Remember that in the old thread we had this discussion - it was initially quite vague and said 4-6 weeks "or longer" as surface mail was unpredictable. That "or longer" period was never specified, but the maximum transit time of 13 weeks was mentioned, and all of this was listed as being over-and-above the fabrication and customs processes. We have had a number of surface mail deliveries to the UK and Europe that met that initial timeline, but because of the discussion on the previous thread we adjusted the timeline to be more realistic and to match the official timeline on the post office FAQ (http://www.postoffice.co.za/questions/postofficequestions.html). We did that relatively early on, too, to try and manage expectations. There has never been any indication that it would magically appear at a customer's doorstep 4 weeks after they order if they choose surface mail.

It's easy to look at it in hindsight and say "we could've done this" and "we could've done that" - and I'm sure everyone that has commented previously would start a business perfectly and make absolutely no mistakes at all. But we went with what *we* expected based on prior international shipments, and we've admitted our naiveté in those optimistic timelines. Again, the question becomes: what do you do after the fact? We aren't blessed with millions in startup funding so we can just write things off and re-ship every parcel or refund every purchaser. We can't change the speed or course of a surface mail shipment that has already departed. We have completely killed off surface mail as a shipping option, to the detriment of our sales figures, and we are doing everything in our power to sort out those customers that have ordered and are waiting. When we are within the transit timelines (considering that the maximum for surface mail has always been up and has not changed) I do not think it is unreasonable for us to ask that a customer wait for that timeline to play out.