It's Déjà Vu all over again...

We're back from a few days holiday and getting back into the swing of things.   The Good News is that during the down time, the process of making physical changes to Baccus HQ has continued with the aim of getting our production levels increased.   It's not going to make an obvious impact immediately, but it is the first step towards the mystical realm of 'Normality'.

In the meantime, we are back to the situation of large backlog of orders to clear and a closed shopping cart.   We are working hard to sort this out.   Lots of you are quite naturally emailing and messaging us with quite reasonable questions about this situation.  The problem is that a LOT of you are being quite reasonable and a large part of the day is being spent on replying to the questions rather than concentrating on getting the order pile reduced.   As a result, here is a list of FAQs that apply to the current situation.   Please take the time to read them.

*** When will my order be cast and on its way? ****

This is not always as easy for us to predict as you might think. Let’s give you a method of how you can do a rough assessment this for yourself. Very broadly, for each four hours that we had the cart open, we received enough orders to keep us working for one week. .We will post a weekly update on our progress to date - just check your order number against this and you will be able to estimate how long before we get to you.

**** Will I be notified when my order is sent? ****

You will receive an automated email when your order has been processed and ready to send out.

**** My order hasn’t arrived yet – can you let me have a tracking number? ****

We do not used a tracked service for standard orders, so we cannot provide a tracking number or chase it up.

**** My order was sent two/three/four weeks ago, and it hasn’t arrived yet. Is this normal? ****

No, this sort of delay is not at all normal, but we aren’t living in normal times. Postal services around the globe have been badly affected by Covid19, facing the double pressures of staff absences and massive unseasonal demand on their services. A lot of packages are actually getting through in a reasonable time, but some are badly delayed. It really is a matter of being patient.

Should any order really be lost in the transit process it will be replaced. To date, that has applied to just two orders out of one thousand plus sent out around the world.  We need to rethink what the time threshold for ‘lost’ is nowadays.

**** I have an order waiting to be cast. Can I add to it? ****

This is happening a lot at the moment. As ever, perfectly understandable, and for the most part it is for finishing touches, such as flags, bases etc. If we don’t have to cast it, then this really isn’t an issue. However, some customers have asked to effectively double or treble their existing order. The problem is that by doing so, you are effectively ‘pushing in’ the queue and stepping all the orders behind you further back, so it's 'No' to any additions that have to be cast up.

**** Can I place an order for things that don’t have to be cast? ****

Yes you can. Rules, flags, basics, basing materials, scenic etc. can be ordered by email. Please get in touch if that is all you require.

**** When can I place an order again? ****

The BIG question…My best estimate would be that weare looking at mid-October. I will post on the Baccus News page, and on Facebook and Twitter  in advance so as to let as many know as possible.

Please don’t get the impression that we don’t like talking to or hearing from customers. To be honest that is one of the delights of this business. It’s just that at a period when we are facing massive pressures on time and resources it just makes sense to broadcast some basic information rather than provide multiple personal responses.

Let's end this on a positive note.   We are now looking to restart the process of hiring new staff to get production moving once again, and also adding another casting machine.    The process of getting new items made and released is moving through the gears and you can look forward to some much-anticipated exciting new products finally becoming available in the latter part of the year.  

Take care and stay safe.