I just got an email from empeg... and less then 20 minutes after they sent the message I checked it with TNT and it has been picked up and is viewable on their website tracking system!!!

Thank you GODS@empeg!!!!



#170... I got my order invite and I have ordered my 12 gig blue!!! YAAAAHHHHOOOOOOO

You lucky ba... I mean... We are all happy for you.

*mumble mumble*

DiGNAN

I'm not too excited yet though... most everything I order ends up taking about twice as long as it should take normally... sucks to be stuck in the boonies.

Ummm... where I live there's about 700 people. Not quite a city... no street names and no building numbers. Only P.O. Boxes and 3 fairly large buildings. One good thing is that if it makes it here everybody knows me and where I work so it should get to me!

Oh woe is me...

#170... I got my order invite and I have ordered my 12 gig blue!!! YAAAAHHHHOOOOOOO

Me too! Can't wait..

I just got an email from empeg... and less then 20 minutes after they sent the message I checked it with TNT and it has been picked up and is viewable on their website tracking system!!!

Thank you GODS@empeg!!!!

Broughhhahahahahaha... it is getting closer!!!!!!

03 Aug 2000 08:09 New York J.f. Kennedy Intl Apt Consignment passed through transit point

02 Aug 2000 20:31 London Stansted Shipped from originating depot


Oh my... this is getting difficult!!!!

#170... I got my order invite and I have ordered my 12 gig blue!!! YAAAAHHHHOOOOOOO

Pkg. Status Exception MEMPHIS TN 08/03/2000 06:07 Regulatory Clearance Delay

*sigh* Oh well... maybe tomorrow.

That is exactly what happened to me. You should call FedEx and they will put you in touch with the customs agent working with your package. I'm also curious who that customs agent is and if it is the same person who held up my player.

-Finally received my Mark2 no thanks to customs.

I called them.. they said it came with no paper work at all...

Yes, that's what they usually say when they hold a player.

This is despite the following..

We supply FedEx with an advance copy of the commercial invoice, FCC statement and FDA declaration. They send these ahead of the freight direct to customs, to speed up the clearance process.

We also include three copies of the invoice, three FCC statements and three FDA declarations in the Documents Enclosed wallet of the package. If these aren't present then I don't know how the package made it to Memphis, because that's also where we put the shipping label.

In other words, US Customs are sometimes "mistaken" about the documentary status of overseas shipments. They have been known to make this "mistake" two or three times for one consignment, on occassion. I once made a VERY interesting statistical observation regarding the correlation between a particularly "mistaken" customs agent and apparent ethnicity of our client's surnames, but of course this was coincidence and I would never dream of publishing such an observation. This is pretty much irrelevent in this case anyway, as the recipient is a company name (I assume). David (in empeg support) is calling Fritz (the import agents) as I type, to resolve the issue.

We're working on a process to move all of our US shipments into the country on a single bond, which will eliminate these delays. In the mean time I apologise for any "mistakes" that are made.

Rob
The above is VERY MUCH my personal opinion, of course.

I understand that you guys do everything you can and I, by no means, hold this against you.... freaking custums... argh...

as the recipient is a company name (I assume)

Nope...It's not a business just me... I did use my company card though, but I assume you put the ship to name and not the card holder name on the package.

I'm also curious who that customs agent is and if it is the same person who held up my player.

Her first name is Sonja.

(should probably be in private email, but I'm at home and my VPN isn't working through my new firewall yet!)

The package shipped to "SCOCO" because that's what you typed into both the billing and shipping recipient names. The data you enter on the web site is duplicated directly into the FedEx shipping computer (we have an all singing all dancing automated shipping system now, even if it does run DOS).

Rob

The package shipped to "SCOCO" because that's what you typed into both the billing and shipping recipient names

argh... figures. oh well. Thanks again for all the help.

That is a different person than the one I had. And they kept saying I needed to send the FCC form and commercial invoice. Then when I got the player there were three copies of the forms with the shipping label.

-Finally received my Mark2 no thanks to customs.

My player was delayed at least a day every time it went through there. The first time was when I was recieving the unit, and the second time when it came back from repair. The second time, they cut the bottom of the box open to get to the unit. Maybe this proves they can't find the top of the box to get the paperwork :-)

That is a different person than the one I had

Actually I think that she works for Fed Ex. So I don't know who in customs stopped it.

By the way - Do you get an email with some FedEx Number when the Mk2 is starting its travel to you?

TeeMcBee
Reg#948 - already ordered a Mk2.

We send a confirmation email when the player ships.

I was a bit rushed last night and forgot to send them, so some people are going to get a shipping confirmation a few hours before their player arrives today :)

Rob

Quite fast service now, eh?

TeeMcBee
Reg#948 - already ordered a Mk2.

Pkg. Status Exception MEMPHIS TN 08/04/2000 02:16 Regulatory Clearance Delay

make that maybe Monday...

Pkg. Status Exception MEMPHIS TN 08/03/2000 06:07 Regulatory Clearance Delay

*sigh* Oh well... maybe tomorrow.

If they don't clear it after the Fax I just sent them (which was, umm, to the point) I will have to consult a thesaurus to discover new ways to tell them exactly the same thing. Maybe it will sink in eventually!

As far as I know we only have one other package held up at the moment, so there's no need for everyone else to lose sleep over their consignments.

Rob

There's one thing to be said for shipping items into Switzerland. The shipping company pays the import duty and bills you a few weeks later. Things never (in my experience, anyway) get stuck at customs.

Nick.

Can't be far away from my Mk2 now :-)


--
#8724

FedEx do the same for US shipments, although it should be a non-issue as the product is zero rated for duty into the US.

All of these delays have been due to FCC and FDA paperwork - one of them to state that the product is EMC approved, and one to state that it doesn't have dangerous levels of radiation (!).

I don't know why they bother - European standards are way stricter than US standards for that kind of thing (unfortunately for us!).

Rob

Same thing for me in Norway. Thought I got by the import duties, that did NOT happen. It took 6 weeks before the billed me.
Ahhh, who had money when that bill came??

TommyE

As far as I know we only have one other package held up at the moment, so there's no need for everyone else to lose sleep over their consignments.

Wait untill our customs lays hands on my empeg... Horror stories guaranteed!

BTW, I can hardly believe this myself, but I have actually asked Rob to delay shipping my empeg if it can't go out immediatelly. I have promissed to go to vacation on Thuersday the 10th, so if the package is not here a day or two earlier, I can choose between my head being bitten off for postponing the vacation or empeg being returned by impatient shipping agent. Talk about bad timing!

Cheers!



Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Queue #5196, waiting for shipping confirmation

Well, my empeg made it through customs and is now 60 miles north of me. But they won't let me get it until Monday. :( Oh well.

If it's in a depot, and you're willing to drive there, it's unusual for FedEx to refuse to let you collect a package - especially when it has been delayed.

Did you run over a parcel courier in a previous life? :)

Rob

Well, I called them and they basicaly said that they haven't unloaded anything yet that's supposed to go out Monday and they don't want to search for it. I thought about actually going there and seeing if they'd go ahead and do it, but I didn't really feel like leaving town.

Did you run over a parcel courier in a previous life? :)

Shhhhh! If anymore couriers find out, I might never get my mail!

Yahoo! It's here! It came in while I was home for lunch. I started uploading about 10 gigs worth over ethernet, if all goes well, it will be in the car tonight!

Can I add my very own 'Yahoooooo' here?

I got a mail not half an hour ago inviting me to order my very own little box of fun (Oi. Quieten down at the back, you know what I meant).

So, it's ordered. 18Gb blue with carrying case, extra remote and two extra power adapter boxy things.

Now all I have to do is wait :-(

Nick.


--
#8724

My invitation to order arrived last night (I didn't find it until this morning...)

My Registration Number is 8741, which is the highest number I've heard about being invited so far...

Funny -- the invitation arrived one year to the day from when I first registered. I would be hard pressed to think of one other product in the world I'd wait a year for! Funnier -- the empeg will arrive at exactly the time my car (Taurus station wagon) will go into the shop for an extended period of time (probably 1--2 months) where it will be fitted with an engine out of a wrecked SHO. (!!) (Laura -- if you see some old guy in a dirt-colored station wagon (with a GREAT sounding stereo!) eyeballing your Nova at a stoplight, don't be so sure you're gonna leave him in the dust!)

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

I would be more than happy to give you a chance to see if you could beat me!! But since I don't plan to drive to Alaska anytime soon it may never happen. I do have a brother that lives up in Brevig Mission that I would like to see but I doubt I could afford the gas so I will have to fly. But if you are ever down in Ohio look for me :)

Laura

I live to launch.

Congratulations, Doug!

I know you've been looking forward to the VR feature more than most of us have been, and I'm sorry that you won't be getting VR with the player right away. But look at it this way: The VR software is one more thing to look forward to.

Too bad your car will be in the shop when it arrives, but hey, you can spend some quality time with it at home and work, uploading songs and tweaking your playlists. If you have a decent home-stereo system, you could do some evaluations of various MP3 encoders. I can help set you up to use a couple of different encoders for comparison.

Give us a review after you've had it for a while, eh?

___________
Tony Fabris

Just wanted to follow up and say that the sync went great! 10 gigs in about 5 hours over ethernet.