Shipping Policy
American Soda is committed to providing our customers with the very best customer service. American Soda complies fully with the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 legislation.
Dispatch Lead Times
Orders are usually dispatched within three working days of being placed but it may take longer during busy periods**.
If you need your order dispatched urgently for an event, specific day or occasion, please call us as soon as possible on 01258 452558 (Mon-Fri 8AM-5PM) or, if our phone line is unavailable, email us at support@americanSoda.co.uk.
**During our busiest times of the year (e.g. Black Friday and Christmas), dispatch times can be much longer than normal - up to 10 working days. When we have a backlog of orders, we will display the most current information regarding delays in a banner at the top of the website. Please refer to this for up-to-date information.
Delivery Options
American Soda offers several delivery options for delivery within the UK. These are Royal Mail Tracked 48 (for orders that weigh less than 2.5kg), FedEx, ParcelForce Euro Economy**, DPD Northern Ireland (Two Day) and Free Shipping. Please find an outline of each service below. The delivery times are an estimate. We do not offer guaranteed delivery times and can't provide any compensation for delayed/late deliveries. We will provide you with a tracking link for your order via email once it has been dispatched. You can use this tracking link to track the delivery status of your order.
In the event that a parcel is lost and unable to be delivered by the courier, a Denial of Receipt form must be filled out by the customer before a replacement can be dispatched. We cannot send replacements until the courier has confirmed that the parcel has been lost, and a Denial of Receipt form has been received.
Royal Mail Tracked 48
Royal Mail Tracked 48 delivery costs £3.89. This service is only available if your order is estimated to weigh less than 2.5kg on our website. You can see the estimated weight of your order when you view the contents of your shopping cart. Delivery should occur two to three working days after dispatch. Orders to residential addresses may be delivered on a Saturday at Royal Mail's discretion.
FedEx
FedEx delivery costs £6.98. Delivery should occur one to two working days after dispatch.
ParcelForce Euro Economy (for delivery addresses in the Channel Islands)
ParcelForce Euro Economy costs £17.99. Delivery should occur two to three working days after dispatch. Recipients of orders being sent to delivery addresses within Guernsey and Jersey will be liable for any taxies, duties and charges payable before being able to claim their parcel from the courier.
DPD Northern Ireland (Two Day)
DPD Northern Ireland (Two Day) costs £14.99. Delivery should occur two working days after dispatch.
Free Shipping
This delivery option is available once you spend over £50.00 on our website excluding VAT. This means the sub-total of your order needs to exceed £50.00 in order for Free Shipping to be offered. Your order will be sent with FedEx and delivery should occur one to two working days after dispatch.
If your order is exceptionally large and/or contains large quantities of fragile/liquid products (e.g. glass-bottled drinks, glass jars etc.), we may only be able to send your order out on a pallet. The cost of this will depend on the size of the order and your post code and will be quoted once it has been calculated after the order has been received. If you do not want to pay for pallet delivery, we may ask you to waive any rights to claim in the event of damage or we may cancel the order.
None of our delivery options include Saturday delivery as standard. If you require a Saturday delivery, please contact us on 01258 452558 to get a quote (usually £6 extra per parcel).
Some example delivery schedules are as follows:
Royal Mail Tracked 48
Order dispatched on Monday -> Out for delivery Wednesday
Order dispatched on Thursday -> Out for delivery Monday
Order dispatched on Friday -> Out for delivery Tuesday
FedEx
Order dispatched on Monday -> Out for delivery Tuesday
Order dispatched on Thursday -> Out for delivery Friday
Order dispatched on Friday -> Out for delivery Monday
If your order does not arrive within these time frames, please let us know as soon as possible at support@americanSoda.co.uk.
Mainland UK excluding Highlands & Islands
‘Mainland UK excluding Highlands & Islands’ here is defined as all of mainland England (including Isle of Wight) and Wales (including Anglesea) and parts of Scotland.
‘Mainland UK excluding Highlands & Islands’ does not include the Scottish counties: Argyll & Bute, Highlands, Moray, North Ayreshire, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and the Western Isles. Also excluded are Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly and the Channel Islands. In addition to the above Regions/Counties, the following UK postcode areas are excluded: BT, IM, TR21-25, GY, JE, IV, HS, KA27-28, KW, PA20-49, PA60-78, PH17-26, PH30-44 & ZE. This information applies to the DPD service only. The Royal Mail Standard Tracked allows all Mainland UK postcodes EXCEPT GY, JE.
Free Shipping
Our free delivery over £50 (excl. VAT) offer is only available to mainland* UK delivery addresses. *Mainland UK is defined by the courier as England, Scotland and Wales, excluding Scottish Highlands & Islands, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Scilly Isles.
Our free delivery offer only covers the cost of 1 parcel, up to 25kg in weight. If your order is so heavy that it needs to be sent in multiple parcels, you may be asked to pay £5.50 towards the cost of postage and packaging for each additional parcel.
Shipping Zones
American Soda currently delivers goods to the following shipping zones:
Royal Mail Tracked 48: UK
FedEx: UK
Parcelforce: Channel Islands
A signature will be required on delivery of your goods. If there is no-one available to sign for your goods, a card will usually be left advising you of what action to take. Alternatively, you can use your courier's tracking link provided in your dispatch e-mail. This usually involves either arranging a re-delivery on the next available date or collecting the item from your courier's local depot. In the exception where a card cannot be left e.g. blocks of flats, then we can trace the parcel and determine where it has been left.
Returned Orders
If an order is returned to us as a result of a customer not being available to their receive their parcel on the delivery date or subsequently not making arrangements to have their parcel redelivered or collected and it exceeds the courier's retention period, the customer will be liable for the initial cost of delivery including any fees charged to us by the courier for the return of the parcel (DPD charge £6.78 to return any UK or International parcel). In this scenario, once your order has been delivered back to us, we will get in contact with you to offer either a refund of your order, minus the initial cost of delivery and any return to sender fees incurred, or re-dispatch your order at the cost of the delivery charge plus any return to sender fees incurred.
Heat damage to orders
While exposure to high temperatures affects all food products to some degree, most candy is relatively stable. Still, some types of candy can melt, including chocolate, caramels, marshmallows, and gelatin-based gummies. We can't guarantee heat-sensitive candies will arrive in perfect shape—we wish we could control the weather!—but this is not often a problem in rainy England! The vast majority of orders are unaffected by heat but it may be recommended to avoid placing orders during the hotter times of the year. Although we can guarantee that the products will not leave our warehouse melted, we cannot guarantee that a hot delivery van, sorting office or a hot bask on your doorstep will not result in a melted order. We do not consider these items to be damaged or defective, and the returns policy, as detailed in the Terms & Conditions (located on every page on our website) does not apply to them.