*If we think we can get a out-of-stock item fast enough we backorder and call the customer. If no answering machine, we email.

***For missing items, there is an ORANGE SLIP with info and ph# included in your package, so you can call or email to cancel any backorder. There is plenty of information on this slip to cancel any missing item that is backordered. If a product is totally sold out and there is no possible substitute, we email and credit/cancel the order. You are always notified by email since we can do nothing to replace it.
*Phone# - some customers seem to think we are going to sell or give there ph# to some crook. Even though the disclaimer is plainly posted…who reads instructions, right? When no ph# is provided, or a wrong one, or no answering machine, we always contact by emailing.

*We do make exceptions on RETURNING items so long as it is not chocolate or some other food (which could be dangerous if sold to someone else...or choc. (If you didn’t know): Chocolate will taste like smoke if it was subjected to cigarette smoke ets.) BUT when someone writes a scathing email it just sort of blocks our minds to helping those people LOL. THEN we simply follow policies. SURPRISE - WE’RE HUMAN BEINGS HERE! We rarely let anyone return a pan because in the past, people have "borrowed" them, baked their cake and returned them still dirty. Makes us feel like a fool for helping them. Once a local woman returned a set of tall pillars with icing still on them. She left and I happened to see icing on them. No more!

*You consumers RARELY come in contact with the bad people. Everyday we get scams tried on us...everyday YES! Mostly foreign. Use to be, cake decorators were all very nice, not now. One VERY VERY popular decorator (not too nice) ordered NEXT DAY...we busted butts shipping her on time. It was to go to Wilton for a course she was teaching. We even had to beg our supplier to make her molds because this bad person had ordered from her and never paid her…why she ordered from us to begin with! LOL  She had only her name for the ship-to address. Wilton returned it to us. SURPRISE…the gals at Wilton didn’t know who she was! We did charge her a re-stocking fee. We wasted a lot of time...and time is money to employee wages, the packing material etc.

* I may as well explain damaged boxes too LOL: We once took a tour through UPS huge packing plant. They have a special damage area with desk, tables, labels, new boxes etc. They had AT LEAST 100 damaged, smashed boxes piled in a heap. They were going to repackage the damaged goods and ship them on to customers. The customer gets it and blames us...the box is in perfect condition etc... To try and prevent "perfect condition" attacks by customers, we bought some crayons and started marking the brown tape we use to close the boxes. Granted, employees don't always remember to use the crayon...another problem. We always use brown strapping tape. UPS uses clear tape. You can bet if your box arrives with clear tape, UPS re-boxed your shipment. Once a package was returned by UPS to us…it contained a computer batter and an umbrella instead of the pastry filling we sent.

*In peek seasons, we ALL work longer hours. Employees may work 6 days a week. Sue works 6 days from 7 am to 10pm. I can’t do that as well as I use to at my age but I usually do 6 days and only 10 hrs a day. Sometimes (like this Christmas), we got 3 days behind…which generates a lot of "did it ship" emails, since people never give themselves enough time.

*We offer as many shipping options as possible. The ‘hurry ups": 2-3 day (2D) and 1-2 day (ND)… (means 2 day if the order gets here early enough in the day to get it shipped that same day). And 3 day if not. UPS doesn’t run on weekends so our shipping times do not include weekends. Skip that.

*One of these days soon we are going to try phone sales. If people start badgering for advice, ‘did it ship’, ‘what icing should I use’ etc, we’ll stop it. The ph# for phone orders will be posted soon. We have the computer, the ph# and the employee. Just got bogged down with the Holidays.

I hope this clarifies a lot of shipping information for you.
Dolores at http://www.sugarcraft.com