Everyone has policy statements these days, and it seems to me often they are a way of hiding from responsibilities. For us we hope that they will reveal to you more of who we are and how we operate so you can have confidence in your dealings with us. Policy statements also act as benchmarks where you can test our performance (what we do) against what we say we will do.
Bellsouth Pty Ltd is a small family owned and operated business serving the people who keep poultry, from the smallest backyarder, through small producers to the commercial farmers.
We will do this by;
Carrying reasonable stocks of all products we promote.
Providing staff with knowledge of the products and with experience in their operation.
Supporting product with published information on its correct use.
Conducting research in and out of Australia on new and developing technologies, so they can benefit our customers in their endeavours with keeping poultry.
Providing staff who can assist in resolving management problems which do arise in keeping avian species.
1/ That we will use our best endeavours to match your requirements, as described by you to us, with appropriate products. Much of the material on this web site is aimed at assisting you in knowing what it is you want to do. See our internet policy below.
2/ Every transaction will be accompanied by a Tax invoice clearly showing the amount for the goods, the freight charges, and the GST paid. In our premises no-one will ever offer a discount for cash with no invoices, and if any are offered please contact Jim Finger at Bellsouth and report the occurance.
3/ Prompt dispatch of your orders from our premises. Our usual target is 90% of goods dispatched in the next freight shipment after receipt of payment (often same day if orders are placed before lunch) but usually next business day. This is a target we regularly meet with stocks held in hand, however we freely admit that we fail with this target with some imported shipments of product. However, if we are unable to ship within 5 days of your payment we will notify you as soon as practical after placement of the order, of the estimated delay.
4/ Our usual operational hours are 9am to 5pm EST Monday to Friday. We are often available at The Royal Shows around Australia, and many other exhibitions and shows during the year.Sometimes our attendance at exhibitions may result in the office being closed. We do believe that personal representation is an important part of our operation and try to be available at those exhibitions, with the drawback that we may be not available on the phone during those times. In addition, we still believe in holidays and as a small business experience problems obtaining knowledgeable operational staff during holiday times. We schedule the summer holidays in January each year, when we close for counter and phone sales, but attend to mail, email, and answer machine orders at variable times during that month. I also attend a number of International Expos in search of new ideas and training. These may also mean we are less available during these times. The downside of that training and product knowledge is you may not be able to speak with me during those times.
5/ Your goods will be packed to a standard which ensures, to the best of our ability,that they will arrive in a condition fit to the purpose for which they were purchased. Where possible recycled materials will be used in packaging. Any claim for damage due to faulty packaging must be made within 7 days of receipt of goods.
6/ Small parcels will be shipped by mail unless you specify otherwise.
Australia Post Parcels will all be marked with the new Australia Post Labels which means they cannot be left at unattended premises. You will be left a card and can pick up at your local post office.
Postal Parcels can also be shipped labelled as Receipted Delivery at an additional cost of $2.50. These parcels can be tracked.
Australia Post Parcels can also be sent registered mail, and insured if needed. Please ask for a quotation
Parcels shipped uninsured by Post are not traceable, and though losses are rare, they can on occasions occur. All parcels dispatched by us are recorded in our mailing book, and a photocopy of the mailing book is considered by us evidence that the dispatch has occured.
7/ Large shipments will be shipped using our standard couriers unless you specify otherwise. Freight rates are quoted before shipment.
8/ Shipments are not insured unless you specifically request insurance. The buyer therefore assumes all risks once uninsured products leave our premises.
1/ Payment is accepted by Cheque, Money order, Credit Card (Bankcard, Mastercard, Visa card), overseas orders payment with drafts in Australian dollars. Conditions apply to foreign currency cheques, ask for information if you want to use this method. Direct Deposits to our account are accepted, however you must include our order code to identify the deposit. This will be given when the total of the order plus freight is sent to you. Please also note that direct deposits may take 48 hours to appear in our account and dispatch cannot occur until payment is verified. Please note that international direct deposits will attrach bank charges and we will notify you as to thier value when we confirm the order.
2/ Goods cannot be dispatched by COD as we do not use any of the COD systems.
3/ Goods cannot be dispatched until payment is received and we reserve the right to verify payments before dispatch of goods.
4/ We prefer Credit card details to be supplied by phone or fax, as we are not convinced of the security of email, and of some of the software guarantees of security. However your details can be stored off line and orders can be placed by email authorizing use of stored details.
As a mail order service, we need some details from you to enable us to properly conduct business. As our operational system is computer based, we do collect that information and store it in our computer.All computer data is password protected.
What information we will collect and why
Name and Address, To ensure that your goods get to the correct place
Phone, Fax. Email address. So we can contact you if there is a problem with dispatch, payment, or use of the ordered products.
Credit card details, Cheque account details, Bank details. We keep these so we are able to correctly reconcile our books with our Bank and to enable quick resolution of any payment problems. We also retain cheque and credit card details to facilitate orders placed on the internet and phone authorizations of orders.
Purchase history. We keep details of sales for the purpose of warranty, and planning so we can match requirements with our stock purchases. We also identify categories of customers so we can send specific information to those groups, eg. free range farmers, antique book collectors.
We also use our address and email address database to send regular newsletters to assist in development of our business.
We reserve the right to submit your details to a credit bureau, or credit reference association, if you offer cheques which are fraudulent, or for which funds are not available, or if you request credit, or if you order custom goods which have significant lead times between order and payment.
We will not sell, barter, exchange or allow any other organization to use our data base of information. If information or product offers become available which we believe are in your interests to know about, we will consider a direct mailing from our premises. We do however verify our database of physical addresses as is required by Australia Post in order to qualify for mailing discounts, and print bar code address labels. This does involve the scanning of the database by a third party service provider who agrees as part of the contract not to use your information for any other purpose than verification and who does not store or keep your data in any way.
We will notify you by regular mail, or email or on the website if for any reason we decide to alter these arrangements with regard to use of your information.
We are pleased that Bellsouth has been a leader in many areas of our industry and the internet is no exception. However we are still a little old fashioned in some of our ways of doing things. So we think you should know how we use the internet.
1/ We regard the internet as an information tool. We are not primarily an internet business, and we still believe in contact with real people. We have a real bricks and mortar address, and you can visit during business hours.
2/ We do not use third party providers with adds, kicking babies, monkey games, etc which pay for the web site by dubious methods. Coming to our site will not siphon off your email details to third parties ( as far as it is within our ability to prevent).
3/ At this time the site is not configured as a sales site but as an information site to allow reasoned and intelligent decisions about product and its suitability for your use. If you don't understand tell us so we can improve the information. We may in the future add shopping trolley facilites to our site.However, when we go shopping, we like to do so without someone looking over our shoulder, so our site aims to provide that for you.
4/ Email for us is also a business hours function, it is not a 24/7 instant reply system. Our usual business hours are 9 am to 5pm Australian Eastern Time, Monday to Friday. We also attend many of the major shows in all states of Australia, and occasionally elsewhere.
5/ Our site is home grown and sometimes it shows, please tell us if links do not work, or the graphics do not load.
Fax: 03 9796 7033
Email: poultry@bellsouth.com.au
Post: P.O. Box 1233, Narre Warren, VIC 3805
Showroom: Unit 8, 5-7 Vesper Drive, Narre Warren, VIC 3805