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Boilerfans.co.uk Covid-19 Update - 01/12/2020

Courier services are running at unprecedented levels, with all couriers withdrawing their service level guarantees. DPD have announced a suspension of premium timed delivery services (AM, Pre-10am etc) from the 23rd November to the 3rd January. On average over 98% of our deliveries are continuing as normal, but a small number are subject to delays related to volume/capacity issues in the delivery network.

 

We have also been experiencing issues with couriers being unable to collect all of the consignments that we have prepared, due to vehicles having insufficient capacity upon arrival, or the collection vehicle not arriving as scheduled. This is causing issues for orders placed later in the day, so with immediate effect we have further reduced our same-day dispatch cut-off to 2:30pm from the 1st December until further notice. If we are able to do so, we will ship orders after this time but cannot guarantee same day dispatch after 2:30pm Monday to Friday. The cut-off time needs to also take into account the payment system processing time, which often delays confirmation of your order whilst fraud prevention checks are carried out.

 

Following discussions we have reduced our available courier options to DPD Express services and Royal Mail Tracked/Signed For services, as in our experience these two providers are currently offering the best services levels.

 

In conjunction with our logistics partners, Boilerfans.co.uk are doing everything possible to maintain our industry leading service levels in the face of what has become a severe worldwide disruption to supply chains and delivery networks.

 

Our disaster management plan has ensured that we have been able offer continued service to our customers, within the available resources. However, with more people moving to online purchasing, and demand for courier services outstripping demand with couriers removing their service level promises in response, resulting in falling service levels across all the couriers that we use, we have as advised above chosen to pool all traffic with DPD & Royal Mail to ensure the best possible service.

 

Whilst most of our services are running normally around 90% of the time, we are now experiencing daily issues with courier networks that are impacting the service that we can offer. As a direct result some or all of the following issues may arise at some time over the coming months as the pandemic continues to affect our daily lives:

 

  1. Couriers may be unable to maintain delivery SLA's (service level agreements) due to delivery personnel self-isolating or otherwise being unfit for work. Courier services will no doubt class COVID-19 as "Force Majeure" to allow them to amend their delivery services without compensation to clients. This may mean significant delays to receiving your parcel. Whilst we will do our utmost to track parcels for you, in reality we will be limited to the same tracking information as you can see online, and with courier call-centres expected to be extremely busy, delays in responding are inevitable.
  2. We may have to switch parcels between courier networks to improve the probability of delivery, and will do this based on real-time information provided to us by the courier networks. This may mean that we use an alternate service to the one that our customers have chosen at the checkout, however in line with our delivery terms and conditions we may change the courier service and/or network, and we may take this action without prior consultation, but will keep you informed at all times of any changes that we have made.
  3. Our warehouse team may be unable to maintain our industry leading dispatch and service promise due to our personnel self-isolating or otherwise being unfit for work. We are training all of our staff, including customer service, administration and accounts personnel in an effort to maintain our dispatch service levels which will be given priority. During the pandemic we have reduced our same-day dispatch cut-off time from 8pm to 6pm, then from 6pm to 4pm, then from 4pm to 3pm, and now from 3pm to 2:30pm Mon-Fri with effect from 01/12/2020.
  4. In prioritising our dispatch services there may be delays in responding to requests for information, or refunds/returns. We ask that you bear with us at this time, we will process all queries in chronological order and endeavour to do so as soon as practicably possible.
  5. Stock availability is not currently a major issue; however, we may elect to set a maximum purchase rate to each customer to ensure fair use and availability to as many customers as possible. Our supply chain team is working around the clock to ensure that our product availability is maintained.
  6. In the event that the UK Government orders all businesses, especially home delivery networks to close then we will be unable to operate and any outstanding orders will be cancelled and refunded.

 

Kind regards,

 

Julian Smith

Managing Director