Omas Repair Information

[Brettman]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

I turn to you now after a year long battle with Kenro Industries. During May of 2014 I sent two pens to be repaired. One quickly returned ( i say that tongue in cheek as it was almost 4 months ) The other has not returned as of this month ( April 2015 ).

 

I sent in a Bologna Burkina for repair, a leaky section. A leaky section is something that that poor pen was plagued with, so you would think they would have a repair that was quick and efficient. I paid market price for the pen ($600 something from nibs.com) The pen was for my father. I stated in my initial letter to Kenro that if the pen was not repairable, that i still wanted the pen back as it has tremendious sentimental value. ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF SENDING THE PEN, Gio of Kenro sent an email saying they would like to send me a new black resin pen that listed for $375.

 

I am not going to go into more detail as i have in other sections. I write today to find the name of someone who can make this project move forward, I need the name of someone above the repair department as the girl in the operator position will not put me thro to anyone but repairs....

 

Can anyone assist me?

[Barkingpig]

I am very sorry to hear your Burkina saga. (That is the one finish I wanted more than ANY including the newly released Arco!)

 

I did a bit of snooping about the Kenro site & came up with two names for you:

 

1. Joel Blumberg, President of Kenro

 

2. Brian Huser, Vice President of same

 

I once spoke to someone there & it could well have been one of these gentleman when I was unable to reach the "repair department" during my time spent having a pen serviced there.

 

I certainly wish you the best of luck in seeing your pen restored to use. Please let us know if you indeed have success. ( I am currently tying to get me nerve up to attempt sending two pens to them for nib replacement. I have deferred doing so after my initial experience but realise that it is foolish to not be able to use the pens I purchased. )

[Brettman]

THANK you...

 

I shall attempt those two names tomorrow...

 

Have John Mottishaw of nibs.com do the nib swaps..... You will have a much better expierence.....

 

-Brett

[Barkingpig]

I hope one of the two gentleman are of help to you.

I realise Mr Mottishaw would provide a better experience BUT I doubt he would swap the nibs but would sell me additional ones! Every pen I have purchased from a retailer always insists that the nib swap HAS to be done by the distributor. I did convince one that they were being foolish to send me the pen (for me to send it somewhere else!) when they could just send it themselves. But I was lucky that time & I think they either don't want to incur cost of shipment or perhaps they know what a hassle we are going to experience!

[Keyless Works]

Sorry to hear this. What a beautiful pen. I was happy with my Aurora Optima repair through Kenro last year but in the early '00s (pre-Kenro) I sent in an OMAS Ogiva in for repair and I was not happy with the results.

[BMG]

So sorry to hear of your dilemma, especially as I have the same pen with the same problem. I tried to fix it with silicon grease, but the leak returned. I tried a rosin-based sealant, same thing: the leak returned. So I've spent part of my evening sniffing around the FPN for opinions on Kenro. I'd like to say that your negative experience is the only one I've found, but that is far from the case. Needless to say, I will not be sending my pen to them. I will try John M. at nibs.com, but will include the same caveat that you did when you sent your pen to Kenro. Once, several years ago, I sent a Bologna in matte black cotton resin in for repair (it had ink flow problems). Months later, I was told that I should choose one of their resin pens as a replacement – no explanation, no Bologna.

 

Keep us posted and I'll do the same.

[Brettman]

There is resolve!!!

 

After 14 months, Kenro is returning the Bologna to me UNrepaired..... I asked them to attempt to put my Burkina onto an unsed Bologna as OMAS MUST have one new one around..... OMAS declined, Kenro is apparently doing very little to try and smooth things over... I am speechless....

[Christopher Godfrey]

I wonder if it is not possible/feasible to return pens to the factory for repair? They <must> have a repair department. I am in similar situation with an expensive Swiss watch that does not wind itself enough in the course of a day (as it should) and the local agents are useless and even scratched the back, last time it went in -- I am <so> tempted to send it back to Switzerland...

 

I empathize with you, for I, too, think the Burkina the most handsome one they have made!

 

PS: The more complaints that the factory hear concerning their American distributor, the more likely they are to remove that outfit from the picture, surely?

Edited May 8, 2015 by Christopher Godfrey

[BMG]

Little update on my post above: I contacted nibs.com about the Bologna repair and got a reply from John M. that they do indeed do it, and actually use sealant (the word he used was "tar" ) provided by Omas for the job. I dropped mine off yesterday. I'll update when it's back.

[Brettman]

My pen spent the 14 months in Italy....

[BMG]

My pen spent the 14 months in Italy....

 

Yes, but now it's on it's way home.

 

What are you planning to do with it when it returns?

[Keyless Works]

Wow that is horrible service. I haven't bought a new OMAS in over 10 years thanks to my experience with their service department. They make such beautiful pens though.

[BMG]

Little update: I got my pen back yesterday. I opted for the expedited service, which took all of a week. The pen is now filled with Maruzen Athena Sepia and is writing beautifully. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Omas “tar” will do the trick and that the leak is gone for good. I'll update again in a week or two.

 

@Brettman: has your pen been returned? What are your plans for it?