Blog | footpedals.net

Reduced service May 2012

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:41:53 +0100

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

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:12:14 +0000

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

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:46:05 +0100

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The excellent Olympus LS-5 has been replaced by the even snazzier LS-3, smaller and neater with more versatile microphones, and the price is down too - just £189!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?

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 17:44:23 +0100

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

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:56:36 +0100

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

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:01:38 +0100

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

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:34:39 +0100

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

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:25:28 +0100

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

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:25:44 +0100

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

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:04:45 +0100

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.

August 3 - Express Scribe

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:04:06 +0100

Most of our foot pedal customers use Express Scribe transcription software - it's a great program and we're all grateful to NCH in Australia for providing it. There has been a long-standing issue with Express Scribe not being able to play .ds2 files produced by the latest Olympus dictating recorders, but the latest version 5.30 from 15.7.2011 does play .ds2 fles!

It's a great step forward which will make the software a lot more flexible, and allow use of Olympus recorders which we should add to our list very soon.

If anyone has any experience - good or bad - of playing ds2 files in Express Scribe, let us know.

Get the latest Express Scribe from here

First Posts

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:00:36 +0100

We've just launched our redesigned website which we hope will be easier to find your way around. Our old site did a fantastic job over several years, but times change and so do we. The site may have a clean new look, but our commitment to our customers remains as strong as before.

Monday July 25
USB foot pedals are now in stock. We had a big order which all our stock and whenever you need quick replenishment, it goes slower than usual! But they're back in stock now!

Thursday July 28
Thanks for your responses to the new website which have been overwhelmingly positive. We're still making tweaks here and there to organise stuff better and make it smoother to use, so there should be improvements over the next few days and weeks.

We've also been able to expand the guidance on using your Android device for dictating, thanks to some experiments on an amazing htc Wildfire S smartphone; this is a extremely well sorted little phone, though the soft keys are a bit small for adult size fingers! The guidance on iPhones could be brought up to date, any suggestions welcome, as we're not rich enough to run iPhones!