Engeika Online Shop Customer Service

[eliaselrod]

I have bought several Sailor and Platinum pens through auction. Every transaction went very well, except for one. I won a Platinum 3776 SF for a very good price, and he then claimed they could not get one from the company. He asked what I wanted in substitution, and I suggested he substitute a 3776 UEF or a Sailor Sapporo EF. He claimed the Sapporo was too expensive and tried to foist a Reglus on me. I finally got my money back (I had already paid him). I still bid in his auctions, and have won a couple of other pens with no problem. But the experience left a bad taste in my mouth. It's simple: If you put an item up for auction, then have the item available.

[peterpen53]

 

sorry to see such an excellent source of Japanese pens deteriorating...

 

 

Has anyone ever dealt with fountainpen-japan.com? Their prices seem reasonable compared to other internet vendors. Their english looks a bit like Google Translate but since I don't read ANY Japanese that's the least of problems. And they do offer the pens I'm looking for.

 

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

 

[terim]

Let me voice some support for Taizo and his Engeika eBay account. We've been doing business now for about a year and I have had only great experiences. I deal with Taizo directly and he is always incredibly nice and polite, so I suspect someone else is handling the customer service issues. I have a feeling the language barrier may be adding some fuel to this fire.

 

TERI

[hari317]

Let me voice some support for Taizo and his Engeika eBay account. We've been doing business now for about a year and I have had only great experiences. I deal with Taizo directly and he is always incredibly nice and polite, so I suspect someone else is handling the customer service issues. I have a feeling the language barrier may be adding some fuel to this fire.

 

TERI

 

Teri,

Can you pls make Taizo aware of the concerns that his regular customers are now expressing, so that he can take some corrective steps?

 

Best

Hari

[matveik]

I bought a Pilot Prera from this seller on ebay. The listing was for a $1.00 Buy It Now. Naturally I jumped at the chnace and bought it for 1.00 and paid the 1.00 plus 13.00 for shipping via paypal. I got an email the next daya stating that the listing was a mistake and he/she would not honor the purchase. I responded that the sller was not allowed to do this, it was a contractual agreement and that the sller had to honor the contract. I never received a response. A couple of days later, I sent another email asking for a refund of what I had paid, and never got a response. # more emails without a single response. I had no choice they refused to deliver the pen and to refund what I paid them. I finally opened a claim on ebay and after waiting 3 weeks for resolution, ebay refunded my money. Not once did this seller bother to answer my email and I will NEVER buy anything from them again. They also sell 90% of their products with fine nibs and I hate fine nibs!!!

 

Dan

You should have received an immediate refund, but are you really that outraged you didn't get the pen for $1? I don't understand why you would be adamant that he deliver on that.

[nicholasyeo]

I bought a Pilot Prera from this seller on ebay. The listing was for a $1.00 Buy It Now. Naturally I jumped at the chnace and bought it for 1.00 and paid the 1.00 plus 13.00 for shipping via paypal. I got an email the next daya stating that the listing was a mistake and he/she would not honor the purchase. I responded that the sller was not allowed to do this, it was a contractual agreement and that the sller had to honor the contract. I never received a response. A couple of days later, I sent another email asking for a refund of what I had paid, and never got a response. # more emails without a single response. I had no choice they refused to deliver the pen and to refund what I paid them. I finally opened a claim on ebay and after waiting 3 weeks for resolution, ebay refunded my money. Not once did this seller bother to answer my email and I will NEVER buy anything from them again. They also sell 90% of their products with fine nibs and I hate fine nibs!!!

 

Dan

You should have received an immediate refund, but are you really that outraged you didn't get the pen for $1? I don't understand why you would be adamant that he deliver on that.

 

I've won a few pens at low prices too, and they have delivered.

[vonderlasa]

I have purchased twice from Engeika, once a very low cost convertor only. On the larger [only about $80 purchase] he enclosed a free glass dipping pen.

I had no problems. An easier way to look at neutral or negative Ebay feedback can be found at: toolhaus.org

[PenandDesign]

Hm...customer sevice can get especially tricky when extrapolted throughout language barriers and time zones, no?

 

On a side note, I was going to ask a question: If I want a pen that engeika hasn't listed, can I contact him and ask him to sell it for me? Can/will he do that?

 

Thanks!

[Ghost Plane]

I just took delivery of a nice pen case and only 10 days to get from Japan to Florida, probably half of that crossing the U.S. It's my first purchase ever and I'll happily buy from him again if this is a sample of his products.

 

Considering the earthquakes, tsunamis and other economic disruptions that devastated Japan in the last year, I'm more than willing to cut some slack. But I didn't need to.

 

Rather than tear a seller down at a time when we're losing FP and accessory sellers left and right in a bad global economy, how about working within the system, proceeding with courtesy and giving vendors the benefit of the doubt. Courtesy, patience, and a willingness to communicate goes a long way. How about wishing better for the other person than you do for yourself, then approach your business transactions in that light?

 

Just a suggestion.

[matveik]

On a side note, I was going to ask a question: If I want a pen that engeika hasn't listed, can I contact him and ask him to sell it for me? Can/will he do that?

 

Thanks!

I've done this before but with a previously listed pen. I looked at some of his completed listings and made an offer for a pen around the median price. He accepted and we handled it through paypal.

[IWantThat]

I just took delivery of a nice pen case and only 10 days to get from Japan to Florida, probably half of that crossing the U.S. It's my first purchase ever and I'll happily buy from him again if this is a sample of his products.

 

Considering the earthquakes, tsunamis and other economic disruptions that devastated Japan in the last year, I'm more than willing to cut some slack. But I didn't need to.

 

Rather than tear a seller down at a time when we're losing FP and accessory sellers left and right in a bad global economy, how about working within the system, proceeding with courtesy and giving vendors the benefit of the doubt. Courtesy, patience, and a willingness to communicate goes a long way. How about wishing better for the other person than you do for yourself, then approach your business transactions in that light?

 

Just a suggestion.

 

+1

 

And I see that my pen from Engeika is already in US Customs. Took less than a week. Maybe there were some short term glitches on occasion, due to rapid growth or factors outside of Engeika's control. At the very least, we all make mistakes at times. It's nice to be forgiven those mistakes and given a chance to do better.

[nicholasyeo]

I just took delivery of a nice pen case and only 10 days to get from Japan to Florida, probably half of that crossing the U.S. It's my first purchase ever and I'll happily buy from him again if this is a sample of his products.

 

Considering the earthquakes, tsunamis and other economic disruptions that devastated Japan in the last year, I'm more than willing to cut some slack. But I didn't need to.

 

Rather than tear a seller down at a time when we're losing FP and accessory sellers left and right in a bad global economy, how about working within the system, proceeding with courtesy and giving vendors the benefit of the doubt. Courtesy, patience, and a willingness to communicate goes a long way. How about wishing better for the other person than you do for yourself, then approach your business transactions in that light?

 

Just a suggestion.

 

I like your attitude, Ghost Plane. It's not our obligation to be understanding,

but if we are, the world will truly be a better place to live in.

Edited March 16, 2012 by nicholasyeo

[hari317]

If I want a pen that engeika hasn't listed, can I contact him and ask him to sell it for me? Can/will he do that?

 

Most of the times yes, I have bought directly from him in the past for pens not listed on ebay by him.

[liverman]

As stated above, I have bought pens from Taizo before and will do so again when I am again in the market for Japanese pens. I have found him to be a good reliable business partner.

 

I cannot recall any issue I have ever had with a transaction. I have never had communication problem with him.

 

I have often purchased pens from sellers who are overseas and realize I am doing business in another country. Especially in places where the culture of communication is less direct than it is in Canada, US, England, or Australia, I try to take care to ensure the style of communication I use matches their culture. I try to throw in a few words in their language. I find it makes me seem less foreign to them and usually I get better service. I spent 75% of my working time outside my home country traveling in Europe and Asia in the 1990's and used this same approach then.

 

In saying the above, I am merely sharing what has worked for me in the past. I am not implying any particular behavior by Dan or anyone else in stating this - merely sharing my experience

 

 

Greg

[Pengrump]

We do have to consider the volume of business that Taizo/Engeika does. The neutral ratings are fairly few relative to that. I've found patience does wonders. But then I've been buying from him for quite a few years and I no longer have a panic attack attack if a pen doesn't ship immediately. I used to shoot him an email if I didn't get a tracking number within a day or two. He always responded very politely. Finally he did explain that he has to wait for some items to arrive before he can ship them. Knowing that was the case rather than that my order had simply gotten lost in the volume of his business made me less anxious.

 

I would not hesitate to deal with him again, knowing that things won't necessarily ship as quickly as they used to back when he was less busy. And I also wouldn't hesitate to ask him to seek out a Japanese pen that he doesn't have in stock--as long as I were willing to pay what he asked for it. I'd feel bad about asking him to find me a pen and then haggle about the price. That would seem mean.

 

I wonder if someone who is fluent in Japanese would ask him to be sure that his employees (I assume he has some, given the huge volume of business) get good customer service instructions/training. That might help alleviate some of the unhappiness.

[Chettiar]

My tuppence. I have bought about 10 pens from him in the recent three months (all Sailors and a Pilot and all around $100-150 mark) and loads of ink and never had a problem. Always polite and helpful and only once when I wanted to change the nib he did not agree saying that was final which I took to be ok because end of the day a eBay purchase is contractual and binding isn't it ?

 

I also have bought via his online shop and got items delivered without any problems.

[Bull Winkle]

I just purchased a Platinum briar, got it shipped to my door for under 245.00 from Japan to California. It took 9 days total, who else is doing that?

[Pen2009]

My experience with engeika is that the processing time is rather too long. I did not give him a negative or netural rating yet even though it usually takes more than 7 days to put the ordered pens together for shipping. The delivery by the shipping company will take about 3 days.

 

There were a few instances when he put pens on auction but the pens were not available at the end of the auction. So, my hunch is he may be selling a surplus stock to burn off the inventory of his own or someone else. It is just a disappointment that the winning bid is not being honored because the product is actually not availble by the time the bid is completed.

[IWantThat]

Just want to add that the pen I bought from engeika on 3/10/12 arrived yesterday. I expected a longer wait time, since then pen came from Japan, so I'm very pleasantly surprised to have the pen in my hand so quickly

[Laura N]

...

Rather than tear a seller down at a time when we're losing FP and accessory sellers left and right in a bad global economy, how about working within the system, proceeding with courtesy and giving vendors the benefit of the doubt. Courtesy, patience, and a willingness to communicate goes a long way. How about wishing better for the other person than you do for yourself, then approach your business transactions in that light?

 

Just a suggestion.

 

Hey, I'm hoping you don't mean this to suggest that those of us who are relating true stories of problems are trying "to tear a seller down" and weren't "proceeding with courtesy and giving vendors the benefit of the doubt." That would be a disservice to folks who are only trying to help out.

 

I personally said nothing about my bad experience for months, and only did so now to support the OP. And I assure you that I always proceed with courtesy. I find it almost discourteous that a few posts here, not just the quoted one, assume or imply that I, and the others, didn't.

 

It is just not a buyer's fault if a pen that the buyer paid for arrives with a bad nib, or in the wrong color. And nobody is complaining about such a mistake being made. Everyone understands that mistakes happen. People are stating that the seller refused to cure his mistake. That turns a minor matter into an unfair problem, for those of us unlucky enough to be on the receiving end.

 

Of course everyone is happy when items are delivered quickly and correctly. And it's good to post your positive experience. But that doesn't mean that other people who weren't so lucky are at fault, or wrong, or should be subtly discouraged from posting their truthful experience too by being attacked as somehow wrong or at fault.