Just got back home after a very long day at work......I should have known, sadly at the time never gave it a thought. My good friend at work asked to borrow my pen to sign off on a triplicate.......I handed over my new Day and Night black rollerball....the idiot, he dropped it.....added a gorgeous deep gouge on the pocket clip....through the plate not happy.Too deep to polish out. Called Waterman to price a replacement cap as I'm somewhat ocd about my pens..get this.....$220.00....

Not happy but what does one do. I suppose it could have been worse it could have been my Night and Day FP with its new stub nib.....

Hind sight is 20/20, last time I lend my pen.

Stubnut

my sympathies! this is why i keep a cheap (but still pretty) parker rollerball as my "loaner."

in the event that i have nothing but my FP in my pocket to lend, i always hand it over uncapped (that way i'm pretty sure it'll get back to me, also, non-FP users will invariably yank off the cap instead of turning it, stripping the threads), with a reminder to "write lightly, it's not a ballpoint"

Ouch!

I always carry a Pilot G-2 disposable with me, just to lend out.

Is it not possible to replace the clip, not the whole cap?

Geez, a whole new pen is $300 from Lewertowski.

That's pretty much what I was going to say ... you can get a new pen for that price

Somehow Waterman always has expensive prices regarding anything that needs to be bought when it comes to parts (that is my experience with Waterman anyway)

I am so sorry that happened to you ...

It is just these sorts of stories that prompted me to go out and buy a Parker Jotter this afternoon!

Good luck on finding a new cap! Hopefully you can find a broken pen with a good cap or something.

That is why I always keep a cheap ballpoint or a Gel pen in my pocket!

I never lend out my fountain pens!

Bad luck! (or bad judgment?)

Can you not make an insurance claim....or would the excess eat-up all your $220?

(My dog broke my expensive rimless spectacles and got a pay-out of 450 Euros!....I now have titanium-rimmed specs )

I always have a bic on my desk in case people ask me to lend them a pen but I will never ever lend any of my man 100s, let alone my MBs or any other fountain pens to a person who usually writes with a bic. Many people don't know how to handle a pen correctly and sometimes apply too much pressure on the nib, they are also sometimes so much in hurry that they are careless another reason why lending my pens is a definite no. A fountain pen it is like a mechanical watch, it is no made be lent, it is a personal and an individual property.

You have my sympathy and I also empathize.

I showed a young man--aged 12--one of my imported pens, which has a special clip feature. He got carried away and clicked it once too often. Now of course I have to open the pen with magic fingers.

Once bitten, they say

Zoe

My school pens are all quite old and battered so I don't really mind lending them out, and often have to for people at school who've forgotten theirs.

It's funny watching how bad their hands are for ink when they return the pen at the end of the day. If it's just on the fingertips then I know they are ok with using fountain pens, cos you can't really write with my pens without getting your fingertips stained.

But some of the kids come back with their hands absolutely covered in ink. Some of these kids are just no good with fountain pens, whereas others love to take it apart and fill it up, with disastrously inky-fingered consequences.

You need to let "friend" know the cost of his mistake.
Next, buy a lot of rOtring Core pens for work, and, like Georges said, keep the cheapo depot office stick pens on your desk.

PS...be glad it wasn't your FP!

Dude. That stinks. Get it fixed and send your friend the bill.

Man, I hate stories like this! I'm something of an incurable optimist about lending people pens, even though I always remind them to be careful. One absent-minded occasion, however, I let a high school student of mine look at my Aspen Sheaffer Balance. I realized later that he pulled the cap off, not stripping the threads, but almost completely tearing the threaded portion of the cap from the rest of it! (Ft. Madison happily repaired it!)

My friend let a coworker use his Mega Ink Ball, only to have it tossed/slid back to him across the table! I think we all wind up with at least one of these stories, sooner or later.

Parker Jotters are a beautiful thing!

I am sorry to hear about your bruised pen. I always carry my Tech 3 pen on me, just incase I have to lend out a pen. Also the Cross Tech 3 is great if you need Black/Red/Pencil at any moment. I picked on up at OfficeMax for about 30.00. I don't think 30.o0 is cheap, but it works great for everything.

Classic

My fault and I won't be lending a pen anytime soon. $220 is crazy for a replacement cap, a service clip is not available.
My friend cannot look me straight in the eye, I told him the cost he nearly passed out.
In Japan I believe the battle scar would be called Wabi, therefore I suppose I should suck it up and write on.

I thank you for your replies.

Pelikan M1000 in bound with just for a change, stub nib .......

kind regards
Stubnut

On many occasions I have been asked for a pen to borrow. They get the G2 and none of my personal pens with the question 'where's yours?'. On the other hand I don't ask to borrow or even look at a colleges pen for fear of having the same thing happen. I can't afford to be buying expensive pens I can't keep. You obviously put a lot into that one (no pun intended), unfortunate accident, but I bet it won't happen again.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be. - William Shakespeare

I used to let people use my fine non-FPs. But instead of handing it back to me (cos naturally I hover), they will SLAM IT DOWN on a hard surface? Even if, before using the pen, they look at it and say, "Oh this is nice!" they will still SLAM IT DOWN on a hard surface!

Not to mention the stranger who dropped my Waterman Laureat FP on his bike -- I can still hear the Pachinko-like sounds it made until it hit the ground.

You know... most people don't care that it's a fine pen. I know! Crazy!

After my boss cubed told his funny story about Pelikan ink, I let him hold my Lighthouse -- I hadn't even inked it yet.

He was really respectful, but I was really nervous about it.

I can still hear the sound ....pen on checker (diamond) plate floor, thinking about it makes me feel sick. My friend feels very bad but thats as far as replacement will go I'm sure. Time to move on and enjoy my pens.

p.s I loved your pictures of your Sheaffer Tuckies that you posted. Wonderful camera work, thank you.

Kind regards. Stubnut

Well, that's very nice of you to say, Stubnut. Thank YOU.

Best,
e.

I have noticed that the sort of person who will do this will also respond to any note of correction with a counter-accusation that it's really YOUR fault for having a pen they're unfamiliar with.

They can look... but they can't touch....

Yes, it's an odd thing. Even people who are interested enough to notice a nice pen, and who might ask to try it, are then usually somewhat careless when handling or handing it back to you. I think it's because the part of OUR brains that say "this is a precious thing, must treat it delicately" is just not there for them. Once their curiosity has been satisfied, the muscle memory in their bodies/brains often has them toss/lob/push the "just a pen" object back to you. They don't mean to be rude - the classification of a pen as a valuable thing is just not burned in enough. That's why it's so nice when we find another true afficianado; we know we will each treat the pen/watch/insert other valuable object here in the same way.

And sometimes, as in the case above, an accident just happens. We do that too.

I try to always have an inexpensive pen - roller or ball point handy - because not loaning a pen is just so darn rude sometimes. And - truth be told - I usually just don't respond quickly when someone asks to borrow. Give it ten seconds and see if someone else fills the gap. They usually do, bless them.