So my player is stuck in "Regulatory Clearance Delay" is there anything that can/should be done to speed it up or do I just need to wait until it makes it's way out? If there is something to be done, maybe it should be mentioned as a faq item?

-Mike

Well, what I wound up doing was calling back the customs agent, speaking to her and answering a couple of questions (i.e. what's the docking bay made out of?). I also made sure I let Rob know about the holdup. Once that's done, there's nothing you can really do except wait. I know the guys@empeg are working hard to get this stuff through without a hitch.

FWIW, my player was shipped on Friday and arrived Saturday afternoon. Perfect! Now I just need to have it installed. It's currently synch'ing, so there's not much I can do with it, anyhow.

Good luck!

George

Mine shipped Friday and I am not really expecting to get it until Wed (due to alleged missing paperwork and the euro holiday).

Unfortunately this whole purchase process has been less than wonderful. I don't really blame empeg, but they might want to put some work into streamlining it as it does reflect somewhat poorly on the company.

1. Did not receive my order invite
2. Credit card was declined (banks fault)
3. Did not receive email from empeg informing me that credit card was declined so nothing happened until I got anxious and emailed Rob to find out about the delay. A phone call from Empeg would have been a nice touch here.
4. One week delay due to some manufacturing issue with the 12 gig blue players.
5. Empeg stuck in customs. I understand Rob is working hard on getting this process streamlined.

It is going to take about 20 days from order to arrival. Kinda makes that priority shipping pointless :-)

-Mike

I'm surprised about the lack of an invite to you, Mike. Was there an explanation for this? Perhaps a mail server bug or a changed address?

I'm also surprised that Rob didn't call you about the credit card decline. I know it was the bank's fault (no disparaging Wells Fargo remarks, my wife is a branch manager), but did Rob explain why he didn't get a hold of you immediately in that case?

___________
Tony Fabris

Nope, I asked Rob after the second lost email and he said that they had the correct address for me. Direct emails from Rob have always gotten to me and I did get my order confirmation and shipping confirmation. I would tend to point fingers at something on Empeg's end (I am one of the admins for my companies mail server), but who knows, email can be a finicky thing. I will probably get the lost emails six months late or something.

My dispariging wells fargo remarks relate to their online banking system, so I doubt your wife was in any way involved :-)

Rob did not explain why they only tried to contact me via email (it did not occur to me to say anything at the time).

Maybe I just pissed of Hugo by making him look short(er) in the photos when the three of us met and now I will never get my player :-(

-Mike

My dispariging wells fargo remarks relate to their online banking system, so I doubt your wife was in any way involved :-)

That's funny, I really like their online banking system and haven't had the slightest trouble with it. Oh well, everyone has different experiences. I know our family has had some awful experiences with BofA, whereas I've heard others praise BofA while describing some major horrors with Wells Fargo.

Frankly, knowing how the banks work from the inside, it amazes me that they even function at all, let alone with any sort of efficiency.

___________
Tony Fabris

Frankly, knowing how the banks work from the inside, it amazes me that they even function at all, let alone with any sort of efficiency.

Heh, being a partner and consultant in a company that specializes in banking software, i know what you mean... I think that if I leaked some horrors I saw they would sue me. The worst thing is that this seems to be more or less the general state of affairs worldwide, not some 'developing country' effect.

Cheers!

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

I won't make excuses, but there are some reasons..

1. Did not receive my order invite

So far we're only contacting clients who confirmed their registrations. We asked everyone to do this in the May news bulletin, and the confirmation form was up for about a month. The information we gathered gave us an indication of production ratios and order volumes.

Clients that did not confirm, for whatever reason, WILL be contacted - after those that did complete the form. If, however, those clients notice that we've reached their number (from the BBS or our web site) we're happy for them to go ahead and order right away.

3. Did not receive email from empeg informing me that credit card was declined

These emails are now generated automatically, within minutes of the decline. I used to generate them manually, and I daresay I overlooked one from time to time - although I do send occassional reminders to clients with long standing declined transactions.

4. One week delay due to some manufacturing issue with the 12 gig blue players

There have been a few manufacturing issues. The biggest problems have been late deliveries by component suppliers to our manfacturers, and we are changing one major supplier as a result. The other big problem is that the orders have been considerably skewed towards higher capacities - in fact we've hardly sold any 6Gb players! This is great from a commercial perspective, but it caused a few delays as we changed manufacturing ratios and awaited delivery of more large drives.

5. Empeg stuck in customs.

I've always spent a lot of time dealing with customs issues (mainly in the US), and further to a meeting with FedEx last Friday I'm confident that the biggest cause of delay ("missing" paperwork) has now been addressed. FedEx in the US will nolonger be able to claim that paperwork has not been sent, as our UK depot are batching our forms seperately and seeking confirmation of receipt immediately after transmission.

Hopefully we have addressed most of the issues that delayed your goods, although even with the old procedures you were particularly unlucky. The majority of US consignments have always arrived next day, and the majority of orders are processed within 1 - 2 working days. Things will improve further still when new staff start work next week.

Rob

Sorry, we get far too many card declines to contact everyone by phone. Also, bear in mind that by the time a client wakes up in California, our sales staff have gone home! (Of course, support and customer service staff continue late into the night, but whilst they can check your order status, they're not usually involved in billing).

Consider how many Australian clients we have (and their banks seem to decline authorisations the first time by default!) and the usefulness of email becomes even more clear.

If orders run overdue for an extended period I look into them personally, and a call is a possibility in that instance.

Rob

Hey Rob,

Don't worry, no hard feelings here. FYI, I did confirm my interest after getting the may bulletin so I still think there could be a bug somewhere in your email system.

Now that I have the empeg I love it (listening to Pink Floyd/Dark Side of the Moon on it as I type). Glad to hear you are making progress with US customs as I want to order a case sometime soon :-)

-Mike

Well, as a data point, let me share a very smooth delivery: no Customs hassles at all! Sounds like your meetings with FedEx are working...
Thanks fellas
Michael

Delivered MENLO PARK CA 08/31/2000 09:59
Placed on Van MENLO PARK CA 08/31/2000 08:05
Arrived at FedEx Destination Location MENLO PARK CA 08/31/2000 08:02
Left FedEx Ramp SAN FRANCISCO CA 08/31/2000 07:09
Arrived at FedEx Ramp SAN FRANCISCO CA 08/31/2000 05:32
Left FedEx Sort Facility MEMPHIS TN 08/31/2000 05:28
Left FedEx Sort Facility MEMPHIS TN 08/31/2000 02:37
Left FedEx Ramp STANSTED GB 08/30/2000 16:27
Int. Package Manifest Created STANSTED GB 08/30/2000 18:31
Left FedEx Origin Location STANSTED GB 08/30/2000 17:55
Picked up STANSTED GB 08/30/2000 15:52


Michael Grant
12GB Green
080000266