We currently use Royal Mail to deliver all of our items that are shipped. Please note from Oct 2022 – Royal Mail are taking longer to deliver due to the Strikes their workers are taking part in!
You can select local pick up at shop on the website, and once your order is made, we then call you and you are able to pick up when we are open. Please note that we are not open after 5pm weekdays and often closed at the weekend at the moment. Our standard opening hours are Wednesday – Friday 9.30am – 4.30pm and Saturdays 9am – 1.30pm. We do sometimes close, so always best to check our social media pages for current opening hours.
Delivery: We cannot offer next day service at this time, so please consider this when placing your order. We currently use 48hr tracked to UK, SCOTLAND, N.IRELAND and WALES with prices fixed at £5.00 for all orders under £50. If your turnaround time is fast approaching, we will often send 24hr tracked at the cost to us, but normal postage is 48hr tracked. This is 48hrs after your order is made (and not placed)
The shipping price includes postage and packaging costs. This covers, staff time to pick and pack, cardboard box, bubble wrap, packaging chips, tape, stickers, labels, its not just the postage we have to pay for to send your parcel.
The postage is fixed up to £50, then its free after for UK deliveries. Your order items are handmade, which means that I do not have stocks of chocolates ready to go all the time, I may have a batch that I have made up a few days before, but most of my orders are made when the orders come through, so please allow up to 15 days for delivery from date of placing your order.
If these are for a special occasion, please email me and I will work with you to meet the deadline date if possible. Whilst I say do allow up to 15 days, this time frame does not include bank holidays within the process. I can quite often post sooner if we have your items made already.
Lost parcels: Nowadays it is extremely rare for parcels to go missing, so this is not something we have come up very often, especially with the high tech tracking services now available to us. We can assist you with evidence of tracking reference number, plus a copy of invoice should you have the need to raise a lost parcel claim with Royal Mail. There is a simple online form which can be accessed by clicking on the link below. Royal Mail will not class a parcel as missing until 10 days after it was first sent out, the claim form can be accessed here: https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/webforms/claim
Please note that you can wait up to 30 days to hear back from Royal Mail. We do suggest that you check with your local sorting office first to ensure they have not put a card through your door. Check in outhouse buildings, sheds, etc, and also with neighbours. If we have a parcel returned to us, due to non collection, we will happily re-post this back to you but you will be required to pay the shipping cost again, as we have already paid this out once already in the first instance.
Weather or Transit Postage damage: As with any company making and sending out chocolate, this is one area which we can sometimes come across some issues. We check all our packages when they leave our premises, they are stored in refrigeration rooms right up until the time of being collected by our postal service. We secure each package inside with bubble wrap and the larger small parcel boxes have packaging chips added to help with transport and heat damage. By placing and paying for your order, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions, that any damage caused during transit cannot be claimed back from us, this is chocolate made to order and cannot be used or sold on again, so you do purchase at your own risk. We add a fragile and heat warning sticker to the front of all parcels as a precaution so they are not left in direct heat. If you are ordering chocolate during the hotter months, we will monitor the weather and will make a decision day to day whether to post out, this is to ensure that they do not sit around in vans or sorting offices getting heat damage to them. Our chocolates can withstand temperatures up to 25 degrees (tests carried out) inside the boxes, but do suggest as soon as your order arrives it is placed straight into the fridge unopened at this point.
It is at your own risk that by ordering our chocolates during the hotter months, you are taking a risk of heat damage. If we feel this is something that is happening too often during summer months, we will look at different carriers to send our chocolates out with or have an annual shut down for a few weeks while the weather cools down. We now use ice packs inside our boxes on the hottest days when posting out, when we see temperature going above 25c, this will again be monitored and a decision made at the shop to when we start to use them each year. If you place an order and items arrive damaged, we cannot accept responsibility and no refunds or exchanges will be made, orders are placed at own risk.
Returns: Due to the nature of the goods supplied we do not accept returns once the items have been opened.If you have any concerns please contact us via email at sarahscreativekitchen@hotmail.com to discuss any issue. If a product is sent in error to you we will require this to be sent back, and we will reimburse the postage costs, and then send the correct item out to you or refund once the wrong product is safely in our hands.
Not Collected: If your parcel is returned to us, due to non collection, we are happy to post out again, but this will incur a second postage charge, as we have already paid Royal Mail for your first delivery, we are not able to send out again for free as we then lose out on a second charge of postage.
Storage: This is really important, as soon as your chocolates arrive please place in the fridge to keep them cool, especially in the summer months, most homes will go above 25c at times. The ideal temperature for chocolate is between 12-18c, and within 40-60% humidity.