The New Vac 20 Bottle Messes Up Your Vac 700

[crispyseaweed]

I consider the Vac 20 bottle to be an essential accessory for the Vac 700 - it's a nicely designed ink bottle that I use for travelling but it also enables you to get a full fill with the Vac 700. It also fits some of my other pens so it's all good

 

I unfortunately lost the original Vac 20 and so I bought another but now it looks like they've all been redesigned with a smaller thread insert for the Vac Mini. This can be removed to allow the original VaC 700 to fit, except now I get ink all over the threads and the section.

 

I may have been romanticising about the original Vac 20 bottle but I think I only ever needed to clean the nib after using it. Anyone else having the same problem with the new Vac 20 bottle?

[graystranger]

All my TWSBI Vac-20 bottles are the old style, but I think this is not right. The whole reason for using these bottles is to allow filling with no ink on the grip section, and these bottles are specifically made for the Vac-700.

 

You should email TWSBI right away to see what the problem is, something is not right. Meanwhile, lets hope someone will respond here with some information.

[crispyseaweed]

ah thanks for the reply - i thought maybe i was remembering it wrong. I left my old bottle in a hotel and was so gutted when I realised.. it's so easy to fill the pen with the bottle. I'll email the guys at twsbi and report back what they say.

[graystranger]

Be sure to let us know what TWSBI says here.

[twdpens]

When filling a Vac 700, the Vac 20A and Vac 20 ink bottles appear identical as far as the pen in concerned. TWSBI did not change the main parts of the inkwell (the transparent and black parts) when the 20A was introduced. When you go to fill a Vac 700, you unscrew the cap and thread adapter together; in other words treat them as one part. Is the o-ring on the thread caps of your pen still intact?

 

HTH,

 

Martin

[crispyseaweed]

Yes, I unscrew the cap and the adapter together and do as before. Not quite sure why I'm getting ink all over the section.. also the bottle leaked a little in my bag yesterday.

 

I'll have another go tomorrow and see if my grip section gets inky again. It may be that I'm doing something wrong without realising

[crispyseaweed]

So I have had a short exchange of emails with TWSBI support - my first contact through the website wasn't even acknowledged so I thought I'd try the bottle a few times more to see if I could see where I was going wrong. I ended up having varying amounts of ink on my grip section so eventually I emailed and was given an attachment of how to use the bottle with a request for a photo. To cut a long story short, I was directed to a member of the US team and the way they've handled this has made me lose all faith in this company.

 

I can't figure out how to upload photos here but here's a link showing how much ink there was on my grip section this morning. I was going to send it in today to the US TWSBI person but I've given up now.

 

Do you guys get this much on your grip section/threads?

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9-YrQ4jLLPicjVXWEhGUTJLY0U/view

[Out0Mind]

I'm sorry to hear that, and, honestly, something seems wrong. The US TWSBI team (although I see you're not US based) has been nothing but very professional to me and prompt to respond and fix an issue when something goes wrong, generally without even requesting photographs. I either fill out the form on their website or email twsbiinc@gmail.com directly and receive a response within 24 hours.

 

Try emailing them directly instead of going through their website; it may help.

 

Hopefully they fix your issue. Having that much ink spilling onto your section and threading (or any ink at all) just doesn't seem right.

[crispyseaweed]

I'm sorry to hear that, and, honestly, something seems wrong. The US TWSBI team (although I see you're not US based) has been nothing but very professional to me and prompt to respond and fix an issue when something goes wrong, generally without even requesting photographs. I either fill out the form on their website or email twsbiinc@gmail.com directly and receive a response within 24 hours.

 

Try emailing them directly instead of going through their website; it may help.

 

Hopefully they fix your issue. Having that much ink spilling onto your section and threading (or any ink at all) just doesn't seem right.

 

Yeah I was surprised at the email I received from US TWSBI but initially put it down to the person having a bad day .. but the follow up email from the same person was pretty abrupt so there's no excusing the behaviour. I actually emailed the info email because I'm in Europe but was redirected to the person in the US..

 

I'm a bit perplexed to be honest but I am cutting my losses and I'll have a look around the house to see if I can find the old bottle. In the meantime, no more TWSBI products for me - tis a shame because I was really eyeing up a 580AL for myself and a few ECOs as Christmas presents for my friends.

[twdpens]

The original Vac 20 ink bottle is in short supply now. We may have have one or two in orange and/or red so there's still a chance but I expect black and blue are long gone everywhere.

 

HTH,

 

Martin

[Out0Mind]

 

Yeah I was surprised at the email I received from US TWSBI but initially put it down to the person having a bad day .. but the follow up email from the same person was pretty abrupt so there's no excusing the behaviour. I actually emailed the info email because I'm in Europe but was redirected to the person in the US..

 

I'm a bit perplexed to be honest but I am cutting my losses and I'll have a look around the house to see if I can find the old bottle. In the meantime, no more TWSBI products for me - tis a shame because I was really eyeing up a 580AL for myself and a few ECOs as Christmas presents for my friends.

 

I will tell you this: don't let that bad experience stain your perspective of the company. Their products are top notch; especially for the price. I've purchased dozens of their products as gifts and for friends and family, and hope this experience hasn't spoiled your vision of them as a company as a whole.

 

That said, I'm sorry you're dealing with what you're dealing with. It's a horrible feeling when what you're excited for doesn't work out as expected.