kebechet

Damn cramps have finally subsided, and I'm almost myself. Of course I'm sickeningly behind on emails [as seems to be the usual case lately] but I'm going to do my best to get some out tonight, and then more when I get back tomorrow. I'm going to caffeine the hell out of myself tomorrow night, so everything should be answered by the time I pass out. Here's hopin', right? =P

How could I *ever* be mad at you, honey? =) It's the kit I promised you that's a-comin'.

Lora, you've got another one coming to you that I'm sending out on Saturday.

I just found out that Brian reshipped some errant international packages yesterday: some are new orders, some are reshipments, some are going out for the third time, some simply because it's been almost a month and they haven't arrived at their destination. Some of you may be lucky enough to end up with three duplicate packages. =P I will make a public post regarding who specifically went out when I get in tonight just so there's no confusion. There's nothing I can do to control the postal office or customs. I'll be happy to issue refunds to whoever requires one. Just please let me know before I reship again. TY.

I'm going to the doctor's for a medical proceedure Friday morning, and I'm in a bit of discomfort tonight, which will likely worsen tomorrow, so I wanted to warn everyone that my replies to shipping inquiries and general emails will have to wait for just a short time. I'm sorry about this. =/

At this time there is still 1 10-14 day delay on all shipments as we are still recovering from the USPS snafu and are still trying to figure out what all is missing.

Oh, Diana, if only you knew... the angry, ANGRY, resentful thoughts I was having while I was in the doctor's office today...

Does this mean there's a 10-14 day delay from when CC Now says an order shipped? For instance, they say my last order "shipped" on 3/13. Does this mean I should expect it sometime between 3/23 and 3/27? If so, no big deal (I'm still busy with my imps from the last order ), but it's good to know so I don't think this one is lost, too, lol! No, just a 10-14 day delay from the day you ordered. =) CcNow marks things as shipped arbitrarily it seems. =P

Warning: Vulgar and Blunt Post Ahead I feel like I had a boiler room coat hanger abortion. Today was HORRIBLE.

When I went to the post office today, my new friend there warned me that the USPS and most international postal services are on high terrorist alert since the Madrid bombing and postal inspectors all over the world are running fine-toothed combs through every shipment. We should expect delays. Love it. LOVE IT!!!

Rosie, it just so happens that I have a Wiccy that I haven't even opened yet. =) Thanks for the suggestion! I just got back from the doctor's. This hurts like a MOTHERFUCKER so I'm going to lie down for a bit til I get back to work. 6 Tylenols should do the trick. =P

Just for the record... Miserable CcNow charges us $9.95 per month, plus 9% of all transactions including the shipping charge. If someone uses a bunk credit card, they charge *us* $30 on top of the money we lose on the order, the product and shipping. Packing materials [bubble wrap in particular] costs us about $70.00 per month. The USPS provides free boxes. We mark up the oils by only an average of $2.00 each over what it costs to manufacture the oils, and the bulk of that is now going to paying employees. I didn't realize until recently that we were losing $1.00 on every Canadian order, but I haven't had a moment to adjust it in the system.

Quick note... Five orders came back today. Steph, one of them was yours. I'm going to try and get this sorted out on the way home from the doctor's tomorrow.

But I **LOVE** my Canadians. Did I ever tell you... Don Cherry is my hero? Seriously.

Ok, guys, I'm offline for the day. I've still got 300 or so Bowie tickets and five more hours in the office ahead of me and I am in a foul, horrible, snappy mood. When I get in tonight I'm going to try and get to some of the emails, and when I get back from the doctor's tomorrow more orders should go out.

I insure all the packages that I can out of my pocket, as when I offered insurance in the past, no one wanted to pay for it, so I ended up having to repack and reship at my cost anyway. The shipping situation domestically seems settled for the most part ever since I started going to a different post office. The delay at this point stems from being backed up from having had to reship over a hundred goddamn orders and still getting notices that I either missed one, or another one slipped through the cracks. My concern regarding the initial post in this thread is over international orders. In the past customs has slapped me rarely, but it seems I have to be more cautious and leave some leeway room for delays in any case. Edited because I'm in a really, really bad mood and blurted some stupid shit out.

I have to assign 900 tickets to David Bowie today, so I had to go in. =P Sucks here, but y'all could have guessed that. Heh! Pain is making me vulgar, and when my boss asked me why I'm going so slowly today and seem distracted, I said, "Because my vagina is dialating." *grunt* Only 700 more tickets to go...

Ok, at the risk of being way too graphic -- especially for the menfolk here -- this is what's up: Out of nowhere, I had a very severe, violent reaction to my birth control pills. It got steadily worse until it became something I couldn't stand anymore. I don't know when my body changed, but when it did... jeebus. My ob/gyn is switching me to an IUD, but since I've never given birth I have to use Cytotec in order to dialate prior to the proceedure tomorrow. It's 24 hours of extreme discomfort, bordering on completely incapacitating. I'm on Hour One right now, and it's damn near unbearable. The great thing is that I have to go in to the amphitheatre from 10am til 9.30pm. I laugh at my misfortune and bad planning skills. HA! - - - I love you guys so much. Thank you all for always being there for stupid ol' me.

I'll be ok, guys.... I'd tell you what's up, but it seriously might be TMI in a big way. Thanks for all the kind words. I'm going to do my best to finish up some emails tonight before I crash...

Hey guys -- quick note... I had to go in to the office today and yesterday -- the other office, unfortunately, as I still work for the theatre. Blech. I had to do a 10 hour day there yesterday, and 10-10 today, so I might be a little slow in getting back to everyone that resent their emails. I'm going to get through as many as I can when I get back tonight, and more when I get back tomorrow around 7pm.

We will be opening up international ordering through the web site later today for most of western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Clephan, if you see this, I'm going to PM you when I get back from hockey practise. My sent mail is all out of whack, so I'm starting from scratch. =/

All the blackphoenixalchemylab.com ones. I think the mail is working now, it's just my computer that's blown a gasket.

We're still going through all the orders manually. It's taking some time, as they span over almost a full month. If your package has been eaten by the post office, you won't receive an email from me until the moment it ships. At this time, it's the only way I can keep things organized. If I haven't emailed you yet, it only means that I'm still repacking your order and you'll get a notice from me and, if it is a domestic order, from the USPS automated service when it goes out again. I'm truly sorry for any confusion that my previous post may have caused. I've been a little frazzled, and I seem to be typing out of sync with what I'm thinking -- if that makes any sense. We still have more than 70 orders to go through, so please be patient. I want to get all this cleared up by the week's end, so you shouldn't be waiting too much longer for a reshipment, barring another hellish incident.

There doesn't seem to be a problem with our SMTP server anymore, but there may be a problem on my side. I am going to resume replying to everyone tomorrow night after 7pm, after I do a complete reinstall on this computer. Thanks for your patience! Hopefully we can straighten this out asap. [cross-posted to the LJ Alchemylab forum]

The sample selection fields are now fixed. You should be able to list the scents once they're placed in the cart instead of waiting til checkout. Huzzah! Thank heavens for the little things.