Holiday Delivery FAQs - 2009/2010 At Mad About Food we pride ourselves on the quality of service we are able to provide you throughout the year. For the busy Holiday Season we'd like to suggest the following guidelines that will help ensure that level of service extends through all your gift giving. Same Day Orders Call us, we'll do our best, but same day orders can't be guaranteed and may incur an additional $20.00 “Rush” courier charge. Same Day Rush orders are only available in the City of Vancouver. Please note: Weather conditions are beyond our control. If our same-day and overnight couriers are unable to deliver your gift due to weather conditions or the recipient is not there to receive the gift, there really isn't anything we can do to ensure your gift arrives when you'd really like it to get there. Order early and allow for the possibility of weather delays to ensure your gift is delivered when you want it to arrive. Orders to US Destinations Monday, December 14, 2009 – The last day to place an order for US delivery. Although we do our best to get US-bound gifts out as quickly as possible we're unable to guarantee the arrival date of any US deliveries. We can give you an estimated delivery date, but weather conditions and US Homeland Security can affect when your gift is received. Please allow plenty of lead time for US-bound gifts – US customs can take time to process shipments. Arrival dates are estimated, never guaranteed. If customs or duty charges are incurred for US shipments they will be billed back to you. Please note that these charges can be hefty. We do our best to ship your US-bound gifts so they don't incur these charges, but if duty is assessed, we're invoiced by the Customs Broker and are unable to avoid the additional charges. Gift baskets sent to the United States are subject to the US government's Bio Terrorism Act and The Food and Drug Administration's Prior Notice policies. We add an additional $7.50 fee per gift basket to our shipping charges to compensate for the additional time required for us to complete the Prior Notice and Commercial Invoice documentation that must accompany each US-destined gift basket shipment. Last Orders – Canadian Destinations Please note: These dates have been chosen to enable us to turn around your order and get it on its way within 48 hours. You're welcome to order after these dates for any destination; however you risk your gift not arriving in time for Christmas. Also, keep in mind the possibility of weather and other delays which may affect the arrival of your gift. We do our best, but the weather is out of our control! Monday, December 14 - Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes Wednesday, December 16 - Saskatchewan and Manitoba Friday, December 18 - Alberta and British Columbia Last Orders – Overseas Destinations Tuesday, December 8 - last day to place an order for overseas Air Express delivery. Please note that a parcel sent by air overseas weighing less than 2 Kg (4.4 lbs) may cost up to $50.00, plus fuel surcharge. If you want your parcel tracked, expect to pay substantially more, even for small packages. We use Canada Post's International Air Parcel service because it's both cost and time effective. We cannot guarantee the arrival of your package due to the nature of international shipments. Holiday Closures We will be closed from Noon, Wednesday, December 23, re-opening Monday, January 4, 2010. Any shipping issues that arise after we're closed will be resolved as soon as possible on January 4, 2010. Holiday Hours 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Closed Saturday and Sunday (except by appointment) Please leave a detailed voice mail outside these times or if the line is busy, and we'll return your call as quickly as possible. Perishable Items We do not stock cheese or fresh fruit. During the busy holiday season we're unable to include these items in your gifts because of the additional time it takes to shop and pick-up these items. During the winter we will substitute beverages, with other items to ensure freezing doesn't happen and result in your gift being ruined. If you request the beverage be shipped, including wine, we can't assume the liability for a bottle that freezes during shipment. Deliveries to Residential Addresses Whenever possible, please provide a business address for delivery of your personal gift. Successful deliveries to residential addresses really depend on the person being home. We're unable to guarantee a specific delivery time, unless you're willing to specify the delivery must be made either before 9am or 10:30am. Additional charges apply (ask us) for earlier, guaranteed delivery times. Of course, these delivery times are also subject to winter weather conditions. If they're not home, the package is redirected to the courier's depot and if they or we are not able to contact the recipient the recipient will be asked to come to the depot and pick up their package. Business Days – What Do They Mean During the Holiday Season? We've tried to indicate the number of business days it may take for your gift to arrive and be received by the recipient. Year round, Saturday and Sunday are not business days. During the 2009 holiday season, December 25 through December 28 and January 1 will not be business days, which means no deliveries will take place on these days. We've found it's wise not to count on deliveries on December 24 either. For example if we've advised it will take "four business days" to arrive and it's sent out on a Thursday, assume, barring any difficulties related to weather or your recipient not being there to receive the gift, that your gift will arrive Wednesday of the following week. Tracking Your Gifts Due to the volume of gifts we send for delivery during the holiday season if it's really important for you to know when your gift has arrived, please ask in advance that we include your email address when the gift is shipped. (Please note that this only applies to our Purolator shipments and some Canada Post overseas shipments.) Our Vancouver-based local courier company generally lets us know when they've been unable to deliver a gift. Otherwise, we'll try to provide tracking details as soon as we have time. Please give us at least 24 or more hours to get back to you. Redirection Fee Please ensure you provide complete and current addresses, including phone numbers. If our courier company is unable to deliver to the address you provide, or the package must be re-directed, we're charged extra. We have no choice but to bill you for the re-direct charges we receive. Your credit card will be charged an additional $10.00 for each re-direct.   We'd love to hear from you! Phone: 604.736.2510, or toll-free: 1.866.736.2510