FAQ''s COVID- Please read me!

Here you will find more detailed information regarding our current wait times and issues around COVID 19.  We are aiming to be as transparent as possible and ensure our customers are aware of wait times.  We presently (and will for the foreseeable future) have a fairly long advertised wait time of 6-8 weeks even into the winter, in some cases we may go over this if entirely unavoidable!  The reasons for this are various, explained below;

Why the long wait!

Firstly, up until March we were providing clothing for events, unit meetings, trips out, and more, we were used to this, and had been doing it for the last 7 years,  then... COVID hit!  Our product range has had to significantly change to allow us to continue trading, we've been offering signs, metal items, badges and more!  We're loving these new ranges and are hoping to carry on stocking them, but, this means that for some suppliers we now have to wait longer to complete a wholesale order for.  As an example usually in the height of summer we are ordering from our clothing wholesaler 2/3 times a week and they turn over orders the same day, with back orders following as soon as they are available.  Presently we are able to order from them once ever 3 weeks or so meeting their minimum order quantity.  Their delivery time is also taking between 2 days to 1 week.

 Leading on from this there are significant delays with stock- the majority of items we sell have a base made in another country-our wholesalers import them and we purchase from there.  Lots of manufacturers shut down for a prolonged period, and there is still a possibility of this happening again should there be additional lockdowns.  Supply chains at this point are still recovering, but some of our products have very delayed delivery times.

Other suppliers which produce in the UK have found an increase in products, so a delayed postal time, or a delay in getting raw materials.  

During this time we have suddenly found ourselves inundated with orders for products we don't usually supply, in huge volumes, This has had a big knock on with timings for orders.  For us, as we have built our business up over the last few years we have been able to adjust to busy times with a steady increase in custom year on year.  Changing an entire product range with an already established customer list has been a bit of a challenge!  We are really enjoying adding to our range, and are looking at solutions for the future, however this will also be dependent on the economy in the next few months! 

We make everything to order- this is especially important with badges- we do not buy 300 of one design and then sell them, but print them to order, this means that if you are ordering 1 or 10000 badges they are still made to order. We just dont have the capacity to clear orders in a day or two working this way.  We are excited to be able to bring about this new product range allowing you to personalise small numbers of badges, clothing, bags etc! however it does mean we have a wait!  We also really encourage you to read around the information about items, or pop us a message or give us a ring if you are unsure, or need to clarify a product.  We try to be clear in our descriptions, and give information on the main product pages, however, we would much prefer you ask if unsure, as this saves potential issues later!  

Post!

There are postal issues!  We are finding bigger losses of parcels than usual and slower post.  We appreciate this is not ideal and frustrating if you are waiting for parcels, however there are no other services that will allow us to send mail in the same way, without charging for a courier on every parcel!

I think my order is missing!

Please, please get in contact if you think you have been missed- we are human, we may have marked something wrongly, the post is still less than ideal, stuff goes wrong, human error, post, technology-  We want to rectify it if we can!  We are happy to check the location of your order, or to let you know if its been sent out.  If you have waited 11 weeks or more it is highly likely something along the way has gone wrong! 

Why do orders sometimes come out out of order?

Usually this is because we don't have the right amount of  specific product- for example if you have ordered 50 blue badges, we may need to wait for the blanks to arrive, but we may be able to to complete other orders in the meantime!  

Can you rush my order through?

This is going to depend on the time frame you need it- please come to us with a date- rather than ASAP.  We will charge a rush fee for this,  and at times we just wont be able to, but we are happy to discuss it if you are looking for this as an option.