Maybe this is just my first experience with a faulty nib. Here's the deal: I immediately noticed that it was skipping, and I would have to go back and write over parts of letters. I called the place I bought it from (Goldspot.com) and was told I should let warm water run through the nib. I did that and it stopped skipping, but for several hours the black Aurora ink I use looked grey and washed out. This morning I tried it out again and it looks very black like it's supposed to but it's skipping again. Should I send the nib back to get it replaced? Or should I try something else?

Just had the exact same issue with my Waterman Charleston with a medium nib... It is currently with Sanford (Canadian Waterman service company) being looked at... Outside the occasional skip, it wrote like a dream and felt great in my hand. I miss it...

If your dealer knows about FPs (i.e. not just a reseller) and willing to take a quick look at it, it might be something simple. If not, return it and get exchange for one that doesn`t skip. Life is too short for skipping pens!

The greyish look could be caused by water remaining in the feed. The ink could be thinned by the water and you get this awful look. You should let it dry properly, perhaps overnight.

You'll also see in lots of other threads where folks are disappointed that their new pen skips that the recommendation is to flush out the pen before the first use to rid the pen of manufacturing oils that can causing such skipping. Sometimes I'm just too eager and don't do the flushing thing, then I have to live with the skipping for a week or two, after which the ink seems to take care of flushing in some way, and I'm on my merry way. Of course, this is only true if the nib is fine and there's no other adjustment needed. YMMV.

[edited to get my syntax right]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I actually exchanged the Expert for a brand new one which just got delivered about an hour ago. I've inked it and it works fine. The nib on the other one was definitely a lemon. I would flush it and it would seem like it was going to work, but would eventually start skipping again. I bought it from an online pen dealer---goldspot.com. Very nice folks and good prices.