Anyone Heard From Taizo? Engeika

[vam272]

Hi. I ordered a Platunum Izumo from Engeika and placed an order for a Sailot King of Pen in briarwood, but impossible to get an answer about shipping dates or any response whatsoever for more than ten days. Fortunately the funds already paid are protected by PayPal.

Anyone gotten any email?

He has always come through in the past, but this is getting very odd.

He is also bombare937 by the way.

[pete709]

Just got a Justus from him. Took a few weeks. Pen had to be order from Pilot. I did get notifications from him. First several days after the purchase to tell me it was not in stock. Then several more days to tell me to shipped. From Japan to NY, in 5 days.

I never proactively contacted him, things went smooth. For the price I was willing to be patient.

[shuuemura]

Apparently he's on a business trip right now. Said that he would ship immediately upon return and that he was sorry for the delay.

[vam272]

I have bought a number of things from him and he has always come through.

Good info. about business trip. That would explain long silence.

I asked several times about shipping expectations, not that I expected it immediately--I know better than that--but that I wanted to have an approximate date, in case I had to be away and make arrangements.

 

[ArnyDelan168]

Seller that doesn't reply email within 12 hours can not be listed as reccomended seller.

[Jeff_H]

I ordered a Pilot Pro Gear with bi-color nib from him a week ago. I haven't heard anything yet, and I was starting to get nervous as this is my first order. Knowing about the business trip helps. I wasn't expecting delivery or anything, just confirmation that the order was in progress or being readied for shipment. For the price I'm willing to be a bit patient as well. Hopefully I'll hear something early next week.

[Barry Gabay]

Received an email about a week ago informing me of some upcoming listings of pens which interest me. To me, this means Tazio pays attention to emails and even remembers the pen preferences of his customers. As I've stated here earlier, my communications with both engeika and bombare have been excellent, always fast and detailed. His shipments are always excellent. It has never taken his pens longer than one week to travel from Japan to the east coast of the US. Considering that Tazio and I live on opposite sides of the planet, that he is communicating in a language which is not his first one, and the fact that I am not an especially big spender (though for me the pens I buy from him are expensive), I can not praise his efficiency or service enough. He remains for me a highly valued and reliable source of excellent quality Japanese fountain pens.

[jmccarty3]

Even though he is "on a business trip," he does reply to queries through Ebay. How much more trouble would it be to send a message through Ebay to anyone who won one of his auctions to let us know that there will be some delay?

[vam272]

Let's hope he appears again soon and gets some orders processed.

[dkim87]

I made a purchase a three weeks ago and he said they weren't in stock so he needed to order them. Two weeks ago I asked if he got them yet, last week I asked if he got them yet, and he just responded this past weekend that they are in the process of being shipped.

 

Have purchased from him before and it was much more smooth, so I do have to say that recently he has not been as responsive.

[pp763]

I had a fantastic transaction with him and i have to say at those prices he is the provider of my dream pens. If his prices were more expensive i doubt people would put up with slow response times

[jmccarty3]

I won another eBay auction of his last night. For the second time, I will be paying about the same amount I would pay on the enzeika site for the same pen. This tells me that there are plenty of knowledgeable people aware of bombare's auctions, and that they will bid up to, but not beyond, what he is charging on enzeika. Hardly worth it, unless you just enjoy the thrill of the chase, and no guarantee that he has the pen in stock either way.

[kimmo]

Hi. I ordered a Platunum Izumo from Engeika and placed an order for a Sailot King of Pen in briarwood, but impossible to get an answer about shipping dates or any response whatsoever for more than ten days. Fortunately the funds already paid are protected by PayPal.

Anyone gotten any email?

He has always come through in the past, but this is getting very odd.

He is also bombare937 by the way.

I haven't ordered from him for many years. He used to be a very good seller. Too bad that "bombare 937" doesn't ship to Europe.

[SirVival]

Ordered a pen about 1.5 weeks ago after enquiring beforehand. Taizo predicted 7-10 das for him to order the pen from Sailor.

Today I received shipping info and tracking is already live. And all without me asking first.

So far I am a happy camper, time line exactly as advertised.

 

YMMV!

[Penryn87]

I ordered a pilot Custom heritage 92 a week ago. I was wondering what the delay was lol.

[Jeff_H]

So far I am not having a good experience. It's taken him one week to reply to each of my emails (2 emails so far). The first email said my pen was ordered and should be in within a few days, no more than a week. A week later he wanted to know if I would like to switch to a different pen he had in stock. I replied yes and haven't heard a thing from him yet, this was Friday. I'm waiting for an invoice to pay him the $35 difference in price. If the pen is in stock, this should not be a hard thing. I am willing to be patient, and for a special order I'd wait 1-2 months, but at this rate I'll be waiting a month for a pen that was supposed to be in stock in the first place. Frustrating.

 

The communication has been poor at best. I was hoping this would turn out to be a great site, but so far I'm disappointed.

[vam272]

I am pretty displeased today, after having received a SAILOR KOP Green Brierwood pen from Engeika/Taizo, and will insist on returning it.

 

It was NOT new and unopened, not undipped in ink, and NOT even correctly price tagged. In short, it had been used someplace else, as it had traces of ink on and in the nib (a sample in a store?).

 

Furthermore, and this is the fault of Sailor, while claiming to be Brierwood, it is lacquered (and feels like resin, not wood). Why would you cover over wood like that? I wanted a wooden pen for the feel of wood, as seems reasonable enough. The ad does not say lacquered. And Urushi does not feel like this either. In short, it feels plastic.

[Icywolfe]

I am pretty displeased today, after having received a SAILOR KOP Green Brierwood pen from Engeika/Taizo, and will insist on returning it.

 

It was NOT new and unopened, not undipped in ink, and NOT even correctly price tagged. In short, it had been used someplace else, as it had traces of ink on and in the nib (a sample in a store?).

 

Furthermore, and this is the fault of Sailor, while claiming to be Brierwood, it is lacquered (and feels like resin, not wood). Why would you cover over wood like that? I wanted a wooden pen for the feel of wood, as seems reasonable enough. The ad does not say lacquered. And Urushi does not feel like this either. In short, it feels plastic.

Apparently he removes the tags to prevent customs from charging a fee.

[jmccarty3]

Received a message this morning from bombare saying that when he returned from his business trip, he discovered that instead of the pen he was to send me, he had received (wait for it) the only remaining pen he is listing on eBay. He says he has reordered the pen I am supposed to get, and asks for more time. I doubt that the amount I paid is the problem, since it is slightly more than the Engeika price. I don't believe I can file a complaint with eBay yet, since the original delivery window is November 7-25. What say you?

[vam272]

What do I say, you ask. Well, I no longer believe everything that I hear from Taizo. He listed on his Engeika site the retail price of my pen as $2,375. But then the Yen price comes in at Y 150000, which is to say $1,500 list price. So something is fishy here.There is no such discrepancy between Japanese and US prices for pens. $800 difference? Not to be believed. (Actually, more than that, since the Yen has been going down.)