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Why Are Expensive Pens So Badly Made?


4lex

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Due to high temperature and humidity {like south of Saigon} the machine broke down.....

 

Instead.....We had a 'Just Say No ' moment.....

 

Fred

Hot and steamy sounds like business is good!

San Francisco International Pen Show - The next “Funnest Pen Show” is on schedule for August 23-24-25, 2024.  Watch the show website for registration details. 
 

My PM box is usually full. Just email me: my last name at the google mail address.

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I'm just glad the rest of us can rest assured the products we buy will be reasonably well made. While my accumulation of fountain pens is no where near as large as what others have and my pens are at best only in the moderately expensive category I can say that only a half dozen or less of them have ever needed any work before they wrote reliably and none have ever arrived with manufacturing flaws. Absolutely none of them have been poorly made.

 

As I said, this is a relatively small sample, probably under 300 pens total but was data collected over an extended period of over a half century.

 

My thanks go out to all who do buy the poorly made expensive pens allowing the rest of us to get the well made ones. Your work and effort and sacrifice has been recognized and applauded.

 

My Website

 

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I think "badly made" is too extreme a statement. I might that some of them might have been made with unforseen design issues that manufacturers often corrected in later versions. Sometimes they were corrected, anyway. Still, "badly made" is too extreme. Some of the issues with pens are subtle, with the possibility that the issues could or should be fixed, when the maker figures it out.

 

Once I figured out which pen makes and models worked well for me, I quit buying other stuff. I don't think curiousity will lead me into more unknowns. Others will experiment until they find what works for them, and that will likely be different from what works for me.

 

Then, there are those who will try everything.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

You are incorrect.

Well that's what Richard Binder says, and I trust him more than I trust you.

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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  • 2 years later...

I'm just glad the rest of us can rest assured the products we buy will be reasonably well made. While my accumulation of fountain pens is no where near as large as what others have and my pens are at best only in the moderately expensive category I can say that only a half dozen or less of them have ever needed any work before they wrote reliably and none have ever arrived with manufacturing flaws. Absolutely none of them have been poorly made.

 

As I said, this is a relatively small sample, probably under 300 pens total but was data collected over an extended period of over a half century.

 

My thanks go out to all who do buy the poorly made expensive pens allowing the rest of us to get the well made ones. Your work and effort and sacrifice has been recognized and applauded.

+1 :lticaptd:

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I've had quality problems with every Pelican out of the box compared to a tuned nib. All my Montblancs have been flawless.

I guess I am interested in this because I can't answer to my self, why I am spending hundreds on dollars on fountain pens when I can get a better fountain pen for $10. I don't have an answer.

I had problems with all my fountain pens that costed more then $150, and I consider them to be expensive (for me).

On Montblanc M a bad case of nib creep.

On Pelikan M600 misaligned tines.

On Visconti Homo Sapiens Lava splayed tines and once that was sorted baby bottom.

On Franklin-Christoph 20 leaking.

 

On the other hand I never had any problem with Lamy Al Star, Safari or Pilot V Pen or Petit1. And these pens cost a fraction of the cost.

So I keep asking myself why am I so stupid to waste money on pens that are a lot of hassle before they write. I guess no one can answer that. The closest explanation to the truth that I have is that I am a sucker for a good marketing story.

 

And the question in the topic interests me. How can Pilot or Platinum have better QC on their disposable pens then Visconti, Montblanc or Pelikan on their "Fine Writing" instruments.

 

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I've had quality problems with every Pelican out of the box compared to a tuned nib. All my Montblancs have been flawless.

I had M200, M600 and Pelikan P1 working well. Pelikan M1000 nib was terrible tho, skipping and “singing “. I got rid off it ASAP.

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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I must apologize, for having read ONLY 9 pages of this thread. I must say it is epic and long. I think the generalities of the Original Poster (OP) probably raised the hackles of a few readers. I will also say that "naming names" of problem pens will offend people who are enamored with that brand and model. People who purchase luxury items are performing an acquisition which is Emotionally based, rather than need based. Once you wrap emotions into any purchase, you are ensured a huge variation in both perceptions and percieved experiences.

 

When you purchase an expensive pen (and I do recognize the term expensive pen is highly variable), you have gained the right to be critical. If it is not better (subjective) than your $19.99 Lamy Safari, you will feel cheated. I would not categorize this expectation as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Many pens which I consider "expensive" may not contain much in the way of expensive materials, or precious metals (other than perhaps a gold nib which has less than $15 dollars worth of gold in it). That said, the rest of the value should be comprised of the quality of the engineering and the execution of production. Production which includes quality control (QC). I am surprised that the OP has had four failures in QC, with what should have been excellent pens. I find the argument "you could/should send it back, so you can get the quality of pen you already paid for", weak. A pen is not a New York Strip steak at a restaurant. The last time I relied upon a common Carrier (USPS) to ship a warranty claim back to a manufacturer, they lost the item. I paid extra for insurance, but USPS was only willing to pay the "once in a lifetime low cost" the item had been purchased for (and not the current replacement cost). I have sent other items back, only to receive an item back, which was MUCH worse than the one which had been sent. When I bought those items, for the price I paid, I had the expectation the item would arrive functional, and not cosmetically marred. If the vendor had disclosed "The product you receive may be non-functional, and have cracks, gouges and stripped threads" it would not have merited the vendor's price. The OP's observation, even if they are of a small data-set, is valid. Once you get into that price range, functional and cosmetically clean is a very reasonable expectation. I believe it would be ALL of our expectations. (Unless we are purchasing vintage).

Edited by Addertooth
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Pelikan M1000 nib was terrible tho, skipping and “singing “.

 

You don't have to get rid of the pen. That can be fixed you know.

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You don't have to get rid of the pen. That can be fixed you know.

Shame I sold it already. What do you think was causing the nib to “sing”?

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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I think a more appropriate question is "why do we accept (and keep purchasing) high-priced pens that don't deliver the out of the box reliability, or sometimes even F&F of quality mass produced pens?"

 

If I pay $500 or more for a hand made (or at least hand assembled) pen, I would expect it to have had a skilled artisan spend more than a few minutes setting it up to write well! I'm not talking nibmeister grade tune here, but it should at least write as well and as reliably as a $50 Pilot or Sailor, hopefully better...

 

Some of the reporting of "issues" with high-end pens is probably because of increased expectations based on purchase price, but in my view that's as it should be... "you get what you pay for" should be true both ways. At the *very least*, I'd hope that high-end makers would value the reputation of their brand enough to invest in excellent Q/C so that the odd occasional sub-par product never finds its way in to a customer's hands.

David-

 

So many restoration projects...

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  • 3 months later...

You know, this is a question I ask myself over and over again. Our collection numbers over 500. Many are very expensive limited editions, Aurora, Omas, Mont Blanc, Visconti, Parker, Waterman, vintage pens, cheap pens, midrange, you name it. Very frequently the high-priced extremely expensive pens do not write as well as the lower-priced or mid-range products. The answer to the question why is because we pay for it. If a manufacturer can produce a product that is inferior at a superior price point and the market is willing to consume that product they will continue to do so with impunity. The reason that these high-priced items fail to perform as well as lower-priced alternatives is because we buy them. So if we want to know why, take a look in the mirror, oh hugh, that's probably the reason staring back at us.

 

Stop purchasing these high-priced inferior items and the market will respond. There are a few higher to mid-range priced alternatives that perform exceptionally well, Edison comes to mind. All Edison pens are handmade and the quality control is excellent. They stand behind their products. You can order a custom manufactured pen right down to how you want it to write, the wetness the smoothness, they're going to do whatever you ask. If it's not right when you get it, send it back and they'll make it so. Actually there are some craftsman out there, Brian Grey of Edison pens is one of those people. No, I don't own stock in the company!

 

In closing, not to be a jerk or pedantic, when posting something that is going in a public forum the difference between the word then and than is quite significant, sorry couldn't help myself but that constant word confusion by some has always been an annoyance to me!

 

Best regards to all and Happy New Year!

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Depends on the brand. I recently picked up a Pilot Custom 823 and WOW it's a solid performer all the way around. I guess leave it to the Japanese to make a flawless product. But some of my more high end German pens are temperamental. Even my mid range Lamy 2000's are picky as hell when it comes to ink.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In a nutshell, if a product is expensive but doesn't function well but people buy it regardless of that fact then the manufacturer will continue to make it because it is profitable. This is true not just for pens but pretty much anything that is marketed. If someone is willing to pay the price and enough people do a manufacturer will continue to make and market it. Simple supply and demand really.

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