Hey Kids, Have You Heard The News? MOSAIC's IN TROUBLE!!!

[Brad]

11 minutes ago, Scott Dolan said:

They farmed this out years ago. It’s been a major disfunction ever since. 

I suppose if neveronfriday knew this, he’d not have gone on his xenophobic tirade, since American customers have experienced multiple problems with them as well. 

Reminded me of Belushi's rant in Animal House. 

[Scott Dolan]

I know. I was waiting for him to break out the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor line. 

[king ubu]

Ha ... and my parcel with Wilson and Savory just slipped through customs thanks to the fake sticker outside the box - which contains a full declaration ("music item") but a less than full value (30$).

But I had all kinds of experiences: getting letters asking me to provide a real bill (which is a pain as it delays delivery by two or three weeks), paying the regular tax (including the applicable, ridiculously high fee) because someone was smart enough to check the website for value, and estimation of value by customs and tax/fee based on that. 

[JSngry]

What's this about getting corpse urine in the mail? If it's what I think it is, a fish head sandwich will be next. And then, the "personal visits" begin. Shudder....

My advice is to make restitution ASAP. Those people don't play.

[Big Beat Steve]

Weeelll .... I was half tempted to add a post in the Savory box set thread about eagerly waiting for the shipping to arrive, but seeing this post by neveronfriday (hey, never knew you live in this neck of the woods, more or less ... ), I just had to chime in with another status report re-Mosaic shippings:

Ordered the Savory set on 31 May, received an order confirmation from Mosaic on 1 June, an order forwarding (shipping) confirmation from Mosaic on 7 June, communication with Scott Wenzel was good and prompt , no complaints at all. Spot on. Then on 7 June a shipping notification from this William B Meyer company arrived, including a tracking number which initially did not show up any details of the actual status of the parcel. So far, so good - was to be expected that this would take its time. Then, on checking 2 days ago, the tracking details (handled by "Asendia" - who??) said that after receiving the shipping information on 12 June (what hapened to the parcel between 7 and 12 June, but never mind ...) the shipment seems to have left the "origin border point" (read, the US of A, innit?) on 14 June. 

But then ... while no more status info has been added to the page since then and though the destination country "Germany" is clearly indicated, the info under the "Postal tracking #" now reads:

" Asendia has partnered with Swiss Post for final mile delivery of your parcel ", and when clicking on the POSTAL tracking number a page comes up with the logo of SWISS POST at the top (i.e I am on a website in Switzerland now)

WTF??

I am of course keeping my fingers crossed about the parcel showing up eventually and safely but I am more than a little surpised by this turn of things.

Do those who handle shipping  "stateside" realize that these are two different countries? What's the business of SWISS Post with delivering a parcel coming from the US for delivery to Germany? What kind of order processing is this?
In about 18 years of ordering regularly from the US I have never seen such bizarreries. DHL (operating internationaly) - yes, but Swiss Post for an item that does not even go though Switzerland?

As for having to go to the customs office showing an actual invoice and pay the fee, no big surprise, this can happen and I am more than half expecting this here with an item of this bulk. It just is anybody's guess which parcels slip through under the customs radar (including if the value ahs been declared low or not at all). I've been lucky a number of times so the overall ratio is bearable but the delay this will inevitably cause (King Ubu is right about the 2 weeks' span - same here) is annoying indeed.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2018 by Big Beat Steve

[king ubu]

Did they send you my tracking number?

The only friend I know from Switzerland who also ordered it got his set today, again no fees and taxes. So as so often in life, what works for some people doesn't work for others.

I'd also wish DHL would get outta here, btw. Lousiest service ever as far as postal service goes ...

[Big Beat Steve]

I doubt that they sent me your tracking number. My item is still listed as being in transit.

My point is that to the best of my knowledge Swiss Post does not do parcel deliveries on German territory. So even if Swiss Post in turn has some sort of cooperation agreement with DHL for cross-border shippings, involving them in this case where they have no point being involved at all because Switzerland is no transit country for US-German shippings can only mean detours and delays. Senseless ....

Edited June 22, 2018 by Big Beat Steve

[king ubu]

8 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

I doubt that they sent me your tracking number. My item is still listed as being in transit.

My point is that to the best of my knowledge Swiss Post does not do parcel deliveries on German territory. So even if Swiss Post in turn has some sort of cooperation agreement with DHL for cross-border shippings, involving them in this case where they have no point being involved at all because Switzerland is no transit country for US-German shippings can only mean detours and delays. Senseless ....

Maybe.... but I've had parcels routed via Prague ... and jazzmessengers uses Dutch post (but the parcels are delivered by Swiss post). I've stopped trying to understand all that.

[mikeweil]

I guess I was lucky as the worst touble I ran into was having to pick up a parcel at the local customs with some kind of invoice or debit note ..... maybe the guys in the shipping company are Trump fans and hate Europe. 

[sidewinder]

On 23/06/2018 at 4:46 AM, mikeweil said:

I guess I was lucky as the worst touble I ran into was having to pick up a parcel at the local customs with some kind of invoice or debit note ..... maybe the guys in the shipping company are Trump fans and hate Europe. 

Are Mosaics on ‘the list’ along with Harleys, Jack Daniels and cranberry juice? 

Edited June 24, 2018 by sidewinder

[Scott Dolan]

???

Is cranberry juice an American thing? 

[Brad]

It’s supposed to be healthy but I’m not crazy about the taste. 

[mikeweil]

3 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Are Mosaics on ‘the list’ along with Harleys, Jack Daniels and cranberry juice? 

???

[sidewinder]

6 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

???

I had a look at the list of items subject to Trump Tax on EC import but no mention of Mosaic Records, Uptown or Resonance fortunately. 

Edited June 24, 2018 by sidewinder

[Brad]

8 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

I had a look at the list of items subject to Trump Tax on EC import but no mention of Mosaic Records, Uptown or Resonance fortunately. 

 Maybe the EC can put a tax on the air that idiot breathes 

[neveronfriday]

On 22.6.2018 at 3:49 PM, Scott Dolan said:

They farmed this out years ago. It’s been a major disfunction ever since. 

I suppose if neveronfriday knew this, he’d not have gone on his xenophobic tirade, since American customers have experienced multiple problems with them as well. 

Didn't expect anything else, really.
So yes, xenophobic it is, just for you.

---

I really don't care if they "farmed this out".

They are the only company that

a) have tried and continue to try to cheat (European) customs constantly (supposedly in the interest of their customers. It's not in my interest. I pay my dues and don't want a company to decide for me if I want to cheat the system or not), 

b) have absolutely no notion how European customs work (and haven't, ever since I started ordering from them ages ago),

c) know they have lots of "fans" who condone the practice.

But since this thread is about, I guess, Mosaic's imminent demise (really [?], strategically-placed mails to get their business going ...?), I thought I'd leave the above thought.

Not once (!) have I gotten a shipment from Mosaic that adhered to anything, legally. Most of you will probably say "good on them for trying", but I would say ... "Thanks, but no thanks!"

Again, I'm a huge fan of their output and I have tons of it, but their business- and shipping practice (no matter who does it) is just totally lame and, yes, completely illegal over here! And, I guess, illegal in most parts of Europe (no idea, what the rest of the world adheres to).

I really don't think that in a globalized world, that's a viable business strategy. And, as I stated above, albeit a bit hotly after x-years [15? 20? No idea] of being pissed off about this practice, it has soured Mosaic for me in a major way. No skin off their nose and no skin off my nose, but a company that just doesn't get how to do international business shouldn't complain about losing business across the board.

So, I decided to abstain, no more, no less.

Cheers!

Edited July 3, 2018 by neveronfriday

[Scott Dolan]

Best part is that I have no idea who you’re arguing with, or what you’re looking to accomplish, and neither do you. 

Not going to order from Mosaic anymore? Good. Noted. 

Though I guess I give you some kind of credit for hanging in an abusive relationship that pissed you off for 15-20 years. 

[AllenLowe]

"Not once (!) have I gotten a shipment from Mosaic that adhered to anything, legally. "

well, like a lot of what you are saying, if you throw it up against the wall it might stick.

[JSngry]

8 minutes ago, Scott Dolan said:

 I give you some kind of credit for hanging in an abusive relationship that pissed you off for 15-20 years. 

There's a dude named Jerry Jones that will be contacting you momentarily. Stand by...

[Big Beat Steve]

Well, looking at the finer print on the shipment sticker I did notice that my Savory box set was shiped with an indicated value of $15. Conveniently overlooked by the customs people here, maybe because more stickers (by the 3rd party shipper and by Swiss Mail that was brought into play for no good reason at all) were stuck on the OTHER side of the parcel.

All in all not better and not worse than how many US shippings fared en route over here. Sometimes you pay customs duties, sometimes the item slips through. And since the set still is not listed with Jazzmessengers and judging from how comparable Mosaic box sets are priced there, I ended up paying maybe 5 euros more (customs fees included) than what a purchase from Jazzmessengers likely would cost me. I guess I will survive that ... 

Yet these Asendia people need to clean up their act and learn something about overseas shippings and about dealing with their counterparts in the ACTUAL country of destination, not some third-party country that only causes detours and delays.

[neveronfriday]

1 hour ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Sometimes you pay customs duties, sometimes the item slips through ... Yet these Asendia people need to clean up their act and learn something about overseas shippings and about dealing with their counterparts in the ACTUAL country of destination, not some third-party country that only causes detours and delays.

And that, exactly, is the problem. I've lived in the vicinity of 6 different customs offices around here, and only one was "sloppy" enough to let shipments slip through.

But, again, this is assuming that everyone on this planet would rather rip off the state/cheat on taxes/save a buck.

As a customer, I have absolutely no problem with a company reacting to mails asking for this kind of cost reduction (you know, make it look like $30 although it cost $300), but for the general populace, they should just stick to the damn laws. And nothing they declared for my shipments ever came even close to the truth (this time, because I ordered two sets, they declared $30 for a value of over $200). Cool if they do so on demand, uncool if they do that by default.

In my case (no car) I have to travel 28km to a customs office in a remote harbor to collect my shipments. Every single damn time. The people at the office always smile and I always tell them that "Yeah, that's the way Mosaic handles things". But, because I order a lot from the States (still, despite sometimes horrendous shipment costs), Mosaic is the only company I know and have known for over 10 years that does this. Nobody else does. That's why I'm surprised about your statement  that "All in all not better and not worse than how many US shippings fared en route over here". In my case (only), it is always worse than any other shipment I receive from the States. Every damn time.

Before I left for the customs office the other day, I received a shipment from Amoeba Music in SF. You would think they don't know better either. Yes, they do. Bill (incl, separately listed postage) affixed to the package. Paid for at the door (see above).

As I said above, Mosaic won't get my business anymore.
Not that they (I tried before, to no avail) or anyone else really cares.

But I hate that kind of behavior out of principle. 

All these hard-nosed people talking about law & order all the time ... unless it concerns their CDs, their stereos, their neighborhood  or whatever. All of those things are, of course, not covered by their principles (P.S.: It's just an experience I've had on many forums ... the state should do this, the state should do that, throw them into the water and let them drown ... but don't make me pay an extra cent for import duties. Screw the system and hope it doesn't notice.... Sign of the times, and all of that).

I rest my case.

I might be back in a couple of months.

Edited July 3, 2018 by neveronfriday

[mikeweil]

I always ask Mosaic to attach copies of the inoice to the package. The tax is calculated by the customs and the postman at the door (or at the office) collects. it. No problems.

[Brad]

Have you emailed Mosaic about their delivery company?

[Hot Ptah]

I ordered the Savory and Teddy Wilson box sets from Mosaic recently. I received them quickly, with no delivery problems whatsoever.

[JSngry]

I was about to bite the bullet and tug on the Teddy, but...not quite yet. Seeing a lot of sessions that look good-to-great, but nothing really "essential" at this point. Pretty sure this one's gonna be a Last-Chancer.

I ordered the Savory, though, hell, how do you not? So far, I've gotten a notice that the order has been sent to the warehouse for processing, or some convoloted sequential, hell, I don't know. It'll get here. The shit, like, what, 80 years old? What's another week or two?