Cap Cracks On M400 White Tortoise

[tomgartin]

Hey guys, I bought a used M400 White Tortoise and it has four hairline cracks on the cap. Has anyone else had an issue with this? What should I know to prevent further damage?

 

Photo shows the two worst cracks.

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

[sargetalon]

This was a known issue on the M400 white tortoise earlier in their run. The issue was corrected later on I believe. I know Pelikan was replacing these for a while. Not sure if they still have stock but it would probably be worth contacting them to see.

[tomgartin]

Thanks, I'll contact Chartpak and see what they say. Mine might be from that batch. It has the black cap button.

I know it's been more than three years since they produced these, so I'm not optimistic about a warranty service.

[daffie]

The white tortoise M400 is still on Pelikans own page.

Do you guys know if it is still in production?

 

Regards,

daffie

[sargetalon]

I know that it is still listed but I don't believe that it is in active production at the moment. Pelikan still list several discontinued pens on their site. I believe the run was 2004-2011. Someone please correct me if you know otherwise.

Edited April 17, 2015 by sargetalon

[Cliff O]

It happened to my boss's pen as well as mine. Since having the caps replaced, I took mine out of rotation and my boss's pen has developed several more cracks. So I'm not too sure this was properly addressed/fixed. The stress put on such a small/thin cap is bound to cause cracking again IMO. The cap bands aren't enough to prevent this unless you are super, super careful. I'm afraid to start using mine again, so I'm sticking with my M600 White Tortoise which has been perfectly fine for over a year of daily use

[tomgartin]

Thanks for that insight, Cliff O.

 

Chartpak said it costs $176 for a replacement cap, but if you send your pen in they will replace it for $123 (including return shipping).

 

I think if I just baby it I'm better off leaving it as is instead of throwing money at it only to have it crack again later.

 

The real problem here, of course, is that now I just want more Pelikans.

 

Edit: Just FYI. That $123 is a flat $35 service fee plus $88 for the replacement cap.

Edited April 18, 2015 by tomgartin

[oregano]

This is kind of a broader comment but I wonder if the plastics they use now are more durable. I was a bit alarmed this week when I noticed a brown tortoise M400 with double rings I got recently--I was told it was from the 80's production, but think it is from 1999/2000--got a dent from only one day of carrying it in my bag. (I am pretty sure the dent was not there before.) Comparing my current production sleeve on the m600 and looking at the plastics of earlier ones, I wonder if there is a difference. i would argue the plastic of the currrent m200 demos is a bit thicker than earlier iterations, but maybe that is being too nit-picky.

[oregano]

And p.s.--I'm very sorry to hear about the cracks. There must be a pen repair man who can put some solvent on it to make them stable.

[tomgartin]

Okay, I just fired off a message to get a professional opinion from Ron Zorn, who other pen repairmen have called the crack expert. (poor Ron)

[Cliff O]

Best of luck to you, tomgartin! Let us know what you find out.

[tomgartin]

Ron responded very quickly. He said it's possible, but somewhat labor intensive. He said he charges $25 for a crack and $20 for each additional crack. For me, that'd be $85 plus postage, so almost as expensive as just buying a brand new one through Chartpak. Totally worth it if you have a Mabie Todd or something where spare parts are not easily available.

 

 

Side tangent related to my ebay dilemma:

I haven't left my ebay feedback yet. I'm still weighing what to do. I told the seller I was disappointed that they said "excellent condition" even though it had damage. They offered to accept a return and issue a full refund (plus postage) in accordance with typical ebay policy. However, the price I paid was fair in terms of the condition, it's just that I was expecting it to be better. So on the one hand, I want to keep the pen (it's user grade, writes beautifully, has a hard to find oblique nib), but on the other hand I did not have a positive sale experience because the seller was not forthcoming. So I really don't think leaving positive feedback is appropriate. If I can live with the flaws knowing I paid a fair price, and it still makes me happy, then I don't want to return it. Seller offered to accept a return, so it doesn't seem right to give negative feedback either. So do I just say I will keep the item even though I wasn't fully satisfied with the transaction and leave neutral feedback? This is my first less-than-stellar experience with ebay so it's confusing for me.

[risingsun]

Tom, I have had many eBay purchases that have gone like yours. It's no crime to not leave feedback and move on. I've done it many times. What really bothers me is when sellers put pressure on for me to leave feedback when I am not overly ecstatic with their description. I will say that have hardly ever left negative feedback in my 18 years on eBay. Maybe once or twice in a thousand transactions.

[tomgartin]

Thanks, risingsun,

 

I think that's what I wanted to do, but I needed to hear it from someone else. Moving on...

[tomgartin]

Thanks, everybody, for giving me some direction. I'm going to put a review up soon, but in appreciation for your attention here are a couple photos of the pen.

 

Edit: Review is up here. Thanks again!

 

http://i.imgur.com/mLdOb04.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/WU2go5X.jpg

Edited April 18, 2015 by tomgartin

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'd ship it off to Pelikan in Hanover and act so dumb about Chartpack. "What's a Chartpack?" Good possibility you could get if fixed for free.

If I owned it....living in Germany it would be free....from my understanding. They are not MB...and it's a design fault...they screwed up, they should fix it.

[rohit1974]

Can we put cyanoacrylate glue on the cracks with a needle tip ( not on the threads )

[tomgartin]

So I could just send it off to their repair service with a note the includes my contact information and a description of the problem, simple as that?

 

Is this still the correct address (below)? The USPS website wants me to use "ss" instead of "ß" is that okay?

 

Pelikan Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG
Werftstraße 9
30163 Hanover
Germany

[Bo Bo Olson]

As far as I know you can. I can from Germany....and it is their design fault. They have free repair here....part of the 'good' service.....like Lamy.

MB charges a fortune just to look at a pen.

 

Yes, ss is just fine in Germany.....even if you can't put an umlaut on, just ae, oe and so on.

[tomgartin]

Thanks. I'm going to give it a try since it's a problem that was Pelikan's job to resolve before letting it hit the market.