[Empeg-general] Re: shipping confirmation

[Rob Voisey]

It has nothing to do with snailmail - if you sent a US personal cheque it would take about 3 weeks to clear AFTER we deposited it into our account.

As I said, some US transfers have taken as long as 3 weeks, although most come through within a few days.  The problem isn't at our end - whatever other numerous problems the UK banking system may have, the general level of electronic funds automation is very good.  The problem is, the US banking system is so fragmented (thanks to 60 year old legislation) that the hundreds of small banks have, generally, not bought in to international connectivity schemes.  There's barely any inter-state connectivity for that matter!

Therefore a US transfer generally involves telexing details for processing by humans, which is slowed up by the time difference and, sometimes, by simple human error or inefficiency.

Just because the funds have left your account, does NOT mean that they are cleared into ours.  I often wonder which organisation is benefiting from the interest on all these delayed transactions.

In your particular case, I'll check on Monday whether we have received your funds.  A transfer was received just before I left on Friday, so that could be yours.  When your goods are dispatched, I'll include a copy of the transfer advice just to prove that we haven't sat on your money for two weeks!

Luckily almost all clients pay by credit card, which can be authorised within minutes.

Rob