Important Information About Your Delivery

This useful guide contains information and advice about all aspects of your delivery. Please take a few minutes to read it. Also, please print it or save it on your computer for future reference. You should also have received our Important Product Information with comprehensive advice and useful tips to help you enjoy your purchase to the full. Please contact us if you have not received it.

This document also includes advice about signing the delivery note and what to do if your delivery is late or damaged.

UPDATE - Our next day delivery service is slower than normal and delays are more likely. All parcel networks are swamped due to a national shortage of drivers combined with a continuing surge in online sales. Please allow a few days extra. If your order is more than one carton they may be delivered separately on separate days. Often the carriers are unable to provide useful information and the online tracking is often not working at present. Thank you for your patience.

CONTENTS

Scroll down or click on the links below:

• SAFE PLACE - Where we can leave your parcel
• YOUR PARCEL DELIVERY
• THE DELIVERY VEHICLES
• THE DELIVERY
• LATE OR DAMAGED DELIVERY
• THE DELIVERY NOTE
• THE PARCEL NETWORKS

A SAFE PLACE

Never wait in for the delivery. Instead, always advise a safe place where your delivery can be left if you are out. That leaves you free to come and go as you please. You probably gave us a safe place instruction already but if not, or if you want to amend your safe place, it is not too late. Just leave a note for the driver on the front door.

Return to Top of Page

YOUR PARCEL DELIVERY

Parcels can be anything from a small bag up to a huge box that requires two people to move it. Small bags and boxes are easier to deliver with fewer problems than our larger parcels. Unfortunately, over 80% of our parcels weigh more than 25 kilogrammes, which most people consider heavy. Our heaviest parcels weigh around 75 kilogrammes. Our parcel deliveries include greenhouses, metal gazebos, smaller metal sheds, some garden furniture and a multitude of accessories.

• The picture above shows a typical selection of our parcels awaiting dispatch, including greenhouses and metal gazebos with a few small accessories on top. Most of the parcels are over 6ft (1.8m) long and weigh up to 30 kilogrammes.
• Every year we successfully deliver many thousands of parcels.
• The vast majority of our parcels consistently arrive on time and undamaged.
• Rather than waiting in for a delivery, we recommend that you give us a safe place where the parcel can be left if you are out. That way you can come and go as you please.

• The picture above shows a greenhouse. The longer boxes are the metal components. The other box is the polycarbonate glazing pack.
• The only way we can deliver our parcels throughout the UK within a day or two is using national parcel networks.
• The service is very good with few problems but with any national network problems may occur with a small percentage of deliveries.
• A typical parcel network consists of a local depot in each city with a large central hub.
• The local depot based near us in Norwich collects from us every day and delivers your parcel to the central hub.
• The final stage of the journey is delivery to you by your local depot.
• Every day several national parcel networks collect from our warehouses.

• The drivers use the trolleys pictured above, known as sack barrows, to move our heavy parcels without assistance.
• If there is reasonable access they can normally deliver it well inside your property.

THE DELIVERY VEHICLE

The delivery vehicle will be no smaller than the large van pictured below.

• The delivery vehicle will be no larger than the 7.5 tonne lorry pictured below.
• The larger lorries often include a hydraulic tail lift which makes unloading heavy parcels easier.
• We cannot always control which vehicle will be used for your delivery.

• Please advise if access for a 7.5 tonne lorry is difficult.
• Reasonable access to your property and parking directly outside is assumed.
• Please contact us if there are any low bridges, narrow bridges, weight limits, width limits, parking restrictions, unloading restrictions or narrow lanes at or near your property.

• Our larger lorries are bigger than the large bin lorry pictured below.
• Please advise if a large bin lorry cannot easily park outside your property.

• The larger lorries often include a hydraulic tail lift at the rear as pictured above, so the driver can lower the heaviest parcels to the ground without assistance.

Return to Top of Page

THE DELIVERY

• Your delivery could be at any time between 8am and 6pm unless you ordered our AM delivery option.
• Our AM delivery service is available in many areas at extra cost. Delivery could be any time between 8am and 1pm.
• If the AM delivery arrives after 1pm the extra AM delivery charge will be refunded in full.
• The busiest parcel carriers do not phone you before delivery. Instead we recommend that you advise a safe place where the goods can be left so you can come and go as you please.
• If you are called away unexpectedly and you did not advise a safe place, leave a signed note on the front door with instructions for the driver.
• Parcels are delivered by one driver, often using a trolley known as a sack barrow.
• All parcels are carried onto your property. The driver can normally carry small parcels into the back garden if required. This may also be possible with the largest parcels but sometimes these may be left at the front.
• A sack barrow can move easily over smooth concrete, paving or tarmac. It may also move a lighter load over softer gravel or lawn. The tyres are normally solid. It may not be possible to manoeuvre a sack barrow over steps or steep slopes.
• Take advantage of the driver while he is there. Most drivers are happy to help. So if you want the driver to help you with a heavy box, just ask. We cannot guarantee success every time but the driver could save you a lot of effort.
• If possible store the delivery somewhere undercover and off the ground. If not keep it dry and cover it as soon as possible after delivery.

LATE OR DAMAGED DELIVERY

• Occasionally a delivery is late. Perhaps the driver could not find your property or ran out of legally allowed driving time. Perhaps your parcel was loaded on the wrong van. Perhaps a parcel missed an overnight connection and failed to reach the local depot in time for delivery the next day. This is more likely in remote areas where the distances are greater.
• In most cases a late delivery follows on the next day. If not please contact us without delay, no later than the following day, so we can track your delivery.
• Occasionally a parcel may be delivered with signs of damage. If so check the contents promptly, no later than the following day. Often it is only the packaging which is damaged and the components are intact. If so, the box has done its job. If not, please report the damage
• If required we have extensive spares and we offer an old fashioned spares delivery service for many of our products.
• It is important to report a late or incomplete delivery promptly, no later than the following day.
• It is important to report a damaged delivery promptly on the day of delivery and to report the details of the damage, if any, no later than the following day.
• We need you to report late, incomplete or damaged deliveries promptly because within a day or two the driver may not remember the delivery. Conversely, if you report a problem quickly the driver may remember details such as where he left it or who received it.
• We also need you to report late, incomplete or damaged deliveries promptly because we have only a few days to make a claim on the carrier's insurance. If we do not claim quickly we receive nothing for lost or damaged deliveries. If you do not report problems promptly it is assumed that there were no problems.

Return to Top of Page

RECEIVING YOUR DELIVERY

• If you expect somebody else to receive the delivery on your behalf, please email this guide to them or print a copy and give it to them.
• If you are at home for the delivery, check the condition of the packaging and the number of cartons before you sign.
• The total number of packages is printed on every label e.g. Carton 1 of 3, Carton 2 of 3, Carton 3 of 3.
• If one or more packages is damaged or missing please do not refuse the delivery but add the word "damaged" or "missing carton" next to your signature.
• There is always space on a delivery note or a hand held device to add a brief note.
• If you are out for the delivery, check the number of cartons and the condition of the packaging on the day of delivery.
• Any damage or missing cartons must be reported on the day of delivery. Please CLICK HERE to Contact Us.
• Please email a photograph of any damage to enquiries@summergardenbuildings.co.uk. This makes processing a claim faster.
• When signing for the goods, never use the words "unchecked" or "not checked", which are often interpreted as "received in good condition".
• Since the Covid-19 pandemic, there is often no requirement to physically sign for goods. However, you are still receiving a delivery whether you sign something or not. You should report any damage or suspected damage to the driver and ask to see evidence that your concerns have been noted. If you are not reassured please advise us promptly on the day of delivery.

Return to Top of Page

THE PARCEL NETWORKS

The vast majority of parcels are delivered on time and intact, but not all of them. If you are one of the unlucky ones we can only apologise and try to resolve the problem. It can be very annoying if a parcel delivery is late, incomplete or damaged. Unfortunately we cannot operate without the national parcel networks and we cannot change them. Although it does not solve anything we thought it may help you to understand a little about how they operate:

• National parcel networks are based on a bicycle wheel structure, with one central hub and lots of spokes, each leading to a local depot.
• Every day each depot collects parcels from within its own local area, which are delivered to the central hub that night.
• After each truck has been unloaded, it is filled up with parcels which need to be delivered by that depot in its local area on the following day.
• Early the next morning, the lorries return to the depot with all of the parcels they need to deliver that day in their local area.
• The parcels are then loaded into smaller vehicles, each of which delivers and collects within a small patch of the local area.
• Smaller parcels up to 4ft (1.2m) long and 2ft (0.6m) wide are transported in cages, as pictured below.
• Cages are moved efficiently by fork lifts and require less handling as they travel quickly through the network.
• The cages also protect the parcels from damage.
• Small parcels are more likely to arrive on time and undamaged.

• Unfortunately, most of our parcels are far too large to fit in the cages.
• Large parcels are handled manually along with other large items.
• Manual handling occasionally causes delays and damage but it is the only way such large and heavy boxes can be moved at all.
• On busy nights the networks do not always have enough space on the lorries for all of the larger parcels. If a backlog develops overnight it may not be cleared until the next day and some of our large parcels may be delayed by a day.
• It is a similar story at the central hubs where huge conveyors automatically scan and sort thousands of smaller parcels every hour.
• Unfortunately, most of our parcels are far too large for the automatic conveyors so they are sorted by hand.
• On a busy night there may not be enough staff in the hub to process all of the large parcels by hand. As a result a backlog may develop and some of our large parcels may be delayed by a day.
• Unfortunately most parcel networks refuse to carry our largest parcels so our choice is limited.

• The picture above shows an automatic parcel sorting line at a major hub.
• The conveyors on the right feed parcels from inbound lorries into the main conveyor on the left, which travels around the entire warehouse.
• Each box is automatically scanned on the conveyors and filtered off at the correct exit for loading onto an outbound lorry.
• The conveyors are only 2ft (0.6m) wide. You can clearly see how boxes over 2ft (0.6m) wide could easily cause a pile up.
• If your order consists of several parcels of different sizes and weights then each parcel will be processed separately. One parcel could be in a cage with small parcels, another in a cage with larger parcels and another could be handled manually.
• Furthermore, due to network size and weight restrictions your parcels may be sent on two different networks.
• As a result, it is not unusual for each parcel to be delivered separately at different times.

Return to Top of Page

THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING WITH SUMMER GARDEN BUILDINGS

We produced these guidance notes in order to inform and reassure our customers, with detailed advice about many aspects of the delivery. However, despite our best efforts to provide comprehensive and accurate information and to update the details as required it is not always possible to describe in advance every situation which may arise. We apologise if your specific circumstances or queries are not adequately covered. All timescales are approximate and any procedures described may be subject to change. Please contact us if you have any queries.