No Converters Included in New Cross Pens

[thoddomas]

As an authorized retailer of AT Cross pens & accessories, we would like it to be known that Cross is no longer including a "free" converter with the purchase of a brand-new fountain pen. According to our Cross representative, it is a rolling changeover and all new fountain pen inventory will be sold with only a couple of ink cartridges.

 

As a standard in the fountain pen industry, any fountain pen worth over $50 to the consumer includes sample ink cartridges and a converter for bottled ink. The added hassle of adding a converter to the order, along with the additional cost, makes the buying experience less acceptable to the consumer, especially if they were not aware that the converter was not included. We have had numerous complaints from Cross pen buyers in the last month and we do our best to make things right by mailing a complimentary converter if one was not received in the box.

 

We have already voiced our opinion to Cross, but I think they would be more receptive to see consumers and fountain pen enthusiasts respond to such an annoying cost-cutting measure.

[Flourish]

I know as a business Cross is thinking of the economics involved but as a business that caters to a unique group of people who continually demonstrate their lack of regard towards normal economic beliefs, we'd all be using Bic's if that were the case, you shouldn't have to be put in a position where you have to rectify what amounts to Cross's new lack of regard towards its customers and its dealers.

 

I applaud you for including the converters which Cross should be including in the first place. Their behavior is on the level of ordering a cheeseburger and being told that meat will be $5 extra.

Edited November 19, 2009 by Flourish

[MJ Vesuvius]

Guess the airlines aren't the only ones

finding new ways to squeeze out a few extra bucks.

 

But with a discretionary item like a fountain pen...

it's ridiculous! I recall that a few retailers I know

recently stopped carrying Cross ... I forgot what the

snafu was, buy they were miffed about some policy.

(Discounted online direct sales maybe?)

This will not help their image...

 

MJ

[Biber]

In my opinion it is a very poor decision on the part of Cross not to include a converter with the purchase of a Cross fountain pen. If one is going to shell out a potentially large amount of money for a fine writing instrument, something as significant to the fountain pen experience (not to mention significant to the function of the instrument) should be included. One could liken it to buying a car without a battery. Not everyone uses cartridges and I dare say that a perhaps majority of fountain pen users prefer to use converters. Using any of the myriad colors of bottled inks with a converter is an integral part of the experience of writing with a fountain pen. Cutting this corner, can only serve to harm what may be an already faltering image. Consumers remember little things like this.

 

B

[Silvermink]

Lame. I'd be very displeased if I purchased a Cross pen and wasn't provided with a converter. Pens costing ~$50 or more should always come with a converter - not including one is just cheap.

[ballboy]

I bought my Titian red Apogee earlier this year for about £80 (after employee discount) and still only found two cartridges. Luckily, I had one from my previous Apogee purchase which DID come with one (online ebay seller price for Chrome model).

[tfwall]

Save money at the POS and then make more by selling a larger volume of higher cost per unit volume cartridges. Seems like a very savvy business move.

[Aysedasi]

What a bunch of cheapskates. Another reason to look elsewhere......

[Bipedallou]

Last week I stopped in at a local B&M pen store specifically to look at the new Affinity Fountain Pen. The proprietor told me it did not come with the converter, and he was not happy with the decision by Cross; as he said, it would be better to up the price by the $4.00 and include it than to think that the $4.00 lower price would be more attractive to the buy, especially since the vast majority would insist on getting a converter for the pen and have to spend the extra money anyway! (A few months ago when the Affinity first came out the converter issue was one of my first concerns, and, perhaps fortunately, this being one issue which caused me to put off buying one on-line – though I still do like the style of that pen.)

 

Recently I have reached the decision that I will not be purchasing any more Cross products, even though the ones I have, (obtained years ago now), are very good quality and have been trouble free, (thankfully I don't have to contemplate the type of Customer Service Cross now has - see some of the other threads which touch on that aspect of their business). It is sad when a once highly respected company begins the slide from a well deserved good reputation into being a mediocre (at best) company with a dwindling base of loyal supporters. But perhaps, just as we all are looking forward to and hoping for a turn-around in the US economy, Cross will take steps to arrest their falling reputation and restore our, or I should say my, confidence that buying their products will be a positive experience.

 

Lou

[QuantumMisa]

I'm not an expert on consumer behavior, so maybe the company's making a smart move, but I'd have preferred it if they'd just increased the price of the pen by the converter price and still kept it as part of the package. To me the price difference wouldn't majorly discourage the decision to buy; it'd bug me less than having to check the contents list and clicking over to the now-sold-separately converter page.

 

But anyway, it seems the company has offended a lot of people unnecessarily. I wonder if it was "worth it" for Cross. (I'm waiting for someone to quip something like "They're called Cross cuz that's how their customers feel.") Sad to watch this happen.

[thoddomas]

(I'm waiting for someone to quip something like "They're called Cross cuz that's how their customers feel.")

 

haha! You've got first dibs on that phrase. They make their retailers feel "cross" as well.

[Tumbleweedtoo]

If the Affinity had a gold nib and a converter, I think it would be a lot more appealing, and probably could be retailed for not much more than the current $100.00 retail price; especially when the Cross web site (last time I checked, just now) was offering the pen at a discount, and is now only $80.00 directly from Cross. I really think the lack of the converter is a major issue for some and will hurt their sales. The converter sells for $4.00 and their web site indicates it is the same converter that the Century II and Apogee use. I must say that $84.00 is tempting, but I already have some excellent gold nib Cross pens.

[PenTieRun]

As if the pedestrian looks of most Cross pens isn't enough to keep my money away from them, then this certainly relieves me of any faint notions that I'll ever buy one. I guess we now have the answer to the timeless question, "How stupid is that?"

[drunken spider]

Just to play devils advocate, might it not be the case that the majority of Fountain pen purchasers in the £50 bracket (the UK price of the Affinity) would prefer just to have cartridges than converters? The ink is already there, nice and clean and sealed up and ready to go with just a push. None of this faffing about having to buy a bottle of ink separately, fill the thing before you can use it, clean it afterwards yadda yadda yadda.

 

If you prefer to use different inks as most on here would, you can buy the converter for not a lot. But for most people in that price range, the converter would just be unnecessary.

 

Of much greater concern I would have thought, is the suspect QC on the new nibs. That is certainly what is putting me off ordering a new Affinity online!

[Silvermink]

Just to play devils advocate, might it not be the case that the majority of Fountain pen purchasers in the £50 bracket (the UK price of the Affinity) would prefer just to have cartridges than converters? The ink is already there, nice and clean and sealed up and ready to go with just a push. None of this faffing about having to buy a bottle of ink separately, fill the thing before you can use it, clean it afterwards yadda yadda yadda.

 

That's probably the rationale, but I think leaving out the converter amounts to an insult to the fountain pen diehards and is a bit of a silly downmarket move on Cross's part. I agree with the call to just increase the price correspondingly if you have to - maybe I'm wrong on this, but I doubt $4 would make a great difference to most people's purchasing decisions on a $100ish fountain pen.

[Bipedallou]

The converter, even if not used as the ink source for the pen, certainly is very useful for flushing out the feed/nib assembly of the pen. What would someone have to do in order to thoroughly clean this assembly, (without the converter), which, unlike some other pens, does not unscrew from the barrel? Perhaps those with little experience who buy a fountain pen and see the cartridge system as convenient, easy and clean will also, in a short time, become disillusioned with fountain pens if it starts to clog and skip due to a poor ink feed, and without the means to easily flush it out give up using fountain pens, in spite of (as we probably all feel) the excellent writing characteristics and multiple advantages found in them.

 

I have not purchased a Cross in recent years so I don't know if Cross provides any literature on how to care for a fountain pen. I rather doubt that they due, since they are so concerned about cost cutting as to discontinue including a $4.00, and that is $4.00 retail not manufacturing cost, converter. Yes they may save a few dollars up front, but lose an entire line of product sales and blight what was once a highly respected name in the market place.

 

Lou

[Taurean]

I know as a business Cross is thinking of the economics involved but as a business that caters to a unique group of people who continually demonstrate their lack of regard towards normal economic beliefs, we'd all be using Bic's if that were the case, you shouldn't have to be put in a position where you have to rectify what amounts to Cross's new lack of regard towards its customers and its dealers.

 

 

very articulately voiced, I couldn't agree more.

 

A needless and tactless move. its not the extra money, but the apathy that disappoints slightly.

[adamselene]

I know as a business Cross is thinking of the economics involved but as a business that caters to a unique group of people who continually demonstrate their lack of regard towards normal economic beliefs, we'd all be using Bic's if that were the case, you shouldn't have to be put in a position where you have to rectify what amounts to Cross's new lack of regard towards its customers and its dealers.

 

 

very articulately voiced, I couldn't agree more.

 

A needless and tactless move. its not the extra money, but the apathy that disappoints slightly.

 

Can't help thinking they want to sell carts, rather than they are saving (WAY LESS THAN) 4 bucks on a converter.

 

Maybe they could start giving the pens away, like razors (wow, that dates me!)

[Zarble44]

It never occurred to me that someone who was an avid fountain pen user would NOT want a converter. As convenient as cartridges are, surely there must be times when you want to use an ink (waterproof, perhaps) or a color that the manufacturer doesn't provide.

 

One buys the pen for its capabilities / feel / performance / design / color. Manufacturer ink color never seemed to be a determining factor. Charging extra for the converter on an expensive pen is just obnoxious. At the very least, the pen description should include the words "converter not included."

 

It was bad enough when Cross dropped its free repair for life policy. When it comes to Cross, I'm done. There are lots of other brands out there.

[gross]

Cross is not, in my opinion, being very smart. I remember when Sheaffer came out with those transparent barrelled school pens that only took cartridges. In those days, such a move by Sheaffer thrilled many teachers and parents who were more than just tired of dealing with eight and nine-year-olds trying to refill their pens from ink bottles. Cross is now equating their pens with school pens?

 

Cross is now aiming entirely at the occasional fountain pen user rather than people like the members of this network. There must really exist people who do not know there are options to using cartridges. These must be people who would either not think of refilling a cartridge or who would just prefer to buy new cartridges. As an earlier poster pointed out, these are not people who are going to be pleased with fountain pens for very long.

 

While I am very pleased with my older Cross fountain pens (the oldest is fifteen-years-old and the newest is ten-years-old) which all came with a free converter, I don't believe I will be in the market for any new Cross pens. I believe Cross is cutting off their nose to spite their face - never a good move.