*research* On Pen Companies And Their Quality Control And Aftermarket Service.

[BrandonA]

 

This is my attempt at gathering data to find which company we need to pressure to improve their QC, and which ones are less problematic straight from the box.

-PD

 

Do you believe that the major pen companies that you decide (by a poll of a small percentage of pen purchasers) are not doing the right thing are going to bow down to some of the members of FPN who don't like their QA and QC systems.....

Do you honestly believe that the members of FPN are the major source of income for these companies....

 

 

I also think that the needs of some on the forum are completely different to those of others. For any survey to contain accurate results the sample size needs to be huge. People are more likely to reply to reply negatively than positively, think about it, when did you last tell your bank they are doing a good job?

 

I don't have the time or effort to fill out lots of forms for ach of my pens. I can though sum it up in one sentence. I've bought lots of pens new from MB, none have needed any servicing when bought new, if any faults have arose after the purchase they have all been resolved promptly and without great expense.

 

I think there are also numerous threads on this forum which discuss the QA and QC of the various pen companies.

[watch_art]

So I shouldn't fill out the form for pens I don't have and don't like?

[professionaldilettante]

So I shouldn't fill out the form for pens I don't have and don't like?

Please only fill out the form for pens you have bought new. Thanks!

[professionaldilettante]

 

This is my attempt at gathering data to find which company we need to pressure to improve their QC, and which ones are less problematic straight from the box.

-PD

 

Do you believe that the major pen companies that you decide (by a poll of a small percentage of pen purchasers) are not doing the right thing are going to bow down to some of the members of FPN who don't like their QA and QC systems.....

Do you honestly believe that the members of FPN are the major source of income for these companies....

 

 

I also think that the needs of some on the forum are completely different to those of others. For any survey to contain accurate results the sample size needs to be huge. People are more likely to reply to reply negatively than positively, think about it, when did you last tell your bank they are doing a good job?

 

I don't have the time or effort to fill out lots of forms for ach of my pens. I can though sum it up in one sentence. I've bought lots of pens new from MB, none have needed any servicing when bought new, if any faults have arose after the purchase they have all been resolved promptly and without great expense.

 

I think there are also numerous threads on this forum which discuss the QA and QC of the various pen companies.

You have defeated the reasoning for the short questionnaire/survey. The reason why I need each pen entered in separately, is so that I can break it down and get an estimate of each company's success rate. I am well aware of discussions about the quality of various companies, and it amounts to nothing but mud slinging. If people enter in their good and bad experiences, eventually I hope to have enough to estimate from all of the good and bad experiences. If you would enter your pens, I would be greatly appreciative. It would be much better than you telling me that MB makes the best pens in the world and they can never be wrong. I'm not trying to put MB or you down, but no company makes pens with 100% pass rate, but if everyone enters their new pen experiences as honestly as they can, it will lead to some valuable data.

[georges zaslavsky]

submitted two reports

[jar]

So I shouldn't fill out the form for pens I don't have and don't like?

Please only fill out the form for pens you have bought new. Thanks!

 

One question that came up when I was entering some pens is that the prices may seem really cheap when looked at today but were not that cheap when purchased. For example my first PFMs was $15.00, my first MB 146 was about $60 IIRC and my first MB 149 was about $75.00.

[professionaldilettante]

So I shouldn't fill out the form for pens I don't have and don't like?

Please only fill out the form for pens you have bought new. Thanks!

 

One question that came up when I was entering some pens is that the prices may seem really cheap when looked at today but were not that cheap when purchased. For example my first PFMs was $15.00, my first MB 146 was about $60 IIRC and my first MB 149 was about $75.00.

Wow. That will have to be taken into account, but I think that information will have to just be chucked.

Enter it anyways. I'll take that into consideration when I'm doing my analysis.

[MaikeruS]

There, done it for 5 pens.

 

Also, thought I'd point out the typo in "reserach" in your signature

[danahn17]

So I shouldn't fill out the form for pens I don't have and don't like?

Please only fill out the form for pens you have bought new. Thanks!

 

One question that came up when I was entering some pens is that the prices may seem really cheap when looked at today but were not that cheap when purchased. For example my first PFMs was $15.00, my first MB 146 was about $60 IIRC and my first MB 149 was about $75.00.

Interesting... reading this occurred to me that perhaps adding a date of purchase might be useful not only to clarify pricing but to see if there's differences in quality over time. For instance, what if back when the MB 146 was ~$60, the QC for MB was much higher than it is today? I doubt the manufacturing process, company, etc... are the same then as it is now. Knowing the date of purchase / manufacture could be helpful for pen models with a long history like the Parker 51 or Pilot Capless models.

Edited June 2, 2012 by danahn17

[XiaoMG]

Though I know it is easy to dismiss because it'd make more work for already overworked people, I'd recommend something in the vein of a convenient report generator for the esteemed resellers that do inspection and tweaking. Data would accumulate pretty quickly and a shared system between several different vendors could be compiled for larger sampling.

 

Like I said though, such "extra work" is likely to be rejected outright, but it would be an interesting path to take, and would certainly produce interesting data.

 

That said, I'll probably try to enter a few more pens into the survey in this thread. The one I suggest above is just not very likely to happen, given what little I've seen on FPN.

Edited June 2, 2012 by XiaoMG

[manoli]

My problematic Parker pen was of cosmetic nature so it needed to be addrerssed by Quality control questions and there were none that applied to my issues on this form.

[ArchiMark]

Just entered about 10 pens.....

 

Is there a way to get an idea of how the data is shaping up so far?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

 

 

[itayxd]

Is there somewhere when we can see live results?

Edit: sorry for the bump

Edited August 10, 2012 by itayxd

[andru]

Thanks for your efforts! It would be nice for everyone to have (read-only) access to the raw anonymous data. There's a fair amount of expertise around, it might result in useful insights.

[Zoner]

I added mine. I will do this as my collection grows :roflmho:

Btw, what is that pen in your signature, it looks really sweet!

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

I think you should have this as some kind of spreadsheet that can be filled out. It is very cumbersome to fill in those forms multiple times. People can fill it in with their entire collection and submit it.

 

I think it would be better to have a form detailing our experiences with customer service rather than doing it this way. Information can be the following:

Brand

Method of contact

Courteousness of representative

Cost of repair

Was problem resolved

Pleased with problem resolution

Year of contact

 

Dillon

[professionaldilettante]

I added mine. I will do this as my collection grows :roflmho:

Btw, what is that pen in your signature, it looks really sweet!

That would be the Sailor 1911 in sterling silver.

 

Hi,

 

I think you should have this as some kind of spreadsheet that can be filled out. It is very cumbersome to fill in those forms multiple times. People can fill it in with their entire collection and submit it.

 

I think it would be better to have a form detailing our experiences with customer service rather than doing it this way. Information can be the following:

Brand

Method of contact

Courteousness of representative

Cost of repair

Was problem resolved

Pleased with problem resolution

Year of contact

 

Dillon

Well, that wasn't quite the point of my research, and the results do come in a spreadsheet. The thing was that it's easier for someone who is tech versed to do non-techy things, verses the other way around. The point of my research was to see the reliability of the pens produced fresh from the factory. Then, the secondary question was whether or not the companies fixed the dud pens without a fuss. That was all.

 

For anyone interesting in analyzing the data, I have the link to it. Feel free to download it, but please give credit where the credit is due. Thanks.

-PD

[professionaldilettante]

I added mine. I will do this as my collection grows :roflmho:

Btw, what is that pen in your signature, it looks really sweet!

That would be the Sailor 1911 in sterling silver.

 

Hi,

 

I think you should have this as some kind of spreadsheet that can be filled out. It is very cumbersome to fill in those forms multiple times. People can fill it in with their entire collection and submit it.

 

I think it would be better to have a form detailing our experiences with customer service rather than doing it this way. Information can be the following:

Brand

Method of contact

Courteousness of representative

Cost of repair

Was problem resolved

Pleased with problem resolution

Year of contact

 

Dillon

Well, that wasn't quite the point of my research, and the results do come in a spreadsheet. The thing was that it's easier for someone who is tech versed to do non-techy things, verses the other way around. The point of my research was to see the reliability of the pens produced fresh from the factory. Then, the secondary question was whether or not the companies fixed the dud pens without a fuss. That was all.

 

For anyone interesting in analyzing the data, I have the link to it. Feel free to download it, but please give credit where the credit is due. Thanks.

-PD

Edited August 22, 2012 by professionaldilettante

[Felix1]

Is this project still active or did it die like open source home-brew ink?

[Kuscer]

Great idea, but what if it's not an FP?

I purchased a Parer Urban Premium Chiselled ballpoint and it had paint chipping off it. I didn't bother to contact Parker or the store but it was a major disappointment. Ever since I'm not so keen on Parkers.