Delivery / Shipping FAQ

Royal Mail - All methods (including special delivery)

A significant portion of shipments are delayed, often for a number of weeks. Nearly all shipments are delivered after a delay. International shipments are prone to lengthier delays (potentially months) than domestic shipments (usually weeks). NOT recommended for even mildly urgent orders. Special deliveries are prioritised but are no longer guaranteed and are prone to delays also.

UPS - All methods

Majority of deliveries are still successful within the time-frame displayed at checkout. International deliveries prone to delays. UK deliveries can have 1-2 day delays.

DPD - All methods

Majority of deliveries are still successful within the time-frame displayed at checkout. International deliveries prone to delays. UK deliveries can have 1-2 day delays.

Unfortunately at present we're experiencing a severe spike in demand (a massive increase in orders) and we have fewer staff (than our usual small team of 3) to process orders than we usually would. This is due to the fact that we're working from home as much as possible, and are only at the warehouse when necessary to process orders. and to complete tasks that can't be done from home. That combined with the additional measures in place to keep our staff and our customers safe does mean that we aren't always able to meet same day dispatch targets as we would like to.

If you paid for UPS or DPD shipping and your and your order isn't shipped within 1 working day (e.g. within 24 hours of the expected dispatch date), please let us know and we will refund you for your shipping fee.

If you used a Royal Mail shipping method, unfortunately these shipments aren't eligible for a refund when held up, as there are severe (up to multiple week) delays throughout the RM network at present, so they are not considered a shipping priority like UPS and DPD.

At present, a delivery delay is not unusual due to the pandemic causing (in some cases massive) backlogs at courier depots. Couriers also have significant staff shortages at present, and as a result they're under a lot of stress - a significantly higher workload with significantly fewer staff to accomplish their goals. This means a backlog builds up, and delays happen, however you should not be concerned. You may have to wait a while, but your order will reach you in almost all cases as couriers work through the backlogs.
 

Royal Mail - All methods

Unfortunately we can't consider the item lost until either Royal Mail resumes normal service, or lockdown measures end - whichever happens later. Despite this, please notify us if your order hasn't reached you within 3 weeks (for UK customers) or 5 weeks (for international customers) so that we can log your issue and potentially open a case in the mean time.

UPS  - All methods

If your order is late and the tracking number has not been updated for more than 3 days, please email our support with your order number and tracking number and we will open a case for you. The purpose of this is to either locate your order or have it declared lost so that we can refund or resend your order for you.

DPD  - All methods

If your order is late and the tracking number has not been updated for more than 3 days, please email our support with your order number and tracking number and we will open a case for you. The purpose of this is to either locate your order or have it declared lost so that we can refund or resend your order for you.

Royal Mail - All Methods

If your tracking number is in any format other than XX000000000XX (where X's represent any single letter, and 0's represent any single digit number), your shipping method only uses basic tracking and will only update when a delivery attempt is made (whether it is successful or not). Please only contact us if it shows a delivery has been made but you've still not received your parcel within a day as we may need to open a case for you then.
 
For other tracking numbers, please be aware that Royal Mail delays at present are very common and in some cases lengthy. If you have a tracking number, despite what it may say on their tracking page we will have handed your order over to Royal Mail, as the number is only generated by us when we do so. Unfortunately long backlogs at local depots at present may delay the tracking updates by days or in rare occurrences over a week. It's also not unheard of for tracking to fail entirely at present, as frustrating as that can be for all involved, and still have the order arrive. Please refer to "My delivery is late"-related FAQ questions in this section before contacting us.

UPS - All Methods

Please allow up to 3 working days for your tracking to update - if it does not update within 3 days, please contact us with your order number and tracking number and we will contact the courier to resolve this for you. We may or may not need to open a case for your shipment, but will let you know once you have contacted us.
 

DPD - All methods

Please allow up to 3 working days for your tracking to update - if it does not update within 3 days, please contact us with your order number and tracking number and we will contact the courier to resolve this for you. We may or may not need to open a case for your shipment, but will let you know once you have contacted us.

Royal Mail - All methods

Royal Mail cases can take up to 30 days for domestic issues, 90 days for international. However, we typically find it is significantly less than these estimates Royal mail provides.

UPS  - All methods

UPS typically reply to us within 1-2 days and have cases resolved within a week. Note however there is a risk of delay during this pandemic, so these estimates can't be set in stone.

DPD  - All methods

DPD typically reply to us within 1-2 days and have cases resolved within a week. Note however there is a risk of delay during this pandemic, so these estimates can't be set in stone.

We automatically send emails to confirm your order has been received, and to confirm when it has shipped. They're sent to either the email address used on the order, or the email used for your account on our site. Please check your spam folder if you can't find any emails from us. If you have an account, you can check your order for information (including your tracking number) here: https://www.unmannedtechshop.co.uk/my-account/orders/ once logged in.

Stock / Backorder FAQ

At present, all of our inbound shipments are prone to (potentially severe) delays. We're constantly restocking all of our items, and once they go out of stock the ETA for more is approximately 2 weeks. Unfortunately, at present we can't provide guaranteed ETA's for stock due to the risk of severe delay.

Items on backorder are unfortunately prone to the same delays as items that are out of stock. If it's on backorder, we''ll have more on the way, and the ETA is 1-2 weeks assuming there are no COVID related delays. However, unfortunately these delays are very likely at present and can last for weeks.

Some items we allow customers to order before we actually have stock.  This means that if your order includes a backorder item your order will be shipped when more stock arrives.

Customer service, faulty or unwanted items & returns FAQ

We're doing all we can to keep on top of everything as we normally would, however due to the additional measures we've taken to protect our staff and customers, returns are the worst-hit area of our business in terms of delay. Our customer service staff are rotating between working from home when possible and only coming into the warehouse when necessary, which seriously limits our ability to get returns processed. We are, of course, still processing through them, but please be aware that a delay of up to 2 weeks is possible at present. We do apologise for any inconvenience, but we will do all we can to get back to you about your return ASAP! 

We aim to reply to support tickets within 1 to 2 working days, the same as before the pandemic. However, please note that a delay is possible beyond this, though we try to avoid that being the case. If you don't hear back by the end of the 3rd working day, please chase us up by sending another email in your original ticket thread (to avoid opening multiple tickets and resulting issues this can cause). 

Yes, we are still offering customer service as normal, including troubleshooting faulty items and accepting faulty returns once a fault is confirmed. If you suspect your item is faulty and have done as much as you can to ensure that's the case (e.g. ensuring software settings and wiring are correct), please do not hesitate to contact our customer service email. Please provide as much information as you can in a short paragraph, and include images or a video if at all possible to speed things up. We'll get back to you as soon as we can!

If you've done all you can to rule out other issues (e.g. incorrect wiring, power supply or software settings), and are at the conclusion the product has to be faulty, please  use the "contact us" form / new ticket option at the top of the site - facebook messenger or twitter shouldn't be used for faulty item issues if possible. Please include your order number and any images or videos which show wiring or may help to portray the fault, and short paragraph explaining the issue with as much information as you can. We ask this as it all helps us to get your issue logged and contact the relevant people we need to in a timely matter to get back to you as fast as possible!

PLEASE NOTE: this is for unused returns ONLY, any faulty or damaged returns sent using this method will be kept with us until shipping both ways is paid for to send it back to you. If you suspect your item is faulty, please see "My product is faulty, can this still be sorted at this time?" and "I need to contact you about a faulty item, what is the best way to do this?" in the FAQ. The reason we ask you to contact us before a faulty return is because we often need authorisation to issue a replacement before we can do so, and this may require in-situ photos amongst other troubleshooting steps that are fastest resolved if performed before returning at present. It also avoids non-faulty returns and the issues that can cause.
 
If your order is as new and is unused, please fill out this RMA form and include that in your return. You can get a pre-paid label to ship the parcel back to us using this Royal Mail label generator - just fix the label to the outside of your parcel, pop the return form inside, and drop it off at a royal mail collection point (e.g. post office) to return your item to us.