IMPORTANT: TO ALL DONNYBROOK PREORDER CUSTOMERS
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:01 pm
Dear All,
first of all let me thank you for supporting Donnybrook. Pre order sales were very good and that has helped us manage our considerable costs in terms of investment for the publication.
Now, the important news. I have seen a couple of comments from buyers regarding postage costs. I accept that postage was high on the book but want to offer some qualifying information to explain the initial position:
When we put the book up for pre order (at the special offer price of £24.50) we had to estimate the book weight in order to make the transactions valid. At that point we had no copies to weigh. The book is made from much heavier paper stock than BLB or R2E therefore we knew it was likely to be significantly heavier. We test weighed some blank samples and they came out at nearly 690g. This was right on the cusp of a 'cost bracket' increase for Royal Mail. If we'd estimated low we'd have had to pay heavy additional shipping costs without charging customers. Added to the discount this would have been financially pretty punishing due to the anticipated pre order demand. We therefore estimated the weight as per 'trial'. In event, when the book arrived it weighed only 600g. By then the postage had been 'bought' by customers. When we took the very large pre order to the post office we left the consignment with them to 'stamp and post' with instructions as to the postage rates. Otherwise we may have been murdered by pensioners queueing for their pensions! When I saw a blog review of the book mentioning second class post I was shocked as we send nothing 2nd class. We then checked the postal receipts. We found out that although all overseas shipments had been sent as per instructions, most UK deliveries had gone 2nd class despite our specific instructions to send first or recorded.
For this, we sincerely apologize. Their fault for not reading but our fault for not checking the receipts. By then it would have been too late but at least we could have told you. So, very sorry for that.
So, in an effort to prove that we are not total money grabbing bastards we are happy to do the following:
This applies to all online purchasers of Donnybrook from 1st order till today 2050 GMT.
Clarence and I are currently working on several pdf supplements for Donnybrook. They will include a 'Dark' supplement and several period specific options before and after 1660-1760. We reckon the RRP of these will be around the £6.99 mark. The first should appear over the next few weeks.
The above customers (we have you all on file of course!) will receive the pdf of their choice free. This should more than cover any overpayment on postage. All you need to do is email us when the one you want comes out. We hope this is a clear sign of our commitment to fairness.
Best regards
Barry & Clarence
first of all let me thank you for supporting Donnybrook. Pre order sales were very good and that has helped us manage our considerable costs in terms of investment for the publication.
Now, the important news. I have seen a couple of comments from buyers regarding postage costs. I accept that postage was high on the book but want to offer some qualifying information to explain the initial position:
When we put the book up for pre order (at the special offer price of £24.50) we had to estimate the book weight in order to make the transactions valid. At that point we had no copies to weigh. The book is made from much heavier paper stock than BLB or R2E therefore we knew it was likely to be significantly heavier. We test weighed some blank samples and they came out at nearly 690g. This was right on the cusp of a 'cost bracket' increase for Royal Mail. If we'd estimated low we'd have had to pay heavy additional shipping costs without charging customers. Added to the discount this would have been financially pretty punishing due to the anticipated pre order demand. We therefore estimated the weight as per 'trial'. In event, when the book arrived it weighed only 600g. By then the postage had been 'bought' by customers. When we took the very large pre order to the post office we left the consignment with them to 'stamp and post' with instructions as to the postage rates. Otherwise we may have been murdered by pensioners queueing for their pensions! When I saw a blog review of the book mentioning second class post I was shocked as we send nothing 2nd class. We then checked the postal receipts. We found out that although all overseas shipments had been sent as per instructions, most UK deliveries had gone 2nd class despite our specific instructions to send first or recorded.
For this, we sincerely apologize. Their fault for not reading but our fault for not checking the receipts. By then it would have been too late but at least we could have told you. So, very sorry for that.
So, in an effort to prove that we are not total money grabbing bastards we are happy to do the following:
This applies to all online purchasers of Donnybrook from 1st order till today 2050 GMT.
Clarence and I are currently working on several pdf supplements for Donnybrook. They will include a 'Dark' supplement and several period specific options before and after 1660-1760. We reckon the RRP of these will be around the £6.99 mark. The first should appear over the next few weeks.
The above customers (we have you all on file of course!) will receive the pdf of their choice free. This should more than cover any overpayment on postage. All you need to do is email us when the one you want comes out. We hope this is a clear sign of our commitment to fairness.
Best regards
Barry & Clarence