Why, oh why does my new M805 barrel break and what to do

[pilotheinrich]

 

 

I have a 2 month old M805. Tonight after refilling, it fell off the kitchen counter and bled all over the wood floor. After mopping up all that ink, I discover that the barrel had cracked all the way around the pen right near the nib. The entire barrel is broken off and the nib is trapped in the cap. After cursing the heavens and crying for hours I thought to come here with two questions.

 

1. Shouldn't an item at this price point survive a drop of four feet?

 

2. What is the best recourse? The pen is still under warranty. Does that cover drops? Should I go to the dealer, Chartpak, a third party?

 

Any help will be much appreciated.

[rroossinck]

If anyone can help you, it'll be Abi at Chartpak. I've watched her work miracles. Don't lose hope. They'll take good care of you.

[DavidM1]

Ouch! You have my sympathy.

[twdpens]

This is a common failure mode in Pelikan M800s and M805s (I'm a Pelikan dealer). For this reason, you should have no problem in getting it replaced under warranty. Whatever you do, don't try to repair it yourself!

 

Martin

[John Cullen]

I do not blame you for being disappointed, especially given the pen is new and expensive. Seriously, I would be pretty annoyed if my 800 broke.

 

The other day I did drop mine about two feet onto a wooden desk top and then fearfully spent the next minute or two looking it over. Mine survived OK. I think it hit on the piston turning knob.

 

Four feet to a wooden floor is a bit of a fall, so I can not say I am totally surprised. I think a lot of things would break if they fell four feet onto a wooden floor. I sure hope warranty covers it.

[KCat]

Warranty should cover it. Chartpak is the right route. I've only dropped one pen from that height onto a hard surfce (tile) and it was a VP and yup, I did damage it surprisingly enough. Pilot service is just as excellent as chartpak. I got a new pen essentially (same nib unit) for nuttin' but shipping.

[John Cullen]

KCat----impressive warranty service from Pilot. j

[pilotheinrich]

Thank you everyone for your help. You know, the only thing that made me feel better about this whole thing was being able to come to this forum for help and commiseration. I have not been disappointed!

 

I will save a trip downtown to see the dealer and and instead call Chartpak on Monday. I think the toughest thing Abi will have to do is extract the nib from the cap. It will fully capped and there's not much to grab onto in there.

 

Martin, the Superglue approach BRIEFLY crossed my mind. But I've never been good at Superglue --- I use either too much or too little. The thought of the superglue failing at a later date while the pen is my hand and spilling all that ink made me stop. After reading the thread in the link you provided, I'm glad I did!

 

I'll report the results later. Thank you again everyone!

Edited May 17, 2008 by pilotheinrich

[KCat]

KCat----impressive warranty service from Pilot. j

 

They may have felt some responsibility because the metal piece near the nib had crack that had begun to rust. That shouldn't happen on these pens but there's a bit of weak spot in that sort of half-moon shape of the opening.

[KCat]

Thank you everyone for your help. You know, the only thing that made me feel better about this whole thing was being able to come to this forum for help and commiseration. I have not been disappointed!

 

I will save a trip downtown to see the dealer and and instead call Chartpak on Monday. I think the toughest thing Abi will have to do is extract the nib from the cap. It will fully capped and there's not much to grab onto in there.

 

Probably they'll just remove the cap top and finagle the nib out that way if it's not possible to just screw in a separate body to remove it.

[pilotheinrich]

Hi folks, thought I'd share images of the damage. Hurts still to look at them!

 

Here's where the barrel broke, right where it tapers into clear plastic to join the black screw thread attachment:

 

 

Here's the inside of the cap, with nib section trapped inside.

 

[Songwind]

Ouch! You have my sincere sympathies. I hope it works out okay.

[KCat]

Yikes! Usually I hear of Pels breaking where the inner sleeve meets the section, therefore a nice clean break. This looks UUUGLY!

 

 

[Fountainbass]

Oh, man. Let us know what happens when you contact Chartpak.

[pilotheinrich]

:roflmho:

 

Oh, joy! UPS just delivered my fixed M805! ChartPak did a great job. It is pristine, like a new pen. For all I know they replaced everything but the cap and nib, but since the pen was fairly new, it's hard to tell.

 

ChartPak's service was super fast too. They received my package on May 22 and I received it back May 30. Considering two days for shipping on each end, plus the Memorial Day holiday, that's like a two day turn around.

 

Here is my happy M805 now:

 

 

Thank you all for your help, concern, and commiseration! I'm off to write with it some more . . ..

 

 

[langere]

Hallelujah! Chartpak really is the best!

 

Erick