UPDATE 11-11-04:
The HA3 LionHeart bodies ARE AT THE ETCHERS. *Also* - when the bodies first came back from the anodizers and before being sent to the etchers they were inspected and I have been told that the HA3 Natural color appears to be a "just about perfect match" between all pieces!
************************************************************
Although all the Fast Trackers are built and I'm starting to pack and ship them, it is slow going so you may not receive yours as quickly as originally anticipated, despite the quick build sequence.
This is because just about every package has become what amounts to a Custom Order:
1) some are Full Kits (easiest)
2) some are lights alone
3) some are lights and battery only
4) some are lights and batterIES only
5) some are going to a new address (understandable given the long lead time between prepay and shipping)
6) MANY are "mixed" orders - meaning those buyers ordered both HA3 and Fast Track, and this meant there were different requests on how they wanted to be received - some wanted both shipped at the same time and they would patiently wait for the HA3's to get here first. Some wanted the FT's first, but to send the charger/battery/ies now so they could use them right away. This entails a separate accounting system since I would not want to send yet another set of batteries/chargers with the HA3's after Already sending them out with the FTs.
7) the most complicated part was the incessant follow-up orders - adding another spare battery or two or ordering additional lights, many times coming weeks or even months after their first orders, which meant going back and forth over several months' worth of hundreds of PP receipt pages and consolidating and/or coordinating these orders.
8) and the the age-old problem of matching up names with CPF handles reared its ugly head yet again, exacerbated by several PayPal'ers using someone ELSE's PayPal accounts! And I'm not even going to talk about the mass of snailmails followed by yet-to-arrive additional snailmails from the original people because of yet more follow-up add-ons...
So, it is indeed slow going, and on my best day (yesterday) I was able to pack and ship only eight orders. And it's not like I can get HAT to help as with the VIPs. With those we simply lined up the boxes and dropped a VIP and set of instructions in each, with the few ordering more than one light put aside for me to pack and ship later. Then after the HAT members went home I only had to go down the PP receipt line and print and affix labels. We can't even do this now because Every Box will Each contain Different Configurations as explained above.
Finally, I am running out of Pila batteries. I ordered them in a 1:1 ratio not anticipating the follow-up orders and such, and now with everyone ordering one or more extra batteries I am going to end up with a mess of chargers - only. So I am going to stick my neck out here (been trying to call Jon Burlison all day and getting either a recording to which I left a message, or busy signals) and ask that all additional orders be for LIGHTS ONLY, with each buyer being sent directly to JS Burly's for their batteries/chargers. All battery/charger orders requested and paid for up to now will be honored of course. The "up to now" time limit means 11-5-04/9:20 p.m. HST, or right now!!!
AND - added to all this today was a gigantic $500-plus bill for duties from U.S. Customs, a bite I had not figured into the overall cost structure (and which to my original understanding would either not occur or was to have been covered already).
So...your kind patience and understanding is appreciated as I slog my way through this morass. Please refrain from sending me e-mails/PMs unless absolutely necessary as I must then stop and look at Each One - since they may be Changes in orders, or shipping instructions/sequences, or addresses. Unless critically necessary, please, no more changes...
Whew...and I thought I was well on my way to a - vacation... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif
The HA3 LionHeart bodies ARE AT THE ETCHERS. *Also* - when the bodies first came back from the anodizers and before being sent to the etchers they were inspected and I have been told that the HA3 Natural color appears to be a "just about perfect match" between all pieces!
************************************************************
Although all the Fast Trackers are built and I'm starting to pack and ship them, it is slow going so you may not receive yours as quickly as originally anticipated, despite the quick build sequence.
This is because just about every package has become what amounts to a Custom Order:
1) some are Full Kits (easiest)
2) some are lights alone
3) some are lights and battery only
4) some are lights and batterIES only
5) some are going to a new address (understandable given the long lead time between prepay and shipping)
6) MANY are "mixed" orders - meaning those buyers ordered both HA3 and Fast Track, and this meant there were different requests on how they wanted to be received - some wanted both shipped at the same time and they would patiently wait for the HA3's to get here first. Some wanted the FT's first, but to send the charger/battery/ies now so they could use them right away. This entails a separate accounting system since I would not want to send yet another set of batteries/chargers with the HA3's after Already sending them out with the FTs.
7) the most complicated part was the incessant follow-up orders - adding another spare battery or two or ordering additional lights, many times coming weeks or even months after their first orders, which meant going back and forth over several months' worth of hundreds of PP receipt pages and consolidating and/or coordinating these orders.
8) and the the age-old problem of matching up names with CPF handles reared its ugly head yet again, exacerbated by several PayPal'ers using someone ELSE's PayPal accounts! And I'm not even going to talk about the mass of snailmails followed by yet-to-arrive additional snailmails from the original people because of yet more follow-up add-ons...
So, it is indeed slow going, and on my best day (yesterday) I was able to pack and ship only eight orders. And it's not like I can get HAT to help as with the VIPs. With those we simply lined up the boxes and dropped a VIP and set of instructions in each, with the few ordering more than one light put aside for me to pack and ship later. Then after the HAT members went home I only had to go down the PP receipt line and print and affix labels. We can't even do this now because Every Box will Each contain Different Configurations as explained above.
Finally, I am running out of Pila batteries. I ordered them in a 1:1 ratio not anticipating the follow-up orders and such, and now with everyone ordering one or more extra batteries I am going to end up with a mess of chargers - only. So I am going to stick my neck out here (been trying to call Jon Burlison all day and getting either a recording to which I left a message, or busy signals) and ask that all additional orders be for LIGHTS ONLY, with each buyer being sent directly to JS Burly's for their batteries/chargers. All battery/charger orders requested and paid for up to now will be honored of course. The "up to now" time limit means 11-5-04/9:20 p.m. HST, or right now!!!
AND - added to all this today was a gigantic $500-plus bill for duties from U.S. Customs, a bite I had not figured into the overall cost structure (and which to my original understanding would either not occur or was to have been covered already).
So...your kind patience and understanding is appreciated as I slog my way through this morass. Please refrain from sending me e-mails/PMs unless absolutely necessary as I must then stop and look at Each One - since they may be Changes in orders, or shipping instructions/sequences, or addresses. Unless critically necessary, please, no more changes...
Whew...and I thought I was well on my way to a - vacation... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif