Pelikan M400 Hairline Cracked Piston Knob :(

[Gobblecup]

I purchased this White Tortoise new last year from Nibs.com with an IB nib for a good price during a sale. I havent noticed any issues with it until recently I noticed a dirty looking line on the piston knob which wont wipe away. I think it is a hairline crack. I am not sure if I should leave it or try to get it repaired. What would my options be?

[hari317]

Warranty claim from the us distributor.

[joss]

Nibs.com is a serious and respected vendor, I would ask their advice first.

 

Edit: did you check with a looking glass whether it is a hairline crack indeed or just a scratch? The latter can be polished away easily.

Edited April 23, 2019 by joss

[1nkulus]

Edit: did you check with a looking glass whether it is a hairline crack indeed or just a scratch? The latter can be polished away easily.

+1

[Ron Z]

Nibs.com is a serious and respected vendor, I would ask their advice first.

 

Edit: did you check with a looking glass whether it is a hairline crack indeed or just a scratch? The latter can be polished away easily.

 

I think you mean loupe. A looking glass in English is a mirror.

[Gobblecup]

What appears to be a second crack is forming on the outside of the metal trim rings, I am pretty sure that this particular knob is starting to splinter. I have contacted nibs.com, they will repair it, but I worry the cost will be heavy.

[hari317]

First of all a crack in the knob should not leak or weep ink, ink is not supposed to be in that area at all. So the issue is cosmetic and structural but wont impact function till the crack grows large enough to split the knob.

 

Secondly the pen is just over an year old and Pelikan has a warranty for 3 years. Nibs.com is an authorized USA Pelikan vendor, so the USA Pelikan distributor (Chartpak) will have no grounds to deny you a warranty claim. I suggest you contact Chartpak, explain the issue, send pics, provide proof of purchase, explain you want to retain the existing nib unit, I am sure they will issue you a replacement barrel FOC.

[joss]

 

I think you mean loupe. A looking glass in English is a mirror.

 

yes indeed, a mirror won't help much. I meant loupe or magnifying glass.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Hari is right....warrantee work.

 

I have found even a big honking 1 1/4" or 2.7cm thick magnifying glass to be next to useless with fountain pens....outside one is looking at ink&paper.

[Gobblecup]

The US Pelikan Rep is making me go through nibs.com for repair which means this is going to cost me money which makes the warranty kind of useless. I am not happy with that, but out of my 18 Pelikans this is the only one that has ever had a real issue.

[Seney724]

There is something seriously wrong here.

Either you have not presented us with the correct facts or you are not listening.

 

Let's review: You say you bought the pen, NEW, from nibs.com, a USA AD, last year.

Pelikan has a three year warranty on their NEW pens (at least those bought in the USA from an AD)

 

Seems pretty simple. You are entitled to a repair under the terms of their warranty.

Exclusions: 1) If the crack was caused by your abuse or misuse of the pen. 2) You bought the pen from an AD but you bought a used pen, not a NEW pen.

 

If Chartpak prefers that you pen goes to nibs.com for the repair it is certainly within their purview to direct you there. But, Pelikan USA should pick up the repair bill, not you.

 

What about all this do you (or do we) not understand??

[sargetalon]

It may be that Chartpak suggested starting with the original retailer in an effort to remedy the situation by perhaps just swapping out the product. That would make sense to me if the pen was recently purchased. Since the purchase was a year ago, I agree, going through the retailer makes less sense in this situation. It certainly doesn't hurt to contact the original retailer but, with the details provided, it would seem that this is ultimately Chartpak's responsibility to provide warranty service.

[Gobblecup]

I went ahead and sent the pen to nibs.com since Chartpak said that was what I needed to do, I will wait and see how nibs.com handles this. On the phone they never indicated that there would be a charge but I know from the website they usually charge $30 just to look at a pen. I know it may seem like I am not sure whats going on, but this is just the information Ive been given so far. I will call nibs.com directly and find out more soon about how they intend to treat this repair order.

[Tweel]

When I bought a pearl M320 from nibs.com that turned out to be defective, I returned it to them (after contacting them). They had to get a replacement barrel and section from Germany (which took 6 months!), but at last they returned it to me. No charge.

[Gobblecup]

I have just gotten off the phone with someone at nibs.com and basically they are having to wait on a part to come in from Germany, just like with Tweel's case. They will not be charging me for anything but shipping when the pen is repaired, so very good on that. I was not sure until they stated it that I would not be charged for this repair. Thankfully, Pelikan, Chartpak and nibs.com are doing it right. Let's see how long this will take them!

[sirgilbert357]

Chartpak does not stock parts for special or limited editions (which your pen is, I think?), so that's probably why they referred you back to nibs.com. Technically, Chartpak can handle the issue, but they have to ship the whole pen to Germany, so you'd be waiting just as long or longer.

[Gobblecup]

My pen came back last week and looks like it was fully repaired!

[Glenn-SC]

Yeah!

[carlos.q]

My pen came back last week and looks like it was fully repaired!

We all like happy endings!

[PAKMAN]

Love good endings!