COVID-19 Response at Communicate AT - Sydney Lockdown
-- 12/10/2021 --
Hello everyone,
"Freedom Day" has come and gone and yet the pandemic is still with us. COVID-19 continues to impact the lives of people and businesses at home and abroad, whether that be parts shortages, staff shortages, ships and trucks shortages or simply just being short on time. I want to reassure you Communicate AT still has in place our rigorous COVID-safe business plan to ensure our services to you continue as unimpeded and as safely as we can manage. It's not quite how we throught our 10th year of operations (01/08/2011 to 01/08/2021) would go nor how we'd like to celebrate that anniversary, but we roll on. Much like Euro 2020 and the Olympics, we'll just have to postpone our 10 Year Birthday celebrations until the next year it seems.
Quick Links on this page:
Firstly, we’d again like to reiterate the advice of the Australia Government’s Department of Health -
|
STAY INFORMED
PROTECT YOURSELVES AND OTHERS |
Regular checks of the Department’s website can assist with those matters, here's the link
For our fellow Sydney-Siders and residents of NSW, also look at the NSW Government's COVID-19 webpage
Our intentions at Communicate AT are to heed the advice of the relevent government boides too, which includes implementation of social distancing in our own small office but more importantly, when interacting with our customers.
Our plan is to protect you, our customers, whilst still serving your assistive technology needs. Some aspects of what we offer are still via very different means, some stay the same although with additional aspects.
All of our operations have once again been reviewed and revised today. How you obtain your advice and information from Communicate AT or order your assistive technology through us will stay similar or the same, although the method of how we deliver "same" has changed again.
Customer interactions and customer order handling is at the top of our list. To that end, the following functions have been recently revised and are currently in place:
Latest Update (as of Tuesday 12/10/2021)
As NSW passes the 70% and 80% vaccination levels, we've revised what Communicate AT can and can't do, again.
Visits and Face-to-Face Meetings
All wheelchair mount installations and fittings, training, product demonstrations, meetings at our office and clinic room or visits to customers are still on hold for the time being and until after the 80% vaccination target has been reached.
We'll revise that stance on Monday 25th October, 2021 (the current projected 80% date).
We do this with all aspects of what that means taken into account. On balance, at the time of writing, we think it is best for our customer's wellbeing if we assist with your assistive technology provisioning remotely. We are more than happy to make an appointment time with you and conduct that session via video means however face-to-face appointments will need to be reconsidered for future dates.
We do this to ensure YOUR safety first, nothing more.
We look forward to the time when this paragraph can be re-written and we can once again help out in person.
If you'd like to arrange a video conferencing session via Zoom, Facetime, WhatsApp video, Skype, Google or any other - please contact Adam on 02 9971 0409 or drop us a note to the support email address. We can get most things done this way with some patience, a good portion of dedicated time, strong WiFi and good lighting.
Order Fulfilment until 08/11/2021
We continue to process and ship orders, however we have curtailed our full staff compliment in our Dee Why the office, with only Adam on deck for picking/pakcing of orders. Consequenty, we currently only ship orders on one day per week, which happens only on Friday.
This means there will be a slight delays to orders shipping out until at least 08/11/2021 as we clear the growing bottleneck of orders getting out the door.
Most of our product supply is somewhat uninterrupted from our overseas partners and suppliers however we can see some shortages in manufacturing now becoming evident.
Orders Shipped by Australia Post
Most of our orders are shipped to you via Australia Post (Express Post) using our eParcel account which means tracking is automatically sent to you (if an email address is provided) at the following stages:
- When we pack and lodge your order with eParcel
- When it is picked up (Fridays for the larger run) or dropped in at Dee Why Post Office
- When it is on it's way to you i.e. the day of delivery
- When it has been delivered or left in a safe place.
It is also advisable for us to collect a delivery mobile phone number which can be used to alert you of pending deliveries.
Here's the latest information from Australia Post on how they are coping too:
- Australia Post's Statement Service Updates - https://auspost.com.au/service-updates.
They also communicated this with us this morning which I thought I'd share with you.
With extended COVID-19 restrictions across many parts of Australia, Australia Post are seeing an increase in online shopping similar to volumes experienced in the lead up to Christmas 2020. Delivery delays may occur while their operations remain affected by restrictions and limited air freight capacity.
The best way to track parcels
The estimated delivery dates Australia Post provided through their tracking service remains accurate and is regularly updated. Your email and mobile number information is very important as it allows Australia Post to send tracking notifications and updates about your parcels and orders automatically which enables you to manage the delivery.
|
|
The best way to track and manage your deliveries is with the Australia Post mobile app. |
The Australia Post mobile app remains the best way for customers to track and manage deliveries.
Australia Post are here to support you as Communicate AT customers
Australia Post are taking every opportunity they can to reassure you that deliveries are ongoing and that they've put in place rigorous COVID-19 health and safety measures to help keep them safe. The Aus Post website is updated as circumstances evolve.
Orders Shipped by Couriers Please
We also use Couriers Please for bulkier order movements, like larger Wheelchair Mounts, Rolling Mounts and Floorstands. Here's their current update on their delivery responsiveness:
You'll also receive email and SMS tracking of your automatically sent to your from Couriers Please if that information is provided. That happens at the following stages:
- When your order has been picked up from our Dee Why office (usually on Fridays)
- When it is on it's way to you i.e. the day of delivery
- When it has been delivered or left in a safe place
If unsure, contact us and we can provide you with the order consignment number whcih is used as the tracking number.
I'm confident and satisfied that the responses from Australia Post and Couriers Please are adequate however will continue to monitor how that may evolve and will update on this blog post as required. There will be delays with both Express Post and Couriers Please delivery timeframes which is unfortunately out our control.
Our Responsiveness
One thing that we’ve noticed during the pandemic is the absolute need for assistive technology information and advice on it’s use.
The volume of phone calls we receive and email question that arrive in this regard is currently outstripping our resources to respond in a timely manner and that continues unabated into 2021.
With order fulfilment taking priority in our day to day until the end of the latest lock-down, this will leave longer timeframes between your questions and our replies, your quote requests and the quote being supplied.
We have structure around this with the start of the week geared towards getting what orders we can out the door and the later part of the week devoted to replies. It doesn’t always work that way, but that’s the plan at least.
Again, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in assistive technology and also for your patience whilst we work on getting back to you, we’d also like to encourage you to look through our AT Support library or our dedicated MOUNTING WEBSITE as well, there might the a nugget of information that could help out hidden in there somewhere.
All in all, Communicate AT is still open for business and busier than ever ready to help you with your assistive technology needs, albeit in somewhat different ways I suppose.
Lastly, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing support, we’re grateful for the support shown and trust we're assisting you on your assistive technology journey.
So stay informed, protect yourselves and others. Thanks for your understanding too.
All the VERY best!
Adam.
Adam Lynn
Owner, Communicate AT
last updated 12/10/2021 9:55am
