Morrighana

Welcome to our grand reopening! You will see a lot of changes when you log into your account, but here is a basic rundown of what has changed, what we've lost, what we've gained, and why.

First of all, we want to explain why we didn't announce our downtime ahead of taking the forum offline. We discovered some security vulnerabilities in the software, and felt it was important to bring the board down for safety reasons and not allow hackers the chance to make our system even more vulnerable.

To restate, we have no evidence of a compromise on a data level, but in spite of this we still highly recommend caution...please change your password, as well as changing any other web accounts that used the same password.

Following our pulling the boards down, we had to sort out exactly what needed to be done and how to accomplish it. We needed additional tech support to help us untangle what was an absolute mess on both a server and a software level, and communicating around the globe about this did slow things down. Finding new problems everywhere we turned meant a lot of back-and-forth during the upgrading process, but we finally got it done!

Now, when you log on, you will see a number of changes. First, the good news! The new software is super fast, clean, and easy to use. You'll see minor changes to the appearance of the usual tools and thread layouts, but otherwise will feel quite at home in no time at all.

We are missing a few features, which we hope to bring back someday. First and foremost, the feedback system. We understand how important feedback is to swaps, but this app was completely un-upgradeable. To the best of our knowledge, the data from the feedback system is still in our databases, so we are looking into alternatives and replacements. Similarly, stash manager. The price cap database is still operational, so once again we hope we will be able to bring back this feature with a new app.

The skins were also all obliterated in the upgrade. We will have some choices up for you ASAP, but thought it would be better to get the board open even if it looks generic for the moment. The Mobile skin seems to be having some issues for some users as well, though others report it looks fine.

If you notice any bugs or get any other errors, please report them here.

Welcome back, everyone!

Nope. Just hang on for a bit! It could be the bottle of Haunted holding you up...maybe they needed to mix a new batch of that. Whatever the case, though, don't fret! CCNow is a bit of a pain in the butt, but in this case you should be perfectly fine.

http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/faq.html

My credit card statement showed an initial charge for my order, which disappeared, and now there is a new charge. Was my card double charged?

CCNow does a pre-authorization to validate the order before sending it to the Lab, which is reversed before the actual charge is applied.

 

My credit card statement showed a charge for my order and then it disappeared. Was my order cancelled?

Sometimes CCNow's pre-authorization will be reversed prior to the actual charge goes through. If you didn't receive a notification of cancellation from CCNow, everything should be fine.

You're right about the rest, the meaning of "awaiting shipment", etc. I'm not sure how fast the international queue is moving these days, but you'll see it change a short time before you receive your shipping notification.

As some of you may have noticed, our database project is temporarily on hold due to unforeseen events! We are hugely grateful to those who volunteered, and will be contacting you as soon as we are organized again!

Thanks for your patience, and enthusiasm!

I know for a fact that the Lab has nothing against the idea of a Canadian authorized reseller. Like Eclectic said, though:

From what I can tell it is a very slow process since they probably take a huge amount of consideration what the store is, what they sell, who goes there, etc. to keep in line with their own branding and image.

The Lab also has to consider things like how many wholesale relationships they currently have the manpower and product to support, and in the case of an international reseller especially, I'm sure import/export laws and costs would have to be a factor in determining the feasibility of the relationship too.

Did you pay for 8 bottles but only list 7 in your order? If so, definitely email answers (at) blackphoenixalchemylab (dot) com and explain the situation; I'm sure they can help you!

However, if you paid for 7 bottles, listed 7 bottles, and now want to add and pay for 1 more bottle, the policy established by Beth in the first post in this thread is still valid:

Once you place your order with us -- through the web site, by mail or through CcNow -- it is final. No swap outs, no substitutions, no add-on's, no combining orders.

If you're going to contact anyone about it, I'd call the post office, not the Lab. They are the ones who are controlling the show at this point, after all! It's possible someone scanned your package as delivered but then it missed the truck.

As many of you already know, Shriekingviolet is on hiatus from the forum, and is likely to be for some time before things will settle down. She is regularly checking in with Quantum Spice while she is away, but for now she is unable to receive PMs or emails from the forum.

Going forward, I will be the Admin team's point person for forum customer service. PMs regarding point redemption, name changes, and other general administrative issues should be sent to me from now on. I am based in Europe most of the year, so please be patient with regard to response times; my 'hours of operation' generally do not line up with the North American business day!

Quantum Spice is still around and handling all of our behind-the-scenes tech stuff, but (as many of you also know) the workload involving that same 'tech stuff' has increased hugely lately, so we are trying to take some of the pressure off of her so she can have an actual life outside of the forums. Of course, if something comes up that requires either SV or QS's opinion/action, I will pass it along to them to deal with ASAP.

Thanks!

The Amazon orders are processed by BPTP, which is a different physical premises and shipping queue from BPAL, so if you want GCs not offered on Amazon, AFAIK you'll have to order them directly from BPAL.

USPS does NOT, ever, update their Click'n'Ships internationally, so it'll say that forever. The date you received the C'n'S email is the day the Lab printed your postage label, so it either went out that day, or the following, and is on its way to you now.

Basically, no worries! Start stalking your mailbox towards the end of next week/beginning of the following week, making allowance for the xmas postal rush.

Wickedgoddess has stickied a great post on that very subject, Excetra!

Colormonochrome, as long as you have your email receipt from *paypal*, and/or the transaction shows up on *your* paypal account history, then you're golden. That's all anyone gets from paypal orders.

There's also a thank you thread in BPAL Chatter.

Contact CCNow to ask about that...it looks like them, rather than that Lab, who canceled your order. Very weird!

I just tried calling their Track and Confirm customer service, it was totally automated and it told me there was no record of a package with the receipt number I entered. So then it just hung up on me.

 

On their web page it says that if your package appears to be delivered to the wrong area or address that the mailer must file a complaint...

But it doesn't say it's been delivered, right? Just call USPS' normal customer service, not the tracking line. Or go to your local PO and ask them for assistance, but what you get from them may depend on the helpfulness of your local posties.

Call USPS. I'm sure they'll notice how off-route it has gotten eventually, but calling their attention to it will get your package to you sooner.

The only real indicator internationally is other people in your country. Are there any Germans reporting orders arriving? Because they may all ship on the same day, but each country's customs and post system will take a different amount of time to get a package to its destination. I know it has happened in the past that orders have reached customers in England before they've reached me here in Canada, so it really can vary illogically!

Other Europeans may be able to give you a bit more perspective, but my own rule in US-to-Canada shipping is to wait 15-20 business days from the time it ships before I even consider worrying. You're not yet at 2 weeks from your ship date (and sometimes packages leave the Lab one day later than the CnS says, if the post person picks up earlier than usual on a given day), so I really wouldn't worry yet.

Again, if the scents that you want are available on Amazon, you can use Amazon.com gift certificates.

Or, if the scent you want is available on Amazon.com, you can use your Amazon wishlist!

If the post office knows where it was, then they should be able to track it down. I'd go back to them and make noise until they figure out where the hell they put it.

I wouldn't worry about it not being 'harvested' from CCNow yet. If you check out the CnS thread, people are getting notices for orders placed mid-December now, so it'll probably be about two weeks until yours ships. Also, if it's huge, I'd give it an extra week or so, just because more items=more chances something will hit a tiny snag, like needing a new batch bottled to fill your order.

Gotta isolate it to BPAL Chatter, that's the trick. Otherwise you get too many results, and the more recent ones still bury the ones you want!

Nope. It's just that nobody has posted in 'em since last year, so when the autoarchiver did it's thing, the threads dropped like rocks off the BPAL Chatter front page. Finding 'em is easy if you search BPAL Chatter for Titles Only using any of the words in the thread name:

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=30795&hl=call

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=37378&hl=call

According to this post, all of those orders have been packed. That's the most recent update that I know of. When did you order?

The $13 to Western Europe is only up to 12 items, according to this post, and you have 19 items so you should email the lab at answers (at) blackphoenixalchemylab (dot) com for a shipping quote.

The rescaled shipping is thus:

 

One 5ml = 1 item

Twelve imps = 1 item

 

If you purchase 12 items or less (in any combination of imps and 5mls), these are the shipping rates:

$11 to Canada

$13 to Western Europe & Australasia

 

If you live outside these areas, or are placing an order larger than 12 items, please email us for rates.

Can someone tell me who I can email regarding an order? I ordered on 26th nov and I still have not received a CnS. I am getting impatient because people who have ordered later than me have already received a CnS.

From the Announcements forum

The USPS site has been crapping out for the past several days, and, consequentially, there has been a hiccup in outgoing packages. At this time, we’re utilizing other methods of processing postage. Your orders will still be going out via USPS, but you may not receive a Click n’Ship notification.

Your order probably went out without a CnS. If you still want to email someone, the address on the website is answers (at) blackphoenixalchemylab (dot) com.