Good Moleskine News

[Daly de Gagne]

I have been vehement about my concerns re the quality of Moleskines, and the lack of response from Modo e Modo, and Moleskineus.

The good news is that we have been heard by Kikkerland in New York, which is the major North American distributor of Moleskines.

I wrote yesterday that I had had a reply from Jeroen Kuiper asking for samples of Moleskines showing poor quality. Jeroen Kuiper < jku...@kikkerland.com>

This morning I had a nice email from him, again stressing the need to document the problems.

He said that when he receives emails, he asks for documentation of the problem, but has had no one follow through. He suggested that if one is unable to send the actual books, he would appreciate photographs.

Quite rightly, he wants to be able to determine how widespread is the quality issue. Also, he is aware that those of us who have posted on this group have also posted elsewhere. Again, this makes it all the more important that we provide him with documentation.

Independent of my email to Kikkerland on the weekend, I had also emailed yesterday McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg, where I purchase Moleskines. Within minutes of receiving my email, Paul McNally (the family also has a store in Manhattan) was on the phone to Lisa Pearce, the very able Kikkerland rep in Manitoba. She left me some product, and I have, in turn, suggested that since I do not have ready access to a camera that I would show her my books where there have been quality issues so she can report to Jeroen Kuiper.

Jeroen has also told me that the buyer of Moleskine is Societe Generale, a French bank.

So after all my complaining, I am very happy to say that our concerns have been heard and are being taken seriously by the distributor.

Not only that, the response has been speedy, and the service superb. Altogether a class act.

Given the above, I hope we all can do our best to document the problems, and to ensure that Jeroen gets what he needs. That is our best hope to ensure that our beloved Moleskines reflect the best in quality.

Thank you Jeroen and Lisa for the great service and for your concern!

Daly

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[molesk...@gmail.com]

Thanks Daly. I appreciate all your efforts.

[Daly de Gagne]

molesk...@gmail.com wrote:
> Thanks Daly. I appreciate all your efforts.
>

You're welcome. I am glad to be able to strike a more positive note.

Daly
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[Funduk]

I can point out that I've been dealing with 'simplemoleskine.com' and
asked them straight out if their notebooks have the made in china
tell-tale signs and the reply I got specifically stated that they are
not and that simplemoleskine is looking into the problems regarding
them.

They also speculated that european sources have been getting the
non-china branded ones while north american distributors are geting the
MIC marked ones.

Needless to say if I receive my books and they are the 'crappy'
versions I will be returning them and make sure to post here to let you
guys know not to buy from them, but they seemed quite 'on the level'
and quick to reply. So, wish me luck.

Take care,
Ryan

[Daly de Gagne]

Ryan, simplymoleskine,com was one of the companies I emailed to on the weekend when I was fed up with my kvetching and our not hearing anything other than the sound of our own voices (grin).

I got a really nice email from Samantha Campbell asking for information, and saying they had but a handfull of customers in the last six months expressing quality concerns. http://www.simplymoleskine.com/

I sent her a lengthy email oulining the problems people here are talking about. That reply, incidentally, has been forwarded to Lise Pearce, our Manitoba distributor, and I believe also, to Jeroen Kuiper of Kikkerland, the North American Moleskine distributor.

What you say about breaking up the Chinese and non-Chinese Moleskines makes sense; I can see that the European market, which I suspect to be more quality-oriented than the North American, might not as easily accept the Chinese product.

Anyhow, I think we are on our way to getting this situation fixed. I think that Kikkerland probably will carry some clout, as I suspect dealers such as simplylemoleskine.com will also, with the new owners. In our local McNally Robinson Booksellers, the Moleskine display has at least 100 different books, and they are in their own metal display unit facing the main front to back aisle. If this sort of display is replicated throughout North America that means the market is huge. In Winnipeg:  http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/  In Manhattan:  http://www.mcnallyrobinsonnyc.com/

Daly

[Funduk]

So, me again, I just wanted to say that I received my large plain
moleskine yesterday in the mail (pretty fast considering how far it was
travelling!) and it is most definitely NOT the MIC labelled kind.

So if anyone is looking to 'stock up' I suppose ordering from europe is
your best bet.

Take care,
Ryan

[molesk...@gmail.com]

Modo & Modo requests that we send all communications regarding quality,
manufacturing and other issues directly to them:

"Every notebook is handmade and it has been carefully checked for
quality. If, despite our best efforts, we have overlooked a defect of
any kind, please let us know. Send an e-mail to: in...@modoemodo.com,
and include a digital photo that shows the problem you found, the
quality control number (that identifies the notebook in your hands)
shown here, along with the model name and your mailing address. We will
send you a new notebook.Together, we can prevent mistakes in the
future. Thank you."

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