I have been trying for THREE days to register with the goddamn FDA so I can include 12 DOLLARS’ worth of chocolates in a Christmas parcel. THREE FUCKING DAYS. On different computers, just in case it was my system that had a glitch.
I cannot register an account.
I have to choose a goddamn password that “must be at least 8 characters but no more than 32, contain uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters (e.g %,$). YOU WILL NEED TO REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORD TO LOGIN IN THE FUTURE.”
Fine. Upper and lower, symbol and at least one number. Gotcha.
Error? EVERY GODDAMN TIME?
Error: Numerics only are allowed for phone numbers
How the FUCK am I supposed to select a password that requires a number when you won’t let me put a goddamned number in it?
When I don’t put a goddamned number in, I get the “must have a number” error.
I tell you, this is so FUCKING unbelievably goddamned stupid. THREE DAYS and I cannot register.
Oh, your helpful 800 numbers DO NOT WORK FROM CANADA which is a foreign country, where surprisingly we have to register from to send OUR TWELVE DOLLARS’ WORTH OF CHOCOLATES FROM.
I went through the stupid step-by-step “help” on their system.
I used the FDA website password generator to create a password that matches all their requirements, to wit:
Dnpp{2NneD
Passwords must be at least 8 characters but no more than 32, contain uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters (e.g %,$). YOU WILL NEED TO REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORD TO LOGIN IN THE FUTURE.
Password :
Confirm Password :
Error: Numerics only are allowed for phone number.
Ah. I see what your problem is. You sitting down? Good.
The error isn’t for the password, it’s for the phone number. It’s saying “Numerics only allowed for phone number”, not “Numerics only allowed for phone number”. Make sure there are no hyphens or any non-numeric characters in the telephone number field(s).
Because the red error message was displayed directly below the password boxes, I thought it was in reference to the password. The red error message didn’t display by my entered phone number, so I thought it was telling me that I couldn’t put a number in the password. And the way it was worded, yes, I interpreted it as you stated. And I had a hyphen in my phone number.
Did I mention the part about sobbing with gratitude?
But there’s an old man with vacant eyes and a mole at the corner of his lip, sitting at a desk in Washington DC, drinking his coffee and stacking his papers. He knows what’s best for you. His regulations serve equally well both the apartment dweller in the East Bronx and the farmer in rural Wyoming. It’s for your own good.
I’ve been going through the same thing, trying for the last week to get a “Prior Approval” for some choccies and smoked salmon that I want to send to the widow of an old friend (who was in a Japanese POW camp in WW2), who now lives in Arizona. Cripes, even the Japanese allowed the POWs one parcel a year!
Incredibly, we aren’t allowed to send commercially-manufactured foodstuffs into the USA without all this “FDA Prior Notice” guff, as if we were a giant food company, because of “terrorism” concerns: but get this–if I smoke my own salmon, or make my own chocolates in my kitchen–no “Prior Notice” required. So I can send all the Anthrax Surprise and Botulism Ripple that I want…
Oh, and for Fegg’s sake, don’t re-use mailing boxes. The USPS is returning any boxes that have writing or logos or labels that don’t correspond with the current contents or sender. Because, y’know, terrorists like to save a few bucks and get their mailing supplies from behind Thrifty Foods.
This is nothing to do with terrorism; just more bureaucracy and protectionism.
Unless I’m misreading things, it seems that the FDA is publicly stating that they’re probably not actually going to punish anyone who doesn’t follow the rules in a situation like yours.
What the fuck do you have to register with the FDA for? Just do what my cuban cigar-shipping uncle does-- lie.
Or what my wife’s old radioactive-tagged bacteria-shipping lab did on occasion-- Omit the truth from people who lack the education to understand exactly what the container contains.
But I have to say, the error message “Numerics only allowed for phone number” was written by a fucking moron. What’s wrong with the phrase “Don’t include spaces, hyphens, or brackets in your phone number” ?
Send 'em a letter demanding they change their error message so it’s actually understandable!
If it’s any help, I just sent a package to the US from Prince George, BC. It included a coffee crisp and a pack of smarties. I was worried about it making it through, but I had no problem. Made it there in one piece. Just one data point, I know, but I do think that they have relaxed somewhat.
