Email order acknowledgement

[inkstone]

The CCNow system is a bit confusing. When it says "shipped," it just means that your order has been downloaded by the Lab.

[empi girl]

Also, CCnow always waits on charging (I don't know why). It might be that they wait until the lab has the order and is working on it until they charge? I do know that typically I place my order, and it shows up on my statement as being charged 1-2 weeks after it was made. So no worries, the system is confusing, but I'm sure all is well.

[PixieSkull]

I think I've got it all figured out now! CCNow finally took out the money and I'm not so worried about the long "shipping time" from the lab. As long as I get the smellies before the end of the month, I think I'll be fine.

 

Maybe it's just Mercury in retrograde, but it took me a long time to realize CCNow took the money out

[oceandreamer001]

I'm curious, I ordered 6 imps, and I got an email that lets me check the status, and it's said shipped for ages. But they ship priority mail, right? So is the status wrong, or is my order lost do you think? I only ordered about a month ago, but that confused me.

[Morrighana]

Basically, CCNow lies. When it says that your order has been "shipped", that means that it has been harvested by the Lab for processing. You've still got about a month to go, and you should get a Click'n'Ship notification from USPS when it does ship.

[Nyx]

Wow, a bit of searching and I found the answer to my question. Go figure!

 

This CCNow program is the devil. Especially when you're on pins and needles (or a squishy computer chair) anxiously awaiting your first order.

 

Earlier today, I checked the order status for my order from the link that CCNow provided and it said 'shipped', but in checking the recent notifications people have been getting, they're up to the 14th or 15th of January so far -- my order was on the 18th.

 

Since I'm an uber-newbie ( ) I had a 'Yay!' moment, and then a moment of 'Wait, huh? This can't be right.' But this is a good reminder to people who may not be 'in the know' (as of yet) to not almost hug their monitors. Soon! But not yet.

 

-- Nyx

 

[edit]: edited for horrible Monday spelling.

Edited February 7, 2006 by Nyx

[DarthArwen]

Not a question but a comment.. I really really wish the lab would send out an order confirmation email, especially because the process from ordering to shipping takes so long. When paying through paypal you only get the 'your money was sent' email from PP and then the next one, weeks later, is the click and ship - for nervous newbies that's like several weeks of thinking that your money was sent into the void, that BPAL is a scam, etc.

 

A few of my friends made an order after i got them into BPAL and they were all worried about this. When I explained that it always works like this, each of them said it was ridiculous to not actually receive any confirmation, and I agree. I think it's very UNcustomerfriendly - not at all representative of how helpful and friendly the lab actually is.

 

So please Lab, figure out an automagic email system that sends out "you have ordered this and this, your order will be processed, you will receive an email when it's being shipped" kind of emails. I bet it would cut down hugely on the worried "I didn't hear anything" emails you're currently having to answer in person.

[cyphersushi]

Yes! I agree... I always worry despite getting the paypal message and sometimes that gets lost too... It would be very very nice with one of these e-mails. Esecially for us who worry too much

[eyeska]

While I agree that this is a generally good idea, you might wish to send this sort of advice to the Customer Service email. To the best of my knowledge, while some of the Lab staff can be found around the forums sometimes, they don't read everything because they don't generally have the time to. You'd likely get a response to such a line of inquiry, as well.

[KTG]

Not a question but a comment.. I really really wish the lab would send out an order confirmation email, especially because the process from ordering to shipping takes so long. When paying through paypal you only get the 'your money was sent' email from PP and then the next one, weeks later, is the click and ship - for nervous newbies that's like several weeks of thinking that your money was sent into the void, that BPAL is a scam, etc.

 

A few of my friends made an order after i got them into BPAL and they were all worried about this. When I explained that it always works like this, each of them said it was ridiculous to not actually receive any confirmation, and I agree. I think it's very UNcustomerfriendly - not at all representative of how helpful and friendly the lab actually is.

 

So please Lab, figure out an automagic email system that sends out "you have ordered this and this, your order will be processed, you will receive an email when it's being shipped" kind of emails. I bet it would cut down hugely on the worried "I didn't hear anything" emails you're currently having to answer in person.

 

 

ITA. And I've ordered 4 or 5 times now. I get antsy waiting for the UPS e-mail. And I do end up e-mailing the lab just to make sure my order is there/is on its way/forgive my newbishness. They are always quick to answer and very nice, but the waiting is difficult.

[sarada]

They used to have automated order confirmation emails but since they didn't always go through (they were filtered out by peoples' spam filters, or just took awhile to chug through the tubes of the internets) my guess is that the system might have generated even MORE "did you get my order??" emails than not having them at all. That's just a guess though. I do remember that I stopped getting them a couple of years ago, but even when the system was in place the automated emails didn't always make it through.

 

I think that the Paypal or CCNow confirmation should be sufficient to prove to a customer that a transaction occured, and they do give an estimate of ship time (14 to 21 business days) and send out a click and ship. The only thing that I wish could be done to help clarify things for new customers is some sort of large, red flashing notice on the CCNow site that indicates that "order status: shipped" has nothing to do with the actual order status. If I am popping in on the squee thread three times a week to clarify people on that point, I can't even imagine how many emails the lab has to answer about it! (and I'm not a mod or anything, I'm just a busybody!)

[cam]

I think that the Paypal or CCNow confirmation should be sufficient to prove to a customer that a transaction occured, and they do give an estimate of ship time (14 to 21 business days) and send out a click and ship. The only thing that I wish could be done to help clarify things for new customers is some sort of large, red flashing notice on the CCNow site that indicates that "order status: shipped" has nothing to do with the actual order status. If I am popping in on the squee thread three times a week to clarify people on that point, I can't even imagine how many emails the lab has to answer about it! (and I'm not a mod or anything, I'm just a busybody!)

 

The problem is, it's sufficient to prove a transaction occurred, yes, but not sufficient to prove the lab actually got your order. I placed my SGA order through Paypal, and waited and waited for a CnS. I watched the CnS thread. I was hesitant to email Customer Service because I know how busy they are, and the volume of orders they were dealing with at once for that particular item, so I didn't want to seem like an impatient pest (and I suspect others feel the same). Finally, when people were getting CnS emails for orders placed a few weeks after mine, I sent them an email, and found out they never got their confirmation email from Paypal.

 

It's not difficult to set up an auto-response system, and these days, most spam filtering software is very good at filtering only actual spam. I'm a web developer and server/email administrator, so I have some experience with this. We filter for spam, and these days we almost never get complaints from clients about missed emails trapped by the spam filter (we serve approximately 50 individual clients, with hundreds of email accounts between them). In the past year, I've had one report of a missing email that turned out to have been caught by the filter (and believe me, if people don't get their emails, I hear about it immediately).

 

These days, most people know to check the spam folder/directory if they don't receive an email they're expecting. An easy way to avoid this is to advise people to add the email address from which notifications will come to their address book or other whitelist. A lot of companies advise people to do this somewhere during the ordering process, when people sign up for newsletters, etc. It's not a perfect system (some email providers just delete email flagged as spam, rather than saving it for awhile so users can check for incorrectly filtered emails), but as I said, these days most spam filters are really good and don't catch many legitimate emails.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

Can I ask you guys how you do the CnS thing? I never get one of those.. I pay for my Lab orders via PayPal - is it because I'm outside of the US that I don't get a CnS? My PayPal account shows that the money has been sent, but that's all the info it gives me.

 

With my first order, I didn't receive any notifications of any sort.. the bottles just arrived one day.

 

Since then, I've placed one order on 30 October, and another one on November 18. The November order is probably not ready yet but I thought the October order should be here by now or at least on the way.. I don't want to bother the Lab people about it, but I've been reading this thread and you all keep talking about a CnS so I'm wondering why I don't get those - it would be reassuring to know when my order has been sent, especially since it has such a long way to travel.

 

Please excuse me if I'm just totally missing something here, but I did try to work this out for myself before posting here. Any advice would be really helpful - thanks!

 

Louise

Edited December 3, 2008 by sunshinedaisybliss

[angharad]

The Click-n-Ship emails are a message from the USPS saying the package is being shipped. Sometimes they get lost in a spam or junk mail folder, so I'd suggest putting the email address they come from (USPS_Shipping_Services@usps.com) on a filter or safe list to make sure they stay in your inbox. From what I understand, even internationals are supposed to get CnS's these days.

 

Based on what I'm seeing in the Click-n-Ship thread over in BPAL Chatter, I wouldn't worry too much about your October 30 order just yet. While most of the notices are for orders in early November, someone in the US just yesterday posted a shipping notice for an order placed the same day as yours. The internationals tend to ship out in batches, and there are several international shipping notices in that thread right now. Hopefully you'll get yours any time now.

[ivyandpeony]

International orders do take a little more time, but if you're checking the CnS thread and seeing that the Lab's moved beyond your order date, then you shouldn't feel like you're bothering the Lab by e-mailing customer service. =) A lot of international folks do seem to receive CnS notices or some sort of notification. Be sure to check your spam folder carefully before deleting everything, I have heard lots of people say they've discovered them in spam (they come from the USPS, not from the Lab).

 

And there are some glitches with the CnS system. A friend of mine - another mod, who's ordered from the Lab for 4+ years - said she stopped getting CnS e-mails at some point recently. Her orders just started showing up without them and she can't figure out why. They aren't going into her spam folder. It seems to happen to other people, too. Hopefully yours will start showing up the way they are supposed to, though.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

International orders do take a little more time, but if you're checking the CnS thread and seeing that the Lab's moved beyond your order date, then you shouldn't feel like you're bothering the Lab by e-mailing customer service. =) A lot of international folks do seem to receive CnS notices or some sort of notification. Be sure to check your spam folder carefully before deleting everything, I have heard lots of people say they've discovered them in spam (they come from the USPS, not from the Lab).

 

And there are some glitches with the CnS system. A friend of mine - another mod, who's ordered from the Lab for 4+ years - said she stopped getting CnS e-mails at some point recently. Her orders just started showing up without them and she can't figure out why. They aren't going into her spam folder. It seems to happen to other people, too. Hopefully yours will start showing up the way they are supposed to, though.

 

Thank you ivyandpeony and angharad - that makes sense now

 

I definitely don't have anything in my spam/junk folders, so I guess I'm just not receiving the notifications. Thanks also for the advice - I have been watching the CnS thread and I'm trying to be patient (this is quite a challenge for me!!) - it's a bit of a mix but it looks like other people are getting their CnS for orders placed around the same time as mine, so I won't panic just yet.

 

Thanks again!

[Jenesis]

I agree with what has been said upthread. Some sort of email confirmation from the Lab itself would be very nice, I think, and as well as peace of mind it would allow mistakes and problems to be spotted much earlier. cam is right; the PayPal receipt (I've only ever used PayPal) only proves that you sent the money, it doesn't prove that the Lab got your order.

[Morrighana]

Here's the thing about email confirmation: The Lab used to have an automated email that went out when their inbox received your order. It worked fine for awhile, but then there were problems.

 

First, when deluged with orders at update time, sometimes the auto email didn't go out immediately and sometimes it didn't go out at all to some individuals. Based on the panic and worry we heard about here, I'm willing to bet this caused a huge spike in CS emails (and thus, labour hours spent on emails and not on packing and bottling!) compared to before they set it up (and after they took it down) because people were relying on that instead of their CCNow and Paypal confirmations (which they were generally still receiving) and panicking when the Lab's confirmation didn't arrive.

 

Second, the Lab's domain name got marked as spam by a number of large providers, such as AOL, because some spammers were sending nasty stuff out from fake email addresses. There is still a problem, as far as I know, with people's CS emails going straight to the spam box, and this, too, would surely increase CS issues when the auto-email hits the spam folder.

 

And then there's the fact that it takes time and tweaking to set something like this up, especially if one wants to bypass the above mentioned problems.

 

I'm not trying to say that the Lab isn't listening or doesn't want to do something like this. I know the Lab has a million projects on their lists at any given moment, and this is probably one of them. I just doubt that it will happen any time in the immediate future.

[Ravenclaw79]

Has anyone ever ordered through CCNow and not gotten a confirmation e-mail? Usually, it shows up in my inbox within a minute or two of placing the order. But I sent the order maybe 45 minutes ago or so, and I keep checking my inbox, and nothing. I did get the page that said it went through, but I like having the e-mail confirmation, y'know? Should I be worried?

[angelicruin]

Has anyone ever ordered through CCNow and not gotten a confirmation e-mail? Usually, it shows up in my inbox within a minute or two of placing the order. But I sent the order maybe 45 minutes ago or so, and I keep checking my inbox, and nothing. I did get the page that said it went through, but I like having the e-mail confirmation, y'know? Should I be worried?

 

Neither of my update orders (from Lab or BPTP) yesterday came back with confirmations, but I did screen prints and then logged back in (to make sure the orders took) and had duplicate confirmations sent to my email address.

[Ravenclaw79]

The duplicate confirmations haven't shown up, either, but it is in CCNow's system, says "awaiting shipment".

[angelicruin]

Yeah, it took me a couple tries to get even the duplicate email confirmations to come through.

[Ginspu]

Has anyone ever ordered through CCNow and not gotten a confirmation e-mail? Usually, it shows up in my inbox within a minute or two of placing the order. But I sent the order maybe 45 minutes ago or so, and I keep checking my inbox, and nothing. I did get the page that said it went through, but I like having the e-mail confirmation, y'know? Should I be worried?

This happened to me, too, just now, when I placed my Inquisition order. And I can't seem to go back into CCnow to request a duplicate - the screen shows the "Your cart is empty" message."

[angelicruin]

Has anyone ever ordered through CCNow and not gotten a confirmation e-mail? Usually, it shows up in my inbox within a minute or two of placing the order. But I sent the order maybe 45 minutes ago or so, and I keep checking my inbox, and nothing. I did get the page that said it went through, but I like having the e-mail confirmation, y'know? Should I be worried?

This happened to me, too, just now, when I placed my Inquisition order. And I can't seem to go back into CCnow to request a duplicate - the screen shows the "Your cart is empty" message."

 

You have to know your order number in order to pull it back up on the CC Now website. It will ask for order number, credit card number, order total (including shipping), and date order was placed.

[Ravenclaw79]

I've hit that "e-mail me a copy" button about a bajillion times, and I haven't gotten a single one (and yes, I've been looking in the spam box, too).