Well i was hoping it wouldn't come to this but my beloved Arco not working.The piston has stopped working completely.The thing worked for 6 months and thats about all.So i have boxed it up in hopes of sending it back to Kenro/Omas. assuming that they are still the place to send it.I have sent an email and left voice mails so as to ascertain whether it is indeed still the North American distributor/repair facility.Due to the recent sale of Omas to another company,i hope it is a faster turn around.
Last time i did this was with my Omas Roma.It only took 5 weeks and that was very quick in my opinion.If they do that i will be happy!

I will keep all informed of my latest journey with Kenro.

Jim

Hi Jim,

At Fahrney's just two weeks ago I talked to Ryan at Kenro. He gave me this address:

Kenro Industries
393 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 2
Mineola, NY 11501

Hope that's what you have too!

Erick

It is indeed Erick.Many thanks.

Jim

Jim,

While I can't vouch for Omas's new buyer,I can vouch for Kenro. I just received back from them(on Tues.)the Aurora Sole
that I sent to them to have the barrel replaced(had 2 cracks in it). It came back in the time that they said that it would(6
weeks)and it was masterfully fixed--even the LE # on the captop was repainted its gold color(It was bought used without
the LE# shown in gold)! I'll have to show the before & after pics later here on the forum.

John

Thats good to hear John.Did they charge you a fee to send it or?? Last time they waived a $20 for me due to the defect.I hope they do that this time as well.
Glad to hear the good report though.Makes me more confident.

Jim

Jim,

I've been lusting after an Arco for a while. What happened? Did it have any symptoms before the piston failed? How did it write up until the filling mechanism broke?

I hope you get it back soon!

-m

Just listen to yourself: this is a PEN for heavens sake!

Just kidding: you know how I felt when I snapped the tip off one of the tines on a nib.

There's just something about sending our pens off in the mail with the uncertainty of when they'll return that I still find a bit unsettleing.

Good luck,
gary

They didn't wave the fee for me for a milord arco still under warrenty and purchased from nibs. com a registered distibutor. They claimed the fee was for postage. The pen did come back repaired in a reasonable amount of time.

The pen performed flawlessly until it just wouldn't take up ink anymore.Not sure why it stopped.
Oh well.I have other pens to keep me occupied!

Jim

Good luck, Handelbar, with Omas and Kenro.

I should be receiving back today a celluloid Bologna that I sent to Kenro in mid-January for a nib swap. More than six months for a nib swap! It sat at Kenro for a few moths before they realized it couldn't be done there. Then, it went to Italy where it spent quite some time. And with the shipping and fees, it cost $75 total for the whole thing. UPS should be bringing it to me this afternoon, so we'll see if it was worth the wait. Pat Formato was the contact person at Kenro for my repair. The communication is not great, and I had to keep pestering them. But email contact proved to be the best way to keep tabs on where the pen was.

I hope I do not have to deal with them again.

Heaven forbid it takes that long.But i will tell you i can be quite a pest on email and telephone if i feel it is taking too long.LOL

Jim

Jim, I got the Bologna back from its six month holiday in Italy and Mineola, and it is working flawlessly. I'd like to say it was worth the wait, but waiting almost seven months for a nib exchange in inexcusable. I am happy it is back in my hands and working well, though. Kenro finally came through.

Congrats on the new arrival!! I had the same feeling when my Omas Roma made a trip back to the motherland.But i only waited 5-6 weeks.Not bad at all.
Seven months is wayyyy too long.I would have been emailing and calling every week!

Jim

I had the same problem with my Arco Milord. Just sent it back last week. This is the third time since February that I had to send it back. The first two times it leaked where the section joins the body. Each time it happened within the first week, and Kenro replace the pens quickly each time. This is the first time I am sending it back to be repaired. When I called Kenro, at (516) 741-0011, the person who answered the phone said that I needed to include a check for $35 with the pen. When I told her that this was the third time I was returning the pen in less than four months, she said I didn't need to include the check, but if there was going to be a charge, someone would contact me. I will be extremely upset if they charge me anything, since it has cost me about $30 to ship the pens to them three times. I am using my 15 year old Pelikan M-800 and 14 year old Visconti Manhattan in the interim.

I had the same issue with having an Omas Roma repaired. While I agree that it is horrible to have to pay $35 for "handling" to have a pen repaired, if it has to be sent back to Italy, I would gladly pay $35 to have Kenro deal with the return shipping to Italy, the customs, the tracking, and the return shipping to me once the pen is repaired, and the guarantee if the pen is lost or damaged rather than deal with that headache myself.

As for that $35 fee,i called Kenro friday and was directed to a message on how to ship the pens back.They said to include the pen,a letter noting what was wrong,and a check for $20.This i did,sending the pen off Priority Mail.
Then today i received an email from Kenro giving me the same instructions yet saying now a $35 fee.So i emailed back that i had sent the pen already and included a $20 check as thats what the message said to do.They are letting me slide i guess as they should update the message.
So it looks as though they should do a better job of communication within the company and with customers.I agree that $20 or $35 is not bad at all for the time and effort,as long as they GET IT RIGHT the first time! It should never have to be returned again unless due other circumstances.

So now that they have it and it goes out to Italy thursday,i'm happy the ball is rolling. Now the waiting begins.

Jim