Cross Affinity Quick Overview

[Bipedallou]

I too am very keen to hear more about this pen and whether Anthony has had his issue resolved. I love the look of this pen and am seriously interested in buying one. Indeed, it was this pen that led me to this forum.

 

Any other new owners with anything to add?

 

I have not heard back from Cross yet. When I sent the email, I immediately got an automated email sent back to me saying to please be patient because Cross has a very large number of repairs to get to. I don't mind the wait because I've been using the pen everyday anyway.

 

Anthony, have you heard back yet? It has, it seems to me, been enough time for the Cross Customer Service to at least acknowledge your inquiry and initiate the first steps to address the problem. I know I would show less patience with them at this point, even if I was able to use the pen. I fear that the issue is now becoming as much of a reflection on Cross Customer Service as it is of Quality Control of Cross nib manufacturing...and I must say that I am becoming more disappointed in both. Am I being too critical? I am comparing your experience to mine with Pelikan's Customer Service provided by Chartpak in Leeds, MA.; and Cross by this comparison is not coming out very favorable, even though they used to have a very good reputation. Ah well, things change and so do we. This has cooled by ardor for the Affinity and dampened by good opinion of Cross too.

 

Lou

[anthony13]

Anthony, have you heard back yet? It has, it seems to me, been enough time for the Cross Customer Service to at least acknowledge your inquiry and initiate the first steps to address the problem. I know I would show less patience with them at this point, even if I was able to use the pen. I fear that the issue is now becoming as much of a reflection on Cross Customer Service as it is of Quality Control of Cross nib manufacturing...and I must say that I am becoming more disappointed in both. Am I being too critical? I am comparing your experience to mine with Pelikan's Customer Service provided by Chartpak in Leeds, MA.; and Cross by this comparison is not coming out very favorable, even though they used to have a very good reputation. Ah well, things change and so do we. This has cooled by ardor for the Affinity and dampened by good opinion of Cross too.

 

Lou

 

Lou,

 

I still have not heard back from cross beyond their automated email response that I got moments after I wrote them. At the bottom of the email it says that repair turnaround time is 6-8 weeks. BUT, I just called them and got their automated answering service which said that turnaround time for a repair is running 12 weeks! That's quite astonishing.

 

I am quite sympathetic to the tone of your response. To be honest, if it wasn't for the pen being such a great writer, I would be going ape---- right now from the lack of attention/poor pen.

 

Just twiddlin' my thumbs nowadays...

[michael_s]

Anthony, are you contacting Cross' US customer service, or another country's? Have you had any luck reaching an actual person on the phone?

 

-Mike

[anthony13]

Michael,

 

Yes, I am contacting the US customer service. I didn't talk to a person because after getting the automatic voicemail, and having to listen to the menu, I didn't know who to ask for. The menu presents names of service members without saying exactly what that person does. I hung up because I didn't want to talk to a rep when I was in any sort of mood, and I figured I would ask this bulletin board what advice you all can offer to the situation.

[Bipedallou]

Michael,

 

Yes, I am contacting the US customer service. I didn't talk to a person because after getting the automatic voicemail, and having to listen to the menu, I didn't know who to ask for. The menu presents names of service members without saying exactly what that person does. I hung up because I didn't want to talk to a rep when I was in any sort of mood, and I figured I would ask this bulletin board what advice you all can offer to the situation.

 

Anthony, I don't know which dealer you purchased your Affinity from, and unfortunately much time has elapsed as well, but you may try going through the seller for assistance. Perhaps they might be able to add a little weight to get a response from Cross Customer Service?

 

Two other thoughts I have: 1. Contact a 'nib master' such as Richard Binder and see what he might have to offer and whether the cost is worth it. 2. Since you feel the pen, although flawed in appearance, writes well, just keep using it as it is.

 

Not much help I guess, and I am somewhat angered over the shabby way you have been treated by a company I used to have a great deal of respect for, (I am a former New Englander and had lived in RI for 20 years, working just a couple of miles from the Cross plant in Lincoln; Cross was a source of pride in RI back then!).

 

Lou

[PenHero]

3) The nib being misaligned on the feed section does not, again in my opinion, speak well of Cross’s Quality Control, and while they are now boasting that their nibs are being mass produced in China they ought to be extra careful to get them right.

 

Where specifically are you getting the information that Cross nibs are made in China? I would like to see the specific example where Cross is "boasting" that their nibs are made in China.

[Bipedallou]

3) The nib being misaligned on the feed section does not, again in my opinion, speak well of Cross’s Quality Control, and while they are now boasting that their nibs are being mass produced in China they ought to be extra careful to get them right.

 

Where specifically are you getting the information that Cross nibs are made in China? I would like to see the specific example where Cross is "boasting" that their nibs are made in China.

 

 

PenHero, here is one post in the Cross forum in which a Cross Representative makes that statement:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=112236

 

This Post Title is New Cross Nibs, but the same information can be found, if memory serves me correctly, in a post titled 'Cross, Tell Me What You Think' or something like that. In that thread some of the FPNers thought the nibs were still being crafted somewhere other than China, but again the Cross Rep responded that they were mistaken, the nibs were being made in China.

 

In my previous post I did not mean to imply that nibs made in China were necessarily inferior to ones made elsewhere, like Germany or wherever, but rather that Cross was not imposing sufficient QC over the production in China...cost cutting and quantity being the driving factors behind moving to China for production of their products.

 

Lou

[PenHero]

PenHero, here is one post in the Cross forum in which a Cross Representative makes that statement:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=112236

 

This Post Title is New Cross Nibs, but the same information can be found, if memory serves me correctly, in a post titled 'Cross, Tell Me What You Think' or something like that. In that thread some of the FPNers thought the nibs were still being crafted somewhere other than China, but again the Cross Rep responded that they were mistaken, the nibs were being made in China.

 

In my previous post I did not mean to imply that nibs made in China were necessarily inferior to ones made elsewhere, like Germany or wherever, but rather that Cross was not imposing sufficient QC over the production in China...cost cutting and quantity being the driving factors behind moving to China for production of their products.

 

Lou

 

Fair enough on the source of manufacture, although I would not characterize the statements by the Cross employee as a "boast" at all.

[Bipedallou]

 

Fair enough on the source of manufacture, although I would not characterize the statements by the Cross employee as a "boast" at all.

 

Well I'm not sure how a "boast" would have to be worded, but perhaps one might feel that there just might be a bit of that tone in the Cross Rep's responses in this Post:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=112236

 

Again let me say that being made in China does not make the pens or the nibs inferior, or shoddy, in workmanship, necessarily. What I am suspicious of is the Quality Control overseeing the operations; and I’m sure the same amount of defects would probably be passed through no matter where, which country, the work was being done. And again, (thankfully), I have not had the misfortune to have to seek Cross's Costumer Service to resolve a problem with any of the 7 Cross pens and pencils I purchased years ago! My opinion is based solely upon reading of the most recent experiences of fellow FPNers in this forum, which I find lamentable because I had for so long a time had a high regard for Cross as a company and the quality of their products.

 

Lou

Edited November 30, 2009 by Bipedallou

[anthony13]

So I actually spoke to a representative today;though not in the service department as no one could answer my call. The lady I did speak to basically told me to just send in the pen and I would get a new nib sometime in February. She didn't offer any sort of apology for the wait I've been enduring, nor did she offer any sort of prepaid shipping option to help get me through this process. This is definitely not the sort of customer service that I had read about on this forum before buying in to the Cross brand.

[rsx]

It has been a while since this thread was active, and I don't think it is fair to leave it here. I just received my Affinity fountain pen today in the mail.

 

My fine point nib is perfect as far as I can see. It is properly centered over the feed, the tines are aligned, equal and symmetric.

 

It writes very smoothly with some feedback, as it has been described before. It is definitely not scratchy, even in fine point.

 

I don't know if Cross has gotten quality under better control now that they have made the pens for a little longer. You know, the original posts on this thread might have reflected early release models. In theory, a pen model should be perfect from the time of introduction, but it would not surprise me if there are glitches with early production numbers.

 

Without a doubt, I am very pleased with my Affinity.

 

I wonder if anthony13 would let us know where his customer service situation stands.

 

 

[rroossinck]

You know, RSX, you've GOT to stop doing this...I've got a box of at least a dozen of them that's en route right now, and I can't wait to see them!!!

[rsx]

One feature of the Cross Affinity style that has not, I think, been noted is the clip placement. Unlike most Cross pens (with the notable exception of the ATX) this pen has a high clip placement allowing it to sit with a lower profile in a shirt pocket.

 

One thing I have never liked about my Cross pens (Century and Townsend alike) has been how high they stick up out of my shirt pocket. That was certainly a feature of many older pens, and I'm sure some like it that way.

 

The Affinity has the lower profile look of many European pens and that is my preference.

[rsx]

One feature of the Cross Affinity style that has not, I think, been noted is the clip placement. Unlike most Cross pens (with the notable exception of the ATX) this pen has a high clip placement allowing it to sit with a lower profile in a shirt pocket.

 

One thing I have never liked about my Cross pens (Century and Townsend alike) has been how high they stick up out of my shirt pocket. That was certainly a feature of many older pens, and I'm sure some like it that way.

 

The Affinity has the lower profile look of many European pens and that is my preference.

Edited December 26, 2009 by rsx

[riff raff]

 

4) You feel your steel fine point nib is a wet writer? The only experience I have with steel nibs are my three Esterbrook nibs, two of which are fine points, and one medium. From these I was under the impression that steel nibs were, a) thinner than a gold one designated as being the same size, and slightly drier than the gold counter parts, but that is not to say poor writers by any means. Of course these impressions, and perhaps misunderstandings, of the nature of nibs may certainly be the result of my limited experience.

 

In my previous reply an emotion face appears in the text, but this was unintentional. I was using the lower case alphabet item listing with a ) to separate the letter from the statement. Apparently the letter b followed by the ) will produce . Annoying, especially when one is unaware of the result until it is posted!

Hi. Just thought I'd mention that you can turn off the use of smilies (emoticons) in a post, allowing you to use punctuation as you wish. Simply click on "Click to configure post options" and uncheck "Enable emoticons?"

[bobbytee53]

I have had a cross affinity for a while now. There were a lot of negative views about the pen.The price ,the materials that it was made

of.Personally I do think it is rather expensive for a pen that is made of plastic but however it writes well and although it comes with-

out a converter its a nice pen and a nice design and is good to look at.I did purchase a converter for it so I can use bottled ink.Over-

all it is a bit pricey for what it is but I think it is a good fountain pen to use.