Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

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derekrussan
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Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:26 pm

IMPORTANT CORONA VIRUS UPDATE

As of writing all shows are scheduled to proceed, but we are expecting that some sort of government ban will be applied that may affect some or all shows. We are also conscious that many will not want to travel to shows as they may be at risk.

We want to support our customers so we have now temporarily reduced the threshold of our free UK and CI postage from £100 to £30 for a large letter and £50 for all other shipments. This is applied automatically at checkout and applies to web orders only.

If you have placed an order for show collection on or before 13th March we will offer free UK postage for these orders irrespective of value.
Last edited by derekrussan on Sun Mar 15, 2020 12:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:27 am

We have just been informed that Railex, Aylesbury is cancelled.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Mon Mar 16, 2020 12:48 pm

And now Epsom Show is cancelled too.

I am getting to the point of not being able to type fast enough.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

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Paul Townsend
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby Paul Townsend » Mon Mar 16, 2020 8:27 pm

I am sure you will have financial issues to address but be relieved for the sake of your family's health

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:47 am

At Eileens Emporium we are doing our best to carry on working as normal, within government guidelines, until we are no longer able to do so.

We are a small team so have isolation under some degree of control. Following the lockdown announcement we held a video meeting with all staff and everyone has volunteered to continue to keep the mail order going and are not open to visitors. A lot of administration will be done from home keeping the office restricted to dealing with orders, both in and out. We will have to stop if the postal and courier services stop.

As stated earlier we have significantly reduced our threshold for free postage.

While not considered essential, we are very conscious that getting supplies to you can in itself be a great benefit to keep you occupied while at home.

We would like to thank all our customers for their on-going support during these incredibly hard times.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

Daddyman
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby Daddyman » Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:42 am

Hello Derek. I noticed on my last order that the standard rate of shipping has gone up from £3 to £4, an increase of 33%. Presumably this is a response to RM increases?

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Tue Mar 24, 2020 9:12 am

Daddyman wrote:Hello Derek. I noticed on my last order that the standard rate of shipping has gone up from £3 to £4, an increase of 33%. Presumably this is a response to RM increases?


I think this is our first increase in over 10 years. RM rates are indeed costing us a lot more as are packing materials and also increases in VAT rates. This includes VAT which we are required to charge VAT on postage.

I try to keep things simple for customers and ourselves, so a larger step less often. This is lower than the RPI change over the same period. Unlike some other suppliers we do not have a minimum order, and we have also reduced our threshold for free postage to £30 for Large Letters.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

Daddyman
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby Daddyman » Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:20 pm

All clear. Thanks for the explanation.

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:40 pm

derekrussan wrote:We are a small team so have isolation under some degree of control. Following the lockdown announcement we held a video meeting with all staff and everyone has volunteered to continue to keep the mail order going and are not open to visitors. A lot of administration will be done from home keeping the office restricted to dealing with orders, both in and out. We will have to stop if the postal and courier services stop.


Update, we will be a man down from tomorrow for family protection reasons. Some suppliers are now closed including Peco who have an order for us the wrong side of closed doors.

Continuing to try to make sanity out of chaos.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Fri Mar 27, 2020 8:59 am

Still going at Eileens, Down to half staff to maintain the spirit of the isolation guidelines. Just Anita and I going to the stores. We have been working long hours and got home about 8:00 last night. Most orders up to mid afternoon were shipped, some left yesterday, some bagged to go to Royal Mail this morning.

A few orders with stock issues need sorting and will deal with them Monday, also a couple of couriers that came in too late for the pick up.

We need to spend some time trying to re-order stock and other admin actions, so are not physically going in today, The website is still open and the phone will transfer to me, if I cannot answer I will ring you back.

Normality (whatever that is) returns on Monday if we are allowed to travel to the stores.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

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Re6/6
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby Re6/6 » Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:26 am

Thank you for your efforts Derek. I'm sure that we all appreciate it.
John

DaveHarris
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby DaveHarris » Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:10 pm

I echo Johns remarks, please stay safe

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Neil Smith
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby Neil Smith » Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:32 pm

And grateful thanks for the very swift shipping of my order, which was only placed on Wednesday and arrived this morning!

Wishing all well,

Neil

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:39 pm

Great to have customer (and friends) support. We will do all we can.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Fri Apr 03, 2020 6:48 am

Another week on and we are still shipping daily, and keeping well. Stock coming in from those suppliers that are still open. Running out of some items from those that are closed or have long lead times. Only a couple of days behind. We are having to put orders with shortages on hold rather than splitting them, which is time consuming and stops other orders going out. We are reserving the stock we do have for such orders. We will readdress this if and when we catch up. You will get a brief email if there is a shortage on your order. If you want us to split it please contact us and we will do our best.

The support we have had from customers has been tremendous. Thank you all for your orders and tolerance.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

David Catton
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby David Catton » Fri Apr 03, 2020 10:06 am

Order placed Sunday evening arrived this morning - fantastic service considering the difficulties under which you are working. Grateful thanks,

David C

tmcsean
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby tmcsean » Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:25 am

Good luck, Derek, during the national hiatus, and thanks very much for the speed with which you are turning round orders. My recent one came almost be return of post, double welcome since i was right out of .4mm drill bits.

Tony

Terry Bendall
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby Terry Bendall » Sun Apr 05, 2020 8:41 am

derekrussan wrote:The support we have had from customers has been tremendous.


Support is a two way process as the posts from David C and Tony show. :thumb I hope you and the team continue to keep well Derek.

Terry Bendall

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:13 pm

Once again, thanks to all our customers for their support and tolerance during this crisis.

I have had many customers thanking us for keeping them sane. So now it is time for us to take a couple of days off to try to restore our own sanity.

We plan to resume operations on Tuesday. We are presently running about 3 to 4 days behind, but expect this to increase to at least a week over the weekend, we will do our best to catch up during the week.

I am sorry if it seems harsh, but no more Mr. nice guy. We have to prioritise getting as much product to as many customers as possible. We will not be answering the phone so it will divert, if it cannot be dealt with by email then please leave a message. We will get back to you but not necessarily quickly. If we email you about an order please reply by email, not phone. For existing orders where we do not have email contact we will be using a different number and will leave that number if necessary to enable you to get back to us.

We are keeping the website open for ordering, but please note we will not take any order placed by any other means until we have caught up a bit. This is because such orders slow us down a lot. While we are aware that not all customers have internet access, many simply prefer to make orders by phone. We apologise if we are a bit short on the phone, but will try to be polite, but firm. This can be very slow when customers are making up lists on the fly. Typically, each telephone order stops 3 web orders from being shipped. Not a decision that has been easy to make, but it is essential.

We thank you all in advance for your understanding. Stay safe, keep well, keep modelling. Wishing you Happy Easter.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

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Winander
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby Winander » Sat Apr 11, 2020 7:30 pm

Derek & Co

Received my order today and pleased that it only took a few days - excellent service in these trying times.

I hope you all enjoy the break this weekend.
Richard Hodgson
Organiser Scalefour Virtual Group. Our meeting invitation is here.

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Rod Cameron
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby Rod Cameron » Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:10 pm

Likewise, I received an order last week with Derek even phoning me prior to posting to check on one item. Great service in these times, enjoy your break.
Rod

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barrowroad
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby barrowroad » Sun Apr 12, 2020 1:19 pm

May I reiterate what Rod and others have said about Derek, Anita and family. Brilliant service in these difficult times. I received an order last week with an amazing turn around time. Thanks again Derek, enjoy your short break.
Robin

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:22 am

Another week on and still going strong. With at least three more weeks of lockdown, we will keep doing what we are doing.

Thank you to all customers who have thanked us for getting their products to them in these difficult times.

We will continue our policy of not answering the phone as the lack or interruption means we can ship far more orders, we are managing to respond to most voicemails and emails same day. We are asking all customers to contact via email wherever possible. A reminder we are not taking any orders other than via the website, again to speed up the process.

As we anticipated we are currently running about 1 week behind. We are currently in the middle of processing orders from 12th April. If your order is older than that and still showing as Awaiting Picking it will be in a small pile of orders that are waiting for deliveries in the next day or two. If marked shipped, that means we have processed the order. If we process a Courier order after about 2:00pm it will not actually leave us until the next working day. The same applies to Royal Mail orders processed after about 3:30pm. We are seeing a small number of courier deliveries taking an extra day, and Royal Mail seem to be holding up well. If marked "Problem, Stock Availability" you should have received 2 emails, one is automated to show change of status, the other will give more detail as to why and where possible offer options.

We have just received some Modelu and some Cambrian kits. We are expecting deliveries within a couple days of flux (which comes as a pleasant surprise), small hand tools, sheet metal, imperial metal rods, metric strips and sections.

Cambrian will continue to arrive as production catches up. The only real issue is that the Herring kit (C110) is now out of production indefinitely as there is damage to the tool.

We are in the process of adding all the recent releases from Modelu to our website, but time is at a premium as you can imagine.

The greatest hold up is Peco, who told us a few days ago, before the lock down was extended, that they were trying to re-open the factory first to replenish stocks. Then resume trade sales in around 2 to 3 weeks. So currently we have no 0 gauge kits in stock and are low on much of the Ratio 00 range. We do still have most of the Wills sheets in stock. If you want to check stock before you order please email, we will try to get back next working day, but please remember someone else may have ordered it in the meantime.

We have stocks of most Gibson wheels after a delivery a few days ago, we cleared virtually all back orders but some ran out next day. Demand is however much greater than anticipated and overtaken our planning. We have deliveries due in about a month and more to follow.

So now on recovery and admin time over the weekend and back to the works on Monday.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.

derekrussan
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Re: Eileens, Corona Virus and Shows

Postby derekrussan » Sat May 23, 2020 11:25 am

Once again, thanks to all our customers for their support and tolerance during this crisis.

We are open for business and trying as hard as we can to get as many orders out as possible. With staffing levels restored to normal we are presently running about a day or two behind.

We have only been accepting orders placed through the website, but will resume taking telephone orders Thursday May 28th. It is much more efficient for us if you are able to place your orders on the website.

Stock is now our main issue. We are getting lots of stock in, but some suppliers are not operating and many are taking much longer than usual to supply. Many of our suppliers are in the same situation as we are, so stock levels are a serious issue. If we have stock orders are quick to process, however where there are shortages it takes at least twice as long to deal with. Please do not chase us until at lease a week has elapsed as this also slows us down, and then by email please.

Problem products include all Metal Sections and Strips. There have taken neasly 6 week to get through customs due to archaic and inefficient systems in use by Parcel Force. We are now expecting all shortages to be cleared with a delivery arriving on Tuesday 26th May, however there are so many orders awaiting this delivery it will take a couple of days to clear the backlog.

We are also awaiting deliveries from Gibson Wheels, HMRS transfers (one order came in last week, but more awaited), Reamers, Some BA fasteners, Some Slaters Sheets, Vallorbe files and several other items. We are doing our best to resolve these issues. We will try to notify customers of problems as we process their orders. We are seeing orders for quantities way beyond our normal stock levels on many item, so we are unable to guarantee delivery from stock.

Do not send orders by post, they will not be processed, we have not been in a position to accept cheque payments since all our local banks closed.

We thank you all in advance for your understanding. Stay safe, keep well, keep modelling.
Derek Russan, Eileens Emporium.


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