kebechet

Aw, hunny! Hellcat is staying the same. Its an old scent of ours [Hellfire] that's being redone. It's a very long story... but one of the components of the original Hellfire became impossible for us to acquire. I love the stories about the old Hellfire Club, so I was determined to rethink the way that I portrayed it in scent. Starting from scratch, so to speak.

Good morning, all! We’re in the middle of about a zillion things, so I wanted to post and keep everyone updated on the situation here. The site update has been postponed once more. The new FAQ and About Us pages are taking me more time than I’d anticipated, especially with everything that’s gone on here lately. The new scents are just about ready to go, but they won’t go live until we have fully transferred from CcNow to AuthorizeNet. We decided against using PayPal exclusively during the transition phased, based mostly on a slew of emails imploring us not to do so. As you all know, CcNow digs horribly deep into our pockets, and we don’t want to give them a cent more than we have to. The delay that they enforce with sending us payments for orders is killing us. Honestly, this month their "system" just about put us out of business. At this time, we’re hoping that the transfer over will be complete by June 1. Luckily for everyone, a delay in the update also means a delay in the price change. There’s always a bright side. On an even brighter note, more scents have been added to the future update, so it’ll be well worth the wait. Despite the fatigue and slight delirium, I’m experiencing a very random and Piscean rush of excitement. The storefront, the update, the new scents… the possibility of leaving CcNow behind us… all of it, despite the uphill climb its taking to get there, makes me feel… well, really hopeful. Thanks again to everyone for their love, patience and support. Growing pains have to stop some time, right?

Any input on what I need to add?

I've always loved the way you do that. Can't get much out of 'Beth'. =P

We're going to see our accountant [the one who bailed me out of my tax mess this year] on Thursday. Basically he's going to help us figure out how to switch from CcNow with minimal grief, and he's going to help me see if its at all feasable for me to quit my day job so I can do the Lab full time. Here's hopin', right? =P The new FAQ is about 75% done. If all goes well, the update can go live tomorrow night.

Due to circumstances way beyond my control, the new scents for Beltane are going to debut about two weeks later than I'd hoped. I'm not going to get into the details [read: I don't want to bore you guys] suffice to say that because of the way CcNow does their payouts, I simply can't afford to produce enough of the new scents to have them go live yet. The non-scent related portions of the update will be going up as scheduled -- May 1st. The new scents will not be available until at least May 15th.

Ok, this is what I meant to type: Michelle is one of oldest and bestest friends in the world, and as you know... she's also one of the Lab Rats. She has finally joined the BPAL forum as Hexe. We love Michelle!!! - - - I'm such an idiot. I can't believe I forgot to log her off andlog myself on. I was going to do the full introductions for everyone, but it looks like tonight's Lab all-nighter has fried me more than I thought.

Good question, Jazzie. I should have addressed this earlier. No orders placed through CcNow will be wiped under any circumstances, barring an internal snafu at CcNow. I have an appointment with our accountant next Thursday. We may be able to bypass having to go through PayPal, too, and actually get our own in-house charge system running. I can't tell you what a relief that will be.

Your wish is my command, P. =) Those are all excellent points.

Hi all! I'm back from the dead, so to speak. It's been really rough lately, and its been all I could handle just getting through the day with everything that's been going on. I wanted to post a formal introduction for Nella, but it looks like she's done that herself. She is a very welcome addition to the BPAL family, and is here to help me keep up with emails, public postings and store gossip. Without Nella, the site update would never get done, the emails would keep getting further and further backlogged, and I probably would have ended up in a loony bin within the span of a month. Just prior to Nella coming on board I started having nightmares [no exaggeration] that emails were coming in to my home computer from the theatre and the Lab nonstop and wouldn't pause long enough for me to answer everything. As of the day we hired her, I finally got some sleep. *sigh* I'm going to start a new thread in the announcements and formally introduce everyone that's helping out with the Lab and give an indication of our current status with orders.

This week is being spent redoing a few errant orders and reshipping a few that the USPS sent back to us for reasons unknown. We are shipped out through 3/23 and I believe we will be done with the entire month of March by mid-week. International orders seem to be going agonizingly slowly due to strict probing at customs. There is now a two-week to almost month-long back up on orders. Though we have two people in the Lab full time, one of them was basically replacing me as I had to return to my old full-time job to pay off all the missing package drama from months ago -- we still haven't recovered. In addition, making the new blends costs a heap of money so in order to do so, I need to keep working here at the theatre. It's a treat. Two sample ty'ers quit, so we had to spend some time coercing other people to take up the slack on that [apparantly] unpleasant duty. Anjali and Brian are doing their best to get the orders out, but with me and Ted only there part time it is backing up a little more than its usual slow process. I can only rebuild scents on my one day off a week, or at night when I get back to the Lab, so that's putting a little dent in things, too. I spend so much time chasing down orders that the USPS or CcNow or my crap email ate that I don't do much of anything else at night. I apologize if this delay is inconvenient.

There's a possibility that I might be able to work with some stores in Scotland as potential retailers for BPAL. My question is... will it be easier on you all if you order from us, or from a UK distributor? I know Glasgow and Edinburgh aren't around the corner for all of you, but it may make shipping cheaper in the long run. Just a thought. =)

I had no idea this much discussion was going on.

I received an email this morning asking if BPAL is closing down. I feel weird having to state this, but no, we aren't. Well, at least… if we are, no one’s told me. From what her email said this is some rumor floating around MUA. [Why is that acronym giving me the heebies now?] I just thought I should address this before this rumor got out of hand. The email is still floopy at times, the USPS has a grudge against me, the site update was delayed, and I'm slow at being able to reply to everyone. But... ...well, that's business as usual.

I'm going to do my best to get all the emails and PMs that I've missed replied to by Tuesday night. I haven't had a second to look at the forums or answer anything in depth, but I hope to have a breather over the next day or so. I'll do my best to catch up as quickly as possible. Thanks everyone for your patience. Things are slowly but surely getting back to normal. [famous last words!]

The theatre got super busy [read shitty and hellish] so I've been there almost 60 hours / week recently. I'm FINALLY at the Lab today for a decent amount of time so I should be able to catch up on emails and PMs. Famous last words, right? =P

Everyone who has ordered through 3-20 is out!

If you have Lilith or Oneiroi in your order and have not received the shipment yet there will be a slight delay in getting it out to you.

No worries, L. It's just a day or two delay. I'm out of one of the components, and I don't have a day off until the end of the week to finish distilling the oil we need. I *live* for the day when BPAL can take care of itself [and me!] so I can quit this lousy day job. =(

... when people then email me and tell me they didn't get them. This is particularly plaguing orders I send to apartment buildings. My question is... do I now start to require signatures for delivery? And yes, I'm still behind on emails. Not enough time in the day, guys, but I'm trying my hardest.

Quick update: we're still on a 10-14 day backlog. It seems like this is going to continue to be the average ship time until we make this into some sort of corporate, million-employee conglomerate. =P We cannot seem to get things blended and assembled any faster than this.

If you have emailed me in the last century and have not received a reply, please resend. I fucked up the reinstall royally and wiped the whole archive of old mail. I knew I should have let Brian do it. Don't really feel like talking about it. Sorry for the hassle. =(

It's still in the works. Damn CcNow makes things so difficult. I've tried to activate it three times now with no success.

What she said!

I read the post topic as "Has anyone ever gotten head?" I do, sometimes. Sometimes I get nauseated, too, when I'm bombarded by too many scents for too long -- like if I've worked in the Lab for too many hours without going outside. Because we use organics and essentials, you're dealing with medical quality plant essences, and some people have a very strong reaction to certain notes. It's best to try and isolate the specific note that's bothering you and avoid purchasing scents that contain that component in the future. I don't have that option. You can also dilute the blends with a carrier oil to lessen their potency.