rosefaith

Old Nairobi?!! I hadn't heard anything about this. Sounds intriguing. Anyone remember what notes might be in it?

Thanks, shadow .

Great name! I've always thought I'd name my (as-yet-unborn) daughter Magdalena also.

Okay, so my list of Must Haves is, like, 33. (Almost all the new scents really. I have to roll my eyes at myself .) Queen of Sheba is at the top of my list as well . I will also have to get Magdalene, because I have this weird Mary Magdalene fetish. It sounds like we'll also be getting a Midsummer update later on this summer?!! Too good to be true!

In recent correspondence with Nella, she said that future orders should be placed using the blackphoenix@blackphoenixalchemylab.com address for Paypal. I had been using cupcake@papow.com before, but apparently that one is right now. Thanks, clephan. Do you know if, when we place our orders via paypal, if we should send 2 copies - one as we make our paypal payment to blackphoenix@blackphoenixalchemylab.com, and another to Nella or someone else at the BPAL lab? If so, to whom at the lab should we send our duplicate copy of our paypal order and payment? Thanks, anyone who can help me out with this .

I think I speak for most of us when I say, "Like, duh! Of course we'd like to see the new info!" That is, if you have time to post it. So excited that the new scents will be coming out soon. I've been holding out on placing an order until they were ready. A couple questions... Even though you're still using CC Now, would you prefer that we place our orders via paypal? If so, I'm still not exactly clear on how to do so. I did read through the paypal thread, but still need to know a couple details. What is the current email address we send our paypal payment to? Should we follow up with an email to BPAL with our order specs as well? If so, whom should we send it to? Nella? Thanks, and looking forward to the new update!

I agree! The old formula was a bit too sweet for me, so I'm psyched to try this new one.

A Happy Ending: Got my 4/2 order today! Hoorah!

(Another cool avatar, chai_girl, by the way.) Re: emailing Nella - I also have had good luck with her responding relatively quickly (the longest I've had to wait is about 3 days). I think enozgirl makes a good point about providing BPAL with as much info as possible. Perhaps you've already done this, but if not, try providing them with the cc-now order #'s (if you ordered through cc-now, that is). Perhaps that might help them track your stuff. I also have an outstanding 4/2 order. Beth had mentioned in a forum post that it had definitely shipped on 4/29, so about a week ago I figured something was amiss, because BPAL orders always take no longer than 3 days to get to me. I emailed Nella about it, who said she'd pass my email on to Beth. When I didn't hear back from anyone at BPAL about it, I emailed again yesterday and said something to the effect of, "I truly don't mind waiting as long as you need me to while you get my order sorted out, but I'd appreciate a quick note back just so that I know someone IS aware of the problem, to put my mind at ease ." I'd had problems in the past with BPAL not being aware there was a problem with my order and therefore not being able to do anything about it, so I just wanted to be sure the right person had been alerted that there was a problem. Nella emailed back the same day and said that Brian was working on it. For me, getting my order quickly is not the issue, it's the communication factor. So once I know THEY know, I don't mind at all waiting.

I ordered on 4/2. Beth had said - in a post here on the forum - that my order had shipped out on 4/29. On Thurs last week I sent an email to Nella inquiring about it (because usually BPAL orders take no more than 1-3 days to get to me, once they're actually shipped). Nella sent me a reply this afternoon (Monday), saying she had forwarded my email on to Beth. Still haven't found out yet what's up with my order, but it's nice to know it's being looked into.

Yep. Black label; white skull over crossed swords. Really?! Cool! I may just have to get one of these. Love the Jolly Roger scent - esp on warm summery days when I've just swum in the ocean.

Hey, what's wrong with that?! (I do it all the time .)

Beth, sounds like all the changes you're in the process of instituting will be great and helpful for us forum members and a lot healthier and saner for you. Congratulations! Nella, welcome! What's your story, if you don't mind me asking? How did you end up hooking up with BPAL? (We forum members are a nosey lot. Well, I'M nosey, at any rate.)

Thanks for the info, Brian. I always so appreciate hearing the latest from the BPAL lab. Good luck getting caught up!

Yes, I second (or ninth?) the suggestion of simplifying/doing away with the ties/labels - temporarily or permanently. While I think they are totally cool and spooky-Gothic looking, they are the least important aspect of the imp's ear experience for me. A nice little lengthwise sticky label (as inbigtrouble mentioned above) would be just fine. And if you feel it would make your life easier, go for it!

Hi elizabeth. No problem t'all about the current turnaround time. You all can only do what is humanly possible (and you often even seem to exceed that!). Thanks for the update on how long orders are taking to go out right now. The last I remember hearing in a post from Brian was that the turnaround time was 10-14 days, so it's good to get the info that the time is a bit longer at the moment. As I mentioned above, I really truly do not mind waiting the extra time!! It's nice to be in the loop, though, about what's going on for the BPAL crew. Take care, and stay healthy! PS - The upcoming scents look delicious! I've so enjoyed all the new scents you introduced for Imbolc, too.

withcoffeespoons, you came up with so many fabulous suggestions in your post on P.6 of this thread ! While perhaps not every single one may be practically feasible in exactly the same form as you suggested, I think if BPAL instituted policies such as these, it would help EVERYONE out, customers and BPAL employees. I do agree with you TygherRayn: most of us would like to see Beth have more time to work on her creations, and I think instituting policies such as the ones withcoffeespoons suggested would actually HELP her do this in the long run. Yes, it would mean more work initially in order to set up these systems, but once they were in place, she'd have way more time because she wouldn't be bombarded with all the "Where's my stuff?" messages. The system would essentially run itself much more effectively (providing a link to the forum is a brilliant idea, withcoffeespoons). Yes, I think most would agree that as a culture we are stuck on immediate gratification, but as withcoffeespoons, carolsag, any_old_actress, and others have already said above, I think COMMUNICATION is the major issue here. Most would be happy to wait if they just knew what was going on and could manage their expectations accordingly. I know BPAL is currently working on a website update. Perhaps Beth could add a little blurb on the main page saying something like... "We are a very small business and lovingly craft each order for our customers individually. We have historically prided ourselves on our customer service, and still care very much about every single one of our clients. However, over the past several months we have experienced an astronomical increase in business, and though we are trying very hard, we have not been able to provide the customer service and speediness of delivery that we are used to. This quite possibly frustrates us even more than it frustrates YOU, so please bear with us as we are going through these temporary growing pains. Rest assured that we are doing everything humanly possible to modify our systems so that things will run smoothly again soon, but in the meantime, here's what you can expect: 1) It may take as long as 4-6 weeks for you to receive your order. When it does arrive, however, you will be in for an exquisite hand-crafted, hand-labeled, and hand-packaged bundle of yumminess. There will very likely be some hand-picked, individualized surprises included as well. 2) While you are waiting, please check out our BPAL customer forum. Quite a little community has formed around our business, and we'd love for you to be a part of it. On the forum you can find: order information, advance notification of new scents, fabulous and detailed customer reviews of each of our scents, ideas for how to use BPAL products, idle chit-chat, and genuinely warm and friendly people. Welcome to the BPAL family. This is a business unlike any other. We are so happy that you've decided to join us and look forward to serving you." ...or something like that . Kind of went off there, but I got inspired. Anyway, meant to write more responding to others' suggestions, but must run now. Will return later.

Mmmm, you should try some. It's so nummy - smells just like warm, butter, fresh-baked gingerbread. Works fabulously as a room scent, as well as a body scent.

May 1st, huh? Hmmm...I may have to squeeze in a little order in the meantime , to tide me over, you see. Re: how long it took for Gingerbread Poppet to sell out - it definitely did NOT sell out until after the new year. This isn't speculation either, because I ordered some myself on January 11. I noticed it was up on the website for awhile after that as well.

Uh oh, this might be turning into one of those "unfounded rumor" threads - you know, like the one speculating that BPAL was about to close down ? My sense is that none of us forum frequenters need to worry about not being able to order Limited Editions. I'm sure there'll be something posted here within hours of the BPAL site update, so if we just check this board frequently, we'll find out about it in a timely manner. I think if we order soon after the site updates, there'll be no probem. (Though, again, I'm only speculating .)

In my experience, which has only been with the Winter scents so far, it was a matter of weeks, rather than days. However, it seems that BPAL business is up, so perhaps it won't take as long this time...(I suppose this is really a question for Elizabeth and Brian to answer, now that I think about it.)

My $.02: here's what I'd do if I were you... Wait for 3 more business days after today to see if your package shows up (which I'm pretty sure it will). If it doesn't show up, let Beth know (I'd pm her if I were you, in addition to, or instead of, emailing). If the package DOES show up between now and then and you decide you still want to know what the hold up was all about, ask Beth. Perhaps she just wasn't able to get it out right away on the 8th and had to wait a few more days. If she replies and said that, indeed, she DID ship it on the 8th, you might mention to her the information about being able to take legal action against the USPS for undue delays. Good luck.

Good news, carolsag: If you received the USPS email, you'll almost surely be getting your package within 2-4 days!! As I said in my reply to byrdie, above, in my experience the CC Now "ship dates," mean virtually nothing. HOWEVER, so far the USPS email notifications have been correct and accurate. I've ALWAYS (so far ) gotten my packages within 2-4 days of receiving the USPS email notifications. Good luck! Let us know when you get your package.

This sounds like the usual sequence of events, byrdie. Generally what happens with my orders is: the CC Now website says my order is "shipped"... my credit card is charged at this time... at some point later on (usually about 1-2 weeks later) I get a shipping confirmation email from USPS with the actual shipping date listed... my order arrives 2-4 days later (I'm in NoCal).

I agree with many of the others above: everything you mentioned in your post, Beth, sounds like good news to me. Paypal sounds great - it's nice to have the option NOT to use a credit card (I'm trying to be better about budgeting these days ). Paying more for shipping sounds okay, too, if it will mean less hassles all around. Good for you for raising your prices! You deserve it, and you're a business person, for goodness' sake. You need to make a profit. The new scents sound fabulous! I'm so psyched for Beltane - it's one of my favorite holidays! Arcana, Kali, and Schrodinger's Cat (not to mention all the others) also sound amazing.