Hi

I don't know what to think but it looks like that for basic repairs Omas takes too long to correct things. It has already been three months that my pen has been sent for a new cap change because mine broke. The shop where I bought the pen has phoned and sent mails to Omas but no replies. It is kinda saddening to see such things happening but I have to say that italian pen brands are far to offer the best customer and after sales service.

regards

georges

I believe your experience is normal. A celluloid pen of mine with a leaking section took almost six months to turn around from Australia.

Georges,

Unfortunately, I think that this is now "normal" with almost any modern pen company. Without criticising any specific company, because I really do believe it applies to most of them, let me put it this way: There is no way I'd send my pen out for repairs or service back to the company; I will pay extra and send it to Richard Binder. The wait will end up the same, but this way I can be certain that I will only send out the pen once, and that it will return perfect. This is scandalous and unacceptable, I know. But this is how it is. Welcome to the world of contemporary pens as "luxury good" : ((

On the other side, I've now experienced good turn arounds from Visconti's NJ office on 2 items now. One, admittedly, was an ink well with a lid that detached a month into use. The other was a nib switch that took under 2 weeks. At least ONE company is turning things around...

Georges,you are making a sweeping statement about Italian brands based on your experience with one brand, Omas. Have you had similar problems with Aurora or Stipula? Stipula were superb when I dealt with them and was kept fully informed by the factory when I emailed them. It was the first and I hope the only time I have problems with Italian pens.

Ronin

Never had a stipula nor an aurora so I can't tell. I am however planing to buy a stipula one day and an eritruria.

I have dealt with Omas twice now.The first time took only 6 weeks. Now that i have sent off my Arco,i await it's return.Hopefully not as long as 6 months.
Mine just went in for a piston replacement after it failed last month.I had my email and voice mail both returned the next day and that was a good sign in my opinion. Usually i don't hear anything back for weeks.
My pen left America for Italy last thursday.So now it is going to be a long summer.

Jim

The key seems to be whether the pen has to be shipped back to the factory or whether it can be repaired locally. I don't know the situation in France, where Georges is located, but here in the U.S. there is wide variation between brands as to which repairs are done locally in the U.S., and which require shipment back to the factory.

I wish Kenro, the U.S. distributor for both Aurora and Omas, would set up a U.S. repair capability. It is my understanding that Montblanc, Pelikan, Waterman, and Parker all have repair capabilities here in the U.S. Sheaffer used to have a U.S. repair operation, but I've been told that it closed down only a few months ago. Does anyone know where Sheaffers now go for repair?

It's no consolation, but I worked with Italian firms while in the coffee business for many years, and it is important to understand the difference between Italian society and the rest of the customer service world! Summer workdays in Italy tended to be rather...laid back. I recall that requests and work piled up a little more than usual during this time of year, though it never came to a halt. The post was also slower in the summer for some reason. Obviously YMMV, but I'm not the first to observe the enviable summers had by many Italian colleagues.

I hope you get some news rather soon or, better yet, your pen arrives with sparks flying from the nib! It seemed that there was another thread on this topic that ended happily and listed some sources at the factory...I'll see if I can locate it...

Indeed, Kenro sent a new Bologna of mine back to Italy for a nib swap -- a medium for a broad. That's simple stuff. It is the kind of thing should be done stateside. It took six and half months to get the pen back.

Contemporary Sheaffer repairs are offered by Hampton-Haddon in Philadelphia. There was recently an announcement by a Sheaffer representative here on FPN that vintage Sheaffer repairs could be handled by:

Main Street Pens
www.mainstreetpens.com
Ron and Robyn Zorn
ron@mainstreetpens.com
robyn@mainstreetpens.com

Richards Pens
www.richardspens.com
Richard Binder
Barbara Binder
richard@richardspens.com
barbara@richardspens.com

Pen Haven
www.thepenhaven.com
Berton Heiserman
bheiserman@thepenhaven.com

The announcement also recommended that anyone needing special metal work repair on caps and barrels should seek the services of Daniel Kirchheimer.
Pen Restoration- Daniel Kirchheimer
www.penrestoration.com

I read somewhere here on these forums that there are no longer stateside Waterman factory repairs. Everything goes to France now, and it's really expensive with the shipping and everything.

Hi,

Yes, Omas is slow, they take quite a while unfortunately.

Dillon

I sent an Ogiva vision with a feed problem to the Canadian distributor about a month ago and they told me that I should expect to have it back from Italy by the end of this month. I guess we shall see if this actually happens (and I will report here) but your stories are disconcerting.

Jim, the irony of this is that I was told by a very well-known owner of a very-well known store in the Pacific Northwest ( ) that the OLD-STYLE Paragon was supposed to be prone to failure of the piston and that the NEW-STYLE pens did not have this flaw anymore. Now that I've used and abused my old-style Paragons for quite a while and never encountered a problem, it is so odd to hear about your piston problems. Now, what's the upshot? One might conclude that one should not take any stock in the babble of salespeople and rather trust what we can learn on FPN.

I hope you'll have your Arco back soon as not being able to access it must cause you pain (at least, it would cause me pain aka withdrawal symptoms).

Omas has a customer service ?


....just kidding....


This is really bad; customer service is awful in Germany as well.



...but the pens are so nice!


Michael

Here in the U.S. we do have the luxury of having John Mottishaw, one of the true experts in Omas pens. He can change nibs and do other work that pensellers and Kenro won't do. I don't know if he repairs pistons.

However, he works for himself, not for Omas, so he rightfully charges for his work, whereas Kenro/Omas will do certain work under warranty.