coronavirus-update

The Coronavirus outbreak is having an unprecedented effect on our lives and economy. Below is information about how the outbreak has affected us and how it may affect you, your deliveries, and your returns.

Our Team

Our priority will always be the safety of our team and the various agencies and factories that rely on Corset Story for their livelihoods. But, it is also important for us to adapt and find ways of creating work in a safe and controlled environment to ensure that we are still moving forward, when we come through this global crisis together. Corset Story is a small company, which has enabled us to act very quickly. Our team saw the potential danger of the Coronavirus outbreak weeks before the UK government began imposing restrictions on movement. We instantly identified the employees we thought were "high risk" and told them to stay at home, for their safety. Our high-risk employees are not being asked to do any work for the company. The majority of the rest of our team has been working from home since the middle of March. All of our employees are being paid in full as normal.

Although we are a small team, we work closely with numerous freelancers and agencies, who rely on our projects. During this crisis we are committed to not only honouring current commitments. But, we also intend to create new and exciting ones, wherever possible, to ensure our dependants are supported and busy.

Our Warehouse

Our warehouse is open for business as usual. Numerous safety measures were introduced in the 2nd week of March in the warehouse. We only have two team members working in the warehouse at any one time. These teams of two are always observing "social distancing." And, training for coronavirus hygiene has been reinforced for all team members. We have stopped 3rd Party couriers from entering the building with deliveries and have introduced stringent daily disinfecting of all surfaces and doors, which might be used in a working day.

Tailors/Production

The tailors, who work for us in different countries, are currently/or have already been off work on full pay for 3-4 weeks, for their safety, depending on how far the virus has progressed in their country. This may cause a delay for the delivery of our "Pre-Order" designs. We have updated our delivery time from "6-8 weeks," to "6-12 weeks" accordingly. Delays are not guaranteed. However, we have privately messaged our customers, who have orders with us, whom we feel are most likely to be affected.

Shipping

We work with various couriers around the world, generally we are not seeing any serious delays. But, the couriers are very busy at present. So, please allow an additional 2 days for your parcel to arrive. Some weeks ago, we moved all shipping services we thought would be affected to Express services, at no extra charge to our customers, as the delivery times of Express shipping services seem to be largely unaffected by the pandemic. We are now seeing our Express couriers are starting to add hefty surcharges for parcel shipments. Currently, we are absorbing these costs. We have also seen the cost of inbound freight tripled in the last few weeks.

Returns

We have extended our returns policy to 90 days from the date of your order. If it is not safe or practical for you to drop a return parcel off then do not worry, we will honour your exchange or refund once it is safe to get to your nearest Drop Off location once again. Our returns shipping labels are only valid for seven (7) days. If you are ready to set up an "Online Return," please wait to set up the "Online Return" until it is safe for you to leave your home and drop off your parcel. If you have already created your "Online Return," please click here to contact Customer Services, whom will be able to further advise you.

Thank you for your attention and support in these difficult times. Be safe!

Chris Rawlings

Corset Story CEO