Improvements to our Invoices

Dear Customer
We would like to thank you for all the constructive feedback we are getting from you on our new system. This has been really helpful to us in giving you the correct information on items such as our new invoices and dispatch emails. I would like to bring you up-to-date with further improvements in both of these areas:

Invoices
We have made two further improvements to our invoices:

• In the top right corner Our Order number has been added under the delivery and invoice number. This is our internal order number which relates to your purchase order. By quoting this number to our customer services team, they will be able to check on the exact progress of your order.
• We have also increased the font size of Delivery, Invoice and Our order numbers making them easier to read.

Dispatch email
We have made the following improvements to our dispatch emails:

1. In order to help you match our delivery to your order, we have now included all the key reference numbers including our order number, the delivery number, account number and your order reference number, in the top right corner of the email.
2. The subject line of the email now includes our order number and your order reference number.
3. The column width has been adjusted so that each article now fits on a single line.

• Only articles that have been put onto backorder from this order are shown (rather than all items on backorder).
• Backorders fulfilled and sent with this order are shown separately.

*We have had some feedback asking for the font size on the dispatch email to be increased. Unfortunately we are unable to do this, however we suggest that you use the magnify function within adobe to manually increase the text size on your computer screen.

Dispatch Labels
Finally we have also made some slight changes to our dispatch labels.

1. We have now added your order reference number and our order number onto the label for quick referencing.
2. The label numbering has also been amended to reduce confusion.

We hope that these changes will further improve our service to you. If you have any queries or further suggestions with regard to our service, please speak to your Area Sales Manager or contact 0800 28 27 28.

4th December

Today we have, in the main, been picking orders placed on Monday 1st December and by this evening will have begun Tuesday 2nd December 2008. Whilst I acknowledge this is not a same day despatch, please be assured we continue to work hard in getting back to this level as soon as we physically can.
VAT - Over the past week we have contacted all our suppliers to ask what their intentions are with regard to reducing the RRP on titles affected by VAT. Most have come back to us, with the majority reducing their RRP’s and I would like to re-emphasise that we are passing this saving on to you. We uploaded over 30,000 price reductions over the past week and I am also pleased to say that we will now be able to pass on VAT savings for all back-orders placed before, but despatched after, the 1st December!
Finally I would like to, once again, apologise for the on-going inconvenience.

28th November - Improvements to our Invoices

Following the implementation of SAP, and listening to feedback from our customers, we have made a number of improvements to your STLD invoices. These improvements will help make invoice signposting much clearer and will reduce confusion that may have occurred. The following changes have been made:

• Your Order Number - we have found incidences where the order number of the delivery label is different to the order number on the invoice inside the box. This is due to the fact that a delivery can contain consolidated orders and backorders. To solve this issue, the order number on the delivery label and the order number on the invoice will be for the main order fulfilled by that delivery. 

• Highlighting of consolidated orders - an associated problem with the above issue has been that where orders have been consolidated, there has been no way of determining which order they relate to. To solve this issue the order number for each consolidated order will be included on the invoice above the products it relates to. 

• Page numbering - there has been a issue with page numbering on invoices. This has now been resolved. 

• Promotional prices - articles where there has been no promotional price have been showing £0.00 in that field. The promotional field will now show blank where there is no promotional price. 

• Column headers - previously our new style invoices have only had column headers on the first page of an invoice. This will now feature on all invoice pages.

As a result of the feedback we are continuing to receive from you, we have identified further amendments to our invoices, despatch emails and labels that will be implemented. I shall contact you again next week to update you on these developments. We hope that you will find these improvements useful. If you have any queries or further suggestions on how we can improve our service, please contact our customer services team on 08457 056 568 or speak to your Area Sales Manager.

28th November - VAT Distribution

As I’m sure you are aware, the rate of VAT has been reduced from 17.5% to 15% from 1st December. STL Distribution has been in contact with most of our suppliers, and in a majority of cases, they will be reducing their VAT-inclusive RRPs to reflect this reduction in VAT. So for a significant proportion of our ‘VAT-able’ product lines, STL Distribution is able to pass on these RRP reductions to you.

From Monday 1st December our system shall be set-up to reflect the reduced VAT rate of 15%. This means that you will see reduced prices on a large number of VAT-applicable products including CDs, DVDs and audio books. (Just to remind you that books and Bibles have a zero VAT rating).
 
The process for updating our websites will take slightly longer. We anticipate that the new prices will be available online from the middle of next week.
 
If you have any queries regarding our position, please contact you Area Sales Manager or phone 08457 056 568.

25th November

I would like to give you a quick update on the current progress of our new IT system. Progress is being made with the pick, pack and dispatch of orders - we are currently processing orders placed on 19th November.
We are starting to make progress with the back-log in receiving stock on to the system and you should start to see an improvement in our availability.
We continue to be aware of the inconvenience that this is causing you but be assured we are doing all in our powers to achieve the high level of service that you expect from STL Distribution UK.