Help & Support

Do you need help with your order or advice before placing one?
Do you want to know why you might have to wait longer than you’d expect or are used to for clothing purchased online?
Below you can find the answers to some FAQ’s about Whiptails service followed by contact information if you need more tailored advice. 

FAQ's & Support

Processing Times

The wait times of Whiptails made-to-order products varies throughout the year depending on my order volume. During busy periods (September – February) this can take up to approximately 4 weeks. For quicker turn around times I’d recommend placing your order in the summer months, before it starts getting cold. When the temperatures fall at the end of the British summertime, I usually get the largest influx of orders. When you visit the Whiptails website, you can check the current production times in the topbar of the website. The times shown are an approximate and not a guarantee. There will be a date here showing when the wait times have been updated; if you didn’t notice the wait times when you placed your order and they have been updated, you can drop me an email at contact@whiptails.co.uk and I will give you an update.

Whiptails clothing is handcrafted by Danuta (me!) in my home studio in Paisley Scotland, Great Britain. Im a sole trader although I could also be classed as a small business owner. Whiptails operates on a made-to-order business model, which means, the clothing available on the website is not made until after you place your order. Your order then goes into a queue with other customers, so the wait times reflect the amount of time it takes me to sew the current order volume. Making clothing on a made-to-order basis allows me on a small scale to make a larger offering of designs, sizes and colours while mitigating the risks of material waste that come with producing clothing ahead of time, also making it a more environmentally conscious choice that avoids miscalculations and over production ahead of releasing new designs. Some designs and colour options are more popular than others which cannot be reliably predicted.

In addition, I need time off too. My time off during holiday periods like Christmas and New Year will be reflected in the wait times. 

Mostly, due to Whiptails being entirely run by myself as a sole trader I cannot ever definitively give a guarantee on times. This would be an over promise I couldn’t always deliver on. Im both running the business and making your clothes and sometimes I need to prioritise other parts of the business before sewing orders. For example, sometimes accidents happen. Sewing machines break down and need time to be repaired by me or sent to a repairs shop for more advanced issues, or I need time to wait for replacement parts – both can take a couple of days. Other times there could be a technical issue on the website I urgently need to address. I could have ordered fabric that’s been delayed in arriving with me from my fabric suppliers, who may also have unexpectedly had a delay in their operations. Sometimes I (or Piper or Rue my Whippet and Iggy) unexpectedly fall ill so I need to take some time out for rest and or treatment. Or I could just miscalculate my times, or make human errors while making your clothes that slows me down. 
I understand this is not always ideal to have to wait. I appreciate your patience and understanding. If your order is going to take more than 7 days from the expected times listed when your order was placed, I’ll send you an e-mail to let you know. 

Unfortunately no, I cannot offer this. If I did, I couldn’t predict how many people would place priority orders, or when. In turn this could result in customers having to wait longer than they should have for the orders they’ve purchased with the times they agreed to wait when placing their orders, which is not right or fair.

Shipping

For UK postage, I offer 1st / 2nd Class and 1st / 2nd Class signed for parcels. Please remember that items lost in transit once posted are not my responsibility. If you would like a more reliable service, pick a signed for service to make sure your parcel is delivered directly to you. Sometimes, especially around Christmas, postmen can dump parcels in unknown or obvious locations where your parcel can be taken. Please keep this in mind when picking your delivery method.

1st class parcels have a delivery aim of the next working day.
2nd class parcels have delivery aims of 2-3 working days.
Please remember these are delivery aims and not guarantees by the Royal Mail.

For international postage, I offer a fully tracked service for parcels. After I’ve dropped your parcel off, I’ll soon be in touch by the e-mail you’ve provided to give you your parcel tracking number. I will give you details about where you can use your tracking number – on the Royal Mails website for transit through the UK and the delivery partner in your country who will take over the delivery once your parcel passes through customs. Duty taxes and fees are a liability of the customer, please check your local customs office for the exact import fees you will have to pay.

Yes! As long as you tell me know in advanced the dates of your trip I can make a note of when to send out your order. However if you ask for me to send your order out faster than the current wait times for order production, unfortunately I won’t be able to do so. 
Please note that if the delivery service has delays on their end that are no fault of my own and you do not get your order in time, this is not my responsibility. 

As of December 2024, unfortunately I’ve had to suspend shipping to all EU, EEA countries & Northern Ireland until further notice. This is due to new regulations I have to comply with in order to export from the UK. Thankyou for your patience until I figure things out!
This includes the following  countries –
(EU) Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden
(EEA) Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein

Currently I can ship orders to the following countries – 
USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland & Japan

Returns & Deliveries

If you need to make a return, please drop me a message at contact@whiptails.co.uk within 14 days of receiving your order to let me know you’d like to make a return. At this point I’ll let you know where to send your parcel to; sorry! I make and ship your orders from my home and don’t want to show my address publicly.
You then have a further 16 days to get your parcel in the mail and returned back to me. Your parcel must be sent back to me within 30 days of receiving it to eligible for a refund or exchange. You must include a copy of your invoice for identification purposes. Please also make your return in the packaging your order arrived in, although this is not essential. Items returned must be in resalable condition to be accepted for an exchange or refund. This means items cannot show signs of use or wear, of being washed, stained or damaged. Items that are not approved will be shipped back to you at your own expense. 

Buying made-to-order items means you are entitled to making a return within 28 days, as long as you inform me within 14 under UK customer protection laws. However if you make a custom request, including custom sizing, that is not shown as an option to purchase on my website and I accept your request, then the sale is final and no returns for exchange or refund will be accepted – unless in the case that your product is proven faulty when you receive it. 

For made-to-measure items, if you can prove that the item does not fit your dog by sending me some photographs of the clothing on your hound, you can make a return to me for the item to be altered. This will be at no extra cost to you. However you cannot return any made-to-measure items you have ordered to exchange for another product or for a refund. Please let me know within 14 days that you need your item/s to be altered and make your return within 30 days of receiving it. 

Yes. As a sole trader working on limited order volumes, every penny counts. Adding free returns to all orders would be a significant cost that would have to be carried by all customers reflected in the product price. To get you the best prices and value for money for Whiptails clothing at competitive rates, I ask that you please pay for your postage fees. I also don’t want to encourage shopping habits carried from large online shops; people don’t pay postage or returns so they shop less consciously to try things then send them back. This would mean I would have to considerably increase my pricing for covering the extra labour involved, increase wasted materials and increase the businesses carbon footprint with sending items by road and air.

I send out parcels with both 1st & 2nd class within the UK. 1st class delivery aims for next working day delivery and 2nd class aims for 2-3 working days. These are however aims, sometimes the mail can run a little slower than expected due to problems at their delivery offices. Also during busy periods like the run up to Christmas, they are more likely to experience delays. Quite often 1st class parcels travelling down to London I’ve found take 2 days. If you still have not received your order within a few days of receiving your completed order notification pop me an email at contact@whiptails.co.uk and I will check if there has been a delivery attempt yet or not. Please note that items lost by the mail are not my responsibility and you will have to make a claim with the Royal Mail; I recommend buying ‘signed for’ postage options if you want to guarantee that your parcel is delivered to you and not potentially left by the mail somewhere where it could be stolen. 

You should get a copy of your invoice with order details sent to your e-mail within a day or two to the e-mail address you provided at checkout. If you don’t see it, please check your junk folder. If you didn’t get one, drop me an email at contact@whiptails.co.uk to resolve the issue. Similarly, if for whatever reason you did not get one with your order, you can print it to put in your parcel or email me a copy of the invoice when you contact me to make your return.

Exchanges & Refunds

When you return your order, you will receive a refund on the items you have sent back excluding the original shipping fees. However the garment/s cannot show any signs of wear or damage and must be in resalable condition. This includes – excessive dog hairs, stains, signs of the garment being washed, excessive odors or rips and tears. You can try on Whiptails clothing when it arrives for fit, but if you end up with an excessive amount of hair on the garment I please ask that you remove this with a lint roller or piece of sticky tape before posting the item back.

When your return comes back to me, I will email to let you know if it has been approved and your refund will be issued for the returned items at this point. If your order is rejected for a return, you will be asked to cover postage fees to have the item returned to you.

When I’ve received your returned parcel, i’ll let you know within 3 days. At this point, I can give you an estimate of how long it will take to make your exchange and get it in the mail. 
During busy periods, I will limit the time for exchanges to two weeks.

Unfortunately no. If you would like to order a made-to-measure item, you will have to return your original order to me and I will then set up your made-to-measure item as a new order with its own invoice. 

Unfortunatly no, as a custom sized product I cannot accept returns for an exchange or refund on made-to-measure products. However if your made-to-measure clothing does not fit your dog and you can prove this by providing photographic evidence, I will take your clothing back for alterations without any extra costs to you. You will be issued a partial refund to cover your postage fees delivering the item back to me and I will send your clothing back 2nd class for UK customers. If you would like to upgrade your postage, I please ask you cover the extra price.

Sizing & Fit

To figure out your dogs size, please follow the advice on the size guide page here. Sizing has been tailored to fit by breed, tested on local dogs I’ve measured myself for consistency for the sizes on sale in the Whiptails store.
If you have a whippet, do not pick a greyhound sized item. The breeds measurements may not have much difference but the garments themselves do jump considerably between an XL whippet and a S greyhound. Some very large large Italian greyhounds may fit into the smallest Whippet sizes.

If you want to get your order in quickly, on the checkout page you can enter your dogs measurements and if they look wrong for the size you are purchasing, I’ll drop you an email to suggest a different size.

If you want tailored advice for picking your size before placing your order, just drop me an email at contact@whiptails.co.uk and I’ll be in touch ASAP. Please be aware that I cannot provide instant replies.

Whiptails clothing is currently tailored for Italian Greyhounds, Whippets & Greyhounds. These have been fit checked by local dogs I’ve measured myself to provide the best fit possible. 
Different dog breeds may share the same or similar measurements, but not quite fit the same way as the clothing does on the breeds the clothing was tailored for. However you can try an item, but this is at your own risk. I cannot tell you if your dog breed will fit the clothing the same way since I have not tried the designs on other breeds or measured other breeds in person. 

Many lurchers will fit into either whippet or greyhound sizes, although not all. I have also had Standard and Miniature Poodles and some poodle mixes fit into greyhound and whippet sized garments in the past, however, due to the above reasons I personally cannot say for sure if the fit of the clothes will be right for you.

If you have a lurcher, theres a high chance I can and will accept making you a made-to-measure item. I’ve worked with a substantial amount of lurchers in person and for custom fits in the past and have come to understand their sizing needs. I currently don’t offer these as part of my size chart due to a low volume of lurchers in each shape buying clothing from me in order to make this a part of my normal offering. 

If your dog falls between sizes, just drop me a message at contact@whiptails.co.uk and I’ll let you know which size, if any, would be right for you.
I also offer a made-to-measure service for a small extra fee if you’d like a tailored fit for your measurements. You can find more information about my made-to-measure service here.

Contact Information

If you cannot find the answers you are looking for above and need more tailored advice, please don’t hesitate to contact me via e-mail at contact@whiptails.co.uk or drop me a message on the following form.

I’ll get back to you ASAP! Please remember I am a sole trader and cannot give instant replies.