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Horrible Experience With Engeika Shop


rochester21

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No matter how flexible the nibs are by comparsion, you will never get happy with this pen if you are so disappointed right now.

 

However, errors can happen. I would ask the seller for a return (on his account). Full refund is the way to go in my opinion.

I'm on the side of this answer.

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Sad to hear this news about Taizo, he has always sent me excellent, pristine pens, including gifts of ink and pen cases with some orders. In fact, my last pen was a perfect, hard to find, Pro Gear Sailor Mini with a 21K nib, gift pen case included.

I have a strong feeling that Taizo will make every effort to ensure your happiness, and will be extremely disappointed in the individuals that shipped the pen to you. Can't imagine he would think that was an excuse for the botched delivery.

I would try writing him again and tell him what you want.

I have to agree with the member that suggested satisfaction with this pen is probably not possible.

 

 

There is definitely a perception that Namiki is a Pilot line of a quality above regular Pilot products, interesting to know that is a North American marketing strategy.

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The way I see it, if I want discounted prices, then I am prepared to deal with opened pens or pens which may have been tried out before.

 

As long as the pen itself is in new condition, and works properly, I dont really care if someone else has held it before - just as when I buy a car, I dont care if someone else has test-driven it a few times.

If the auctioned item says it is unopened and new item, I believe the product the seller ships should be unopened and new. If he is shipping opened box pens, then, I believe he should indicate as such so that the description of the item is accurate and truthful.

My collection: 149 EF/F/B/OBB, Collodi B/Twain F/Mann F, 146 M, Silver Barley F, M1000/M800 B'o'B/M800 Tortoise/Sahara/415 BT/215/205 Blue Demo, Optima Demo Red M/88 EF & Italic/Europa, Emotica, 2K/Safaris/Al-Stars/Vista, Edson DB/Carene BS, Pilot 845/823/742/743/Silvern/M90/Makies, Sailor Profit Realo M/KOP Makies/Profit Makies/Profit 21 Naginata MF&M/KOP/KOP Mosaiques/Sterling Silvers,Platinum #3776 Celluloids/Izumos/Wood pens/Sterling Silvers,YoL Grand Victorian, and more (I lost counting)

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If the auctioned item says it is unopened and new item, I believe the product the seller ships should be unopened and new. If he is shipping opened box pens, then, I believe he should indicate as such so that the description of the item is accurate and truthful.

 

I'm with you.

 

-eo

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. --Albert Einstein

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I am curious rochester21 whether the pen you received - the Pilot 'Falcon' - had gold trim or rhodium plated trim. Several US sellers list Namiki Falcons, all in basic black with gold coloured trim and an unplated 14k nib but that model seems to be deprecated in the Japanese market, the current versions of the Elabo are available in lack or red and all have rhodium trim and a rhodium plated nib.

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If the auctioned item says it is unopened and new item, I believe the product the seller ships should be unopened and new. If he is shipping opened box pens, then, I believe he should indicate as such so that the description of the item is accurate and truthful.

 

 

Sure thing. What if it just says "new", which is what I believe Engeika auctions say (I dont recall reading "sealed" anywhere, but I could be wrong)?

 

Is a pen that's been handled by someone new? Even at my local pen store, I often go and check out several pens, sometimes dipping them before selecting the one I want. I presume they sell the ones I didnt select as new, even though they've been dipped and are unsealed.

 

For my own part, atleast, this doesnt bother me, as long as I get a pen that is to all intents and purposes new (ie, I am the first owner).

 

I realize that others feel differently, which is fine. I am not discounting the validity of that train of thought - merely pointing out that with those expectations, alternate sources might be better.

 

d-p-dent, It is a problem when such tradeoffs are not explicitly brought out by the seller in their listings. When an item is new, it has to be new as per the widely accepted definition of new, they cannot palm off a used one just because one happened to win it for a penny.

 

You mention for example nibs.com etc, how can any pen from there or any nibmeister be still sealed in its plastic sleeve? It is after all removed, inked and tuned? also these vendors routinely offer nib swaps etc, I think the chances of getting a handled pen is more from these sources. YMMV.

 

I must have bought several several pens from Taizo. Not in a single instance have I got a used or even a dipped pen, to his credit. My main issue was the removal of tags sometimes. I believed in his explanation which I have written above. when you sell a lot of pens, you save time by pre packing or preparing it apriori, which might involve removing the tags which contain price info since many customers routinely request under declared customs forms etc... I also find pen2009's suspicion possible but it is a task in itself to find so many shop returnsetc considering the daily sales volume of Taizo.

 

I agree that if they are palming off used pens as new ones, that would be a problem. However, I dont think they are doing that (atleast nothing I have read indicates that for sure - only conjecture). They probably source overstock and similar pens from some places, but that is not the same thing. Also agree with you re the tag issue.

 

My experience has been similar to yours - all the pens I have gotten from them have been new. So never a problem. And certainly, I'll happily put up with the possibility of an unsealed box if I get a new, visually and functionally perfect Sailor Susutake at $300 less than what I'd pay for it elsewhere.

 

You raised a good question, though: I wonder what they do with returns that are not faulty. I know some places that will re-sell them as demo/open-box units. But I also know other stores that sell unused/like-new returns as new - especially outside the US.

True bliss: knowing that the guy next to you is suffering more than you are.

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OT. be careful with the Sailor susutake, the pattern and the position of the knuckle in the bamboo varies a lot pen to pen, leading to a huge variation in appearance, some more desirable than the others.

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

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I guess a lot depends on whether you actually plan to use the pen or not. Mint, unopened should mean exactly that. However, if the seller shows images of the actual pen for sale and it's obvious that it has been opened, then that should speak for itself. Personnally, I use my pens so I don't really mind if the pen has been 'touched' providing it is still flawless and that the main packaging and paperwork is still complete. On occasion I've bought the only pen in stock and, if it's been on display, some allowances have to be made so far as the packaging is concerned.

 

Price is also a clue. If there is a big discount, ask yourself what the reason might be - it could easily be new (i.e. unused) but returned stock. I don't have a problem with that and it's up to the buyer to ask appropriate questions if the deal seems too good to be true.

 

I've bought from this seller a couple of times, always without a problem but obviously YMMV.

D A N i T R i O f e l l o w s h i p

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Thanks for that tidbit, Hari! Will email them and ask them to send me a photo first.

True bliss: knowing that the guy next to you is suffering more than you are.

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Thanks for that tidbit, Hari! Will email them and ask them to send me a photo first.

Please keep us posted on your Susutake purchase. I am interested in knowning if the seller can take photos as it seems his stock is handled by the 3rd party logistics service provider.

My collection: 149 EF/F/B/OBB, Collodi B/Twain F/Mann F, 146 M, Silver Barley F, M1000/M800 B'o'B/M800 Tortoise/Sahara/415 BT/215/205 Blue Demo, Optima Demo Red M/88 EF & Italic/Europa, Emotica, 2K/Safaris/Al-Stars/Vista, Edson DB/Carene BS, Pilot 845/823/742/743/Silvern/M90/Makies, Sailor Profit Realo M/KOP Makies/Profit Makies/Profit 21 Naginata MF&M/KOP/KOP Mosaiques/Sterling Silvers,Platinum #3776 Celluloids/Izumos/Wood pens/Sterling Silvers,YoL Grand Victorian, and more (I lost counting)

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^^ Yes, I was told that they'll take photos and send it to me.

 

However, do note - for the Susutake, I am not buying directly from Engeika's website or Ebay, but through an affiliate company of theirs that sells locally. Not sure how/if that changes things.

 

Btw, nice collection! The Mark Twain is big on my to-find list.

Edited by de_pen_dent

True bliss: knowing that the guy next to you is suffering more than you are.

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[...]

 

I think Japan post has no role to play as they are only a postal carrier. They are being unfairly and funnily blamed by the seller.

 

Regards,

Hari

 

It sounds to me like Japan Post have a logistics division in addition to their postal mail business (similarly UPS, DHL, and many other couriers have a logistics business alongside their courier business), and that Taizo has outsourced his warehousing and shipping to this logistics business. The amount of control Taizo has over his warehousing provider's work would depend on the contract he has with them. His prices are generally/often low, so he may have sacrificed control to keep his costs, and hence prices, as low as possible.

Edited by raging.dragon
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Has your issue with Engeika been solved?

Pens are like watches , once you start a collection, you can hardly go back. And pens like all fine luxury items do improve with time

 

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Here in Japan, Namiki IS marketed as a higher/luxury level brand of Pilot. I don't have the paperwork in front of me, I'm on a Tokyo subway on my way to work, but I have a catalogue that says that Namiki was either the first or one of the first names of Pilot pen co.. In more recent years, retired master pen craftsmen resurrected the Nami name for their own line of hand crafted luxury pens marketed through Pilot Japan.

All of the model names I read in this tread are, I believe, sold under the Pilot brand here in Japan.

I won't pretend to know why Pilot pens are marketed as Namiki in the US, but will offer a couple of possibilities. It may be similar to selling Fords as Mercuries, Mercury was (I have no idea if this is still so or not) the luxury line of Fords), overseas. Or, it just may be that they never stopped calling them Namiki in the US as that name was known and already had a market share, despite the home company changing its name.

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I've had something like 30 transactions with Engeika, and I've never been disappointed. I think part of it is just expectations. For the record, I agree that if a pen says it's brand new then it should come with all its tags and stickers.

 

However, as someone who has sold on ebay, and also someone who has gotten a large number of pens from Engeika at a tremendous discount, let me just say that, as a pen user, make sure you see the forest and not the trees I'm sure I've gotten a few pens without stickers, a baggie and tags. At the same time, I've never had one show up that was scratched or had been inked or was damaged in some other way. Most importantly, I've never had one show up that doesn't work.

 

Now, to the OP, getting the flat-out wrong pen is ridiculous and I hope to hear that Engeika solves it.

"One always looking for flaws leaves too little time for construction" ...

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Here in Japan, Namiki IS marketed as a higher/luxury level brand of Pilot. I don't have the paperwork in front of me, I'm on a Tokyo subway on my way to work, but I have a catalogue that says that Namiki was either the first or one of the first names of Pilot pen co.. In more recent years, retired master pen craftsmen resurrected the Nami name for their own line of hand crafted luxury pens marketed through Pilot Japan.

All of the model names I read in this tread are, I believe, sold under the Pilot brand here in Japan.

I won't pretend to know why Pilot pens are marketed as Namiki in the US, but will offer a couple of possibilities. It may be similar to selling Fords as Mercuries, Mercury was (I have no idea if this is still so or not) the luxury line of Fords), overseas. Or, it just may be that they never stopped calling them Namiki in the US as that name was known and already had a market share, despite the home company changing its name.

 

Here in the states, Pilot USA renames everything in the most odd ways. They call the Pilot Capless the Vanishing Point, and I don't even remember what they called the Pilot Myu-90, but it wasn't called the Pilot Myu-90.

 

Dillon

Stolen: Aurora Optima Demonstrator Red ends Medium nib. Serial number 1216 and Aurora 98 Cartridge/Converter Black bark finish (Archivi Storici) with gold cap. Reward if found. Please contact me if you have seen these pens.

Please send vial orders and other messages to fpninkvials funny-round-mark-thing gmail strange-mark-thing com. My shop is open once again if you need help with your pen.

Will someone with the name of "Jay" who emailed me through the email system provide me an email address? There was no email address provided, so I can't write back.

Dillon

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I don't think it matters whether the Falcon has Namiki or Pilot branding. It's made by the same company either way and marketing should be the only difference. That it came in a Sailor box is strange though, and suspicious. Was its condition as advertised when it arrived? How does it perform?

 

It is troubling to learn that many pens sold as new by engeika aren't really new. I had assumed the reason his pens were so cheap was because he was offering Japanese online prices to the international market.

 

Buyers be beware: there is always a reason for the low price (but, I noticed many eBayers are bidding too high on his pens, beyond the normal discounted e-retail pricing in Japan).

 

But that may not be the case either? Though this may be more of a case of buyers basing their thresholds on the higher prices in their own countries.

 

I was just about to purchase a pen from engeika. I can't find a lower price than his on the model I want, and at $130 cheaper than buying it stateside, I'd say it's worth the risk. I hope my experience will be in line with that of the majority of satisfied customers.

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I made two purchases from Engeika. One was a Platinum 3776 Century Bourgogne. It was heavily discounted, and I must admit, I had some reservations.

 

Well, the pen arrived with the correct box. The pen was sealed in a plastic bag. Included was an adaptor for international cartridges. The pen appeared to be new and never inked. It functions perfectly. Much later I found some scratches, but I could have been the cause.

 

Now, if the pen to arrived with the wrong box, that would have greatly disappointed me even if the condition of the pen was excellent. It simply should not happen. It reduces the confidence and enthusiasm of the buyer / customer.

Edited by aawhite

I only have two pens - an Aurora Optima and others.

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It is troubling to learn that many pens sold as new by engeika aren't really new.

 

I think that is mostly conjecture at this point. Just because the seal is opened doesnt make it "not new". The different box is a bit strange, but again, there could be many reasons for that.

 

The main complaint against them is slow replies when people have had potential issues. It is a long jump from there to say that "many of their pens arent really new", IMO.

True bliss: knowing that the guy next to you is suffering more than you are.

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