I bought a new 100 and it arrived yesterday, and the nib is quite sad. It appears as though when the machines put the tip on, too much material was used, and applied unevenly - 60-70% of the tip is on one tine. I may try to find a digital camera and get some pictures up tonight to illustrate. Under magnification, it is pretty bad.



Regardless, it needs something done. The nib is supposed to be an XF, but writes a line wider than the mediums I have, and is a very slow starter.

I was just wondering if it's standard practice for Parker to actually ship the pen to France just to get a new nib & section on it, or if there's a way to short circuit the process state side? I've already contacted the retailer I purchased from and got a run-around from them.


Thank you in advance!

Hello Dreg,

Yes, the pens are now sent to France for nib exchanges. Send the pen to the Parker Service Center, 2200 Foster
Janesville, WI 53545 800-BEST-PEN (800-237-8736) with a copy of your receipt, a copy of your warranty sheet if you have one, and a letter telling them exactly what you want done and an address to ship the pen back to. They send the pens to France in a group mailing I was told.

If you go to http://parkerpen.com/en/possession/warranty, you can extend your normal 2 year warranty to 4 years.

I had to do the same thing with a brand new Duofold Centennial Black & Pearl. I got a fine nib, but it wrote like a broad tip (when it wrote and when it started). I sent it to Parker requesting an extra fine nib. It took four weeks to get the pen back. The nib was exchanged as requested, and now it writes every time, no starting issues. This extra fine nib lays down a medium line in my opinion.

You might want to request an XXF nib then. I would call them first to see if an XXF exists.

My pen has gotten more frequent flyer miles this year than I have! I knew something was amiss when I got a postcard from Paris from my pen saying "wish you were here and I was in your pocket!" (I joke)

Cheers,

Richard in Texas

Contact the parker service center n Janesville, Wisconsin, at 1-800-BEST-PEN. They are not set up to repair nibs, but they will probably have a replacement nib section. (Parker does not provide loose nibs for its pens, not even to its own service centers.) The replacement will be another stock nib, so even if it is centered it's not going to be finer than what you have.

If they cannot help you there, then it's a trip to the U.K. (not France) for a replacement -- or else you can send the pen to a Stateside nib technician and know that in exchange for a few dollars and a wait of some weeks it'll come back exactly the way you want it.

This response is mostly nonsense, as I did not realize I was in the Parker forum (I thought we were talking Pelikans). However, the part about the warranty DOES apply.

Thanks to Richard for pointing out my error!

Is this a 100 (a vintage pen) or an M100? I assume it's an M100.

Run around from the retailer? This is just wrong. Are you in the United States? If so, they have to take the pen back, unless they explicity disclaimed implied warranties (for example - sold the pen "as-is").

For what it is worth, EF nibs on the M100 and M200 models have a reputation for... let's say... "variable" quality.

If it's a 100, NONE of this applies.

This is the Parker forum, not the Pelikan, and the pen is gots to be a Parker 100:

Richard, thanks for straightening me out! I got to the post through the "View New Posts" option and did not even notice what I was looking at!

Instead of deleting my posts to cover my @$$, I will note my error!

Thank you for the replies!

And yep, definitely the Parker 100 and not a Pelikan 100.

Well, I suppose I have a bit more to think about. Having the nib customized was actually one of my first thoughts after I spoke to customer service and heard about the 8 week European vacation my pen would get to take without me.

That will probably be the end solution to this one. If their nibs really run that wide it's the only option that makes sense.

As for the retailer, yes, I'm from the U.S.A. and I know I could have pressed the issue more with them. The price was low enough that I doubt I'll find another one this low for a while, and I was hoping to have it by the time the semester starts or at least before too long into it this fall to use as a note taker. Otherwise, it would definitely be in a box back there just already.

Once again, thank you... I really appreciate the feedback!

Andrew