We have been monitoring the development of the Coronavirus pandemic, changes in our supply chain, and government advice to be able to offer modified service for all Home Institute customers.
Orders
Home Institute is currently taking and fulfilling orders by operating a modified service.
Shipping
The majority of our items are dispatched normally.
Standard shipping services are in place.
Warehouse protocols to protect the health and wellbeing of staff mean that some orders may take longer to be dispatched than normal. If we anticipate not being able to delivery your order inside the standard delivery timeframes, we will contact you to provide option including the cancellation of your order.
To avoid confusion, we have temporarily suspended the Expedited Delivery service as we can not presently guarantee same day dispatch for next day delivery.
Lead-times for pre-orders & backorders
Home Institute sells products from around the globe and various national policies to prevent the spread of Coronavirus are having an impact on supply chains. The situation is evolving quickly and changing frequently.
We are have experienced some delays in our supply chain which impacts some pre-ordered and backordered items. These are now largely due to manufacturing delays from earlier in 2020. And now, importation delays due to the end of the Brexit transition period.
We will continue to update the lead-times with the best information we have. If we expect not be able to meet these lead-times due to changes in supply chain, we will contact you with the revised delivery date and provide options including the cancellation of your order.
Packaging
According to a study, Coronavirus can remain on cardboard for around 24 – 48 hours and plastic for up to 72 hours, however it is largely inviable in a matter of hours. In an abundance of caution to prevent the contraction of Covid-19 we are quarantining inbound shipments for one working day, and we suggest do the same with all parcels. We are also using cardboard and paper where possible, but retain the use of bubblewrap for fragile items.
Home Institute also uses third-party warehouses and they have their own policies in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Delivery
Courier companies have implemented a policy where the driver signs for the parcel upon delivery. This now serves as the proof of delivery. We suggest that you have the parcel delivered to your door, and let the courier step back to a safe distance before taking receipt of the parcel(s).
Customer service
The Home Institute team are now remote working and we are continuing to provide customer service.
Queries are currently being managed in an ad hoc manner so please allow addition time for a response. We aim to respond to questions within one working day however please note that our suppliers and partners are also operating reduced and/or reduced service and often we require a response from them in order to be able to fully answer your questions.
Timeframes
We will continue to monitor the situation and scale up and de-escalate the measures in response to the advise provided by industry, health officials and government.