Cross Townsend Nib Exchange Uk

March 18, 2015

Hi all,

I've got a rather large collection of pens now, but the most expensive has also been the most troublesome ...

I bought a medium Townsend in Quartz blue lacquer, thinking the nib would be of a similar thickness to the Apogee M I already own. That is, a little finer than the likes of a Lamy or Waterman M.

The Townsend turned out to be even more broad than a Lamy M in the end, and John Lewis only stock the medium, so I requested a nib exchange from cross. The nib had only been used to write a few words, and Cross said they would exchange "provided you have not used the medium nib extensively and only to test it"

Fast forward a few days, and the nib I have received has a scratched grip, doesn't sit flush with the barrel, and appears to be bent above the feed. It also ran green when loaded with some new ink. Not used extensively eh?

I didn't realise they were going to send me out a used nib at all! It writes perfectly well, but I'm not very happy paying full price for what is essentially now a used pen, especially considering the nib I sent in was perfect.

I'm just wondering if this is standard practice from Cross, and whether I should be as surprised / dismayed as I am

http://imgur.com/a/V5g4m#1

March 19, 2015

Im in canada, and Im certainly no expert. I bought a M nib townsend and like you was not happy with how broad it was! Actually it also seemed very scratchy. The people at the cross repair centre or customer service down in the u.s. told me that i could send it into the canadian repair depot for them to look at and/or replace the nib. I had only purchased it 3 days before calling in. I did try a few different ink's in the pen before i called.

They did exchange it for a fine nib, which writes very nicely. Im very happy with it now. Neither of my nibs looked anything like yours, which i would say looks very clearly bent.

They Did however include with my pen upon its return a rather... not nasty, but... lets say grumpy letter saying that they do not offer nib exchanges and that this would be the ONLY time they would exchange a nib for me. Basically, dont ever ask us to do this again. So i would say that cross is not overly happy to provide that service.