Should I only use MB ink

[orangesam]

I was told instore that to use another brand of ink would invalidate the pens' warranty!

 

Is this correct, and does anyone else use other branded ink, Herbin, Noodlers etc?

 

 

[skma]

I was told instore that to use another brand of ink would invalidate the pens' warranty!

 

Is this correct, and does anyone else use other branded ink, Herbin, Noodlers etc?

Though proprietary-wise appealing, but it doesn't really make any logic sense. The analogy to that question would be "Does installing 3rd party software render your original windows XP warranty void?

 

Opinion from other gurus in the forum?

[mr T.]

I was told instore that to use another brand of ink would invalidate the pens' warranty! Is this correct, and does anyone else use other branded ink, Herbin, Noodlers etc?

 

According to the Montblanc International Guarantee: "The Montblanc International Guarantee includes defects of materials or workmanship of your Montblanc product. These defects do not include defects and damage caused by accident, improper use, normal wear and tear, alteration, dismantling or repair by persons other than authorized Montblanc repair specialists, or the use of components other than those recommended by Montblanc. It also excludes writing instruments with the clip ring number removed and lost or stolen products. Legal rights given by this guarantee may vary from country to country."

 

That means that when the use of a different brand of ink than Montblanc causes a defect (because it is not a recommended 'component', it will invalidate the warranty. The reality of course is that when you use a fountain pen ink from an other reliable brand, there will be a very small chance that it will damage a fountain pen. Probably the main reason they told you this, is that they want you to buy lot's of expensive MB ink.

[Shangas]

No.

 

Use whatever ink you like, so-long as it's for fountain pens and it works. My MB is loaded with Parker Quink right now.

[Romeo Dog]

Sounds like a lot of rubbish to me. Anyway, I've used a lot of inks over 40 years writing with a fountain pen and I usually lean toward Watermans--it always flows well. If I had to use only MB, I'd obtain a different pen.

[Ray]

Mr T's advice is spot on. See also my comments in your other thread on this topic , which I found first.

 

Ray

[Nikolaos]

if you decide to only use MB inks you are really limiting your experiences! There are so many inks out there that are far better than MB

Nikolaos

[skma]

if you decide to only use MB inks you are really limiting your experiences! There are so many inks out there that are far better than MB

Nikolaos

That is something i would say

[LouisA]

I was told instore that to use another brand of ink would invalidate the pens' warranty!

 

Pure rubbish. IBM tried this back in the days of main frame computers and tried to require people to buy only IBM punch cards. The result was one of the longest legal battles in US court history.

 

[Titivillus]

According to the Montblanc International Guarantee: "The Montblanc International Guarantee includes defects of materials or workmanship of your Montblanc product. These defects do not include defects and damage caused by accident, improper use, normal wear and tear, alteration, dismantling or repair by persons other than authorized Montblanc repair specialists, or the use of components other than those recommended by Montblanc. It also excludes writing instruments with the clip ring number removed and lost or stolen products. Legal rights given by this guarantee may vary from country to country."

 

That means that when the use of a different brand of ink than Montblanc causes a defect (because it is not a recommended 'component', it will invalidate the warranty. The reality of course is that when you use a fountain pen ink from an other reliable brand, there will be a very small chance that it will damage a fountain pen. Probably the main reason they told you this, is that they want you to buy lot's of expensive MB ink.

 

I don't think that component as meant above includes ink. More like after market clips

 

Kurt

[Titivillus]

Mr T's advice is spot on. See also my comments in your other thread on this topic , which I found first.

 

Ray

 

But you can use whatever ink you want in the MB just don't expect them to honor their warranty

 

Then again what is normal use- maybe writing with a pen isn't considered normal use and hence taking it out of the box voids the warranty :ltcapd: :ltcapd: :ltcapd:

 

 

Kurt

 

[FredRydr]

In the USA, don't worry about it. There's no way MB is going to prevail unless you dumped something in the pen that isn't for fountain pens (India ink, latex paint, tar) or was defective (bad batch or poor quality of fountain pen ink). Imagine putting Castrol 10W-40 in your engine and Ford Motor Company tells you the warranty on your new Lincoln is void because it wasn't Ford 10W-40.

 

I gave up with the MB ink I had and emptied the contents - to reuse the great bottles.* I use Aurora black in the MB 149.

 

Fred

 

*Anyone want to recycle their empty MB bottles with caps?

[Univer]

Hi All,

 

First things first: I agree completely with the other posters who have stated that there is no need, from a performance standpoint, to limit yourself to MB inks.

 

And I also agree with the uncontroversial statement that the verbiage is motivated in part by a desire to sell MB ink.

 

But I suspect that there's another, less venal motive at work as well.

 

Years ago I worked for a manufacturer of products powered by rechargeable battery packs. The company made not only the products, but the batteries too. The batteries were standardized sizes and voltages, and they were also made by other companies.

 

When we wrote instruction sheets for our products, our quality control department insisted that we recommend use of our own batteries...and include a statement to the effect that use of other batteries could void the consumer warranty.

 

In this case, was the point there to sell more batteries? Not really. I can confirm, from extensive personal experience, that the QC folks were less concerned with sales and profits than any other company department (in fact, they were the people who typically reined in the excesses of the marketers).

 

QC dictated inclusion of this language simply because the only batteries we were able comprehensively to test were our own. We knew that they performed to spec, and we knew that they were properly manufactured. Our instruction-sheet boilerplate was there to shield us from potential liability arising from a consumer's decision to use a cheaply-made battery that might fail catastrophically. We knew, of course, that the batteries made by reputable competitors would likely be perfectly fine. But we couldn't endorse the use of every battery, because we couldn't test them all.

 

So when MB recommends use of its own ink, that motive may be in play. Does MB know that Waterman, Skrip, Diamine, etc. will do its pens no harm? Absolutely. But if it endorses the use of any and all inks, it may be liable for damages in the case of a consumer who loads up his 149 with off-brand carbon ink. So it limits its ink recommendation to the ink it has the ability to test.

 

In an increasingly litigious world, the desire to avoid liability may be just as important as (or more important than) the desire to sell more stuff.

 

But the bottom line remains: use any good-quality ink you like.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

[LDF]

Jon, You've hit the nail on the head.

Well stated!

Edited December 17, 2007 by LDF

[LouisA]

Here is a bit more legal history to chew on.

 

In International Business Machines v. United States (1936), the U.S. Justice Department charged IBM with violating sections of the Clayton Act, which regulates so-called tie-in sales, and sections of the Sherman Act, which regulates "monopoly." Thomas J. Watson, founder and chief executive officer of IBM, raised the ire of antitrust lawyers at the Justice Department by contracting with lessees to require the purchase of IBM's punched cards for its computing machines. Watson (who made the astronomical sum of $365 000 in 1936) refused to change the agreement until forced to do so by the federal government. The federal government's antitrust prosecution did not end there. The 1936 antitrust action lead to further prosecution beginning in 1946, and did not end until 1982.

 

Montblanc probably realizes it cannot win in court on the use only MB ink requirement but it sure helps sell ink.

 

 

[Kalessin]

Orangesam, was this an actual statement by a salesperson at a MB boutique? If it was, I'd want to ask the store manager (then the district manager, and then maybe Montblanc USA) about it...

 

Nowhere in the warranty does it state that you have to use Montblanc ink.

 

Many other kinds of manufacturers make the same kind of statements, read your auto warranty when it refers to non-manufacturer parts. Ford sells their own brand of transmission fluid, and recommends their brand of fluid for their cars, but as long as you don't pour in a fluid that wasn't rated for your type of Ford transmission, you're covered under warranty. You're not covered for pouring in the wrong type of transmission fluid from any brand, engine oil, 90wt gear oil, varnish, etc.

 

I'm willing to bet that if the USA MB boutiques pay their employees commissions on sales, that accessories like cases, paper goods, wallets and especially inks and refills have a higher commission on them than the pens, watches and jewelry items. When I sold shoes many years ago, the commission on pairs of shoes was quite low, better on polishes, laces and socks, and highest of all on wooden shoe-trees for men's dress shoes. Management cared a little about maintaining the pairs-of-shoes sales figures, but they hounded, berated and pushed the salespeople on accessories sales. We pushed shoe-trees (along with polish and leather protectant) like they were total salvation for every dress-shoe problem.

 

Edited December 17, 2007 by Kalessin

[niksch]

I've used Noodler's inks in my 1980s 146s. Those inks tended to be more "free flowing" and laid a much thicker line than MB inks. I tend to stick with MB blue-black for convenience reasons, but I suspect that if you maintain your pen well, you will have no problems.

 

Enjoy ink!

 

Eric

 

 

[piembi]

I have use MB black with my vintage 14 and 252. These pens had always starting problems. It was annoying and I stopped using these pens. Now I use Waterman and everything works fine.

 

Sad enough: my 144 still does not write properly. So there must be an additional problem with this pen

[cheshirebowman]

I wouldn't suggest using Parker Quink in a MB

I see many pens appearing at the store where I work, with customers requesting that the pen be sent for a 'Service'

Most seem to suffer from leaks and/or hesitant performance and the overwhelming majority have used Qunk. A thorough clean out seems to fix most of the problems which do not reappear when other inks are used. Quink IS however, superb ink when used in Parker pens, it sems to perform exceptionally well!

[skma]

This raises another rather n00b question from me:Does using 'carbon' ink in a long run destroy the pen/nib/filling system?

I've always used Pelikan ink (which i believe contains some amount of carbon) with my pens. Am i slowly destroying my vintage sets?

Edited December 22, 2007 by skma