Thursday 24 May 2018

REVISED TIMEFRAME FOR NEW DISCOUNT CODES


Hi Folks

I thought another update was in order as we work our way through the closing process.   
I want to thank you for your patience as we managed the large number of orders we received after the 50% code went live.  It was both the number and the size of the orders which impacted on the time it took to process them.  After the issues we had when the stock system temporarily crashed, we decided that the sensible thing to do, before we have what could be another peak in orders, was a full stock take prior to the release of the last offer code.  We are over half way through this but it is taking way longer than we thought and it’s not complete yet.  We think there are another 2-3 days work just stock counting.

We have added lots of items back on to the stock system that were showing out of stock or had been deleted and I have baskets and baskets of things still to add for the first time which is another few days work.  I know everyone is keen for the 70% code to go live but we want to take the time to finish the process properly before we update the system, that way all these products both existing and new are visible and go live at the same time, rather than in dribs and drabs so people miss things.  

I will email progress in the newsletter and put notes up on the website, facebook and blog when we have finished and the products are live.  We will then let everyone know when the new code will go live, at this point the estimate is the first week of June.  Please bear with us we are trying to work as fast as we can.
Thank you all for your support, we have appreciated your orders and all the lovely comments and emails we have received.

With thanks, love and hugs
Sandy xx


Friday 18 May 2018

Latest update

Hi Folks

Thank you for your support over the last few weeks we are  very grateful for all your orders.  We are finally up to date and things are back to shipping in 24 to 48 hours.
I still have the last batch of refunds to process which will happen very shortly. We are going to do a quick stock check and add the missing items on to the system and we are aiming to get the 70% off code up next Friday.
Just to let you know, at the time of writing there are still over 1500 different products on line.  We also have some products to put back on the system as a number of people placed a replica second order when the stock system crashed, thinking their order had not gone through.  Finally as we are getting to the bottom of boxes of stock we are finding extra items so they need to go back on too and I won’t have time to do that until we have caught up with the orders.
With thanks, love and hugs
Sandy xx

Thursday 3 May 2018

Delay to 70% off code

Hi Everyone

Thank you for your support over the last few weeks and most especially this past week, we have been blown away by the number of orders we have received.

I just need to give everyone an update on where we are.  Last Friday was so very busy we had an unprecedented number of orders, so much so that you actually managed to crash the cloud based stock control system and the link to Sagepay for the first time ever!  The stock system tried for several hours to reset itself but the volume of transactions kept making it restart, so there were some issues with  the stock counting until the volume of orders slowed down enough to enable it to properly cycle through its interface with the website.  What this means is that there will unfortunately be some out of stock items in the orders, although hopefully not too many as the stock was counted just not applied as quickly as it would normally have been.  

We are working really hard to process all of the orders but there is just Ian and I and I need to be honest and say that we do have a backlog.  So (big gulp) we are running with a 7-10 day time frame for orders at the moment (yes we really did have that many orders!) and I am picking and Ian is packing as fast as we can.  
Please, please, please bear with us, we are working extra long days to get on top of things.  If your order is really urgent then please call me and I will do my best to speed the shipping for you but I am picking the orders in the order they were placed so that we are fair in respect of any out of stock items.  We have someone coming in to help who will process any refunds that have arisen from out of stock items on the picked orders.

As a result of all of the above, we think that it would be sensible to defer the new 70% off code for two weeks to allow us to catch up, before (fingers crossed) we have the last spike in orders before we close.  We hope that you will understand this decision.

Just to let you know, at the time of writing there are still over 2000 different products on line.  We also have some products to put back on the system as a number of people placed a replica second order when the stock system crashed, thinking their order had not gone through.  Finally as we are getting to the bottom of boxes of stock we are finding extra items so they need to go back on too and I won’t have time to do that until we have caught up with the orders.
With thanks, love and hugs
Sandy xx