Is This Ink Moldy? Brand New Bottle

[gamingoodz]

Just wanted to give an update on this. A very nice forum member that owns a small pen shop offered to send me a replacement bottle of the PR Chocolat ink, even tho I had never ordered anything from them before and they had absolutely no responsibility to send me anything.

 

I decided to order some more inks from the individual's shop and use the flat rate shipping option so they could just send the gift bottle of ink without having to pay shipping charges also. My package arrived quickly and when I opened it up the Private Reserve Chocolat they send was fine and so was the J. Herbin Cafe Des Iles I ordered. The Private Reserve Avacado, however, was not. II had the same symptoms as my previous bottle of Chocolat from the first retailer. I was affraid to tell this shop because they were so nice in sending me the free ink that I didn't want them to feel responsible and I would have just taken the loss ink in stride. I did tell them though and they refunded me the cost of that bottle of ink. The moldy ink was not their fault at all and I do not blame them for it in the slightest. I will ask this person if they want me to say what their shop is because they were amazing to me, I just didn't want to put their name out there without asking.

 

Now I still have 3 brand new bottles of Private Reserve ink sitting here though so I figured I need to contact Private Reserve since a previous reply said they did and PR were helpful. I send them an email to the address listed on their website about a week ago and I have not heard anything from them. The email I sent was very polite and I wasn't even asking for anything really, I just wanted to let them know and see if they would offer to help or anything at all. I even praised how much I love their ink colors in the letter. I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't get a reply after having defended the company so much even though the inks clearly have mold issues. I hope they can get the issues worked out and now I'm afraid to order any more PR inks.

[KKay]

Thanks for telling us your experience. That shop owner was very generous, and I'm glad to hear it. It is sad you got another bad bottle of ink though. PR is not doing themselves any favors by ignoring their customers. They lost more customers than they can imagine, when people read stories like this. I don't have any PR inks, and I won't be buying any either.

[Barkingpig]

I am happy to hear a shop owner decided to remedy a problem that as you clearly stated was "not even theirs;" I suspect they have gained a customer by this action & I am glad to hear this story. I hope they will make it possible for you to acknowledge their name.

 

I am sorry your Avocado was NOT alright. It is very strange & disturbing to encounter a brand new bottle of ink that is infected. I recently checked my Avocado & after finding it fine after more than three years, ordered another bottle from Amazon. The seller was identified & shipping was thru Amazon; after arrival I inspected it, found it fine & then reordered two more bottles, finding same quality. I did however give ALL the PR inks I had their "good dose" of Phenol after checking each & will hope for the best. I do have several cartridges of other PR colors that I cannot examine & appear to be unaffected, but inside a cartridge they are not as easily examined & impossible to treat.

 

I do not blame you for being "wary" of the brand & I hope Private Reserve will respond to your concern. Enjoy the Chocolate & I am sorry you cannot have a "good" Avocado experience; it is a beautiful ink, one of the first greens that I "fell for." I do know your frustration because I have had more than one failure of another maker's ink, in fact discovering two bottles that had "gone bad," without even having been opened not taken from their closed original cardboard box. (Yes I know, you shouldn't buy ink & not open it, but it isn't the first time I have done so & there may be several more of them, in fact!)

[gamingoodz]

Thanks for telling us your experience. That shop owner was very generous, and I'm glad to hear it. It is sad you got another bad bottle of ink though. PR is not doing themselves any favors by ignoring their customers. They lost more customers than they can imagine, when people read stories like this. I don't have any PR inks, and I won't be buying any either.

 

It's a shame because their inks are really good other than the mold issue lately. Things seemed to have gone downhill after the founder passed away which is really unfortunate. I don't want them to loose customers, In fact, I like the ink a lot and would like them to become more popular because I don't want to see them go out of business and stop making inks. They offer some of the richest and most saturated ink colors that are just amazing looking.

 

They just need to fix their mold issues and maybe put some work into positive Public relations and update their company some. Obviously, things are not working well for them the way things are happening at the moment so they need to put some work into repairing their product and also their businesses image. They used to be much more popular before the founder passed, but the company just hasn't put the effort into staying up with the times I guess. Over the past year or two they went from being just as popular as almost any other brand to retailer after retailer removing Private Reserve inks from their shelves and stopping selling it. From what I hear the ink just has not been selling well anymore, and I imagine it is because people have been complaining about mold issues and quality control issues. Then of course you have people that worry too much about buying ink because it comes in a fancy bottle instead of what is in the bottle, which doesn't help Private Reserve because their ink bottles and packaging are as simple and outdated as they come. I don't worry about the packaging and bottle myself, I am interested in the ink that resides within the bottle.

 

Fountain pens in general, are not a huge seller in the USA but they have been doing better in recent years. So I don't want us to take a step backward and loose another company that sells fountain pen related products if Private Reserve ends up having to close their doors. I do not wish any fountain pen business close down, I want the community and industry to thrive. (Well I wouldn't mind if whoever is making the new Esterbrook pens goes away and someone else takes the name though. But that is a whole separate rant) I hope that Private Reserve can get these issues under control and revamp their brand significantly.

[KKay]

I like glass bottles, preferably ones you can draw ink from easily. As far as PR ink, they do have some pretty colors. I can think of 3 right off the top of my head, that I would buy, if they didn't have issues with their ink. Mold is a big no no for me. If they back their product that is one thing, so long as it is not a common occurrence. But it seems they ignored your email, and that is a major problem for me. I hate to lose another company too, but they have to know they will lose business by not stepping up to the plate, and facing this realistically. Word of mouth gets around. That is just common sense. Maybe they should up the phenol content of their ink, or add it if they don't already. I have phenol now, but that doesn't mean I want to tackle a fresh bottle with an issue. Cross contamination can cost you a lot of ruined ink, which is not cheap by any wild stretch of the imagination.

[ErrantSmudge]

 

It's a shame because their inks are really good other than the mold issue lately.

 

The mold issue with PR ink isn't something that developed "lately". It may have become more prevalent recently, but mold was an issue with PR inks back when I first started collecting pens in the late '90s. I have at least two bottles of PR ink, purchased a decade or so ago, which developed slime in the bottle. A bottle of Orange Crush which has been in my drawer for years had stringy mold in it when I checked it late last year; it got dumped down the drain. For a while, PR had got this issue under control; now it seems to have returned worse than before.

 

Like you, I lament this decline of PR inks. They truly have some spectacular colors. Lake Placid Blue, DC Supershow Blue, Tanzanite, Spearmint Green and Sherwood Green are all kick-butt colors. A great deal of my ink shopping the past few months has been finding substitutes for them from other makers. But I disagree with you that it would be a loss to the hobby to see them passing; they're not doing us a service with a product that puts our pens at risk.

Edited February 19, 2017 by ErrantSmudge

[LindaM]

Now I still have 3 brand new bottles of Private Reserve ink sitting here though so I figured I need to contact Private Reserve since a previous reply said they did and PR were helpful. I send them an email to the address listed on their website about a week ago and I have not heard anything from them. The email I sent was very polite and I wasn't even asking for anything really, I just wanted to let them know and see if they would offer to help or anything at all. I even praised how much I love their ink colors in the letter. I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't get a reply after having defended the company so much even though the inks clearly have mold issues. I hope they can get the issues worked out and now I'm afraid to order any more PR inks.

 

Uh, yeah, that was me that said to contact them directly. And I should update about that too. The woman I talked to there, listed in her signature as the owner of PR, said she'd send me a new bottle that coming week. After 2 weeks when I'd not gotten the ink or any shipping acknowledgement, I sent an email to ask about it. No reply. So yesterday I sent another email asking for a reply (both times quite politely). I'm still waiting.

[torstar]

This has happened to me several times —and always with Private Reserve inks. For example, I tried several times to get their Dakota Red, and each time I had to return the brand new bottle because of goopy gunk. Recently, I had to throw away a bottle of Vampire Red when it had suddenly turned to a foul greenish-brown. Weird.

 

But on the other hand, their Naples Blue, American Blue, Shoreline Gold and Purple Mojo are wonderful.

 

I've had other brands give me that goop that hangs 2 inches off the nib after a filling.

[gamingoodz]

 

Uh, yeah, that was me that said to contact them directly. And I should update about that too. The woman I talked to there, listed in her signature as the owner of PR, said she'd send me a new bottle that coming week. After 2 weeks when I'd not gotten the ink or any shipping acknowledgement, I sent an email to ask about it. No reply. So yesterday I sent another email asking for a reply (both times quite politely). I'm still waiting.

 

Hmm, well that is not good. I hope you get a reply and get your ink, I am starting to think that maybe I should just follow suit with most people and find replacements from other brands. I think maybe I am giving them too much credit and hoping again hope they change because the very first bottle of ink I ever purchase was Private Reserve Electric DC blue.

 

I might have to take a look at Goulet's swap shop and Anderson pen's ink tool and see if there are any other inks from another brand that will replace the ones I want from Private Reserve. Robert Oster inks have been getting great feedback maybe I'll take a look at those. Just a shame because PR inks tend to be more saturated than other companies which really gives some awesome sheen.

 

I understand that it is hard for a small company to do certain things and Private Reserve is not a large company so they must be under quite a bit of stress but I they also have an obligation to their customers to deliver a quality product. I'm very torn on whether to invest more into Private Reserve or not. On one hand I have compassion for the company as someone that has tried to start a business and I love their ink colors and the nostalgia of my first bottle of ink . But then there is also that they are not taking care of their customers or acknowledging there is anything wrong with the inks getting moldy.

[LindaM]

I just now got an email from the owner of PR. She said the ink will go out this week and she apologized for the delay. So there's still hope.

[gamingoodz]

Just another quick update here the owner of the shop that helped me out and sent the bottle of ink to me for free said it is ok to for me to say his name. He goes by DaveT on the forums here and owns A&D Penworx , he was really nice in going out of his way to send me a replacement bottle of ink even though I had never bought anything from him previously.

 

Also I never got a response from Private Reserve from my initial email so I have pretty much given up hope there. I might make a new post here about Biocides as I have a few questions.

[DaveT]

Just another quick update here the owner of the shop that helped me out and sent the bottle of ink to me for free said it is ok to for me to say his name. He goes by DaveT on the forums here and owns A&D Penworx , he was really nice in going out of his way to send me a replacement bottle of ink even though I had never bought anything from him previously.

 

Also I never got a response from Private Reserve from my initial email so I have pretty much given up hope there. I might make a new post here about Biocides as I have a few questions.

 

Thank you for the kind words you have said about me in this thread. And thanks for being so cooperative in working through this. I just wish the final outcome of all the PR ink you have was better.

[SeeksAdvice]

Looks like a biofilm to me. Kill it, kill it with fire.

[LindaM]

Last update - I just got the replacement bottle this afternoon. She shipped it last Friday (the 24th). I was about to give up hope.

[Sasha Royale]

Honestly, we don't know what biological agent has infected the ink. (That is what the rank smell is.)

I would cap the bottle and not open it again until the retailer opens it after return. I am certain that I am being paranoid, but do you know what is growing in the bottle, and to what degree is a family member allergic ?

 

BTW, you already know that it smell bad. Don't inhale anymore of it !

[torstar]

Good that you sought and obtained justice.

 

To me it's one of 60 bottles sitting around my life that won't get used up.

 

If I go into a pen shop to complain I might end up spending $700 I didn't intend to...

[amberleadavis]

Good that you sought and obtained justice.

 

To me it's one of 60 bottles sitting around my life that won't get used up.

 

If I go into a pen shop to complain I might end up spending $700 I didn't intend to...

 

ROFL