Keep up to date with our site, products and transcription.
Reduced service May 2012
We will be on reduced service from Thursday May 10 until Tuesday May 29. It is intended that all orders will be despatched in our usual timescales; email responses will be slower than usual and phone calls will be difficult.
If you can, you might wish to order or make enquiries before May 10.
We are sorry if our reduced service causes you any inconvenience.
Christmas and New Year
We will be at work until 2.00pm on Friday December 23, then closed until reopening on Tuesday January 3.
We hope you have a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2012.
Conference kit
We've updated the digital recorder which forms part of our Conference Kit.
The excellent Olympus LS-5 has been replaced by the even snazzier LS-3, smaller and neater with more versatile microphones, and the price is down too - just £189!
Special Delivery - final chapter?
This next day service seems to have settled down, perhaps because we've started presenting the mail in a slightly different way which seems to have helped.
Let's hope so.
Special Delivery, again
They've done it again, or rather they haven't - another Royal Mail deivery failure for another customer.
If you don't definitely need it next day our advice is to choose 1st class and hope for the best.
When you do need next day, UPS are highly reliable but you have to order from us by 1345 to get it processed in time for our collection.
More dictation packages to come
We're working on some new digital packages with a greater choice of recorder which should be added in the next few days.
The Philips 9380 which we offer at present is a great machine with full insert and editing functions which are very useful, but which do add to the price. We're going to add some voice recorders without insert/edit which will be more economical, though less convenient for changes on the go. But of course you can make changes at the end of your work for adding when the main body has been done.
September 1 - Special Delivery reinstated - for now
Recent experience with Royal Mail Special Delivery suggests that it is working better now and we have felt able to reinstate it as a delivery option.
If performance deteriorates we may have to suspend it again. Let's hope it stays improved.
August 25 - more on RM Special Delivery
We sent another Special Delivery on Monday and it wasn't delivered until Wednesday - a whole day later than it should have been.
Having tried to call our Mail Centre in Chelmsford we gave up and had to write them a letter. Sheesh!
We're trying to get to the bottom of why these delays are happening and if we can ever reinstate SD as a shipping option for you. More news when we get a response.
August 17 - new delivery option
We have added a new delivery option - Hermes couriers - who already deliver much of the nation's home shopping to households the length and breadth of the country. It isn't fast (3-5 days is the guide time) but you may already have a relationship with your local Hermes courier, and s/he may know where goods can be left, etc which might make for a smoother delivery.
Choose Hermes in the shipping options if you'd like to try them, and if you can order before 1000 we may be able to get it out the same day - they have a VERY early cut-off for booking collections from us.
August 11 - Special Delivery option suspended
Several of our customers have experienced delays to their Special Delivery (SD) items this week and we have reluctanty withdrawn the SD option for the present.
We have usually used SD for next day deliveries to residential addresses for some years because it has generally been reliable, and - love them or hate them - Royal Mail go to every house in the country every day. And if no-one is home it's generally not too difficult to pick it up from the delivery office which is usually in the same town.
But there is nothing more annoying for you, and us, than to send by Special Delivery and the package doesn't arrive when it should. And it is simply appalling that they charge £10.98 for next day delivery and don't deliver.
If you need next day delivery please choose the UPS option, though this does need to be ordered by 1345. UPS are usually highly reliable and conscientious, though less convenient if you have to collect your package from the depot which may be a long way away.
We will monitor the situation and restore Special Delivery when we think it's safe to do so.
Sorry.