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Covid-19: Orders, Support, etc.. [July 24th 2020]

Posted on 14th Mar 2020 @ 12:38:01 PM

This "news" thread has now been retired to allow for more general issues and factors affecting our service to be communicated without the background of the pandemic.
Please note this is not to cast doubt on or comment on a very real health threat but to expand the coverage so that all current factors are understood and noted properly.

You can find our follow on status update by clicking this link.

 

Earlier Posts

 

[Update: July 24th 2020 @ 16:20 GMT+1]

No change in arrangements for shipping as we've focused on clearing manufacturing backlogs, particularly cartridge remanufacturing and cleaning.

We are STILL shipping on Mondays and Thursdays.

Please note: With changes in advice and following care to maintain limited contact with others, we are now starting to organise holiday time to see family and find a different set of walls to look at after 4+ months of staying put. The current pandemic is now far from over but we are intending to close off this news item thread and start fresh with a more long term "Status notice" that encompasses all elements that affect and/or will affect orders, stock levels moving forward.

 

[Update: July 18th 2020 @ 22:30 GMT +1]

School holidays have started, meaning [Martins]/my wife (a teacher) is now able to take over most of the child herding for a few weeks. This will free me up to fire through a larger number of tasks still pending. We will not be working every day as this is still quality time with our families, but it will help reduce the chaos element caused by school planning.

Manufacturing, restocking tasks are still ongoing but demand is roughly the same (if not more) than normal so we are using non-shipping days to build up our stock, particularly of units we manufacture in house (flush clips, printer potty kits, refill bundles, re-manufactured cartridge sets and more besides)

We are STILL shipping on Mondays and Thursdays.
Until stock levels and critical/important tasks have been completed, or we've been able to bring other manufacturing support in to carry the load (safely) we need to maintain this approach.

Expert medical and scientific guidance has not changed, so our precautions remain in place.

 

[Update: July 1st 2020 @ 22:57 GMT+1]

Due to continued confusion regarding our limited shipping days, we have renamed the "DHL Next Day" service to "DHL Priority".

We are still looking after our children, still doing long hours (whenever possible) to restock our inks and internally manufactured tools, etc... and all the usual administration, support, etc... required to keep things moving.

Orders are shipping on Mondays and Thursdays only regardless of the shipping service chosen, regardless of the "normal" speed that non-pandemic circumstances would otherwise allow.

We appreciate that this is neither ideal, nor welcome for those who need items quickly, but we are doing our best and if you feel this is still insufficient, then please exercise your right to choose an alternative supplier.

 

[Update: June 30th 2020 @ 22:10 GMT+1]

Shipping will remain limited to Mondays & Thursdays for the foreseeable future due to childcare needs & the workload/labour required to get stock manufactured/ready.

We are managing to restock successfully and almost every stock item is now available again including SquEasyFill caps and 18g needles/scabbards.

Support/Comms is taking longer primarily due to the sheer volume of emails/phone-calls and our detailed responses.
Consideration being given to the use of a blog/FAQ to deal with some of the current common ones to help reduce the repetition of some information (which required time to write!).

Overall... Not much has changed in terms of the virus itself... continuing to assume sensible precautions.

 

 

[Update: June 24th, 2020 @ 23:30 GMT+1]

Following the latest UK Government announcement, regarding the easing of lockdown conditions, we have chosen to maintain pre-existing practices until reliable, data-led medical and scientific advice indicates otherwise.

Shipping:

  • Royalmail sevices in Barnsley are currently experiencing restrictions due to a reported infections of sorting office staff. Outgoing mail is not currently affected but receipt of returns may take longer.
  • We continue to ship on Mondays and Thursdays only.

Stock:

  • Some SquEasyFill Caps + 18G needle covers/scabbards are low in stock but due to arrive early next week.
  • We now have almost all stock available following considerable work on manufacturing, rebottling, etc....

Support/Communication:

  • Substantial delays at various points but we're continuing to work through the backlog as much as humanly possible.
  • Phone support is unavailable on Thursdays and Fridays.

Overall:

  • Maintaining sensible distancing and existing precautions to minimise risk and ignoring easing as dangerous and at odds with medical/scientific information/advice.

 

 

[Update: June 17th, 2020 @ 23:05 GMT+1]

Still only shipping orders Mondays and Thursday

As per June 12th with following adjustments:

  • CLI-42 ink stocks now replenishing
  • Pro-1000, XP-8500, XP-15000 inks arrived pending bottling and listing
  • Support/Comms - A lot of helpdesk tickets were located with no response. I've been working tonight to get these resolved. Others likely to require a response... Working to answer as soon as possible.
  • Voicemails - Scheduled to respond to these Thursday 18th.
  • Accounts/Invoicing - Resolved

 

[Update: June 12th, 2020 @ 21:00 GMT+1]

Recap.

Shipping:

  • We are only shipping orders on Mondays and Thursdays. There is NO Next Day service available and none of the couriers (particularly Royal Mail) can guarantee it.
  • There are substantial delays for all shipping services and countries, with the USA in particular taking as much as a week longer (ie: 15+ working [Mon-Fri] days to arrive)

Stock:

  • We are working hard to get our stock levels back up as component part stocks, ink supplies and other long standing orders are now (finally!) arriving.
  • Anything we manufacture in-house is taking longer than normal due to parenting responsibilities and the need to work without risking each others health.

Support/Communication:

  • Support and other comms is taking place by email, out of hours due to parenting responsibilities (my wife is teacher and increasingly needed at school or online for her students)
  • Phone calls are being answered where possible but little people like to "help" so we can't always answer.
  • Where possible please contact us via email, providing as much detail regarding your problem as possible so we can respond as/when feasible with minimal back & forth delay.

Accounts/Invoicing:

  • Priority #1 for this weekend (13th - 14th June)

Overall:

  • All staff are healthy and we're continuing to get orders out the door and support to those who need it.
  • Your understanding and patience is very much appreciated throughout... These are unique times and care is required.
  • Look after yourselves, listen to solid, expert advice (not the politicians!) and stay safe.

 

 

[Update: June 6th, 2020 @ 22:45 GMT+1]

  • Parts stock for flush clips (CLI-42/8, PGI-9/72) arrived Friday along with numerous other Printer Potty parts
  • Replenishment of flush clips began immediately and initial stocks have been added to inventory
  • VAT invoicing is still pending
  • Ink stock for Pro-1000, Pro-1, CLI-42 and some new Epson inks are due collection around June 8th and will hopefully be with us by June 15th

Health wise, we're all okay.. still isolating from each other as much as possible. Contingency plans now in place as the second wave is all but guaranteed here in the UK.

 

[Update: June 5th, 2020 @ 00:35 GMT+1]

  • Discovered some issues with our voicemail being intercepted by our home phone which may have confused customers. Apologies for that... Took weeks to discover the problem.
  • Thursdays and Fridays are now firmly Dad days for me (Martin) so any phone calls and/or emails will need to wait until my wife returns from school.
  • Backlog on VAT invoices but will be tackling these over next few days... 
  • Stock is inbound for almost everything now so we'll be rebottling, manufacturing and re-stocking as quickly as possible over the next few weeks.

 

[Update: June 1st, 2020 @ 20:35 GMT+1]

As per May 29th with some adjustment:

  • Flush Clips: Stock for Flush clips is due to be shipped to us middle to end of this week. We're hoping to have the parts back here to manufacture more stock around June 8th.
  • Epson OEM parts: We now have a new distributor for Epson consumables which will improve our OEM maintenance box stock replenishment. T04D0 parts are already ordered.
  • US Shipping: Our orders to the USA are now seriously delayed with approximately a weeks delay on Tracked & Signed packages.
  • US Shipping: A considerable increase in postage cost for shipments to the USA is pending, following pricing changes forced upon the Universal Postal Union by the current US administration.

Still healthy but no change in our plans to split our shifts and reduce contact as much as possible. Government advice is actively contradicting key medical and expert virologist information/advice and we are not taking chances.

 

[Update: May 29th 2020 @ 00:29 GMT+1]

From June 1st my wife physically returns to her teaching role in school on at least 2 days a week so, despite my children remaining home, we have to assume that the possibility of infection will rise considerably. Net result, we're tightening up the rota again so that myself and other team members are not in the same building together, or if we need to be, strict cleandown protocols will be required, such as face-masks, surface washdown, etc.. This will continue to affect our capacity to ship orders and/or manufacture our products.

Our opinion on the political/official advice situation has no place on this page..  Instead, we'd like to reiterate that we hope you will continue to maintain social distancing, wash your hands regularly and look out for one and other.

Moving on... 

Manufacturing/Stock:

  1. A LOT of ink bottling has been done in the last week so ink stock for PGI-72 (Pro-10) as well as a number of legacy inks, OCP brands and more are now back on.
  2. Our ink order for CLI-42 plus XP-8600/15000 and the Canon Pro-1000 set has been manufactured. We are now waiting for it all to be collected and shipped. ETA seems to be 2nd week of June.
  3. Cartridge cleaning of 550/551 and 570/571 has almost completed so refilling/re-manufacturing for sale will be possible in the coming few weeks.
  4. Flush clips are still pending parts manufacture.

Shipping Changes:

  • The USPS postal system in the USA is showing signs of strain which is leading to delays in packages reaching customers. Please thank your USPS workers. They really are working hard.
  • Royal Mail continues to experience backlogs and delays
  • Some delays are still be expected

Support:

  • The volume of phone calls and email has increased markedly. Most queries are being answered within 24 hours, some within 48... We continue to work through as quickly as we can, whilst parenting, so please bear with.

Stay safe.. Thanks... Martin

 

[Update: May 22nd 2020 @ 16:45 GMT+1]

If you were watching the news in the UK you would be forgiven for thinking that this whole situation was coming to an end. It's not. Contacts we have through family and friends in the health service (even one actively researching the virus) have left us in no doubt that this is just the first wave and that behaviour of many here in the UK is guaranteeing a second wave. Our opinion of politicians or individuals at this point is somewhat moot as we're actively taking sensible precautions to avoid unnecessary contact. Incidentally we are NOT sending out children back to school for their mental, emotional well being, let alone their physical health.

So, with this in mind the following still applies:

Manufacturing/Stock

  1. Manufacturing & Restocking/bottling is ongoing but still at a significant reduction while we maintain sensible distancing from each other and deal with the realities of having children at home
  2. Replenishment of ink stocks is ongoing with some key inks already back in stock (LXP72M, PM, & R.. CLI42 ver2 M, BK, C, PM.. Claria 1136 BK... and we now have the OCP inks back in stock and rebottling too).
  3. Cartridge cleaning of PGI-550, CLI-551 has been pushed and we're now almost ready to restock on re-manufactured cartridges over the next 2 weeks.
  4. Parts supply for flush clips and Printer Potty kits are due early June and we're prepping to mass produce those when the parts arrive.

Shipping Changes:

  • We continue to process and ship orders on Mondays* and Thursdays as this not only reduced unnecessary contact but also allowed us to focus other days on replenishment, manufacture, tasks.
    (*Tuesdays if after bank holidays)
  • UK Packages are arriving much faster since we switched away from Royal Mail to DHL Parcel for most orders.
  • RM24 packages are not quite as fast as they should be but the backlogs seem to have reduced somewhat. This coming bank holiday may revert some of that though.
  • International Packages via DHL Express and Fedex have been arriving promptly.. Anything sent via wnDirect has usually succeeded but some postal services are still struggling with delayed clearance through customs.
  • On balance the systems appear to be balancing out somewhat but we still expect surges as restrictions are relaxed and tightened over the coming weeks.

Support:

  • I'm managing to get on top of most message but have found a backlog of invoice requests and some voicemails so I have some catching up to do. Apologies to anyone that was missed

Overall we're in reasonably good shape and hope you are all too.. but in case this needs repeating, please don't follow the uninformed, ill-advised herd by letting your guard down now. You need to be sensible, safe and keep direct human contact to an absolute minimum. This virus doesn't care one jot about your freedoms, frustrations or your nationality. Please do the sensible thing for yourselves and those you care about.

 

 

[Update: May 14th 2020 @ 22:50 GMT+1]

Back to work today and managed to get a few things done. Ink stocks for Epson Claria + Canon PGI-72, CLI-8, 521/526 and PGI-5/520/525 all came in so we've started rebottling the out-of-stock items as a priority.

Cartridge remanufacturing for CLI-42v2, PGI-72 and the 550/551 hybrid carts is next on the agenda for tomorrow but we're not expecting to get it all done.

Some returns, refunds are pending processing tomorrow... They've taken a while to get to but they're on the list.

 

[Update: May 10th 2020 @ 21:20 GMT+1]

Our Covid-19 tests all came back negative, thankfully, and assuming nothing changes I will be able to leave the house and work on site, from Thursday 14th. However, as before, there is no reliable indicator or understanding of immunity, so we will continue to split shift to avoid potential spread. The good news is that manufacturing will be able to continue from Thursday, albeit as/when parenting responsibilities allow.

One team member remains unaffected and active, so orders continue to ship on Mondays and Thursdays as before.

Product Stock is incoming for inks in particular, some are still being manufactured but we're not expecting extended delays as yet.

Shipping/Postal delays remain much the same. Orders to Spain are currently experiencing significant delays so DHL Express is recommended, or to wait until things have changed.

 

[Update: May 5th 2020 @ 17:20 GMT+1]

Shipping delays are starting to show a pattern, and they are substantial to the point that we considering halting shipping Internationally with the exception of DHL Express & Fedex.

  • Australia: Orders taking a month to clear customs. 5-6 weeks from dispatch to delivery
  • Spain: Everything is on hold. ETA unknown
  • UK: RM48 is taking up to 3 weeks for delivery. RM24 is taking 1-2 weeks. DHL Parcel is mostly Next Day with some delays.

Things are slow but are still arriving... eventually.

 

[Update: May 4th 2020 @ 14:00 GMT+1]

Due to contact with a confirmed infected colleague, my wife and the rest of our family are now in full isolation for a second time. This will mean that manufacturing will once again be affected as we're not allowed to leave the house. The potential positive in this is that testing capacity has improved here in the UK and, because my wife is a keyworker, we're all able to be tested. This hopefully means we can determine what our status is after the last period of isolation.

For now at least nobody is showing any symptoms other than the occassional nervous cough and we all feel fine but, as ever, the emphasis here on is the health of staff and our families. Much as that will create frustration and delay, it is the reality we have to deal with. Once we have some test results we'll be able to work out what comes next.

Product Stock

We continue to re-stock as best we can with bulk ink stocks waiting to be shipped from manufacturers, while other stock is on backorder, awaiting completion. So, long term, things are looking positive.

Order Dispatch

We're still getting orders out the door in no small measure thanks to Sharon who has been working her socks off throughout. Meanwhile, I'm working from home to answer queries, sort out stock orders and get us past the various hurdles.

Everything else remains as per the last few updates.

 

[Update: April 30th 2020 @ 20:30 GMT+1]

Shipping: Worldwide delays

Shipping in UK and Internationally remains "challenging" and delays are much the same as in our April 27th update.

Flush Clip Rationing (CLI-42, PGI-9, PGI-72)

Because we are unable to restock one key component used in our flush clips for these cartridge types we're having to ration them, with sets of 4 now on hold and only single clips included with our standard refill bundles. This will remain in place until we have received the new stock from the manufacturer, possibly as late as early July. 

Incoming Stock

We are now waiting for new stock for PGI-72, PGI-9 as well as inks for our older Image Specialists inks for Claria, Canon PGI-5 to CLI-526 types. Once they arrive the next challenge will be to re-bottle everything to the relevant 50ml and/or 125ml volumes but we will be prioritising stock that has run out.

A large shipment of T3661 type maintenance boxes has arrived and is now available and we've caught a few stock mis-counts in other maintenance box items such as T04D1 so stock is now available again.

Other inks and products are also becoming available and are going on the system as/when we can but ironically the supplier/manufacturer side of things is still functioning, albeit slower than normal.

 

[Update: April 27th 2020 @ 21:00 GMT+1]

UK Shipping/Post [Particularly Royal Mail]

Royal Mail continues to massively understate the effect of the Coronavirus on their staff and their ability to deliver packages. Discussions with other online retailers has indicated that considerable volumes of post is failing to be processed with delays of 1,2 and even 3 weeks... particularly for the second class / RM48 services.

As of Monday 20th April we began switching most of our packages away from these services but regrettably a large number of earlier orders have been affected.

Following further investigation we've decided to switch orders to use of the RM24 service as our base shipping service. This is still taking upwards of a week but is being delivered relatively faster than the RM48 service.

International Shipping/Post

We are now getting increasing number of queries and reported problems from International customers with even Tracked & Signed packages taking much, MUCH longer than normal.

It is almost impossible to keep up to date on what is happening so we are fast approaching a point where we may have to restrict International Orders to using Fedex and DHL Express shipping services only.

To give some brief examples.

  • Australia: Some recent packages to Australia have taken close to a month to pass through customs clearance.
  • Spain: All packages intended for Spain have been on hold with our shipping forwarding services (wnDirect) for a week now
  • Italy: Italian packages are substantially delayed, particularly if sent through the normal postal system.
  • France: Packages are still getting through but weeks later
  • USA: Depending on the state we're getting delays of 1-2 weeks over normal timeframes and that is set to get worse as the pandemic response (or lack thereof) piles up.

In almost all countries the massive increase in eCommerce/online shopping has all but overwhelmed the postal and courier systems and added substantial delays to the networks.

Health & Staff

Health wise we're all okay and the biggest draw on time now is the need to be parents first and foremost. Additionally, being married to a teacher means that there's more need to schedule our hours around each other. Ultimately, this means that support tickets are taking longer to get answered than intended so apologies for that. I am working the backlog now while juggling stock orders and our other service contacts. If anyone has a time compression utility or service that fits 48 hours into a standard day, please let us know.

We are no longer 100% sure which day of the week it is but we are still functioning and doing what we can to keep things moving. As ever, thank-you for you continued patience and understanding. Please keep home as much as possible and stay safe.

 

[Update: April 21st 2020]

We're still working.. Royalmail are still very much struggling to process packages, particularly anything sent after the weekends so we're processing Royal Mail packages on Monday and taking the post office for collection on Tuesday. This helps avoid the weekend rush and the potential for packages to end up in the Monday overflow storage which is like a blackhole.

Still waiting for updates on ink orders so we'll update when we have a firm ETA.

Thanks to everyone who queried or just sent their thoughts. We've been lucky and everyone is well so thanks again... Very much appreciated. Hope you are all similarly staying safe and well.

 

[Update: April 18th 2020]

Very short update...

  • Manufacture of flush clips has allowed for some resupply but we are having to ration these for CLI-42 and PGI-72/9 types as the part used is now in short supply. Order is in for more but the virus has slowed production considerably so we may need to revise the design to use a different part in time.
  • Inks are still in stock but we are starting to run low on some key inks. Orders have been placed but we're waiting to hear back from manufacturers on availability there.
  • Cartridge cleaning has restarted 
  • Silicon plugs + a longer type for more secure plugging are now in. A video for showing the latter and listings are pending for those asking for them.
  • Orange storage clips for the CLI-42 arrived and are back on stock

I'm still coughing but otherwise healthy so now the key delays are due to parenting and waiting for manufacturers and suppliers to respond.

 

[Update: April 14th 2020]

Shipping services are now under tremendous strain across the board with many mail and courier staff looking after their children, self-isolating or seriously ill. As a result we have made the decision to adjust our shipping service options to those that offer tracking and provide some means of identifying where packages are in the system.

Some caveats:

  • This measure is specifically to increase the likelihood of orders being received, not to speed up delivery.
  • There is no guarantee that tracking information will be entirely accurate as the strain on the system is mirrored across all services, not just the budget ones.
  • Next day, Priority, etc... are being treated as goals but not absolute guarantees.
  • Surcharges are being applied by our couriers, particularly International services. We have decided, for now, NOT to increase our shipping costs to cover the increased costs.

We appreciate that some customers will have urgent requirements or just be suffering from cabin fever and itching to get on with some printing project. Please, we understand those stresses but right now so many people are working in a climate of fear and doing the best that they can. Some are even losing their loved ones or worse, their lives. Please try to be kind, be patient and take care of yourselves too.

 

[Update: April 13th 2020]

First off. We hope, despite the current situation that you have had something akin to a Happy Easter... that the kids didn't steal your eggs (If you had any to start with!) and that somewhere in amongst all of this you have been able to find your silver lining.

At time of writing, we're taking time with family as it's a bank holiday but tomorrow orders will ship as is our current "normal". Orange CLI-42 clips and silicon plugs are due Wednesday and with that I will be spending my evenings manufacturing flush clips to replenish stocks for Pro-100 refill bundles.

Cartridge cleaning (for Canon carts) will potentially re-start from Wednesday but as we are still practicing a split shift it will be on a limited basis. This won't have a knock on effect in terms of re-manufactured cartridges for some weeks but it's a start.

Some other key points:

  • Shipping is still being delayed, particularly in countries where the lockdown has been substantially enforced. France, Italy and Spain in particular are taking much longer for packages to arrive.
  • We still have children to look after and comfort... so we are restricted in hours AND energy. Things are taking a LOT longer than normal.
  • Support tickets and phone calls are being taken as/when.

Last thing to note. Even though we suspect that I have had this virus, we cannot confirm (due to lack of testing availability) so here, we have to act as if I have had it AND as if I haven't (ie: that I could get it) at the same time. That creates some interesting mental gymnastics but it is essential to keeping people safe. 

 

[Update: April 10th 2020]

Thankfully the period where I was suffering with virus symptoms appears to have passed and after a couple of days of feeling "rough" I'm now back on my feet. That said, I still need to observe the self-isolation requirement of a further 5 days so I remain at home as required. There is also the lack of testing which means I cannot confirm whether I did infact have the virus, so we have to assume that I can still catch it.

The good news, of sorts, is that I can now deal with the nurmal pre-sales, support and other queries reasonably quickly but manufacturing of parts, etc... will have to wait a few more days.

Thank-you to those who wished us well and were patient while we got back up on our feet.

 

[Update: April 7th 2020]

Regrettably I am now showing symptoms for the Cv-19 virus so we're having to go into isolation as a family at home. While I'm not feeling brilliant I am still functioning, for now at least, but it will definitely have an impact on our ability to carry on dealing with support queries or any of the usual mundane aspects of VAT invoices, etc... 

Since the lockdown in the UK we have been using a split shift process such that nobody is in the unit at the same time as anyone else. We've delineated specific/restricted work areas, and we've been cleaning down shared surfaces. As such orders are expected to continue using the new "normal" for now.

Unfortunately, some aspects of what we do will now be considerably affected:

  1. Manufacturing of some key products (flush clips, cleaned cartridges, re-manufactured cartridges, etc..) won't continue until key people (ie: Martin [Me]) are no longer sick.

  2. Support and Account administration is going to be impacted as it is again heavily reliant on me (Martin) to be available.

  3. New products pending release are now on hold..

Additionally we are still experiencing some delays and stock issues:

  1. We are still waiting for new stock orders of some key parts which continue to be delayed by border closures, low air freight availability.

Not the best news but again, to reiterate. STAY HOME, STAY SAFE!

 

[Update: April 1st 2020]

We are still in semi-lockdown and orders are being shipped Mondays & Thursday successfully as per the last update (March 26th).

One major change is that postal/courier services are now starting to hit border border closures to package/cargo traffic which will definitely be impacting International customers. It is virtually impossible to keep up with the changes so if you are an International customer we would recommend you check the relevant updates directly:

Royalmail (for services marked "RM" )
https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5317/~/international-incident-bulletin

DHL Parcel (was UKMail)
https://www.dhlparcel.co.uk/en/business-users/help-centre/live-service-updates.html
NB: We're expecting this to continue to work unless the UK shutsdown everything except vital medical/key supplies

wnDirect / Ascendia
https://www.asendiausa.com/asendia-insights/service-updates/
This is changing daily.

DHL Express
https://www.dhl.co.uk/en/important_information/covid_19.html#containerpar_expandablelist_a028
No particularly useful information. Recommend checking the Fedex PDF (see below) for likely delays.

Fedex
https://www.fedex.com/en-gb/coronavirus.html
https://www.tnt.com/dam/tnt_campaign_media/global_media_library/covid-19-docs/fedex-covid-19_service_impacts.pdf
This is changing daily.

Short version... The rule of thumb appears to be "If your country is in completely lockdown there won't be any deliveries, so please wait".
While the restrictions and confusion will vary over time, the overall disruption will likely last for months as different governments adjust to the realities of the situation.

 

[Update: March 26th 2020]

It's now been a few says since the UK was placed on an effective lockdown. While we are aware that online business has not been told to close we have remained mindful of safety of our staff and families first. To that end the following is now setup.

  1. Orders are shipping on Mondays and Thursdays only. This may be adjusted to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the future but only if order volumes increase.

  2. Orders are now being shipped via tracked services which has increased costs on goods but this has been essential to ensure that goods can be located and delivered successfully.

  3. Support & pre-sales questions are being answered within 24 hours so that side of things is working well.

  4. Manufacturing and product supply shipments is being delayed for obvious reasons. We are working out ways to split the tasks so that work can be done from home where feasible or staff can work in the workshop. The supplier dispatch speed is something we can do nothing about though.

This bears repeating... Stay at home unless you absolutely have to.

 

[Update: March 22nd 2020]

Following information and advice from friends and family working in the NHS we have decided to place ourselves and our families on a self imposed isolation with minimal external contact. As such many of our plans to continue manufacturing are now on hold until we can determine how to effectively avoid cross contamination between our staff. There is also a question mark as to how and/or when a lockdown will be imposed.

As a result we are tentatively changing our plans as follow:

  1. Orders will be physically shipped on Mondays or Thursdays only. 
    This reduces our contact time, reduces potential for cross contamination between our team members and allows us to keep our families occupied while schools are shut.

  2. If any government order should stop us from accessing the works premises we will contact any customers with pending orders to determine if they are happy to wait, process a cancellation/refund or discuss relevant alternative measures.

  3. Assuming we can continue to access the works premises, we'll be continuing to manufacture as/when feasible but it will be at a greatly reduced capacity/volume.


If you are reading this and are still not convinced as to the veracity or need for such drastic measures please consider that this is a key income stream for us. Everything we're hearing, from informed individuals, with direct knowledge and/or practicing in the field of medicine has persuaded us that this is a significant threat to human life. Or to put it another way we're prepared to lose the business rather than take chances.

Stay at home.

 

[Update: March 19th 2020]

Following recent changes in government policy and events in other countries, we are now adjusting as follows:

  1. All shipping services have now been restricted to tracked for all except the lowest value orders
    This will ensure that orders can be located in the event of non-delivery due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

  2. We cannot guarantee next day or priority delivery for any orders.

  3. Due to border closures and restrictions on air transport in particular, some International customers will experience significant delays in receiving orders.
    If your order is critical we would strongly recommend using DHL Express or Fedex to improve your chance of successful delivery within a faster timeframe.

  4. OctoInkjet operating days/times will be changing in response to our parent/family commitments now that school will be closed from March 20th.
    Details will follow but expect some delays before orders are dispatched.

  5. Replenishment of stock is ongoing. We will update our "Stock ETA" page shortly. 
    The nature of the epidemic means that some items may be delayed but we are trying to offset the potential for this as much as possible.

  6. We will continue to provide support and pre-sales advice where possible. Please use our contact form and/or email if at all possible so we can respond when parenting duties aren't getting in the way.
    Note: We can phone customers back if that's preferred, but email is still easier/quicker where possible (it also helps us keep track of discussions easier).

  7. Customer collections have been suspended.

In summary, we're adjusting to circumstances as they change but as noted previously we're in it for the long haul.
Nobody is being laid off and we fully intend to support our customers, staff and wider community over the coming months and into the future.

Thank-you for your understanding, your patience and your continued support.

 

[Posted: March 3rd 2020]

You will undoubtedly have heard about Covid-19 and while we're not going to deal with the massive amounts of confusing information surrounding it, we do need to update you on how this affects our ability to function and supply customers.

Short version

There are delays developing across the board. We may have to temporarily suspend shipping (to some or all destinations), sales and potentially shutter the business temporarily in the future.
Emphasis here is on "temporary".

Long version (bullet points for brevity)

  • Shipping services are being seriously affected Internationally (due to reduced airline activity which affects the capacity for airmail to be carried) and we fully expect domestic mail/courier services within the UK to experience delays in the coming weeks.
  • Supplies of some small components are running low and are affecting various bundled products. Particularly refill bundles.
  • We are identifying workarounds where possible so things like orange clips (for canon cartridges) are being replaced with outlet covers, etc..
  • Some key components, particularly for Printer Potty kits are running low and we're unsure if new supplies can be sourced before our stocks run out.
  • We do still have families to look after and there is an expectation that a state mandated or voluntary self-quarantine may be required at some point. Our priorities MUST be on the health and safety of ourselves, our families and our communities.

The good news is that many of our preparations for the Bre*it mess have meant we have some extra stock, particularly with regards to inks, but unfortunately not across the board.

We should note that we are in this for the long haul. We're intending to make use of any time/space we have to clear the backlog of jobs that have sat on our "would like to get done" list and, assuming nothing dire happens, we will continue to provide support (and any pre-sales advice) via email.

Beyond that we will be looking at ways to help our local community particularly those who will need support so we're not sitting on our hands.

Whatever your own personal situation, please try to weigh up the information with a critical eye and take precautions where you can. We'll update as/when we can.