Just a reminder to say all orders that were held up due to bad weather have been sent, they were cleared at the start of this week, there are only a few people waiting on things (a tarantula, a couple of vivs and cabinets) so if thats not you then your order has been posted.
I dont know why people insist on presuming that we are at fault and for some reason we havent sent out orders - so just to confirm - if you ordered livefoods they have been sent.
Post is however slow at the moment and we have had a number of "lost" parcels, so if you are waiting on livefoods that should have arrived by now please send us an e-mail with your details and we will investigate.
Thursday 21 January 2010
Just Launched our trade site for shops, websites and ebay sellers, have a look at www.thereptilewarehouse.co.uk
Saturday 16 January 2010
A word about security
Some of you may have noticed that we have now switched off the "standard" credit card checkout option and that you now have to go through the 3d secure checkout instead.
We have had to switch off the standard card checkout as on this system we used to manually enter your card details into card machine - we are no longer allowed to do this because of PCI-DSS compliance (look it up - its very boring but if we dont comply we get fined!)
So whats 3D secure, well if you have heard of "verified by visa", where your card provider asks you to regsiter some memorable data against the card for online transactions such as an online password - thats it, if you havent done this already it will ask you to do it during checkout.
So just to set peoples minds at rest, when you enter your card details on our site its going through a secure HTTPS server with Paypal who are PCI DSS comlpliant, they process the transactions and we never ever see your card details.
If you phone us to pay for an order, we now type this straight into a card terminal and no record of the card details are kept.
we are completely secure as our webiste providers, payment providers and the systems we have in place here comply to the PCI DSS standards,
We have had to switch off the standard card checkout as on this system we used to manually enter your card details into card machine - we are no longer allowed to do this because of PCI-DSS compliance (look it up - its very boring but if we dont comply we get fined!)
So whats 3D secure, well if you have heard of "verified by visa", where your card provider asks you to regsiter some memorable data against the card for online transactions such as an online password - thats it, if you havent done this already it will ask you to do it during checkout.
So just to set peoples minds at rest, when you enter your card details on our site its going through a secure HTTPS server with Paypal who are PCI DSS comlpliant, they process the transactions and we never ever see your card details.
If you phone us to pay for an order, we now type this straight into a card terminal and no record of the card details are kept.
we are completely secure as our webiste providers, payment providers and the systems we have in place here comply to the PCI DSS standards,
Friday 15 January 2010
Snow Joke!
Ok so now the snows gone, I thought i would share some pics of what it was like here at livefoods by post HQ!
On the left is our showroom, as you can see clearly covered in snow! underneath all that snow is a road that our couriers and Royal Mail use to get in and out from the packing unit, even though I did clear it of snow - i wish i didn't bother as when the Royal Mail finally turned up 6 days later the guy said they were not allowed to go out during the snow because it was too slippy and icy! meaning my road clearing efforts were wasted anyway!
On the right is where we do all the breeding, boarding and our new reptile room are housed, that snows at least 12" deep making for a right old trudge around site!
Some clown with a snowman! I did the roll a snowball from the top of the drive trick and this is how big it was by the time it hit the bottom!
On the left is our showroom, as you can see clearly covered in snow! underneath all that snow is a road that our couriers and Royal Mail use to get in and out from the packing unit, even though I did clear it of snow - i wish i didn't bother as when the Royal Mail finally turned up 6 days later the guy said they were not allowed to go out during the snow because it was too slippy and icy! meaning my road clearing efforts were wasted anyway!
On the right is where we do all the breeding, boarding and our new reptile room are housed, that snows at least 12" deep making for a right old trudge around site!
Some clown with a snowman! I did the roll a snowball from the top of the drive trick and this is how big it was by the time it hit the bottom!
Thankfully its all gone now and service is back to normal as of Monday!
Service to resume
Service Update..
The weather has turned here the last of the snow is melting and the met office are predicting above freezing temperatures for next week,
The Royal Mail have reinstated the next day delivery guarantee,
Courier networks are still reluctant to lift their next day guarantee block, But I think that by Monday they should be ok again.
So we are giving the green light for Monday and will resume full normal service on the 18th January.
Subscribers - Please Re-subscribe - And check your previous payments if you have a payment taken where you havent received any livefoods please let us know via e-mail, list the paymnet amount and date and we will refund for you,
Frozen Orders - those of you waiting on frozen, these will be despatched on Monday.
Refunds - Those waiting on a refund - these are continuing to be worked through and should be complete by today,
Thanks everyone for being understanding during the bad weather.
The weather has turned here the last of the snow is melting and the met office are predicting above freezing temperatures for next week,
The Royal Mail have reinstated the next day delivery guarantee,
Courier networks are still reluctant to lift their next day guarantee block, But I think that by Monday they should be ok again.
So we are giving the green light for Monday and will resume full normal service on the 18th January.
Subscribers - Please Re-subscribe - And check your previous payments if you have a payment taken where you havent received any livefoods please let us know via e-mail, list the paymnet amount and date and we will refund for you,
Frozen Orders - those of you waiting on frozen, these will be despatched on Monday.
Refunds - Those waiting on a refund - these are continuing to be worked through and should be complete by today,
Thanks everyone for being understanding during the bad weather.
Thursday 14 January 2010
service update
Royal mail are still not guaranteeing a next day delivery, most of the mail we sent out this week at own risk seems 50:50 arriving and not arriving on time,
Couriers appear to be back to normal, but are still not guaranteeing next day delivery.
hoping we can retunr to normal next week, will send a mail shot out if so,
Royal mail are still not guaranteeing a next day delivery, most of the mail we sent out this week at own risk seems 50:50 arriving and not arriving on time,
Couriers appear to be back to normal, but are still not guaranteeing next day delivery.
hoping we can retunr to normal next week, will send a mail shot out if so,
Tuesday 12 January 2010
Still no guaranteed next day deliveries available from Royal Mail or couriers yet but mail and parcels are moving, all those parcels sent at own risk yesterday are being reported back by customers as being delivered today, none dead on arrival as yet but most in need of reviving in a warm room.
Still unable to send any frozen rodents until we get the all clear on guaranteed nex day deliveries, as despite the freezing weather they would defrost if not delivered next day.
Still unable to send any frozen rodents until we get the all clear on guaranteed nex day deliveries, as despite the freezing weather they would defrost if not delivered next day.
Monday 11 January 2010
11/01/10 - Update
Our Backlog is cleared, all parcels have gone out and all orders that were requested to be sent at own risk have gone, there are still a handfull of orders that are on back order but this is due to waiting on stock to come in and those affected have been notified.
Dont expect a lighting fast delivery though, Royal Mail are still not guaranteeing a next day delivery on their special delivery service, so first class is going to be a bit delayed. And the couriers are not guaranteeing a next day delivery yet either. These delays are being caused by a backlog within the parcel networks from all last weeks parcels that they were unable to deliver and is being hampered by the difficult conditions created by snow that is still on the ground,
The weather isnt looking as bad as first predicted and all being well we are expecting service to return to normal either later this week or next week.
If you are a subscriber who has had payments taken but not received the livefoods could you please send us an e-mail with your details and list the payments you need refunding and we will act on that as soon as possible.
The livefoods that were sent on Monday/Tuesday have finally started to arrive today and remarkably a lot of people are reporting live arrivals from locusts, mealworms, waxworms and some of the larger crickets. If you do have dead on arrivals please just send us an e-mail with your order number, what was dead and if you want us to send them now at your own risk or send them later when the weather turns. PLease b epatient as this is going to be quite a large task considering two weeks of xmas livefoods went out on those days!
Thanks to everyone who has been kind, considerate and patient during what has been a truly awfull start to 2010!
Our Backlog is cleared, all parcels have gone out and all orders that were requested to be sent at own risk have gone, there are still a handfull of orders that are on back order but this is due to waiting on stock to come in and those affected have been notified.
Dont expect a lighting fast delivery though, Royal Mail are still not guaranteeing a next day delivery on their special delivery service, so first class is going to be a bit delayed. And the couriers are not guaranteeing a next day delivery yet either. These delays are being caused by a backlog within the parcel networks from all last weeks parcels that they were unable to deliver and is being hampered by the difficult conditions created by snow that is still on the ground,
The weather isnt looking as bad as first predicted and all being well we are expecting service to return to normal either later this week or next week.
If you are a subscriber who has had payments taken but not received the livefoods could you please send us an e-mail with your details and list the payments you need refunding and we will act on that as soon as possible.
The livefoods that were sent on Monday/Tuesday have finally started to arrive today and remarkably a lot of people are reporting live arrivals from locusts, mealworms, waxworms and some of the larger crickets. If you do have dead on arrivals please just send us an e-mail with your order number, what was dead and if you want us to send them now at your own risk or send them later when the weather turns. PLease b epatient as this is going to be quite a large task considering two weeks of xmas livefoods went out on those days!
Thanks to everyone who has been kind, considerate and patient during what has been a truly awfull start to 2010!
Sunday 10 January 2010
Nothing eventfull happening today, the e-mail compliants still come flooding in, but there were a few rays of sunshine in amongst them , that i will reply to when things calm down.
just waiting now to see if the predicted snow comes tonight and sunday, If it doesnt then the courier and royal mail networks stand a good chance of getting back to somewhere normal service and hopefully you will all start to get your parcels!
just waiting now to see if the predicted snow comes tonight and sunday, If it doesnt then the courier and royal mail networks stand a good chance of getting back to somewhere normal service and hopefully you will all start to get your parcels!
Friday 8 January 2010
update 08/01/10
Some positives today..
I managed to repatriate my son (borrowed a 4 x 4 !)
We managed to recover our lorry from the ditch, - just incase you ever have to do this i must warn you digging a 3.5 ton lorry out of a snowdrift with one set of wheels in a ditch is not fun!
Louise packed nearly all of the hardware orders today on her own - they are ready to go as soon as royal mail get here (when?)
We have cleared a decent sized roadway down to our packing unit and showroom to enable local customers to get in and delivery lorries etc to get down to us. - Another note digging out 50ft of driveway covered in 6-12" of snow and ice with a spade is also not fun (B&Q had sold out of shovels!)
Our Courier - APC came to us in a 4x4 pick up and took some parcels, obviously not as many as need to go but its a start.
Still no sign of the Royal Mail???? - Royal Mail where are you!!! we haven't seen you since Tuesday - surely you must have cleared some snow by now, surely your vans are out and about by now! Royal Mail come back we miss you! 2 out of 10 for effort guys and girls.
Looking forward... Its going to be another extremely cold week, theres going to be some more snow, we will send out your orders if you want us to - but at your own risk and as and when we are able to do so....
we have agreed with another company that we work in co-operation with that they will send out orders on our behalf next week if need be, they are outside london so we have a good back up plan in place!
I will be personally e-mailing all customers who have a livefood order held up at the moment to find out if you want us to send it at your own risk or not - i will be doing this saturday and sunday.
Some positives today..
I managed to repatriate my son (borrowed a 4 x 4 !)
We managed to recover our lorry from the ditch, - just incase you ever have to do this i must warn you digging a 3.5 ton lorry out of a snowdrift with one set of wheels in a ditch is not fun!
Louise packed nearly all of the hardware orders today on her own - they are ready to go as soon as royal mail get here (when?)
We have cleared a decent sized roadway down to our packing unit and showroom to enable local customers to get in and delivery lorries etc to get down to us. - Another note digging out 50ft of driveway covered in 6-12" of snow and ice with a spade is also not fun (B&Q had sold out of shovels!)
Our Courier - APC came to us in a 4x4 pick up and took some parcels, obviously not as many as need to go but its a start.
Still no sign of the Royal Mail???? - Royal Mail where are you!!! we haven't seen you since Tuesday - surely you must have cleared some snow by now, surely your vans are out and about by now! Royal Mail come back we miss you! 2 out of 10 for effort guys and girls.
Looking forward... Its going to be another extremely cold week, theres going to be some more snow, we will send out your orders if you want us to - but at your own risk and as and when we are able to do so....
we have agreed with another company that we work in co-operation with that they will send out orders on our behalf next week if need be, they are outside london so we have a good back up plan in place!
I will be personally e-mailing all customers who have a livefood order held up at the moment to find out if you want us to send it at your own risk or not - i will be doing this saturday and sunday.
Thursday 7 January 2010
As the temperatures in the UK are currently below freezing we have had to suspend our live arrival guarantee and all livefood orders will be sent entirely at your own risk, we suggest you select livefoods from our cold weather livefoods section. Large and Extra large black crickets and Mealworms are the only livefoods we are confident will arrive in a suitable condition to be revived.
We will only be able to send these livefoods when the transport system permits.
We will only be able to send these livefoods when the transport system permits.
Service update
As you are probably aware we have had to suspend our service, we are currently under 12" of snow, no lorries are able to get to us to deliver anything and no lorries are able to get out to get things moving, so heres a update to the situation as of Thurs 7th January 2010.
All livefood orders and subscriptions were sent on Tuesday night, we stopped packing livefood orders around Tuesday lunch time - so if you ordered on Tuesday your order may not have been sent.
we have a backlog of hardware orders dating back to the 30th December at the moment, we are packing them as and when we can and sending them as and when we can,
So whats all the fuss and whats causing all the problems....
Well we had a huge backlog of orders from the xmas holidays which was supposed to be cleared this week, why did we have a backlog? because it was xmas we were on holiday so were the couriers and royal mail (couriers and royal mail dont work on bank holidays!).
This has now been compounded by the big freeze as The Royal Mail and our couriers are unable to get to us, this means nothing can go out...
Also we have the problem of the extremely cold weather - so why dont we use heat packs and send everything next day delivery? The heat packs are not effective against these low temps and all next day services have been suspended by the royal mail and all national couriers - they will not guarantee a next day delivery.
what are we doing about it? we are still packing hardware orders and piling them up ready for when they can be collected.
If you have a livefood subscription i advise you visit our subscriptions page here and cancel your subscription.. http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/cancel-my-subscription-142-c.asp
The subscription payments are automated and payments are going to continue to be taken even if we cant send anything, TO AVOID THIS please cancel your subscription and re-subscribe once service resumes.
The weather outlook doesnt look good with the freezing weather predicted well into next week. but we are playing it by ear and hoping for the best.
If you live localy to our Showroom please come and buy some livefoods - we are currently doing an offer of buy one get one free on all tubs of livefoods priced at £2 each, we need to sell all of our tubbed livefoods stock by Monday or else it will have to be binned.
If your livefoods do arrive and you think they are dead please please do your best to revive them, 4-5 hours in a warm room can work even if they look totally dead. WE CANNOT CLAIM ANY INSURANCE for these dead on arrival livefoods and are replaced entirely at our expense so a little understanding and effort on our customers behalf to revive them as best as possible is greatly appreciated.
Please please please dont contact us unless its important - We are working on a skeleton staff and having to answer telephone calls that go along the lines of "I ordered last night and I am snowed in so really need these livefoods" does not help. Nor do e-mails asking when your order is going to be despatched - as we dont know - when the couriers/royal mail turn up we will load their vans - but we dont know when that will be.
If your livefoods are dead - just send us an e-mail (please dont call us), state your name, address, order number or state that it is a subscription and please say that you have allowed them time to revive. we will resend them, as and when we can - please be patient.
Advice for getting by without food - ok so dont panic, most lizards if in prime health can go for a month without eating - obviously thats not ideal but "gex" will not drop dead if he doesnt get his crickets this week, nor will he starve to death by missing a weeks food. You could try and get some food from a nearby pet shop - be aware though we supply pet shops and we are in touch with other companies that supply pet shops and they are in the same situation so dont be suprised if the pet shops dont have any in yet. If you have a bearded dragon - now is a good time to get it used to eating veg! or try the dry pellet food, we also sell canned insects that most lizards will eat with a little enticing.
If you are one of the less understanding people who have been sending us irate / angry / borderline abusive e-mails and are waiting on a refund - please bear with us we are refunding as and when we can (in between answering irate / angry / borderline abusive e-mails and phone calls, packing parcels, digging our lorry out of a snowdrift etc etc etc )
A little perspective - ok so a lot of people may think its the end of the world because we cant send out livefoods at the moment, I personally have been cut off from my 3 yr old son for the past two days as he has been snowed into a relatives house he was visiting a few days ago. And accross the country people have lost their lives so although its frustrating its not worth getting angry about.
Thanks for reading and please keep an eye on our blog for updates
Thanks
Neil - Livefoods by post - Director.
All livefood orders and subscriptions were sent on Tuesday night, we stopped packing livefood orders around Tuesday lunch time - so if you ordered on Tuesday your order may not have been sent.
we have a backlog of hardware orders dating back to the 30th December at the moment, we are packing them as and when we can and sending them as and when we can,
So whats all the fuss and whats causing all the problems....
Well we had a huge backlog of orders from the xmas holidays which was supposed to be cleared this week, why did we have a backlog? because it was xmas we were on holiday so were the couriers and royal mail (couriers and royal mail dont work on bank holidays!).
This has now been compounded by the big freeze as The Royal Mail and our couriers are unable to get to us, this means nothing can go out...
Also we have the problem of the extremely cold weather - so why dont we use heat packs and send everything next day delivery? The heat packs are not effective against these low temps and all next day services have been suspended by the royal mail and all national couriers - they will not guarantee a next day delivery.
what are we doing about it? we are still packing hardware orders and piling them up ready for when they can be collected.
If you have a livefood subscription i advise you visit our subscriptions page here and cancel your subscription.. http://www.livefoodsbypost.co.uk/cancel-my-subscription-142-c.asp
The subscription payments are automated and payments are going to continue to be taken even if we cant send anything, TO AVOID THIS please cancel your subscription and re-subscribe once service resumes.
The weather outlook doesnt look good with the freezing weather predicted well into next week. but we are playing it by ear and hoping for the best.
If you live localy to our Showroom please come and buy some livefoods - we are currently doing an offer of buy one get one free on all tubs of livefoods priced at £2 each, we need to sell all of our tubbed livefoods stock by Monday or else it will have to be binned.
If your livefoods do arrive and you think they are dead please please do your best to revive them, 4-5 hours in a warm room can work even if they look totally dead. WE CANNOT CLAIM ANY INSURANCE for these dead on arrival livefoods and are replaced entirely at our expense so a little understanding and effort on our customers behalf to revive them as best as possible is greatly appreciated.
Please please please dont contact us unless its important - We are working on a skeleton staff and having to answer telephone calls that go along the lines of "I ordered last night and I am snowed in so really need these livefoods" does not help. Nor do e-mails asking when your order is going to be despatched - as we dont know - when the couriers/royal mail turn up we will load their vans - but we dont know when that will be.
If your livefoods are dead - just send us an e-mail (please dont call us), state your name, address, order number or state that it is a subscription and please say that you have allowed them time to revive. we will resend them, as and when we can - please be patient.
Advice for getting by without food - ok so dont panic, most lizards if in prime health can go for a month without eating - obviously thats not ideal but "gex" will not drop dead if he doesnt get his crickets this week, nor will he starve to death by missing a weeks food. You could try and get some food from a nearby pet shop - be aware though we supply pet shops and we are in touch with other companies that supply pet shops and they are in the same situation so dont be suprised if the pet shops dont have any in yet. If you have a bearded dragon - now is a good time to get it used to eating veg! or try the dry pellet food, we also sell canned insects that most lizards will eat with a little enticing.
If you are one of the less understanding people who have been sending us irate / angry / borderline abusive e-mails and are waiting on a refund - please bear with us we are refunding as and when we can (in between answering irate / angry / borderline abusive e-mails and phone calls, packing parcels, digging our lorry out of a snowdrift etc etc etc )
A little perspective - ok so a lot of people may think its the end of the world because we cant send out livefoods at the moment, I personally have been cut off from my 3 yr old son for the past two days as he has been snowed into a relatives house he was visiting a few days ago. And accross the country people have lost their lives so although its frustrating its not worth getting angry about.
Thanks for reading and please keep an eye on our blog for updates
Thanks
Neil - Livefoods by post - Director.
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