Another Quality Control Issue

[View from the Loft]

Lord help any of you who have to send a pen to Visconti or any if the other Italian brans that cost as much or more. You'll be sans pen for months, have no idea if it got there or when it's returning until it ends up in your doorstep. Ditto for MB who simply ships it if you don't have boutiques nearby.

 

Yes, better service would be lovely. But it's not standard operating procedure in the luxury pen market.

 

As I don't have any Italian pens, I haven't experienced that.

 

Obviously I have been spoilt by Onoto's customer service

[plumista]

In my experience with this brand, it is true that Mary Burke takes great care and pays attention to details... in the beginning... sometimes... but then the customer service stops being effective and fast: the promised (and definitive), therefore much expected, reply by Christine Care never arrived (two issues about a defective Marlborough); don´t get me wrong: the pen itself arrived safely and repaired, but why missing the best contact with your customer?.

Not a good idea for such a high-price brand: "detail makes all the difference" as the old saying goes.

[Vlad Soare]

My experience was a bit different. As advised by Mary, I've contacted Kayleigh Care regarding a nib swap. She replied almost immediately to my e-mails, and she confirmed the receipt of my pen within a couple of hours after it happened.

So for now I'm happy with the communication part. And if the pen comes back with the nib I requested, I'll be even happier.

 

As mentioned above, Montblanc's communication is slightly worse. I only know that my pen has been received because I checked the tracking info on the Post office's site. When I asked them to confirm the receipt of the pen, they forwarded my question to my local boutique and said the boutique will tell me everything I needed to know. Which, of course, was not true, because I had sent the pen directly to Hamburg, so the boutique knew nothing about it.

The guy from the boutique was very kind, he called me on my mobile phone immediately and offered to help, but unfortunately he couldn't. He didn't have access to any information regarding the status my pen.

So, at least for me, the score in regard to communication is 1-0 in favour of Conway Stewart.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Vlad Soare

[arran]

I have a vast collection of pens from very cheap to the sub 800 € line.I expect all of my pens to write decently.

I had some issues in the past with skipping and start up issues with all brands, also with CS

To be honest , all problems with CS were solved as it should be and all became wonderfull writers.

The team at CS , i have the impression is very friendly and quick to help you further with any issue.

I never had the feeling of being dropped so to speak.

There a lot of other companies , where service even doesnt exist and where you are just a number

Not so at CS , at least my experience

[AJ50]

I had cause to send one of my Conway Stewart Duro pens to Conway Stewart because it dried out after less than a page of writing even though there was plenty of ink in the pen. It was repaired at a cost of £50 and sent back to me. Sadly the pen still has the same problem. So much for the £50 repair. I have similar problems with my Churchill pens, they only write for a short while and then dry up. I swore never to buy another fountain pen from Conway Stewart but now that Onoto have taken over the running of the Company I may well try the brand again. They look glorious but from my experience they just do not work as they should do. Onoto ALWAYS work.

[Ipodimusprime]

I had cause to send one of my Conway Stewart Duro pens to Conway Stewart because it dried out after less than a page of writing even though there was plenty of ink in the pen. It was repaired at a cost of £50 and sent back to me. Sadly the pen still has the same problem. So much for the £50 repair. I have similar problems with my Churchill pens, they only write for a short while and then dry up. I swore never to buy another fountain pen from Conway Stewart but now that Onoto have taken over the running of the Company I may well try the brand again. They look glorious but from my experience they just do not work as they should do. Onoto ALWAYS work.

Why did you have to pay a repair charge? If the pen was not fit for purpose then surely it was for Conway Stewart to sort for you rather than charge for a "repair" (that didn't work)?

 

I too had this problem but fortunately my local pen shop was able to correct it. Don't give up on your Conway Stewarts as mine is my favourite writer now.

[Ghost Plane]

Curious about the repair charge as well. Sounds like a feed issue. Back when a bad batch of Churchills got loose, I contacted my seller immediately & CS arranged for repairs at no charge. One of my favorite pens.

[RMN]

Curious about the repair charge as well. Sounds like a feed issue. Back when a bad batch of Churchills got loose, I contacted my seller immediately & CS arranged for repairs at no charge. One of my favorite pens.

Or a converter problem, I get the same both in my CS pens and in my Carenes if I use the converter. When using cartridges everything is just fine.

Reason why I seldom use a converter these days.

 

 

D.ick

[raging.dragon]

Or a converter problem, I get the same both in my CS pens and in my Carenes if I use the converter. When using cartridges everything is just fine.

Reason why I seldom use a converter these days.

 

 

D.ick

 

Some inks and converters just refuse to work together.

[arran]

Or a converter problem, I get the same both in my CS pens and in my Carenes if I use the converter. When using cartridges everything is just fine.

Reason why I seldom use a converter these days.

 

 

D.ick

How can you explain the fact that my CS Winston writes perfectly after the nib is tuned as it should be by a nibmaster.

Now it works fine with a converter as well! With all inks CC combinations thus far!

I personally think that CS specifies their nibparameters towards Bock a bit more towards the " soft writing feeling"

The risk is then more prone to skipping and start ups.

Once a CS writes , it is the softest writer in the collection I have.

I also have the ipression the the M nibs are more sensible to this problem , as well as IM nibs

None of these issues of bad starting and skipping with F and IF nibs to my experience

[RMN]

How can you explain the fact that my CS Winston writes perfectly after the nib is tuned as it should be by a nibmaster.

Now it works fine with a converter as well! With all inks CC combinations thus far!

I personally think that CS specifies their nibparameters towards Bock a bit more towards the " soft writing feeling"

The risk is then more prone to skipping and start ups.

Once a CS writes , it is the softest writer in the collection I have.

I also have the ipression the the M nibs are more sensible to this problem , as well as IM nibs

None of these issues of bad starting and skipping with F and IF nibs to my experience

Do you have experience with B nibs in this regard?

 

I can't explain why the converter works after going to the nibtech. I do know that in my case skipping stops with a cartridge. And that I have the converter problems with other brands as well.

 

The fact that the F side of the nibspectrum gives less problems is because the ink needed is less, so the feed can keep up more easily.

Now did that nib tech widen the feed channels???

 

 

D.ick

[Ghost Plane]

I'm betting they increased the flow. With my stubs over the years, that seems to be the first thing tweaked before they ever touch the nib.

[arran]

Do you have experience with B nibs in this regard?

 

I can't explain why the converter works after going to the nibtech. I do know that in my case skipping stops with a cartridge. And that I have the converter problems with other brands as well.

 

The fact that the F side of the nibspectrum gives less problems is because the ink needed is less, so the feed can keep up more easily.

Now did that nib tech widen the feed channels???

 

 

D.ick

Dick

 

No experience with CS B nibs although I am tented to

The nib was made from a B nib that was cut into a IM nib by a local nibmeister, so I can imagine that the feeder nib relationship remains the same?

Ps I have very good results with japanese dry wrieters using a metal ball in their cartridge.Never had skipping issues with them.