Getting Back to a New Normal!
Updated 1st June 2020
Thank you to all our customers who have supported us during these difficult past few months. We hope that the disruption to our service has not been too much of an inconvenience and that you enjoy our liquid refreshment when it does arrive!
We want to reassure you that it is still business as usual here at Hic! and we are doing our very best to provide you with a great range of wines backed up by excellent customer service.
Although we may be gradually coming out of lockdown, the COVID19 pandemic still continues to have a significant effect on our business practices. Our online store is open for business as usual; however, deliveries are still taking slightly longer than usual to process and we are now advising they will be delivered on average 5 working days from date of order.
For all enquiries regarding existing orders please take note of our advised delivery schedule before contacting us regarding the status of your order. We are still working tirelessly to ensure all our customers needs are met in a timely fashion.
To maintain safe social distancing guidelines many of our supplier warehouses and transport services are still working on reduced operational days and with reduced staff. They are very, very busy and so consequently, we are dealing with a significantly reduced in-bound service schedule to supply our premises in Ledston resulting in temporary delays to stocks.
Our couriers APC have done a fantastic job so far to keep operating during this crisis and their parcel volumes are at an all-time high. Unfortunately, they too can be effected by the COVID-19 crisis, at very short notice, and by issues beyond their control. Inevitably, there will be delays, but your delivery will be made as quickly as possible so please patient during these unprecedented times.
Please note the following changes to our normal business processes:
- Our retail premises in Ledston remains closed for the safety of everyone.
- Local Pickup and kerbside collections are now available to select at checkout for online orders.
- Due to demand our telephone is now outbound-only for the time-being. You can leave a message or email us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
- Our courier - APC- is working tirelessly to fulfil our deliveries, but they are extremely busy, so please be patient if these are less prompt than normal.
- Contact-Free Delivery - All deliveries are contact free and do not need to be signed for. It would be extremely helpful if you could provide any special delivery instructions at checkout to enable our couriers to complete their deliveries when expected. This could be a leave safe location or with a neighbour.
- We have temporarily suspended our 2nd Class Signed For single bottle delivery for £6.00. This is in an attempt to relieve pressure on the Royal Mail and implement responsible social distancing (we had to hand deliver these to our local post office). We are able to still send single bottle orders via our couriers APC but this is obviously significantly more expensive as reflected in our standard delivery charge of £9.99.
All the latest information regarding COVID-19 will be posted on our blog post here or via our social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.