Happy 2011 & a big thank you to all our customers for shopping with BasketsGalore last year & throughout the years!

Christmas 2010 was certainly a challenge as we experienced some of the most extreme weather conditions ever faced across the UK & Ireland. The snow, ice & sub-zero temperatures experienced throughout December grounded flights, closed rail links and left traffic at a standstill. Read more here.

At BasketsGalore we managed to keep dispatching all your Christmas gifts, despite nearly getting snowed in on a couple of occasions. A Thunder-Snow storm hit (a thunder & lightning storm with snow rather than rain – a rare phenomenon apparently) & we had to dig our cars out to get home (pictures to follow soon!) Some of our suppliers couldn’t reach our premises to deliver new stock, so we had to greet them at the top of the road & carry boxes through the snow.

Obviously after we dispatch our gift baskets, they need to be delivered to the end recipient by courier. Unfortunately the unusual circumstances meant deliveries were sometimes delayed by a few days due to the difficulties faced by the courier drivers. Scottish delivery depots were amongst the most badly affected. Some courier companies even had to stop accepting deliveries to Scotland 2 weeks before Christmas.

We have had reports of depots being forced to close for up to 4 days due to vans sliding off roads, employees being snowed in & drivers having to sleep in their vans!
At BasketsGalore we have been working hard to fix any delivery problems, so please do get in touch if you need help tracking a delivery.

Obviously with some depots being forced to shut or unable to carry out deliveries, a huge backlog of parcels built up which they worked around the clock to get delivered in time for Christmas. Parcels being dispatched in the week leading up to Christmas could no longer be guaranteed to arrive by the 24th, but many still did get there. We have had lots of lovely comments about happy recipients being surprised the gift basket even managed to reach them! The couriers then re-opened on 29th December to clear any further backlogs.

Some courier companies were still struggling with backlogs in certain regions for the first couple of weeks in January, but we have been upgrading all orders to an Express delivery service & monitoring these dispatches. We are pleased to confirm that all UK & Ireland consignments are being delivered the following day. Unless of course the recipient wasn’t at home or they live in a remote/extended area. So it seems that things are back to the normal, speedy service.

We wish to thank you all again for your continued support & your understanding about the difficult conditions this December. If we can be of any assistance then simply drop us an email & our customer service team will be happy to help.

All the best for 2011 & we hope to help you with any get well, birthday or new baby gifts you might need!

The BG Team