Morris & Forndran

RazorPlay said:
Guys I don't see the issue here? The law around import duty is effectively designed to include both the named items (eg brushes) and their component parts (eg handles and knots). Would an import tariff on shaving brushes be effective if all you had to do to circumvent it is disconnect the handle from the knot? It would immediately lead to creative new designs in the world of shaving brushes at the very least. If HM Customs and Revenue let things get through just because they weren't fully assembled yet, a massive hole in that aforesaid revenue line would open up extremely quickly!

Those who draft and execute these laws know this...

Unless you are arguing for a world of free trade without tariffs? In which case I wholeheartedly agree with you - free trade is a great global leveller. Provided of course we can name where the money would come from as a result. But even we aren't quite there yet and the UK / EU are certainly a long way back compared to us...
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Let's not forget that we're still a part of the Commonwealth, one where double dipping is frowned upon.
Take into consideration the introduction of online purchases tax at the beginning of this financial year and paying 25% for them, then 10% on top of the price, plus the 25% loading on top of that, you hopefully are able to appreciate why it resulted in robust discussion :)
 
Getting this thread back on track, this email received from Brad at 3pm this afternoon....



Gentlemen,

We’ve run into a problem with a handle shipment to the U.K. Unfortunately, your brush handle(s) was (were) in that box. We won't bore you with the details, but the bottom line is that we have been trying to shake it loose and/or have it returned so we can reship to M&F by a different method.

The thing is: if we can get the box returned, it probably won't be until late January. But we can’t be sure. As a fallback measure, we have started remaking those handles to try to get your brushes to you as quickly as we can.

You may have seen that we have started filling completed orders as brushes come back from the U.K. In the process, we’re experiencing a higher than expected number of cancellations as patrons have either changed their mind or simply have not responded to our invoices and follow-up emails. In those cases, we have been trying to match cancelled orders to yours and, when reasonable matches are found, we have been—and will continue to—reach out to you individually.

Absent finding a “cancelled order match,” it is entirely possible that your brush might not be ready until the April timeframe.

We very much regret this situation and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this might cause. Know that getting back/replacing these handles is our highest priority!

With that said: may we ask you to help us—and your fellow wet shavers—by replying to this email as soon as possible to let us know: (a) if you are willing to wait for your order or (b) would like to cancel your order.

Again, we apologize for the inconvenience!
 
:(
 
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I was surprised he wasn't asking for deposits before commencing myself. Sure, he can sell the unwanted brush but is it more or less work?
 
I sent an email reply back immediately advising that I was more than happy to wait. I have plenty of brushes and have wanted a M&F for a long while so a few extra months is of little concern to me for a brush of this quality.
 
Indeed when I was requesting a custom handle, I desired to pay upfront as a sign of good will.
 
I find the whole situation unfortunately symptomatic of an almost constant churn of new products, new flavours, new types in wet-shaving with the consumer 'ready to pull the trigger' on just about every new thing that hits the market irrespective of what it is or how it is made. I do seriously wonder as to the long term sustainability of wet-shaving when culturally it seems to be adopting such a ravenous consumptive model with a growing decline for quality or artisan products - already certain large vendors are 'art washing' their products to convey an appearance of home made or made with care in low volume.

Now a custom brush is a special thing, it takes time, care and considerable skill to turn a brush handle and a fair few man hours in labor. The thing that I find terribly disappointing here is that a great many people committed to buying a classic M&F brush with the expectation that the goods would materialise in the same time it takes for a mass produced brush to be made. I would go so far as to suspect that a majority of these people who 'pulled the trigger' had little idea of the brush maker, history or relevance of the reemergence and simply saw yet another cool, new thing and went for it based on on-line forum hype and reddit in particular.

Brad and Lee have sunk a bunch of capital into this, personally I am with them for the long haul and if there is a price increase then so be it - it will be worth every scent for a hand turned brush that is hand fitted by a skilled artisan brush maker.

I'm not usually this cynical, but from reading the comments here and in general I just know people being people how this will go and it will end up costing Brad and his wife a significant portion of their available capital in rescinded orders as the next big 'trigger pull' comes along and they are forgotten.
 
todras said:
I find the whole situation unfortunately symptomatic of an almost constant churn of new products, new flavours, new types in wet-shaving with the consumer 'ready to pull the trigger' on just about every new thing that hits the market irrespective of what it is or how it is made. I do seriously wonder as to the long term sustainability of wet-shaving when culturally it seems to be adopting such a ravenous consumptive model with a growing decline for quality or artisan products - already certain large vendors are 'art washing' their products to convey an appearance of home made or made with care in low volume.

Now a custom brush is a special thing, it takes time, care and considerable skill to turn a brush handle and a fair few man hours in labor. The thing that I find terribly disappointing here is that a great many people committed to buying a classic M&F brush with the expectation that the goods would materialise in the same time it takes for a mass produced brush to be made. I would go so far as to suspect that a majority of these people who 'pulled the trigger' had little idea of the brush maker, history or relevance of the reemergence and simply saw yet another cool, new thing and went for it based on on-line forum hype and reddit in particular.

Brad and Lee have sunk a bunch of capital into this, personally I am with them for the long haul and if there is a price increase then so be it - it will be worth every scent for a hand turned brush that is hand fitted by a skilled artisan brush maker.

I'm not usually this cynical, but from reading the comments here and in general I just know people being people how this will go and it will end up costing Brad and his wife a significant portion of their available capital in rescinded orders as the next big 'trigger pull' comes along and they are forgotten.
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Unfortunately I have to tend to agree with you @todras.

I also often wonder how many people that simply cannot wait are buying the brushes that are coming up in the ready made section from time to time with the intention of cancelling or not going ahead with their purchase when the brush they ordered is ready.
 
todras said:
I would go so far as to suspect that a majority of these people who 'pulled the trigger' had little idea of the brush maker, history or relevance of the reemergence and simply saw yet another cool, new thing and went for it based on on-line forum hype and reddit in particular.
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I have to admit that I wouldn't know a M&F brush from a bar of soap until I came across this thread. I basically went in based in the forum recommendations.

todras said:
I'm not usually this cynical, but from reading the comments here and in general I just know people being people how this will go and it will end up costing Brad and his wife a significant portion of their available capital in rescinded orders as the next big 'trigger pull' comes along and they are forgotten.
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Not all, I intend to fully honour my order. Actually I contacted brad with a change if my brush was not made yet and he was very accomodating. I gladly paid the new pricing, he was a pleasure to deal with actually. I still think if they put in a non refundable deposit all these issues will go away. Even if 20 bucks, it will keep the tire kickers away I think.
 
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Funny, I do believe that I suggested to Brad that at minimum, a deposit would solidify his business.
Is frustrating that he's knocked back my custom brush due to the expected workload, due to pre-orders, whereas without them, it may have been possible to create something truly spectacular!

I've been trying for several months to obtain custom made brushes from a handful of brush makers, to no avail.
At least we've @Tony Forsyth
Don't let me down buddy ;)
I want to show the world of brush makers, what a marketing opportunity they've missed out upon.
 
I really appreciate, when artisans don't ask for a deposit, before your product is ready.

For me this is part of the beautiful spirit of true craftsmanship!

And since they will have zero issues, selling those unclaimed brushes in like 3 seconds, besides the additional work load of posting them for sale on the site, I don't think they will cause any headaches...

Still not OK for people ordering stuff and then going silent :(
 
alfredus said:
I really appreciate, when artisans don't ask for a deposit, before your product is ready.

For me this is part of the beautiful spirit of true craftsmanship!

And since they will have zero issues, selling those unclaimed brushes in like 3 seconds, besides the additional work load of posting them for sale on the site, I don't think they will cause any headaches...

Still not OK for people ordering stuff and then going silent :(
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Well said.
 
From Facebook

Brad Sears Shave Works

Good afternoon, All. Recent events have caused us to re-think our position regarding the taking of deposits. As a result, we are now asking for a $50.00/brush deposit on orders going forward.

The way the process works is that we will send a PayPal invoice for the full amount and ask the buyer to pay the deposit within seven days to secure the order. When the order is ready to ship, we'll send a notification asking folks to pay the balance due.

At the same time, this process allows folks the option of making periodic payments, if they so choose. (Certainly not required, but we've had some people ask for this option.)

We're doing this for several reasons: (1) First of all, it's a fairness issue: making custom brushes for non-serious buyers increases the lead time for folks who really want their brushes, (2) it unnecessarily depletes our rod inventory (case in point: we've made at least four brushes in resins that our supplier cannot replace until mid-late February--again, causing serious patrons to wait unnecessarily!), (3) it takes up considerable "admin" time just to keep up with (and not mess up) the amount of recordkeeping required, and (4) there's a financial impact to our business caused by having to purchase more material than necessary.

Finally, because we've been experiencing a large number of cancellations; we are also implementing a $25.00 cancellation fee in order to cover that admin time.

We've resisted taking these steps, but with the volume of orders we're experiencing, we really don't have a lot of choice.

Thank you for your understanding!

Brad & Nancy
 
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Rami said:
From Facebook

Brad Sears Shave Works

Good afternoon, All. Recent events have caused us to re-think our position regarding the taking of deposits. As a result, we are now asking for a $50.00/brush deposit on orders going forward.

The way the process works is that we will send a PayPal invoice for the full amount and ask the buyer to pay the deposit within seven days to secure the order. When the order is ready to ship, we'll send a notification asking folks to pay the balance due.

At the same time, this process allows folks the option of making periodic payments, if they so choose. (Certainly not required, but we've had some people ask for this option.)

We're doing this for several reasons: (1) First of all, it's a fairness issue: making custom brushes for non-serious buyers increases the lead time for folks who really want their brushes, (2) it unnecessarily depletes our rod inventory (case in point: we've made at least four brushes in resins that our supplier cannot replace until mid-late February--again, causing serious patrons to wait unnecessarily!), (3) it takes up considerable "admin" time just to keep up with (and not mess up) the amount of recordkeeping required, and (4) there's a financial impact to our business caused by having to purchase more material than necessary.

Finally, because we've been experiencing a large number of cancellations; we are also implementing a $25.00 cancellation fee in order to cover that admin time.

We've resisted taking these steps, but with the volume of orders we're experiencing, we really don't have a lot of choice.

Thank you for your understanding!

Brad & Nancy
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Good on them!
 
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Mark1966 said:
Good on them!
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Yes. As they should. What they also need to do is contact people in case they want to change their order. I was lucky that they have not started on mine when I wanted to change. I did make it clear that if they started with the order I would still go ahead.
 
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