thanks for your patience and understanding.

Mandy - Fabulous Photo Gifts.

Delivery Update following Royal Mail Postal Strike.

Delivery Update following Royal Mail Postal Strike.

Dear Customers of Fabulous Photo Gifts.

It has been bought to our attention that a small number of orders are still to be delivered by Royal Mail, following the backlogs caused by their industrial action the other week.

To recap, all orders received by us that would have normally been dispatched during the strike period were kept back at our office pending the Royal Mails return to work.

We felt this was a sensible precaution to avoid damage to orders 'laying around sorting offices' and the possibility of items getting lost or mis-directed during this period.

Therefore, on the day the official strike action was called off (Wednesday last week), we duly dispatched all accumulated orders via our local Post Office as first class mail (as normal).

Upon more recent enquiries with the Post Office regarding possible outstanding deliveries, it seems that today (Friday 19th) is the first day they are guaranteeing delivery of items posted as 'special 24 hour delivery' and we have it on good authority that the backlog is still being worked through.

To add to the delays, some parts of the postal service are still affected by strike action.

We are very sorry that you may still be awaiting your photo gift. We want to assure you that we do value your custom and that your orders are all treated with urgency and dedication. We want you to be delighted with the gift you personalised and with our company as a whole.

We would ask you to remember that, like a lot of other businesses and individuals, our service was at the complete 'mercy' of the postal service and their action, whatever our individual feelings on the subject and their 'cause', has affected business greatly. We have made arrangements with private carriers for our bulk orders so in future these will be unaffected.

However, the cost of mailing individual orders by this method, at present, would mean an unacceptable (to us) rise in the cost of our photo gifts to you. If your order is of particular value or delivery deadline, then we are always happy to quote you an 'at cost' delivery cost via UPS.

So please bare with us if your order is still outstanding, although do please let us know so we can continue to monitor and challenge the Royal Mail on your behalf. We continue to be assured by Royal Mail that your deliveries are on their way.

If you have previously advised us of non-delivery, we would also appreciate a line to say you have received your order just so we may delete that from our regular and ongoing enquiries with the Royal Mail.

You can find our full contact details by clicking here.

Mandy Collins – Fabulous Photo Gifts.

Thank you for taking the time to write back to us

In the words of the Carpenters song - "Mr Postman look and see if there's a letter for me?"

Fabulous Photo Gifts continues to amaze and delight customers with the quality of customer support and the photo gift itself. In fact, just this Sunday gone, the office phone rang and was of course answered.

The caller was so enthusiastic in her praise for our service and helpfulness, that it took her a full five minutes to get to the purpose of her call (checking to see if we'd received her postal order).

She asked what happened next? What did she have to do?

The answer is very simple. Once we've received your order (either by post with accompanying payment or online) we process your image, adjust for balance, levels and contrast etc, re-size as required (in proportion) before checking if any cropping is required to fit the photo gift ordered.

If it involves a serious crop, then we'll usually try to contact the customer and seek advice - even if that means emailing thumbnails of what the image will look like once cropped.

All you have to do is sit back and wait for the postman. Currently our Jigsaw orders are made and delivered in about 10 days, whilst our new CD photo clocks are made and deliverd in 5 days. (During busy periods, delivery may be within 14 working days - please contact us if your order is urgent).

So with such attentive service, it's no wonder that we still get regular comments like:

"I was delighted with the jigsaw thank you very much, it arrived this morning.

Kind Regards"
L.

"Hi Mandy - thanks for getting back to me. The post-man has just delivered the puzzle this very minute!! Looks great, thanks"
A.

If you'd like to read more about what our customers are saying about us, then click here. If you'd like to purchase your next gift from a small, friendly company that really cares about its customers, then click here for some photo gift inspiration.

P.S. If you submit a picture of someone receiving their fabulous photo gift, we'll publish it on our website and enter you into our free yearly prize draw!