It would be nice if Ric would actually come on here and explain the situation himself. This really sux. With hkp returning the unsent lights it means he will have to reship them on the 30th from scratch along with the umpteen thousands of packages from all the hk sellers. hkp will be flooded for weeks with delays and guys like me wont see our DRY until the end of Feb if we are lucky.
Ric really needs to pacify the crowd here by at least commenting here publicly on whats happening. He says 7 of the group buy parcels were returned unshipped. Those 7 deserve to know if it's them. I want to know if I am one of them.
Here's my latest information from HKP. Do you think mine will get returned to RIC ? The item (RT124194198HK) is being processed for departure from Hong Kong as of 21-Jan-2012.
The rest really need to chill out, get over yourselves for ordering just before the Chinese New Year. Yes it will take a long time and nothing can be done to change that, hopefully you learned until next year.
I doubt it will be returned to Ric. When a registered parcel is sent the first thing that shows up in the tracking system IIRC is "... being processed for delivery to the addressee", then the next step is "... being processed for departure from Hong Kong" and finally "... left Hong Kong for its destination on <date>".
It is directed to everybody. It's CNY. I don't have any pending shipments because I purposely stopped ordering from China/HK. I have items in my carts though. After about a week that's the time I will pay.
Also, this is one of the reasons we saw members sending the payment to Ric as fast as they can - to preempt and avoid the CNY delay.
MFM, You make it sound like it was our fault for ordering around the Chinese New Year. Let me remind you that we had no choice on when to order this light. Ric announced the Group Buy the first week in January. Our only option was to deal with the pending Chinese New Year or not order the light. Most of us were counting on Ric to ship our lights before the Holiday.The only thing to "learn" from this, is that reliable shipping via HKPost is always going to be a problem no matter what time of year it is.
All I am saying is rightly or wrongly, I think we all expected our lights would be in transit before the CNY. Ric knew the Holiday was approaching when he offered the Group Buy.
But some people couldn't deal with CNY and went nuts with accusations and paypal disputes, so obviously they shouldn't have ordered.
Also, CNY is not an on/off event, already in the beginning of January were many Chinese businesses more busy than usual (including HK Post/China Post). And since you only pay for bulk shipping, your packages will have lower priority than all other packages.
For the people who are still waiting yet paid at the beginning of the group buy (myself included), I wouldn't necessarily put the blame on Ric. I believe he really did send them out for shipment in time considering I received a tracking number the same time as everyone else who already have their lights. We just happen to be the unfortunate ones who had our lights stuck at HKP for a while (mine being about two weeks!). The only fault I put on Ric is him not being very clear in this thread that CNY could significantly delay orders. The majority of his customers reside in countries that don't shut down for two weeks so they're not exactly familiar with this sort of thing.
Anyway, we all knew CNY was coming so we took the risk. We had to have assumed HKP would get flooded (many wholesale buyers acting ahead of time to compensate for the down time). Some here won the lottery and got theirs early and the rest weren't so fortunate and have to wait a while. It's certainly okay to complain and vent but let's not completely throw Ric under the bus.
Please read my last post (#485) I think CNY delays should have been figured in the equation when the Group Buy was offered by Ric. Maybe the Group Buy should have been delayed til Feb. I do agree that filing a PayPal dispute now is very premature. I am confident all the lights will eventually be delivered. It's all about communication. Expectations vs. reality should have been discussed. Then no one would have a complaint.
By the way, I think very highly of Ric. He has always been a stand up guy with me. Could he have communicated better about the CNY delays to those of us not familiar with the Holiday...of course.
Bottom line, we will never know if the shipments were delayed leaving the warehouse, delayed at HKPost or a combination of both.
Either way, no throwing under the bus being done here.
I was assured by Ric that my order would make it out in time. I was well aware that I was cutting it close when I ordered but it was the best I could do. I don't fault Ric for CNY but I do fault him for not updating this thread. I can only hope that he has personally contacted via pm or email those who's orders did not make it on time. Since I have not heard from him I can only hope my order made it through but we can only make assumptions since he has not updated this thread. All he has to say is that all orders have made it through except for those he has personally contacted with news to the contrary.
I like Ric and have defended him in the past so if any of my comments are objectionable to you then good.
Tell me Leelou, what part of my predicament has anything to do with shipping? Also I think 7 days is plenty of time to drop something in the mail, hell I think it is plenty of time to at least send a conformation on an order.
wait, you mean that it sometimes take a long time for something to be delivered from the other side of the planet? Say it isnt so! haha just teasing. Bummer on the lights that got held up. I figured a month for delivery anyhow and by the time it gets home that will be about right. It just makes me appreciate the registered mail option more since at least you can see it stuck or moving. My manafont order at roughly the same time is not going any faster. The batteries I order last made it in first and such is the luck of the draw in international shipping.
I cant wait to try the light out. The fact that is has some throw to it is a real bonus that I didn't understand at the time of order. Those of you who got it dont be afraid to post up a few pics. This is a exciting light for sure.