Penelope At The Montblanc Spa: Mbna Service Review

[AV8R210]

Let me preface this by saying I am a newcomer to this forum. In my short time on this board I have gained an amazing amount of knowledge by researching the posts of those who have shared their experiences and knowledge. I thank you all for sharing, and totally blame you for causing the re-occurrence of my once-dormant OCD addiction for fountain pens.

 

After 28 years of fairly constant use, my beloved MB146 developed the dreaded collar leak. For the purposes of this story we shall call my MB 146 Penelope. On August 19 I sent Penelope off to MBNA in Fort Worth for a spa treatment. The following day I subscribed to FPN and read both good and bad experiences by MB owners regarding the quality of MBNA repairs and the time those repairs required. I began to wonder if I had made a wise decision.

 

So this is me beginning a thread to communicate my experience with an MBNA repair. Your mileage may vary.

 

Yesterday, August 29, 2013, I received my estimate from MBNA $53 for parts and labor, including piston replacement and nib adjustment. $10 for return shipping and handling. In my opinion, $63 total cost is a reasonable price in 2013 dollars, if the work is done well.

 

It took ten days from the time I sent the pen (shipped UPS Ground August 19 from Southwest Florida) until I received the mailed written estimate. In my world that is an acceptable response time for a multi-national company's repair service, given that at least half of those ten days may have been time-in-transit by the USPS and UPS.

 

Yesterday afternoon, the same day I received the estimate, I called MBNA to authorize and pay for the repair. The young lady at MBNA who took my credit card information was very knowledgeable and pleasant. She may or may not have been in Fort Worth, but this was obviously not her first MB fountain pen repair rodeo. She went through the repair process with me and advised repairs would take one week and I should have the pen back in my ink-stained fingers within two weeks. (OK, she didn't really say "ink-stained fingers".)

 

Stay tuned, boys and girls, for the further thrilling adventures of "Penelope at the Montblanc Spa"...

 

 

 

 

[orfew]

Looking forward to the next instalment of the 'Travels of Penelope'.

[VanRocket]

I have sent a few pens to the Fort Worth repair location and have been pleased every time. A couple of those times were a simple nib exchange and they handled them promptly.

 

 

Jeff

[logantrky]

I'll be interested to hear the rest of your experience. I will be sending a 149 out to be repaired at some point. Thanks for sharing.

[AV8R210]

Today is Wednesday, September 11, and Penelope has returned from the Montblanc spa. The pen arrived by UPS carrier in a gray, padded plastic shipping envelope. Within it was contained the paperwork and a black rectangular plastic case holding the pen. The paperwork stated the following had been replaced: feeder case, ink feeder, piston, and that the nib had been aligned. It also stated there was a 12 month warranty. The pen had been polished.

 

I filled it with Montblanc ink. It wrote smoothly and with medium to broad line, just as before. So now the test to see of the leaking collar is fixed: I will leave it capped and sitting level on my desk overnight.

 

22 days from the day I sent it until the day it returned. Twelve days from time of estimate and payment until I had it back. Overall I am pleased with the speed of service and the repair cost, $66.28 including tax and return shipping.

[AV8R210]

An update: it did not leak after the overnight-upside-down-test and I have been using the pen at my office for 10 days. It shows no signs of leakage and writes as well as it did when new 28 years ago. I am delighted!

[orfew]

An update: it did not leak after the overnight-upside-down-test and I have been using the pen at my office for 10 days. It shows no signs of leakage and writes as well as it did when new 28 years ago. I am delighted!

Great news. I hope you use it for many years to come.

[Paul Raposo]

I thought this was going to be a post about MBNA credit card company. Glad I read more carefully before posting my scathing review. Poor Penelope

[Chrissy]

I was interested to read about Penelope's experience and was very pleased to see that she was back to full health once more when she returned home from her trip.

 

Good story.