and apparently it's been at the Tokyo International Branch ever since. It should've been with me by the 8th at the latest, but it's just not moving. I'm not sure what I can do at this point. there's no way to email them and the contact number isn't for customers overseas. can anyone help?

Thanks

They did just experience a major natural disaster... and continue to have a little bit of trouble over there at the moment. Could be reason for the delay afterall.

well yeah, but this should've been stateside like a week before, so I don't feel like I'm being insensitive or anything. whatever happened happened before the earthquake. It has been 2 weeks since the ship date. Anyway, I emailed them about it and hopefully they can give the office a call. I can understand a delay once it's been found or whatever due to current conditions, but some information would be helpful.

Not saying anything about you being insensitive. Just pointing out the obvious is all as that is prolly what is holding it up now...

oh I didn't mean to come off so defensive--not that I was offended or anything, but it sounded like that's what you might have been implying--because, yes, I'm aware of the quake and it would obviously cause some real delays...so for you to point that out...well that's all I could get from that. I know that would be the reason for any delays at this point--and I wouldn't even bother if it was shipped at the time of the quake--but there was a week-long delay before anything happened (and I've received stuff shipped after the 3rd) so that's where i'm coming from. just needed some way to get this looked into. Anyhow, thanks for your concern.

-g

Back in December I got a package hold it at "Narita international dispatch" (or something like that, can't remember) that was the status for about 3 weeks, but the package came through one month later, during that time got a package from the same sender and arrived earlier than the first one

Not a problem. Wasn't trying to be snooty at all. Sure it will arrive. I've had things held up for weeks on end and then a day later it seems to cross the border into the states and then a day after that it's at my front door. There's no rhyme or reason to shipping these days...

I had Mandarake ship something once EMS (with tracking) but it was shipped SAL (economy style) and it took three weeks to arrive. So maybe it went SAL instead?

@ 666doll: no worries. I know sometimes the tone of the speaker can be misunderstood since we don't get the face-to-face thing here. thanks again for posting. I hope it's not lost. this is a first for me.

@ Lixx: I guess anything is possible at this point, but they did provide a tracking number that i thought was of the EMS method. have to see.

@ danlord: as crappy as that can be, I'm glad to know that this has happened before and turned out OK. thanks for sharing.

Last time I used Mandarake.. I could have sworn i used the DHL option. It came to my door and I didn't have to sign which was a huge bonus.

You can only pick that option when the item ships from the Nakano store. I actually talked to the last postal guy delivering my EMS package a month ago. He told me USPS does offer a signing waiver for EMS? Basically the postman just signs for it so you don't have to be bothered with being present all the time. I never investigated it further though, so I can't confirm this.

Ah good to know. I get frustrated sometimes because the post person often just puts the slip in the box without even trying to see if I'm home. (I know there is another thread about postoffice experience..so I'll leave it at that.)

My old carrier did this, but it was a completely informal handshake deal. The apartment complex had a lock-box for packages, so he would just sign for all my boxes and leave the key.

Thought I'd just bump this instead of starting a new thread.

If you order a storefront item from Mandarake, how long does it normally take to get a response/invoice? And if you only order 1 item, and it's sold, do they bother to notify you?

In my experience, they've notified me of out of stock stuff every time. but I check the "Cancel if out of stock" box too, so I don't know if it can be different.

Generally, I get an invoice anywhere between 1-4 days.

Cool, thanks Vombie.

my shit got lost! bummer!

refund cometh...not sure when though. it's being handled japan-side.

just thought I'd try to bring some closure to this thread.