Shipping Update

[friendthegirl]

This is my two cents and I was actually talking about this with someone else, but Beth and company need some help responding to emails!

[TygherRayn]

I do realize that it's a small business-- my assumption is that one can rig an automatic response through PayPal. I'm no technological whiz kid, I'm pretty sure it's the case that regular ebay sellers can send automated message when a purchase is made. And I may just be on crack, but I think I've received automated messages from sellers after paying through PayPal. If I'm not just making this up, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to set one up, and it would cut back on the number of emails Beth receives from people who haven't read the FAQs on the shipping process. So long as the initial time investment isn't too extensive, it would end up saving time.

 

Not the website!!!! I said a link to the forum in said hypothetical automatic email, and updates in the Announcements section of the forum.  Again, this is a spend time to save time thing. Ten minutes a week tops to post an "Orders through xx/xx have been processed and will be shipped in x-ish days" in the announcements section is going to keep her inbox from being flooded with the "it's been two weeks! when am I gonna get my order!" type messages that she really doesn't have time to answer. I realize that Beth works like a crazy woman.   She doesn't have time for such emails, and these can be largely averted through a system of this sort. The time commitment would be minimal, and she wouldn't have people distraught over the fact that she hasn't had time to answer their bazillion messages. As far as suggesting that the updates be regular, it's simply because people do much better when they know what to expect. Less panic, fewer emails to Beth. I definitely wasn't suggesting weekly updates to the website. It needs to be updated to let give people a more accurate idea of order processing time, but after that... Way too much work!

As far as I know, there's no automated process through Paypal to arrange such a thing. The emails you recieved were probably sent out by the seller, from their computer, not through Paypal. At least, I've never received anything of the sort, and I use Paypal extensively.

 

And while such a thing would be helpful in the case of the people that do Paypal their orders, not everone does. Some people send checks or money orders. Such a system would compeltely leave them out of this, and thus wouldn't be fair. In order to set up something like this on Beth's computer, she or someone knowledgeable would have to set up proper filters and mail handling rules, and that's not as easy as people seem to think.

 

 

As for the forum updates .. don't you think that if she could do that, she would? I frankly think that whoever said we're spoiled is right. Yes I was impatient when I was awaiting my order. But I didn't email Beth eighty-bazillion times asking 'Where's my order, it's been two weeks!'. I know how home-run businesses work, and I know it takes time. Plus I took the time to ask questions and actually read the answers. No matter how many times I've tried to explain that CCNow's 'shipping' date is incorrect, I've still seen people griping about how it 'says it's been shipped and aughtta be there by now.'

 

I personally would rather Beth spend the time working on her creations, not having to sit down, even for five minutes, just to say 'I'm still working on it. She does post when she has any sort of an update to give, and that's good enough for me.

[Astarte]

This is a little off topic but I just need to ask a question.

 

I sent my order in by paypal cause I'm from England. Do we still get "Your Shipment has Shipped!" messages even though we're not using the main shop front or do we wake up and find a parcel on our doorstep.

Edited April 17, 2004 by Astarte

[allamanda]

This is a little off topic but I just need to ask a question.  

 

I sent my order in by paypal cause I'm from England.  Do we still get "Your Shipment has Shipped!" messages even though we're not using the main shop front or do we wake up and find a parcel on our doorstep.

No definite answer I'm afraid. My first order I received an email letting me know my order had shipped, the second I woke up to a parcel.

 

Equally exciting either way

[TygherRayn]

Equally exciting either way 

That I can defintiely agree with!

[any_old_actress]

spoiled or not, over two months is a bit of a wait since most other people who ordered at the same time as me and in the same area as me have long since received their orders and reshipments. love beth, love the product, love the lab to pieces - wouldn't dream of going elsewhere. although some people are still caught up in the ccnow shipping date (i'm not one of them) i think TygherRayn got the reality of that through to people. i don't particularly care about ccnow's date really, i just know it's been over two months since my initial order (and the date ccnow gave me, to be technical )) and i have no idea where my package is, if it's been re-shipped again, if someone else is smellin' like my lady macbeth or what! beth's busy, i know the situation, i'm here on the board every day - i just want what i paid for. and plus, it sucks getting excited for over two months EVERY DAY when you see the mailman come and he only has bills in his hand, no bpal. and on top of it damnit, i deserve to get my package, i've had some tragedy strike me in the last two weeks (to the day actually) and the mail gods owe me one. so there!

 

[carolsag]

friend the girl , it wasnt anything you said, if anything everything you have said has made me feel a lot better. someone else from this forum e-mailed me and told me i should stop blaming beth for delays, i never said it was beths fault ,no one is to blame. From day one, the only thing i have said 'was i dont care when i get my order i would just like to have some idea when to expect it.' But thanks for caring, it would be nice if everyone was as compassionate as you,thanks again,Carol

Edited April 17, 2004 by carolsag

[with coffee spoons]

As far as I know, there's no automated process through Paypal to arrange such a thing. The emails you recieved were probably sent out by the seller, from their computer, not through Paypal.  At least, I've never received anything of the sort, and I use Paypal extensively.

 

And while such a thing would be helpful in the case of the people that do Paypal their orders, not everone does. Some people send checks or money orders.  Such a system would compeltely leave them out of this, and thus wouldn't be fair.  In order to set up something like this on Beth's computer, she or someone knowledgeable would have to set up proper filters and mail handling rules, and that's not as easy as people seem to think.

 

Oops. My bad, as they say. I don't know how hard it is to set up this sort of thing, but another option might be bartering with someone who knows how to set up an automated response or something. But that is probably reaching. As far as the fairnesss--the shipping information is available on the website, so it's not as if everyone who orders doesn't have access to it right now. The only reason for the whole automated suggestion is to make sure that people get the info, just to cut down on confusion and the quantity of messages sent to BPAL about order status. Since a lot of people use PayPal, it could potentially help on that front. If it were possible, of course!

 

Since this seems as though it may be too difficult, what else might feasibly work? I know that Beth and co. pride themselves on their customer service, but because of the sheer volume of messages, nobody can get to them in a timely manner, meaning that the unindoctrinated start bitching about how crappy the service is and start rumors about BPAL going out of business and suchlike. Now some of those people I'm sure no one wants as customers anyhow, but some of them probably just don't know what to expect and as a result get worried. It seems to me that BPAL is only going to get bigger, simply because the oils are so incredible, so my practical question is just, do we have any ideas to help ward off worried newbie emails?

As for the forum updates .. don't you think that if she could do that, she would?  I frankly think that whoever said we're spoiled is right.  Yes I was impatient when I was awaiting my order.  But I didn't email Beth eighty-bazillion times asking 'Where's my order, it's been two weeks!'. I know how home-run businesses work, and I know it takes time. Plus I took the time to ask questions and actually read the answers.  No matter how many times I've tried to explain that CCNow's 'shipping' date is incorrect, I've still seen people griping about how it 'says it's been shipped and aughtta be there by now.'

 

I personally would rather Beth spend the time working on her creations, not having to sit down, even for five minutes, just to say 'I'm still working on it.  She does post when she has any sort of an update to give, and that's good enough for me.

I agree on the spoiled front-- this is a McDonald's culture. We want everything in five minutes. And the old truism is, well, true, that some things are worth waiting for, and certainly near the top of that list must be BPAL! My suggestions are trying to be practical, even if not succeeding , but to be practical you have to be realistic about what you're dealing with. Given that our culture is McDonald's based, and given that people don't automatically understand that this is a small business and that they will email Beth if they don't understand why they don't get their orders in five minutes, what can be done to help keep those emails from happening?

 

TigherRayn, there may have been a few vocal people who kept worrying about not receiving their orders after you explained everything, but I know that I, at least, understood and was much much less concerned. Thanks! And I'm sure there were a lot of other people who read your posts and got it too. I'll bet it cut back on the number of emails Beth received. So how can we or Beth do even more of that? So that Beth doesn't have to worry about so many emails asking the same question sitting in her inbox?

 

And regular updates would be contingent upon people having a link to the forum in conjunction with their order, so it might be a moot point anyhow. Patience is a virtue-- and as such in scarce supply! I agree completely. And I myself have no problem with Beth posting whatever whenever she feels the spirit move.

 

Again, I'm just trying brainstorm. I don't think that everyone who orders has necessarily discovered the forum--I ordered before I found out about it, which is probably a good thing, as my order would have grown exponentially! Those who haven't wouldn't know that Beth posts updates there. Maybe something so simple as including on the webpage a link to the forum with the explanation, "Order processing updates are posted on the forum when...insert witty condition allowing BPAL flexibility in the timing of updates." People do a lot better when they know what's going on and feel as though there is something that they can do to find out about it. It is certainly cultural--we are spoiled, we're used to having instant access--but it's also psychological. If people have realistic expectations and have some means of feeling "in the loop," they're going to be less freaked out and will not be contributing so much to Beth's inbox. So there's an idea that might work a little better. Anybody got anything else? We're smart people, we want Beth to succeed, so is there anything we can think of that can help?

 

Another idea (and it's the last one, I promise! ) is that maybe one or two of us could be the customer service address and forward Beth the questions that only she can answer, and take care of the rest ourselves? That might at least help with the current volume of emails.

 

None of this is attacking anybody in the least! Just trying to think of ideas to help Beth continue to provide great product and great service as her business expands.

[carolsag]

to any old actress, thank you for the kind words.as much as i want my order i hope you get your order first, because you have been waiting way to long, longer than anyone should have to wait! Also i am sorry about your personal pain. Will think positive thoughts for you that your order comes today or monday. thanks again, Carolsag

Edited April 17, 2004 by carolsag

[ebonykawai]

Another idea (and it's the last one, I promise! ) is that maybe one or two of us could be the customer service address and forward Beth the questions that only she can answer, and take care of the rest ourselves? That might at least help with the current volume of emails.

I thought that this idea was addressed a couple months ago, but what became of it I'm sure I don't know.

 

I myself was wondering if Beth does her own website updates or if she has a web administrator. I emailed her a little while ago, offering to do all her website updates, as I have 2 other sites I'm admin for and this would be a piece of cake, no trouble at all for me. I haven't heard back about this.

 

I think a lot of us have skills Beth could use, and we certainly seem to want to volunteer. What we need is a yes or a no from Beth. We can't do ANYTHING without her go-ahead. Maybe she just doesn't want the help. We don't know anything without her input.

[rosefaith]

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.

[ebonykawai]

Wow! That was awesome!! Excellent wording, Rosefaith.

[any_old_actress]

bravo rosefaith! and ebonykawai, i think you helping with the updates would take a big load off of beth (the most important thing is that SHE thinks so though hehe) and i think your point about many people here wanting to volunteer to make things a little easier on beth is quite accurate and would be most appreciated by everyone until things smoothe over and start moving at a normal pace again.

[allamanda]

rosefaith.

[ipb]

I myself was wondering if Beth does her own website updates or if she has a web administrator. I emailed her a little while ago, offering to do all her website updates, as I have 2 other sites I'm admin for and this would be a piece of cake, no trouble at all for me. I haven't heard back about this.

for the most part, beth does her own website updates, though i wrote/host/update the search engine & have been thinking about seeing if she'd be willing to have me make the rest of the site dynamically driven (so she updates the site & the search engine is updated automagically) and update the checkout procedure so she could change payment & shipping methods at will without having to redo a whole bunch of stuff... (right now, if she changes payment methods, she will have to edit OVER 1000 LINKS - 390 10ml, 370 5mls, 390-some view/update carts)

 

...and since the database was designed with the idea that this could happen, it honestly wouldn't take that much time coding wise [shouldn't be more than 5 minutes for the site to be dynamic and maybe 10-15 hours to change the shipping method - due to the each-order-is-submitted-as-one-browser-window, so i'd have to use curl, and i've not done that, so i need to code leeway for that - and probably 20 hours to make an easy admin setup so she could update almost everything (template, menu, sections, bottle sizes, prices, etc) on her own], other than me going through and double checking all of the id#s against what's currently listed. and it wouldn't be too hard to add in extra features (user logins, order tracking/history) ....

[ebonykawai]

Thanks for letting me know, Quantum Spice! I'm glad she's not in it all alone. You did a marvelous job on the site!!

 

If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know. I certainly don't want to step on toes, so I'm glad to know this.

 

[ipb]

Thanks for letting me know, Quantum Spice! I'm glad she's not in it all alone. You did a marvelous job on the site!!

~all~ i've done right now is the search engine and making layouts for stuff i think would add to the functionality and ease of use for both beth & co AND the customers (but haven't coded) and don't know if beth even wants

 

...but on the geekier side, i've been having a blast learning about lib_curl (which is the only way i know of how to transparently transmit more than one item order with "one click" for paypal/ccnow/other payment systems that have one-click-add-to-cart-and-pay-later and let the customer pick how to pay at the end of the journey.

[TygherRayn]

Another idea (and it's the last one, I promise! ) is that maybe one or two of us could be the customer service address and forward Beth the questions that only she can answer, and take care of the rest ourselves? That might at least help with the current volume of emails.

 

None of this is attacking anybody in the least! Just trying to think of ideas to help Beth continue to provide great product and great service as her business expands.

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Well, some people are attacking, but I refuse to get into a sniping contest.

 

As for the idea, I do think it's a fabulous one. I'm just not certain if Beth wants that. Or even if she's had time to consider it. It soudns like she's been hellishly busy .. and the increase in orders probably isn't helping. Now I'd NEVER suggest we stop ordering (After all ... I have two pending orders myself!) But I do realize she's been busy, and it's hard to keep up with stuff when that happens.

 

And rosefaith, yes I agree the problem is communication. But there is only so much one woman can do. If I were beth I'd be about ready to throw in the towel if I read all the complaining that's done, when most of the questions could be answered by just reading the FAQ.

[Cegirls]

If I were beth I'd be about ready to throw in the towel if I read all the complaining that's done, when most of the questions could be answered by just reading the FAQ.

I wholeheartedly agree!

 

I've just taken a *RELAX* attitude with it. B/c I *know* that my BPAL will eventually get here - Beth will make sure of that, and is good to her word...

Edited April 19, 2004 by Cegirls

[kebechet]

I had no idea this much discussion was going on.

[Dispatcherbert]

I just wanted to say that today I received my order that I placed on 3/24. **Happy Dance**!!

 

All I can say is, "Wow!" In addition to the 5ml Old Glasgow and Imp's Ear (Jolly Roger, Lightning, Queen of Hearts, Swank, Tempest, and Wrath) that I ordered, Beth sent me almost an entire separate order of Imp's Ear (Maiden, O, Old Venice, The Raven, and Storm). All of them are so yummy-smelling. I don't know what in the heck to wear first!

 

You have a lifelong customer on your hands, BPAL. Thank you so much!

 

Everyone else, the wait is the most difficult thing but hang in there!

[ebonykawai]

CCNOW says "Shipped"!!!! YES!!!!!!!! Maybe just a week or two to go!!!

 

**doing the happy dance**

 

 

[JazzieCazzie]

Yay for Ebonykawai! I can do happy dance vicariously for you as I still have "awaiting shipment" almost two weeks after my order was placed ... but I was about two weeks behind you so my fingers are crossed that if they really are trying to pick up the pace here, maybe I'll be promoted to "shipped" status in less than two weeks and feel like I am ahead of the game!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ebonykawai]

"Promoted." ROTFL!! That's exactly how I feel. Break out the champagne!

[Mushroom]

Today I recieved my order from April 1st and wow! Black Forest is such a warming scent, I can't wait to wear it in public. This was my first order and the whole ccnow flaw got me really worried that maybe the package had gotten lost. Guess I was just too caught up in the idea of instant gratification. Thank you very much to everyone in the lab. The wait really isn't bad at all