Just over a week ago, we launched our Black Friday promotion in the NSRA Shop and the response has been far greater than we had ever expected. So much so that we took the decision last Wednesday, 23 November, to temporarily close the website while we cleared the backlog of orders. The website will remain closed for a further temporary period. We have received well over 600 orders and we are pleased to confirm we are making progress in processing them all. Many will be posted today following two days of Royal Mail strikes. The aim of the promotion was to clear existing stocks and therefore this is why we clearly stated on all our communications the discount only applied to items in stock and while stocks last. Unfortunately we are unable to fulfil orders at the discounted price if they are not in stock. In a number of cases sales have exceeded stock availability so we are contacting the customers concerned and processing immediate refunds. You will not be charged for any product or service you have not received. We apologise for any disappointment caused.
In the first part of 2023, we will be upgrading our systems to avoid such an occurrence in the future. This will coincide with a shop refurbishment in 2023 so the shopping experience for all our customers, whether online or in-store, will be significantly enhanced. It is important we clarify the facts for you as the shop is a very important part of the NSRA’s future plans for 2023 and beyond. We respectfully ask customers to refrain from using abusive behaviour towards our staff in the Shop. We completely understand you may well be frustrated by waiting for a return phone call or email reply and we have additional staff from the Lord Roberts Centre on hand to help with this effort. An additional phone line we have introduced is 01483 485521.
All of our customers are incredibly important to us so when we let you down it is something we take very seriously. Finally, we thank you for your business, sincerely apologise if we have been unable to fulfil your order on this occasion and will work tirelessly to restore your confidence if you have been left disappointed over the past week.