Monday this week I sent a communication to Levenger about a True Writer I have been having a problem with (link to question in Repair Q & A). When I sent the message I only stated the problem (could not send pictures), what I had tried to fix it, and that it was a gift from this past Christmas. Below is the result.

"Thank you for your email regarding your past purchase of a True Writer Fountain Pen. I am sorry to hear of your problems with your pen and I can understand your frustration with the performance of this item. I will gladly replace your pen in hopes that this will remedy your problem.

I sincerely apologize for this inconvenience. A new True Writer Fountain Pen will be shipped to you shortly.

The replacement order will be sent out on an open account. This account will remain open until the original merchandise is received back in our warehouse. When you receive the replacement, you will notice that the packing slip will show the price of the item. This is for Levenger's accounting purposes only. You are not being charged a second time. "

That's the second good customer service story about Levenger that I've heard today. Someone on another forum had the bookcloth covers and the corners were fraying. Levenger offered replacement or credit, so she opted to upgrade to the leather cover and they're sending her a return shipping label.

Yea, their customer service is good. Their response to you was actually a form letter they use... I've gotten it several times. But at least they take care of it.

Dave

Levenger goes well beyond what is required. I bought a leather chair/ottoman from Levenger. When it arrived, I did not like the color - it was exactly the color I had ordered and it was the color in the catalogue, but it did not fit in well with my other furniture. I called Levenger and told them that I made a mistake - they told me I could return it, and they sent out another chair. Of course, I had to pay for the shipping, which is only fair. They did not have to allow the return and they could have hit me with a big restocking fee.

mehitabel

The service in their boston store is great too. There's a little dipping set up to try different inks. They'll fill any pen you bring in for free and will give free sample of their notebook system.

They must have changed, I'm happy to hear. When I had problem with my Mediterranean Seas pen, I asked them whether they could repair it. They said that they did not do that. That was the last time I bought a pen from them.

Perhaps they do back up their True Writers in ways they did not with their other pens.

Erick

They did right by me last week as well. I wanted an amethyst true writer metallist with a fine nib engraved with my wife's initials. Due to stock issues with a pen on sale and being phased out of inventory they ended up engraving a medium point pen at one location, then fedexing it to the Virginia store where the medium nib on the stock pen was swapped with a fine point nib, then sending it to me. All at no extra charge and fairly quickly. And, best of all, my wife loves the pen.

Update:

I received my new pen yesterday and haven't even sent the older one back yet!!!!!!!!!!
I think Levenger just earned the right to get a little bit more of my money....................when I have some.

I had a similar experience. Great customer service... I fear I am not as crazy about my True Writer though. I really should give it another go now that I know a bit more about FPN's. It really is a beautiful pen.

Interesting, because Sheaffer's new service center in Philadelphia sent a letter referring me to Levenger to have my Sheaffer/Levenger Seas pens repaired.

Earlier this week I had a day off so my wife and I made the trip to the Levenger store in the Washington DC metro area. When I mentioned that we didn't come often because it wasn't a short trip for us, we were immediately given a nicely setup "sample" notebook and one of their "free with purchase" gifts. That turned out to be a version of their shirt pocket briefcase with some 3x5 card samples. Not as nice as the ones they sell, but still very useful. At this point, I hadn't bought anything, we were still browsing.

I sampled all of their pens while there. Short notes:

Decathlon - bigger than I expected and feels very good in the hand. I like!

Alloy - the grip indents are exactly wrong for how I hold my pen. I like the look, I hate the feel.

Kyoto and Carnaval - Neither of these versions float my boat. True Writers in general feel good to my hand, but they look "cheap" to me. Maybe a good pen for my desk at home.

Metalist - I was a little concerned about the step between the body and the section, but I didn't even notice this while writing. Very nice, and it's on sale right now.

We bought some Circa supplies and a bottle of Cardinal Red ink. It's probably a good thing that they're not conveniently close to where I live.

Anyone know if the Circa paper has been improved lately? It used to be wonderful for FPs, but later they changed the formulation and it wasn't so good any more.

The paper in the sample notebook is very nice, and it's the "new" classic size, as opposed to the "old" classic size, so I assume it's new stock.

Now the paper at their pen sample station was truly putrid. They had some pad that you could write on and keep track of what you liked, and the fine nibs wrote like a medium, and mediums and broads were almost indistinguishable. I grabbed some notepaper from their notebook sample kiosk and used that instead. It worked well with the fountain pens.

Purely anecdotal.