## SUPPORT OPERATING BRIEF **Business and channel:** North Pine Studio sells made-to-order ceramic ornaments through Etsy to US customers. Support is through Etsy Messages using “we” language. Staff can view Etsy order status and carrier tracking. Support hours are Monday–Friday, 09:00–17:00 Eastern Time. **Peak-period context:** November 15–December 24. Published holiday order-by date: December 8, expressly an estimate rather than guaranteed Christmas delivery. **Permitted immediate remedies:** Explain confirmed order/tracking status; ask focused questions; provide an appropriate next-update commitment; escalate to the shipping lead when tracking has no movement for 7 calendar days after carrier acceptance. **Approval-only remedies:** Refunds, replacements, shipping upgrades, discounts, policy exceptions, and contacting the carrier on the customer’s behalf. **Mandatory escalation triggers:** Safety, allergy, injury, legal demands, chargebacks, suspected fraud, threats, privacy issues, harassment, discrimination, or other high-risk matters. Shipping cases may be escalated to the shipping lead after 7 calendar days without tracking movement following acceptance. **Important unknowns:** No late-delivery refund, free expedited shipping, automatic replacement, discount, or review-related compensation policy is supplied. No specific frontline remedy is supplied for a label-created order that has not yet received a carrier acceptance scan. ## POLICY AND AUTHORITY LEDGER * **Confirmed policies that may be stated:** Processing takes 3–5 business days. Etsy’s checkout delivery estimate is not guaranteed by the shop. Cancellation is permitted within 2 hours of purchase if production has not begun. Personalized items cannot be returned for preference changes. Damaged items may qualify for replacement or refund after photographs of the item and outer packaging are verified. The shop replies within 2 business days. * **Service estimates and qualifications:** Etsy delivery dates are estimates, not guarantees. December 8 was the estimated holiday order-by date and did not guarantee Christmas delivery. * **Actions explicitly authorized:** Quote only tracking status visible in Etsy; ask customers to confirm the delivery address shown on the order without repeating it; explain confirmed status; ask focused questions; provide the next-update commitment; escalate under the 7-calendar-day no-movement rule. * **Actions not authorized or not supplied:** Frontline refunds, replacements, expedited shipping, discounts, policy exceptions, automatic late-delivery compensation, review compensation, or carrier contact without shipping-lead approval. * **Secure-channel and privacy rules:** Request only information necessary for resolution. Do not request full payment-card data, passwords, government IDs, medical details, or unrelated personal information. Public replies must not disclose order details and should direct the customer to the approved private channel. # RESPONSE SET ## CASE 1 — Christmas delivery guarantee request **Classification:** Routine **Priority:** High — Christmas delivery is time-sensitive, but the current tracking status does not meet the supplied escalation threshold. **Known facts:** Customer ordered December 9, one day after the published estimated holiday order-by date. Tracking currently shows “In Transit,” with the last scan 3 days ago. Christmas delivery was never guaranteed. **Missing information:** None required to answer the guarantee question. **Permitted next action:** Explain the visible tracking status and that Christmas delivery cannot be guaranteed. Continue monitoring within the existing escalation rule. ### CUSTOMER RESPONSE — Etsy Messages We understand this was intended as a Christmas gift. Your Etsy tracking currently shows the package as “In Transit,” with the most recent scan 3 days ago. We can’t guarantee delivery by December 24. Our published December 8 holiday order-by date was an estimate rather than a Christmas-delivery guarantee, and this order was placed on December 9. We’ll continue to work from the tracking information available through Etsy. If the tracking reaches 7 calendar days without movement after carrier acceptance, we can escalate it to our shipping lead for review. ### INTERNAL AGENT NOTE — DO NOT SEND * **Verify:** Confirm current Etsy tracking immediately before sending and confirm carrier acceptance has occurred. * **Record:** Customer requested Christmas-delivery guarantee; current tracking status and date of latest scan. * **Escalate when:** Tracking has no movement for 7 calendar days after acceptance. * **Approval draft:** Omit. ### QUALITY CHECK * **Policy alignment:** Pass * **Authority alignment:** Pass * **Privacy and safety:** Pass * **Promise accuracy:** Pass — no Christmas-delivery guarantee given. * **Tone and next step:** Pass --- ## CASE 2 — Label created, no carrier acceptance **Classification:** Needs Information **Priority:** High — customer requests an update today and tracking does not yet show carrier acceptance. **Known facts:** Customer ordered December 4. A shipping label was created yesterday. There is currently no carrier acceptance scan. **Missing information:** Current internal Etsy order status should be checked before responding; supplied facts do not establish whether USPS physically has the parcel. **Permitted next action:** Verify and explain only the confirmed Etsy order/tracking status. Do not characterize the package as accepted or in transit without an acceptance scan. The 7-day escalation rule does not yet apply because it runs from carrier acceptance. ### CUSTOMER RESPONSE — Etsy Messages We understand you’re looking for a clear update. The tracking currently shows that a shipping label was created yesterday, but there isn’t a carrier acceptance scan showing yet. We don’t want to give you a shipping status that the tracking doesn’t support. We’ll continue to use the status available through Etsy, and we’ll reply to support messages within our stated 2-business-day response time. ### INTERNAL AGENT NOTE — DO NOT SEND * **Verify:** Check current Etsy order status and USPS tracking immediately before sending. Confirm whether an acceptance scan has appeared. * **Record:** Label-created date, current tracking status, and customer request for an update. * **Escalate when:** The supplied 7-day rule applies only after carrier acceptance. Do not independently extend that rule to a pre-acceptance label. * **Approval draft:** If intervention is considered necessary before carrier acceptance, request direction from the shipping lead rather than promising carrier contact or another remedy. ### QUALITY CHECK * **Policy alignment:** Pass * **Authority alignment:** Pass * **Privacy and safety:** Pass * **Promise accuracy:** Pass * **Tone and next step:** Pass, with the limitation that no specific pre-acceptance escalation timeline was supplied. --- ## CASE 3 — One-star public review about delayed gift **Classification:** Routine **Priority:** Normal — public customer dissatisfaction requires a concise response, but no supplied fact establishes a safety or operational emergency. **Known facts:** Customer publicly states that the gift has not arrived and says, “No one cares that this was a gift.” The order record shows support replied within one business day. **Missing information:** None needed for the public response. **Permitted next action:** Acknowledge the situation without revealing order information and invite the customer to continue through Etsy Messages. Do not ask them to change or remove the review. Public-review replies must not disclose private order details. ### CUSTOMER RESPONSE — Public review We’re sorry this gift hasn’t arrived as expected. We understand the timing matters, especially during the holiday period. Please contact us through Etsy Messages so we can continue helping privately and review the available order information with you. ### INTERNAL AGENT NOTE — DO NOT SEND * **Verify:** Review the current order and tracking status before any subsequent private response. * **Record:** Public review concerning delayed gift; private support contact already exists. * **Escalate when:** Private case meets the supplied shipping escalation rule or another mandatory escalation trigger arises. * **Approval draft:** Omit. ### QUALITY CHECK * **Policy alignment:** Pass * **Authority alignment:** Pass * **Privacy and safety:** Pass — no order details disclosed publicly. * **Promise accuracy:** Pass * **Tone and next step:** Pass — no request to alter the review. # REUSABLE QUICK-REPLY LIBRARY **1. Delivery estimate** We understand the timing is important. The delivery date shown by Etsy is an estimate rather than a guaranteed delivery date from our shop. We can confirm the current tracking status visible through Etsy and explain the next step based on that information. **2. Tracking has stopped moving** Tracking with no movement can be escalated to our shipping lead once there has been no movement for 7 calendar days after carrier acceptance. Until that threshold is reached, we can confirm the latest tracking information available through Etsy. **3. Label created, awaiting acceptance** The tracking currently shows that a shipping label has been created, but there isn’t a carrier acceptance scan yet. We don’t want to describe the package as accepted or in transit until the tracking supports that status. **4. Damaged ornament** We’re sorry the ornament arrived damaged. Please send photographs showing the damaged item and the outer packaging through Etsy Messages. Once those photographs are verified, the item may qualify for a replacement or refund under our damage policy. **5. Public delayed-order complaint** We’re sorry this hasn’t arrived as expected. Please contact us through Etsy Messages so we can review the available order information with you privately. # ESCALATION AND HANDOFF SUMMARY * **Immediate human escalations:** None. * **Approval queue:** None currently. Case 2 requires shipping-lead direction if staff proposes an action beyond confirmed-status communication because no pre-acceptance intervention authority is supplied. * **Information queue:** Case 2 — verify current Etsy order and tracking status immediately before responding. * **Safe follow-up cadence:** Shop replies within 2 business days. No more specific proactive update cadence is supplied. # CONSISTENCY AND RISK NOTES * Case 1 must not imply that December 8 guaranteed Christmas delivery; it was expressly an estimated holiday order-by date. * Case 2 presents the largest operational gap: the 7-day escalation rule starts **after carrier acceptance**, while this parcel currently has no acceptance scan. No separate label-created/no-acceptance escalation rule is supplied, so staff should not invent one. * A shipping label alone must not be described as proof that USPS has accepted the parcel. * No late-delivery refund, automatic replacement, expedited shipping, discount, or other compensation may be promised without shipping-lead approval. * Case 3 must remain privacy-safe. The fact that support responded within one business day may inform the internal handling but should not be used defensively in the public response. * No customer should be asked to remove, revise, delay, or withhold a review in exchange for assistance or compensation.