Anyone interest in going in on a Mojotone order?

matta · 2009-11-26T23:31:46+00:00

Hi Guys, I've been intrigued with the Mojotone Amp Kits and am considering going in an a 5F1 or 5E3 kit, call it a Xmas present to myself, or 'research' if my wife asks ? I chatted to Arjun at the last Graemestock and he works for a large international freight forwarding company and am going to chat to him about getting better pricing on flying in gear from Mojotone, hopefully 3-4 times and year and open it up to Forum members. The deal is that I'm not looking to make profit on this, the price you see on their website is the price you will pay, or rather the rand equivalent on the day of exchange. You will also however be responsible for VAT/duties levied on your goods as well as on shipping if you live outside of CPT... and you can offer to buy me a beer for my time for doing all the admin if you feel like it 8) The benefit of doing a 'Group Buy' like this is we all save as we split the shipping costs (which would be based on a prorate of the items weight divided by the total costs), plus going with a freight forwarder it will be MUCH cheaper than shipping USPS/SA Mail or any one of the courier options and to be honest the pricing is MUCH MUCH better than buying local as we are not marking up the goods for retail. Payment for goods would be due BEFORE I place the order as I will have to pay for the goods up front. I will need to check with Arjun about the turn around times and what has to be done my end RE paperwork etc on the shipping side. Is anyone keen? I'd like to see if there is any interest first and then we can set a deadline on it. For those that don't know Mojo is one of the largest suppliers of speaker cabinets in the USA building 800 - 1,000 a month for over 50 different amp suppliers. But aside from amps they offer guitar parts, from preassembled wiring kits to pick-ups, knobs, pots and other accessories, not to mention pedal kits/parts etc. Check them out here: www.mojotone.com Cheers Matt

matta

Sean,

They are pretty pricy, but that is insane, realistically they are half that.

Cheers

Matt

Sean wrote I see take2 want just under 6k for a Celestion Blue ? That is either insane or I'm never going to be able to upgrade the Wharfedale in my AC15 ☹

matta

Hey Folks,

Just an update... the Mojo order SHOULD be ready for collection tomorrow, sadly due to the weight it is STILL going to have to come via courier, not via air freight :-\

I was lead to believe that it was more economical to ship via freight at around 10kg's, turns out it isn't and we need to order at least 50kg's worth of goods to make it viable, our total combined order racks in at 12Kgs (Hopefully next order we will order heavier stuff, amp kits, speakers etc).

I was still able to negotiate a better courier price through JAS as my original quote from Mojo was $580USD (R4508) and JAS has gotten it down to R3,500 ex duties and VAT, but including clearance fees and door to door courier to me (not included in the Mojo FedEx quote).

I was hoping it would only cost us around $200USD (R1520), but sadly not, so this will reflect in the final totals, it is STILL cheaper than any one of us going it alone as the shipping will be shared pro-rata.

Will keep you in the loop as I know more...

Cheers

Matt

Gearhead

I stopped myself from ordering speakers because of the weight surcharge.... we live and learn ?

TomCat

I believe Tradelius will have their Celestion stock about mid January. They are wholesalers but they have been talking to the local music stores countrywide so stock should be available locally soon.

I believe at full retail on a blue will be in the region of about R 3 600.00 ex VAT.

Gearhead

I believe
these things and more
but most of all
I believe in love

RobK

I'm actually a bit surprised with Tradelius will be bringing in the high end Celstion stuff. This is largely based on the fact that the two shops they own here don't seem to stock much high end equipment - maybe just my limited knowledge, I may be wrong.

nick

Is there an ETA for the stuff yet? ?

matta

Hey Nick et al,

I called Mojo the day before Christmas and there were still waiting on the small tweed cabinet I ordered (everything is custom made to order). I've not heard back from them since and so now I've just called them. The cab apparently came off the line this morning and is now going through QC and they expect to have all the goods boxed and ready for shipping tomorrow.

This has actually been a bit of PITA, a heck load of admin my end with SARS, my importers license, the freight/shipping etc, but I expected a few gremlins as this is the first time this has been done.

I will update this post when I know more.

Cheers

Matt

nick wrote Is there an ETA for the stuff yet? ?

matta

Hey Guys,

Just a quick update, this has become a fairly painful exercise ☹

As I've shared with Tom over PM, I now have the final sizes and weight of the order, it actually has to be shipped in 3 separate boxes, the combine physical weight clocks in at 15.3kgs... the problem is due to the size of one of the boxes the volumetric weight clocks in at 28.5kgs.

So the best price they have given me is R6100.00 for the shipment, which is nuts! Even Mojo's original FedEx quote was cheaper at around R4,500.

JAS is now looking into the cost of shipping it with their own company instead of via a 3rd party courier and I hope to have a comparative quote by the end of the day, falling that I will revert to Mojo and just confirm they can indeed still do it for R4,500 as they already quoted that.

Again I'm doing my BEST to get it down, but there are things beyond my control and there is no way you could get it for less doing it alone. I'm just shocked/offended by the exorbitant costs of shipping... well I guess I shouldn't be as I tend to pay MORE for shipping than the cost of my Jensen Speakers... but still ???

This whole indaba has cost me alot of time and resources, not sure I'll be in a hurry to do it again...

Cheers

Matt

matta

Hey Guys,

Just got off the phone with Mojo again, we are in the final stretch. The hard, cold fact is the combine weight of this shipment is +-29kgs, no matter how you look at it, the ACTUAL weight is only 15.3kgs, but we are paying volumetric. Mojo have as of 2010 enforced a FedEx Express International only policy, but that cost is +- R6,000, so we are back at a similar price to the locally quoted price.

My service rep has been very helpful and is trying to twist the arm of the shipping guys to send it FedEx International Economy Express, but this will take 2-3 weeks to get here vs a week via Express International , BUT we can prob get it down to around R4600.

Are you guys happy to wait that long? Or would you rather pay more and have it here sooner, bear in mind it will effect your final totals?

I'm absorbing a fair bit of these shipping costs myself, but even split, shipping is going to hit each of us, those with heavier items will obviously hit harder, like myself and Tom.

Anyways, I'm going to leave it open to discussion till this time tomorrow (8.00pm) and then make a final call.

Cheers

Matt

matta

Actually, I'm not sure how accurate it is but the FedEx site shows that to SA there is only 1 day difference between Express vs Economy! So it should still be here in +- 1 working week... to give you an idea, since Mojo have an account they get a better shipping rate, they quoted me $600 for Economy, using the same dimension and weights the FedEx site quoted me $780!

Cheers

Matt

TomCat

I'm prepared to go the economy route...(I would as it seems I'm one of the hardest hit) and am prepared to wait a little extra if it saves some money.

matta

TomCat wroteI'm prepared to go the economy route...(I would as it seems I'm one of the hardest hit) and am prepared to wait a little extra if it saves some money.

Hey Tom,

If it is any consolation my little 'Tweed Champ Kit' is costing me R2283.22 in shipping :'(

I'm most def the hard hit here, in more ways than one...

Anyways, I've mailed everyone their totals, sadly they are what the are. As I've just shared with Mike I've spent hours of admin arranging this all, rung up a quite a bill with calls to the USA and not charged anyone a cent for it, I've absorbed all these costs myself. The price everyone saw is the price you paid, all the fees would be applicable to anyone, it is just the way it is. I did this to help the community at large, and did not charge ANY mark-up.

Even with shipping totals and duties I still think those that ordered parts came out being cheaper than they could have gotten any part from a retail store... the problem with your parts in particular is there isn't really anything to compare it to, those that ordered guitar pots for example ended up paying at least 50% less than SA retail, for quality, USA made pots, same goes for pick-up/truss rod covers, knobs etc. I'm sorry It didn't work out better than it did, but it is beyond my control.

Anyways, I gave Mojo the go ahead to arrange for the FedEx International Economy option, it will only take a day or 2 longer to get here and should be here in just over 1 working week from date of shipment. It is the cheapest and most economical way of getting the goods here, I have to go visit the bank tomorrow to move some fund out of my reserves to cover the cost of the shipping while I wait for it to all come in, but if all goes well it should ship tomorrow or the day after.

Cheers

Matt

TomCat

Thanks Matt.

We appreciate the effort you have put in. Kudos to you....... :applause: :applause:

TomCat

@ Matta...Payment done.

matta

TomCat wrote Thanks Matt.

We appreciate the effort you have put in. Kudos to you....... :applause: :applause:

Hi Tom,

Thanks for that, I know you do, I just felt a little drained last night after all the efforts/time that have gone into arranging this for everyone. We learn from these experiences and if I do pick up the mantle again I now know that it is actually abit cheaper to order certain items in a single order rather than one big order that gets splits up like this.

What doesn't kill you makes your stronger!

Cheers

Matt

nick

Paid 8)

matta

I #^#^ing give up >☹

Mojo, after confirming that quoted price of shipping @ $594.53, which is what I based the totals I charged you guys for have come back, firstly after sending me a mail, thanking me for my business, only to return a mail 20 mins later to say the shipping is now $869.81!!!! Guys, I don't know what to do, my will power is completely sapped :'(

As it is I think we are being screwed, now this? I can tell you I've NEVER had such bad service in my life from an on-line store, and someone of Mojo's 'status' should be ahead of the pack.

I post this, in the open, for you to my response:

Brian,

I'm really not even sure what to say... frankly, I'm just at a loss for words!

Please put yourself in my shoes... I placed this order on 14th December, the estimated shipping date was 22nd December. The first I heard from you that the items were ready to ship was the 8th of Jan.

I then was informed that the order was not one, but 3 boxes! And your system generated an initial quote of under $600 to ship them, regardless.

Albeit I opted to not ship and use my own freight forwarder, at the time expecting the total weight to be +- 33lbs... as that is the weight of my combined order, expecting it in a single box, as I requested telephonically. The quote from my freight forwarder was cheaper... but now the boxes are packed the volumetric weight it DOUBLE the actual weight!

Even still I asked you quote me on the FedEx Economy International rate, you quoted me $594.53, I even asked you to CONFIRM that, so not once but TWICE you confirmed it!!!!

As it is I've taken a personal knock on this and I e-mailed my clients last night confirming the shipping will take via FedEx TODAY and gave them totals for shipping based on your quoted price, again, not once, but twice!!!

I cannot go back to them now and ask for more money, as it stands the guy who ordered the Tolex from me are now paying 3 times the cost of the Tolex in shipping alone!

It isn't my fault that your shipping system is whack, and while I appreciate that you will 'sit down with your IT guy', it doesn't fix the problem we now face.

I already let my freight forwarder know that I am going with your FedEx quote as we confirmed it, I have it here IN WRITING!

That shift in shipping charge is the average laborers MONTHLY salary here in South Africa, our economy is stands as R7.60 to the USD, so this is already killing me and my clients!

Frankly this service from Mojo has been the worst I've EVER had from any of my suppliers worldwide!

I get almost weekly shipments from Tube Depot, quarterly shipments from Tubes & More, all of these have been FLAWLESS, shipped promptly, and at the prices quoted.

I really don't know what to do, it is close of business here now so the earliest I can get to my freight forwarder is tomorrow, it will take another day for them to finalize a total and then their turn around will probably be double that of FedEx, so another 1-2 weeks behind schedule, further delays and an impact on my workshop output.

Again Brian, I don't know what to say.... I'm feeling defeated by this whole exercise and hope that you can escalate this to powers that be and maybe they can make heads or tail of this and give me some kind of explanation/recourse.

Regards

Matt

Guys, I've worked my utmost, beyond the call of duty, at my own expense, at no cost to you, I hope you appreciate that... I have given them 3 options, one of which is to cancel the order, if that is the case you will all receive a full refund.

I'll update this ASAP, sorry for the vitriol, I just need to vent and show my hand to you, being open and transparent in this en devour.

Cheers

Matt

nick

Absolute madness! My order is probably the smallest but I can only imagine how expensive this is getting for the guys who ordered larger items. Keep at them Matt >☹

TomCat

Ummmmm......I'm totally speechless...... ? ?...Like you, I don't know what to say......

I agree...the option of paying more for shipping is not an option.....we are being nailed as it is..... >☹

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