Our goal is to give you a great experience selecting and ordering one of our personalized Christmas ornaments. We want our site to be easy to navigate, easy to use, and we want to make sure we have the products you need for your family and for gifts! And of course, we want you to be happy with the products you receive! To that end we'll send you a well made ornament that looks just like the one you've selected on the website. We'll have one of our experts personalize your ornament per your instructions, and we'll carefully wrap and mail it to you asap!

Here's an overview of what happens at Calliope Designs when you submit an order.

First, we strive to mail out your order within 24 hrs. of receiving it! That's a big challenge, especially in November and December. As you can well imagine we are getting lots and lots of orders 24/7! Most orders - I'd say 95% of orders - are actually shipped out the same day we receive them! Especially if they're submitted before 12 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. We print your order and immediately review it to see if we have any questions about the personalization. To avoid small problems, be sure to double check your order carefully before you checkout. Check the spelling and all the details. And if there's anything different you would like done, please tell us in the "Special Instructions" box found on the checkout page. FYI, our website does not accept the apostrophe in the personalization fields. We watch for this and will always use proper punctuation on your order!

Now your ornaments are retrieved from the warehouse area - and prepared for personalization.

Our skilled inscribers are very carefully chosen each year for their talent at handwriting or calligraphy. We have individuals that have worked for us for several years, and each year we have some new personalizers too. While each has their own style, all personalization is done to our high standards of quality! When they take out your ornaments they also make sure all instructions are clear, and proceed to personalize each ornament with care. We use a black permanent ink pen. Most of our orders can be personalized using the spacing shown on the website image, but sometimes we have to use our creative judgement when doing the inscription, or placing the year. We don't want things to look to crowded or off centered!

Next your ornaments are checked by our Quality Control Manager. Spelling, placement, centering, and clarity is carefully reviewed. We make sure each ornament is as nicely done as we would want for our own tree!

From QC your order goes to the shipping area for careful packaging. We have 39 years of experience in packing and shipping our products and purchase high quality boxes and wrapping materials to be certain your ornaments will get to you safely.

Our boxes are then professionally labelled with a confirmation of delivery bar code label, and the US Postal Service carrier comes at 4:30 p.m. to pick up all of the shipments being mailed out that day.

You'll receive an email from calliopedesigns.com telling you about the shipment and the confirmation of delivery number. Your package should arrive at it's destination in 2-7 mailing days if First Class Mail is chosen. Or in 2-3 days if Priority mail is selected.

This is the "normal" progress of your order. Of course, sometimes there are exceptions. Let's talk about those....

-One thing that might hold up your order is if you have trouble placing your order! If your credit card is not being accepted by the website. The most common cause of this problem is if the address you list on your order is different than the billing address on your credit card bill! Your actions should be - first, check a recent credit card bill and re-enter that on your checkout page exactly the same as what you see on the bill. second - call the credit card company to ask what the problem is! If you continue to have a problem you may contact us at orders@calliopedesigns.com. Tell us the nature of your problem and give us a phone number to call you so we can help out!

-If there is a question about any of the personalization on your ornament we will contact you immediately and ask you to email or call us back. We will set your order aside and wait until we are sure we have the correct instructions. Sometimes we want to clarify a spelling, punctuation, or location of a phrase. We think it's worth the wait to be able to do it correctly the first time!

-Thanksgiving Day and Sundays. Our website is open and accepting orders on Thanksgiving Day, but our family and our employees all celebrate that holiday and have the day off! We promise to work very hard on Friday to get all of the Thanksgiving Day orders mailed out! We do have staff working on Sundays, but as you know, the US Postal Service does not mail on Sundays, so your late Saturday and Sunday orders will be mailed Monday morning!

-If you've ordered one of our "Design Your Own" personalized ornaments we will be making those to your order. In this case, we usually need a good 48 hrs. to make it up, just the way you want it, and then personalize and pack it for mailing.

And then there are the "What Ifs?"....

-What if I want my ornament gift wrapped and sent to the recipient? We offer gift wrap service and will do a very nice job for you. When we pack the order and mail it to the recipient we do not include a Sales Receipt or Packing Slip. We do include a To: From: tag with your personal message.

-What if I want my ornament sent to someone else (but not gift wrapped)? This is easily accomplished at no extra charge. We will include a Packing Slip which tells the recipient you have sent the item, but does not reveal the price.

-What if the name is too long for the space? Or the phrase too long to fit on the banner? We will contact you by email to make a suggestion to improve the appearance of the final product.

-What if my ornament arrives broken? We pack our products very carefully, but sometimes things happen! Please let us know by emailing us at orders@calliopedesigns.com. We will make sure it is promptly replaced.

-What if a name's spelled incorrectly? Our QC manager checks each ornament carefully, but as in all things, occasionally we make a mistake. Email us at orders@calliopedesigns.com and we will take care of it immediately. If it is found to be an error in the order you placed, please return the ornament to us using first class mail and we will repair the error.

-What if my ornament doesn't arrive in time for Christmas? If you have placed your order by December 19, 2010 and chosen Priority Mail the US Postal service says the box will arrive at it's destination by December 24th. Priority Mail is not a guaranteed service however. We follow the guidelines of the USPS, but cannot be held responsible for their service! Express Mail will be available for last minute deliveries. This is a two day delivery (not overnight!). You can use the Confirmation of Delivery number at www.usps.com to check the delivery status of your order.

We wanted you to have an idea of how much attention is given to your order, each and every step of the way! Now you can multiply that attention by several hundred to understand what a fun and hectic time each day is in our busy season at this small family owned and operated business! We're always open to your suggestions, your constructive criticism, and of course praise! Let us hear from you! Tell us if our ornaments play a part in your family celebrations! Give us ideas for new product designs! and above all, have a Happy Christmas Holiday!