Welcome to our Kiravans HQ weekly update.
This week we thought we’d focus on our customer service team and how the team are managing and adapting to working from home.
Just before the COVID-19 crisis, we published a blog all about the importance of Kiravans customer service. It discusses how we used to outsource calls through a call handling company prior to September 2019, but most recently we decided it was the best solution for Kiravans to bring calls back in house….more dedicated staff and our expert product knowledge meant this was a no-brainer. It’s crucial to our business that we can offer direct, first hand support and advice to our customers when they really need it. Some of you may have read it, but in case you missed it the link is included above for your reference. To our delight, a local newspaper, Keighley News, featured a related article about us, As a small business, we feel it’s very important for us to provide content where we can and support and entice readers from local and surrounding areas and we are always really proud to be included.
If you’ve been checking in with us every week, you’ll be up to speed on how we’re all working remotely from home and trying to get as good a balance as possible between caring for family and friends, homeschooling, housekeeping and of course working during these challenging times!
Well we’re three weeks into this now and if we do say so ourselves, we’re becoming more accustomed to this way of working and seem to be cruising along quite nicely, in spite of the miserable situation so many people find themselves in.
At the moment our customer service team is available from 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM Monday to Thursday and 8.30AM until 1.30PM Friday. We’re using some excellent technology -
Wildix IP telephony and our re:amaze support system, which means we have a single inbox for everything including live chat, email, Facebook and YouTube so if you have any questions or need advice relating to our products or campervan conversion, we’re on hand to get back to you.
Customer service and the wider team stay in touch using Basecamp software. Basecamp is a marvellous piece of software, a real-time communication tool, that we already used in the office but also gives us the flexibility to work remotely and collaborate with team mates as if we were sitting right next to each other. It allows us to create projects, assign tasks, get notifications on what your colleagues are working on in real-time, and communicate in the context of every project and task.
And we mustn't forget about our Zoom daily coffee breaks...we have regular daily meetings when whoever's available can jump on the Zoom link and say hello to their teammates. It’s been invaluable for us to keep up to date with developments over the last few weeks.
So what's the future for Kiravans?
Who knows in these challenging times...but we're definitely getting used to working from home and beginning to wonder if we should carry on doing it for maybe a day or two every week in future. It means zero commuting, perhaps more flexible working hours to fit better with family lives...although it does have to be said that we’re all missing the social side of coming into the office as, no doubt, much of the country is feeling just now.
Service & Delivery Information
Warehouse: Still up and running and pretty much business as usual. We have stock, we’re taking orders, and we’re shipping out every day. At the moment we can’t guarantee same day dispatch, so we have added a couple of days to our estimated delivery times to accommodate this.
UK Couriers: Some local delivery delays, but networks seem to be coping well.
EU Couriers: No deliveries in quarantine areas. Other areas 24-48 hour delays are to be expected. Only 1 delivery attempt will be made before parcels are returned to sender. Please only order if you are confident you will be home to receive the delivery (otherwise we have to pick up the cost of the returned parcel)
Customer Collection in Person: Temporarily suspended.
Product Availability: Currently good, but with some delays getting stock of lining carpets & less popular swivels. A delivery of windows is expected early next week. We have had to swap in a couple of alternative lining colours temporarily.
Customer Service: Our customer service team is available from 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM Monday to Thursday and 8.30AM until 1.30PM Friday so let us know if you have any questions or need any advice. Live chat is always the quickest way to get in touch.
No Quibble Returns: Just a reminder that we have a very straightforward approach to customer returns....we don’t ever quibble! We just want to reassure you that if you place an order with us then you can have absolute peace of mind that you can return it, no quibbles,s, whatever the reason. Please just be aware that it may take a few extra days for us to process the return at this end.
Free UK Delivery: Still applies for the coming week (but we’d really appreciate it if you could bump up your orders to over £40… lower than that and we tend to lose money on shipping your order - which is obviously something we’d like to avoid doing just now).
We will continue to keep in touch and let you know what we are doing here at Kiravans and look forward to keeping in touch with you all.
Stay safe and please look after yourself and your loved ones.
On behalf of everyone in our team.
