This blog explains the difference between Recorded v Special Delivery for our UK clients*. During the coronavirus it’s very important that customers use Special Delivery to post their kits back to us. You can see our sending page here for sending with a kit, and the instructions here if you’re rather not wait for a kit.
Our UK kits are £5 which includes the cost of the kit, us posting to you first class, and a first class stamp to send it back. If you do not mind so much if/when it arrives with us (if what you’re sending is not special or sentimental) then by all means just use the stamp to post it back to us. This won’t cost you any extra, but you won’t be able to track it or see when it arrives. You will just need to keep checking your order here to see if we have received it. Normally, parcels sent this way arrive with us in a day or so but during the virus this is taking some time.
When you choose Special Delivery on the checkout at £13 you are paying £5 for the kit and £9 for the finished order to be posted back to you by Special Delivery. You will still get a normal first class stamp in your kit but we HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you send the kit back to us by Special Delivery too, which will cost you about £4 extra at the post office. You will get a tracking number starting with SD, which we ask you to send us. We have removed the Recorded Delivery option from the checkout for the time being.
Please do not use Recorded Delivery to post your kit to us! You must ask for Special Delivery – it is very important!
Recorded Delivery
Recorded Delivery, also known as First Class Signed For is not a trackable service. It only provides proof of receipt and proof of delivery (there is no signature service during the virus). We have had a dozen or so clients who have sent their parcels this way in the past three weeks. Only a couple of them have shown up in our PO box and this is the tracking info you will see, because it’s not a fully tracked service. The only information you get on Recorded Delivery is when it is received at the Post Office, and when it’s received at our PO box. This parcel was sent two weeks ago and hasn’t arrived yet:
Track and Trace – Track your Item
We’ve got it – Tracking no. WM5________GB
Your item was posted at Post Office® branch, _____ Post Office BS_ ___ on 19-05-2020.
More information will be available once delivery has been attempted.
Service used: Royal Mail Signed For™
Updated on: Tuesday 19 May 02:02pm
Accepted at Post Office _____ Post Office [BS_ ___]
will let you all know as and when the these parcels show up on your order but are happy to send out new kits later in the week at £5 each if you’d like one, this time people MUST USE SPECIAL DELIVERY PLEASE. It’s heartbreaking for Nikki and Joanna to get messages from our clients who have posted this way, or whose well-meaning loved one asked for “signed” at the Post Office and this was the service they got. We’re hoping that they all show up eventually and of course we will send them back to you.
Special Delivery
Special Delivery is a fully tracked service. Here is a parcel my husband posted on Friday. Today is Tuesday and it’s showing it will be delivered, so that is two working days. It shows which delivery office the parcel is at right now and is coming from today, which mail centre it was at in the early hours of the morning, which mail centre it was sent from yesterday and also where and when it was originally received. If for any reason the parcel didn’t arrive today, this customer would know its last location.
Track and Trace – Track your Item – Ready for Delivery
Tracking no. SE_________GB
Your Item was received by Maryport DO on 02-06-2020 and is now due for delivery today.
Service used: Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed 1pm™
Updated on: Tuesday 02 June 07:50am
Tuesday 02 June 04:26am Item Despatched to Maryport DO – Carlisle MC
Tuesday 02 June 04:18am Arrived at Carlisle MC
Monday 01 June 09:29pm Item Despatched to Maryport DO – Bristol MC
Friday 29 May 05:01pm Accepted at Post Office – Avonmouth Road Post Office [BS11 9EG]
You can still use the box we send your kit in, the Post Office will just affix a Special Delivery sticker to the corner of the box. They will take the cost of your stamp off the price of Special Delivery. No need, as always, for you to put half a role of Sellotape on the box – one piece over the flap is fine!
After you post your kit back to us, let us know the number from your receipt, it usually starts with “SD” and ends with “GB”.
*International clients should always use an untracked service due to our PO box.