Did Mosaic make a blunder....

[John Tapscott]

In the most recent Mosaic sale, I ordered the Gillespie and Turrentine black box sets, plus the Andrew Hill solo and McCoy Tyner Selects. Today, a huge box arrived at my office, much bigger than I had anticipated, not with my order but with an order for a customer in Belgium (with my name and address on the outside of the box). Actually, his order was quite interesting -

2 Andrew Hill Selects (small groups)

2 Sonny Stitts

3(!) John Handy Selects

2 Stanley Turrentines

2 Hank Mobleys

(And no doubt the customer in Belgium has received or will be receiving a much smaller box than he was expecting).

Now that wouldn't be a bad take at all except that I have them all except for the Handy and the Turrentine (which I had ordered). I called Mosaic and the fellow told me they are moving and currently have no internet and just one phone line, so I was told to just hold tight until next Tuesday, when they will sort it all out. No problem, (though I am sorely tempted to listen to that Handy set)!

When Mosaic changed their warehousing/shipping arrangements a few months ago, I posted a mild concern about it, hoping that customer service would be still as good as it has always been. This incident is going to cost them a bit of money and I sure hope it is an isolated incident. Yes, I know the changes were designed to save Mosaic money and perhaps even save the company, and I know mistakes happen, but I sure hope Mosaic didn't jump too soon with their changes or they may cost them more than they had anticipated.

Edited May 27, 2010 by John Tapscott

[J.A.W.]

That doesn't sound good. Let's hope they can charge the extra cost to the company that's taking care of the shipping.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

Actually, his order was quite interesting -

Curious to know what the postage is on a haul like that?

[J.A.W.]

Actually, his order was quite interesting -

Curious to know what the postage is on a haul like that?

Must be a small fortune... When the sets finally reach Belgium, the buyer probably also will have to fork out a small fortune on tax/duty and fees.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Actually, his order was quite interesting -

Curious to know what the postage is on a haul like that?

Must be a small fortune... When the sets finally reach Belgium, the buyer probably also will have to fork out a small fortune on tax/duty and fees.

He'll probably have to fork out for the stuff he DIDN'T order, too

MG

[J.A.W.]

Actually, his order was quite interesting -

Curious to know what the postage is on a haul like that?

Must be a small fortune... When the sets finally reach Belgium, the buyer probably also will have to fork out a small fortune on tax/duty and fees.

He'll probably have to fork out for the stuff he DIDN'T order, too

MG

If he did get that stuff at all - but if he did and returned it, he can get a refund from customs if he did indeed have to pay tax/duty and if he can prove that he did actually return it. (That's a lot of ifs... )

Mosaic should be very concerned about things going wrong like this, it gives them a bad name.

[John Tapscott]

In fact, there is no postage amount on the box, just a bar code sticker, so I can't tell what the postage was to Canada, and of course, it would likely be twice as much to Belgium. It also didn't have any kind of customs form on it, which is pretty typical for Canadian shipments now (I don't know whether European shipments would have one). I haven't paid duty or taxes on a Mosaic order for a number of years (what with free trade and all).

What's interesting to me is that our orders were not close in number though the 5/18/10 ship dates were the same. His order # was 384041; mine 384803. I could see a mix-up if the order numbers were one apart, but this gap makes the screw-up a little stranger.

I have the rogue box sitting in my office by a book case across from my desk. Everytime I look up a see it. My goodness, it's a big sucker. I hate to think what it will cost me to send it back.

Edited May 27, 2010 by John Tapscott

[J.A.W.]

It also didn't have any kind of customs form on it, which is pretty typical for Canadian shipments now (I don't know whether European shipments would have one).

Custom forms are mandatory on shipments from non-EU countries to the European Union.

[mellowT]

First question I have is... what were the serial numbers on the Mobleys?

An anxious public is dying to know if this blundering warehouse has exceeded the 7,500 set limit!

[jlhoots]

Bad mistake.

I'd be less calm about it than you are.

I would particularly object to that "call back next Tuesday" response.

Edited May 28, 2010 by jlhoots

[bertrand]

'I called Mosaic and the fellow told me they are moving and currently have no internet and just one phone line.'

This is very bad news.

The website is still up???

Bertrand.

[David Ayers]

Do you have to return it? My understanding of UK consumer law (yours obviously might be different) is that there is no obligation to actively return unsolicited goods, you are just supposed to make them available for collection. Remember there's a (time and money) cost on you to go to the Post Office. The cost of leaving them on the porch is a little lower. Also, the actual physical items cost little to manufacture (maybe not much more than $1 per CD all in) so the actual physical return is not so important to the sender. Of course if you are in Belgium and you forked out for customs on stuff you didn't want that's another matter. And finally, they wouldn't even take your call so you hardly owe them any effort on your own part.

[Claude]

That Belgian order could be for a store.

I don't know about Mosaic's policy concerning orders by companies, but maybe some store owners order under their personal name, as Mosaic sets (the real ones, not only the Universal sets) can be found in some stores here in Europe, at very high prices.

[Dan Gould]

They'll almost certainly arrange for a pick-up by the shipper so you will have no further costs.

[Brad]

A little off topic but they're still staying put in Stamford. I just talked to someone and he said "it's literally around the corner."

[John Tapscott]

I only looked at one of the Mobley sets since they're all individually wrapped (quite tightly) and they're a bit hard to get out without ripping the bubble wrap. The one I looked at was #7441.

I scratch my head over how it happened since you would think they would fill and label one order at a time. But to be fair to Mosaic, they really didn't tell me to call back next Tuesday. They were apologetic and said they would contact me and straighten it out on Tuesday. What the fellow (it could have been Scott or maybe even Michael) said was that they were in the midst of moving locations, and I presume the Memorial Day weekend is a good time to do it. Having moved offices a couple of times years ago, I know that once the phones and computers are disconnected and the boxes packed, you're helpless for a couple of days. Nothing you can do.

I definitely want to send the box back as I have no need for duplicate copies of sets I already have. Furthermore, I want to see Mosaic thrive and this would be a fairly significant loss to them. Mistakes happen (I've made my share) and friends have to help one another out. I've been a fairly decent customer of Mosaic over the years and I greatly enjoy their product. I know it's business but there's a bit of a bond there.

I have a UPS store almost directly across from my office and the post office is just a little further up the street. So it would be no problem to send it back as long Mosaic has some mechanism to pick up the cost or agrees to reimburse me. In fact, I offered to send it back yesterday, but the fellow said wait 'til Tuesday.

Edited May 28, 2010 by John Tapscott

[gmonahan]

I only looked at one of the Mobley sets since they're all individually wrapped (quite tightly) and they're a bit hard to get out without ripping the bubble wrap. The one I looked at was #7441.

I scratch my head over how it happened since you would think they would fill and label one order at a time. But to be fair to Mosaic, they really didn't tell me to call back next Tuesday. They were apologetic and said they would contact me and straighten it out on Tuesday. What the fellow (it could have been Scott or maybe even Michael) said was that they were in the midst of moving locations, and I presume the Memorial Day weekend is a good time to do it. Having moved offices a couple of times years ago, I know that once the phones and computers are disconnected and the boxes packed, you're helpless for a couple of days. Nothing you can do.

I definitely want to send the box back as I have no need for duplicate copies of sets I already have. Furthermore, I want to see Mosaic thrive and this would be a fairly significant loss to them. Mistakes happen (I've made my share) and friends have to help one another out. I've been a fairly decent customer of Mosaic over the years and I greatly enjoy their product. I know it's business but there's a bit of a bond there.

I have a UPS store almost directly across from my office and the post office is just a little further up the street. So it would be no problem to send it back as long Mosaic has some mechanism to pick up the cost or agrees to reimburse me. In fact, I offered to send it back yesterday, but the fellow said wait 'til Tuesday.

Good for you John. I'd make sure it got back to them too. Let's hope it's an isolated error.

gregmo

[Van Basten II]

A bit off topic but still related to the wonderful world of Mosaic and less wonderful world of tax/duty and fees, when I order from them, and they usually are big orders over 400 $, I never know if i'm going to pay extra fees at the delivery or not. Heck, for a while i didn't even know you had to pay fees for customs, the postal office would deliver the box and that would be the end of it when once I suddenly had a custom invoice attached to them . A friend of mine who's a retired postal office worker told he had to pay them for every order he made. For my part since my "lucky streak" it has been uneven sometimes i do sometimes I don't.

Still a bit confused about howe they operate, I asked people at the post office and they are as clueless as I am about it.

[J.A.W.]

A bit off topic but still related to the wonderful world of Mosaic and less wonderful world of tax/duty and fees, when I order from them, and they usually are big orders over 400 $, I never know if i'm going to pay extra fees at the delivery or not. Heck, for a while i didn't even know you had to pay fees for customs, the postal office would deliver the box and that would be the end of it when once I suddenly had a custom invoice attached to them . A friend of mine who's a retired postal office worker told he had to pay them for every order he made. For my part since my "lucky streak" it has been uneven sometimes i do sometimes I don't.

Still a bit confused about howe they operate, I asked people at the post office and they are as clueless as I am about it.

The general rule in the European Union is that if the declared value of a package from outside the EU exceeds a certain amount, you have to pay tax/duty. I guess it's the same in Canada.

[John Tapscott]

A bit off topic but still related to the wonderful world of Mosaic and less wonderful world of tax/duty and fees, when I order from them, and they usually are big orders over 400 $, I never know if i'm going to pay extra fees at the delivery or not. Heck, for a while i didn't even know you had to pay fees for customs, the postal office would deliver the box and that would be the end of it when once I suddenly had a custom invoice attached to them . A friend of mine who's a retired postal office worker told he had to pay them for every order he made. For my part since my "lucky streak" it has been uneven sometimes i do sometimes I don't.

Still a bit confused about howe they operate, I asked people at the post office and they are as clueless as I am about it.

I believe that it has a lot to do with the sender. If they put a customs sticker on it, you might have to pay. But many shippers (including Mosaic who used to value the CD's at $5 each) often reduce the value significantly, so that the package comes in under whatever arbitary limit the government/post office sets.

But if there's no customs sticker (much more common now), my sense is that the post office employees can't be bothered to open the package up and figure out what it's all worth. The Canadian and US dollar are roughly at par, so there's no big gain there, import duties are now either zero or almost zero between the 2 countries on sound recordings, and the only thing you could really get dinged for is sales taxes. That could be somewhat significant, but it rarely happens to me anymore.

On this big box I have, the way the labels are attached makes it seem like the box was actually mailed in Canada. There is a Mosaic sticker attached, but another one which says "Mail Services Inc." with a Canadian P.O. Box & address . (I presume it might be those guys who pick it up if that is what is arranged.) In any case, a quick glance at the stickers would lead you to believe that it originated in Canada.

Edited May 29, 2010 by John Tapscott

[Don Brown]

I received the Artie Shaw set yesterday from Mosaic. This is the first set I've ordered since Mosaic farmed out their shipping. I found that the new shipper gets the package here sooner than Mosaic did back when they did their own shipping, but unfortunately it's now necessary that someone be at home to receive the shipment. When Mosaic handled their own shipping, the Canada Post letter carrier would simply leave the package between my front doors. The new company has "do not safe drop" clearly printed on the package so the mail person has to either hand it to the recipient or take it back to the postal station where it then has to be picked up. A bit of a drag.

[mellowT]

I only looked at one of the Mobley sets since they're all individually wrapped (quite tightly) and they're a bit hard to get out without ripping the bubble wrap. The one I looked at was #7441.

Thanks for that bit of info, John. You're the third person on this forum to verify the numbers are in the last hundred possible, and yet the set is not even in Running Low status. Go figure.

[John Tapscott]

In case anyone is interested, I thought I'd give an update on where it stands. I sent an email to Mosaic Tuesday monring, saying I was standing by, awaiting instructions. I received no reply, so called this afternoon. I was told that FedEx delivered the wrong boxes to Mosaic's new location, so everything has been set back a couple of days. Still no working computers or internet connection at Mosaic. No orders or emails have been getting through since at least last Thursday. Perhaps they will be up and running by tomorrow. One hopes.

[tranemonk]

This is not good...

I really hope this move is overall a good thing though

In case anyone is interested, I thought I'd give an update on where it stands. I sent an email to Mosaic Tuesday monring, saying I was standing by, awaiting instructions. I received no reply, so called this afternoon. I was told that FedEx delivered the wrong boxes to Mosaic's new location, so everything has been set back a couple of days. Still no working computers or internet connection at Mosaic. No orders or emails have been getting through since at least last Thursday. Perhaps they will be up and running by tomorrow. One hopes.

[jlhoots]

I received the Artie Shaw set yesterday from Mosaic. This is the first set I've ordered since Mosaic farmed out their shipping. I found that the new shipper gets the package here sooner than Mosaic did back when they did their own shipping, but unfortunately it's now necessary that someone be at home to receive the shipment. When Mosaic handled their own shipping, the Canada Post letter carrier would simply leave the package between my front doors. The new company has "do not safe drop" clearly printed on the package so the mail person has to either hand it to the recipient or take it back to the postal station where it then has to be picked up. A bit of a drag.

In the past you could designate that your shipments arrive as "no signature required".

I don't know if you can still do that.