Real Christmas trees might seem a bit of an unusual item to receive in the post… But similarly to ordering anything online, a courier will deliver it straight to your door, with no hassle!
If you’re local to us (down in Sussex), during our busiest period we do some of the deliveries ourselves. However, as a small (but growing!) business, we don’t yet have a huge reach so the vast majority of our deliveries are made by our courier, Furdeco.
The main real difference when ordering a Christmas tree from us, is that you can choose your preferred delivery date at the checkout when you’re ordering your tree.
Good spot. We call it a preferred date, because we can’t guarantee that your tree will definitely be delivered on that date. This is due to a number of factors – mainly that we use a third-party national courier to deliver most of our trees. In the vast majority of cases though, the courier delivers it as planned on your chosen delivery date.
The courier we use is called Furdeco, who specialise in big & bulky objects - so they’re perfect for delivering Christmas trees! They deliver between 7am & 7pm, but you’ll receive a text from them with a 3 hour delivery window the day before your preferred date, and then a telephone call from the delivery drivers when they are 30 minutes away! You will also be able to see tracking updates on the Furdeco website.
If you’re not going to be in, Furdeco is authorised to leave your Christmas tree in a safe place if there is one. We advise adding a leave safe instruction when you place your order, just to be on the safe side.
Forgotten to add leave safe instructions & already placed your order? You can add a note by filling in this quick form as long as your delivery date is at least 48 hours away.
If you’re expecting your delivery within the next 48 hours and you would like to add a delivery instruction, please message us via our live chat & we will do our best to update the courier with this information.
If you’re local to our farm, there’s a chance we may be delivering your tree ourselves! In this scenario, you won’t receive any communication from Furdeco, but instead you’ll receive a text from us with a delivery window, and you’ll also be able to check in our driver’s progress throughout the day. If you’re not going to be in at the time of delivery, our driver will do their best to leave your tree somewhere safe or with a neighbour.
Our third party courier, Furdeco, will have done their best to give you an ETA by texting and calling ahead of the delivery. If there was no safe place to leave your tree, and you weren’t in when they attempted delivery, your tree may go back to your local depot and be redelivered in the next available delivery slot. You’ll receive a call from Furdeco to book in a time that works for you. However, please note that in some cases the next available delivery slot won’t always be the next day.
It’s important to note that if your tree does not arrive on the preferred delivery date because you were not in to accept the delivery, we cannot issue a refund. There’s more on that in our Returns Policy if you’re keen to learn more.
As with any delivery service, things do occasionally go wrong with the courier. Unfortunately sometimes trees can get misrouted to the wrong depot, driver’s have been known to break down on a delivery round, or extreme weather conditions can mean that big lorries are just delayed. It could be anything, but on these occasions Furdeco do their best to let you & us know, so we’ll be in touch with an update as soon as we’re made aware.
In these instances the courier will call you within 24 hours of your original preferred delivery date to rearrange delivery. We will be working closely with Furdeco to ensure your tree gets delivered as quickly as possible, and usually it will be scheduled to be redelivered within 2-3 days of your original date, depending on the availability of Furdeco. However, if you live in a slightly more rural area, it may take up to a week before delivery is reattempted.
If you’re concerned about the condition of your tree by the time it reaches you - fear not! The trees are stored in a cool warehouse where they’re more than happy with their conditions. Once you receive your tree, if you’re not 100% satisfied with its quality, the team will resolve this as a separate matter, but our main priority is to get your tree to you first!
It’s important to note that if your tree does not arrive on the preferred delivery date due to a courier issue, we cannot issue a refund. Cancelling an order after your tree has already been cut would sadly mean trees going to waste, which hopefully you agree, isn’t ideal. Every tree is cut to order and as it’s a perishable product, it cannot be returned in exchange for a refund. There’s more on that in our Returns Policy if you’re keen to learn more.
If you have not heard from us or Furdeco within 24 hours of your preferred delivery date and your tree still hasn’t arrived, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Are you planning on decorating your tree the day it arrives? If possible it’s always better to hold off at least 24 hours! As we cut our trees so fresh, it’s much better for the longevity of your Christmas tree if you can let it acclimatise outside for a day or two before bringing it indoors. This helps the tree get used to the fact that it’s no longer growing! It’s also worth letting your branches settle for a few hours once you’ve unnetted it in the stand. We wrap our trees tight, and some varieties (namely the Fraser or Sussex Firs) can take a while for their branches to drop down and the tree to come into its own.
What we’re really trying to say is: choose a delivery date 1-2 days before you actually want to start decorating - it might seem tempting to get it up and decorated the moment you receive it, but you’ll thank us later if you’re patient!
As we mentioned earlier, things occasionally go wrong. Usually if your tree isn’t with you on your preferred date, it arrives in the following couple of business days. But note that if you choose a Friday as your preferred delivery date, the next working day would be Monday, so you may not have it in time for the weekend! If you want it for a weekend, we suggest taking delivery a few days before, just to be on the safe side.
Big event or special occasion? The same goes! Select a preferred delivery date a couple of days before you really need it. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
To make any changes to your order, we need at least 3 business days. If you want to change your date anytime before then, it’s no problem! Just let us know by filling in this quick form. If your order is due within the next 3 days, we will already be in the process of cutting & sending your tree and may not be able to accommodate a date change request.
If we have already handed over your tree to our courier, you are welcome to adjust your delivery date with them but there will be a small admin cost incurred. You will need to make payment by calling our team on 01444 707360 before the new delivery date will be confirmed.
If you’re a returning customer, you might have noticed that not every weekday is available to choose for deliveries anymore. That’s because as of 2023, we now use Furdeco, who are slightly smaller than our old courier Tuffnells. So, why the change? The main reason is that during 2023 Tuffnells went into administration. They have since been bought by another courier company and are currently operating again, but at a much smaller scale than they were previously. They’re no longer able to provide a next day delivery service for the majority of our customers, and so we needed someone new!
Furdeco offers a next day delivery service for most of the UK, but in some areas they’re still growing and so deliveries are only made on limited days of the week.
We use standard Christmas tree netting and then plastic wrap to keep your tree safe in transit - we’ve trialled and errored lots of different packaging types over our 13 years of business, and found that this is by far the best way to transport your tree! The plastic wrap is made from recycled materials, and is 100% recyclable!
When you first receive it, remove the plastic wrap to let it breathe. Store the tree outdoors for a couple of days, or at the very least, in some water indoors. Note that we pack our trees tight! You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much tree is packed in there, so don’t judge the book by its cover!
For more info & helpful tips about what to do with your tree when it first arrives, take a look at our How To Keep Your Christmas Tree Fresh guide.
Yes! Furdeco operates an “over the threshold” service, which means the driver should carry your tree into your home unless instructed otherwise.
If you’ve read this far and haven’t found your answer, get in touch! Our team of friendly office elves are more than happy to help. Phone lines can get pretty busy during the peak of the season, so the quickest way to get an answer from us is our live chat.
