adyf, you're not alone and that's why, if I can, I buy my pens from Richard Binder or John Mottishaw. You may not get a rock bottom price but you sure get a pen that writes as it should and you save a lot of aggravation. I think the manufacturers these two represent should give them a bonus because, thanks to their meticulous attention to detail, any pen they sell works as it should.

To be perfectly honest I've never bought a pen directly from Richard, but most of my pens have been sent to him for tuning etc. Taking into account his turnround time I wished I bought the pen from him in the first place. The only problem for me is that he only sells certain brands. What would be perfect for me would be the opportunity to ask Richard to get you any pen you like and then tune it and send it on, then I would buy everything from him. What a service that would be.

To Bill D

Out of your experience I learned not to buy the Churchill new.
I will defenetly buy a Churchill but I will get it either from the marketplace or from eBay.
If it will not work right I will probably send it streight to Richard and let him fix it.

My Churchill is perfect. I'm sad that some people have been disappointed.

Hi,

There have been many posts about purchasing a Churchill with feedback from the buyers and writer's experience. I have met and correspond with consumers who have sent back their pen for repair and have either had a new feed fitted or have had a conversion from lever fill to c/c (which actually involves a brand new barrel) and the feedback has been very positive indeed.

My response to this thread is to reinforce Conway Stewart's guarantee to make good any problems that may have been inherited and we go one step further to set up a system whereby you send your pen to Luxury Brands rather than incurring expenses in o/seas shipping and customs duties which does amount to a considerable $ value.

Conway Stewart is committed to offering a quality customer service after-care and if you wish to contact me, please do not hesitate to send me an email maryburke@conwaystewart.co.uk or call: 1.425.432.0816.

With kind regards,

Mary Burke

Another Update: After I got my woodgrain ebonite pen back from repair and found that it still did not work, I contacted Mary Burke. I told her that I wanted a replacement pen rather than another attempt to repair the one that I had. She told me that the Woodgrain Ebonite Limited Edition sold out, but offered me a number of other choices, including making a Churchill out of the ebonite that CS used for the woodgrain ebonite Nelson, which was a little darker than the ebonite used for the Churchill. I chose that option and asked for a c/c fill rather than the lever fill, because I think the lever fill system was part of the problem with the pen's performance.

I received my pen back today, about 2 months after sending my other one back. I think someone at CS found one of the original Churchill Woodgrain Ebonite LEs, which is fine by me, because the woodgrain ebonite looks like my previous pen rather than the Nelson, and it has the LE 419/500 stamp on the side. It's a beautiful pen; there are large swaths of black through the orange that I really like, and it feels great in the hand. Unfortunately, the pen starts skipping horribly shortly after I begin writing. I hope it just needs a good flushing, but, given my experience so far, I doubt it. If it doesn't clear up with a flushing and being loaded with Private Reserve Tanzanite, I am going to send it off to Richard Binder. I guess I will have to repeat my original recommendation, which is to buy a Churchill at a brick and mortar, or through a highly reputable online dealer, who will confirm that you can exchange the pen -- from that store, not Conway Stewart -- or get a refund if it doesn't work.

Hello,

I have had a CS Churchill (Steinway) for a few years. it is a level fill. it's my favourite FP. it's a fine italic nib. but not as "italic" as some other.s
although i wish the nib to be bigger to match with the big pen.

then my husband saw it & also wanted one. so he got a black Churchill from the same dealer. it didn't work & skipped a lot. took 2 returns to fix the feed.
now it works very well. although the 2nd one seems pickier about ink tho.

regards,

Final Update: As described in the posts above, I finally sent my woodgrain ebonite Churchill to Richard Binder. Mary Burke, on her own initiative, arranged for Conway Stewart to pay for the repairs, to pay for the shipping, and to get it bumped up to the front of Richard's queue. I got an e-mail from Richard last week saying the repairs were done, and his e-mail also said "I had lots of fun with the Churchill: new feed, modify it for better flow, realign the nib, reshape the tip. :-)." Well, talk about getting someone fired up to receive their pen.

I received it today and it writes about how you would expect after Richard Binder "had lots of fun" with it. It has perfect flow and the nib writes as smooth as butter (Full disclosure: I have never actually written with butter). As I said in my previous posts, the pen itself is stunning to look at and the ebonite feels great in the hand.

When I explained the history of the pen to Richard, he said that my experience was atypical and that the Churchills are well made and seldom have problems. Richard sells Conway Stewart pens himself, and carefully selects the brands he offers, so I guess I have just had bad luck.

From what I have read here and elsewhere, Mary Burke's service was not atypical. She was great, and others have frequently complimented her. After the woodgrain ebonite failed to work properly the second time, I had sworn I would never buy another Conway Stewart. Now, after using the ebonite Churchill after Richard Binder worked with it, I think I should have just bought it from Richard in the first place, and contacted him or Mary at the first sign of trouble. In fact, maybe I should test that plan with a bespoke CS 58 . . .

Bill,

Glad your pen is working, but your story and CS having to pay Richard Binder to fix one for them
frankly gives me pause about CS service.

And Mary Burke got your pen bumped to the front of Richard Binder's queue? I didn't think he allowed that.
How much extra do you have to pay to get bumped up?

Edit to add: What happened to the other faulty Churchill?

Jeen,

I didn't have to pay anything extra to get it bumped up to the front of Richard's queue, which was better than getting the pen fixed for free. The other Churchill was a Jarvis LE that stopped writing after a page or so. Apparently, it was a pretty common fault with the feed that CS has since remedied. I sent it back to CS, they replaced the feed and now it writes wonderfully with great flow.

Bill

I currently have a black ebonite lever fill which I purchased several months ago, but haven't used. I had a c/c fill ebonite that was sent in for repairs, but was subsequently lost and irreplaceable because there was no more material I was told. I miss that c/c, but haven't found another to replace it

I usually buy my pens directly from Binder or Mottishaw for the same reasons you've cited for the flow and fixing the feed issues.