Pilot Usa Customer Service

[CupTea]

So I recently purchased my first Pilot.... a Custom 74 with SM nib. It came from a Japanese seller. Unfortunately, it wrote extremely dry and skipped frequently. Instead of working on it myself (which I maybe should have done, but it was a brand new pen...), I contacted Pilot USA to see if they could help. Even though I purchased the pen in Japan they asked me to send it in. I was impressed!

 

A few days after they received it, they informed me that they would have to send it to Japan to adjust the ink flow and asked if I was right- or left-handed. I am really happy that they are willing to work with me and treat this as a warranty issue, considering that I purchased from Japan. But I have to admit that I am surprised that the US repair center cannot adjust the ink flow, which I would think should not be that big of a repair issue.

 

Does anybody know if they do any repairs here in the US, or do they just send all pens to Japan? Either way, I will know more in 1-2 months. I do not like the wait, but have to say that I appreciate Pilot's customer service so far.

[Witsius]

It seems like very few pen manufacturers employ anyone who actually knows how to tune a nib. Chartpack (Pelikan's U.S. distributor), for example, does not, and neither does Lamy. Both of those companies will swap out defective nibs, but it's pure luck if you get one that actually writes properly. Trust me, I know from first-hand experience. I had to send a Lamy 2000 back to Lamy USA three times before I got a nib that would actually write. I had to re-grind a replacement Pelikan nib unit that was so badly ground at the factory that not only did it not write, it was so rough that it felt like I was trying to write on gravel.

 

The fact that Pilot wants to send the pen back to Japan suggests that they don't have anyone in the U.S. who can actually tune nibs.

 

Pilots tend to come with the tines too tightly closed. My Custom 74 came this way, and it exhibited the same issues you describe. I opened the tines, and now it writes nice and wet with no skipping.

 

It really pays to learn how to do some basic nib tuning since aligning a nib and being able to adjust the tine spacing will cure a lot of problems that pens tend to have out of the box. Failing that, buy your pens from some one who can actually tune the nib before shipping you the pen. Indy-Pen-Dance and Nibs.com will both tune a pen to your preference at no additional cost if you buy the pen from them.

Edited October 11, 2017 by Witsius

[rutherfordr]

I don't think they do any repair work here in the states. Every time I've sent them a fountain pen for service, they had to ship it to Japan.

[CupTea]

Thanks for your comments - very interesting. See, I expected people sitting there in Florida repairing and adjusting pens. This is obviously not the case.

 

@rutherfordr - How long did you have to wait for your pens?

[rutherfordr]

I think there aren't very many people who know how to repair pens, and those who do are hobbyist / cottage industry types, who don't work for pen companies.

 

It took a couple of months from start to finish -- sending the pen to Florida, and then getting it back in my mailbox.