Nibmeister Or Back To Manufacturer?

[Spelikan]

I'm so glad you have the Pelikan you'd ordered in the first place-- the whole point.

With an eye towards future purchases, including factoring in variables such as you encountered:
With whom was it challenging to work to achieve this end? Are you referring to the vendor in both instances, here?

 

 

I wish everything with the vendor had gone smoother though. Got a very surprising and rude message from the director. I've replied and will wait to see what he says further, if anything. Lets hope this is just a misunderstanding...

 

~ S.

[peroride]

@sirgilbert357 I'm so glad to hear of your happy ending or rather new beginning of Pelikan reborn. These run downs are useful reference in case others get caught in the same boat.

 

A word of caution to anyone who would heed it: https://www.thepenguinpen.com/learn/article/6

 

I thought Pelikan nib replacement was a easy casual user affair, but I was incorrect.

 

• EF today, BB next week eh, no
• Hey let's just unscrew the nib to get a thorough cleaning; eh, no

We sat on a breakdown repair lecture from Rick Propas at the SF Pen show who knows a bit about Pelikans.

 

He noted the historical background of nib swaps: https://www.thepenguinpen.com/learn/article/6 and outlined the risks involved with nib swapping vintage or modern. In short, it was a highly suggestive "No" even on modern (despite his site page) or be prepared for replacement.

 

More power to those who nib swap with abandon but now with this knowledge, nib swaps for barrel cleaning would be a No for me and for tipping change, rare at best.

 

I also asked him about a fix for solvent failure between the barrel and section for a vintage 400NN and he said No --> replacement (also no to cyanoacrylate with mixed review, it thought crazy glue fixes everything! ) btw Cliff Harrington, a stellar dealer is great to work with.

 

Also he had high praise for Mr. Zorn, who can fix anything!

[sirgilbert357]

I'm so glad you have the Pelikan you'd ordered in the first place-- the whole point.

With an eye towards future purchases, including factoring in variables such as you encountered:

With whom was it challenging to work to achieve this end? Are you referring to the vendor in both instances, here?

 

 

~ S.

 

Hmmm, let me give a bit more detail that I hope will answer your question. The vendor was actually named "aver-comb" on eBay, but it turns out that is just Endless Pens' eBay account. I question why it isn't just named "Endless Pens" too, but that's neither here nor there. Michael is the director, according to his email signature.

 

I dealt with two people during the transaction, sending the pen back, communicating about the status, and finally getting the second pen and discussing its condition. Savannah was the first person and Michael was the other. Savannah was courteous and polite. Michael was more to the point and less kind, generally speaking. He was the challenging one to work with and I'd be just fine if I never heard from him again. Never once during our exchanges did I feel like anything but a burden to him -- and he made sure to point it out, several times. He would say things like "I actually don't have to do this because it is outside of eBay's 90 day return window" or something similar. I was within the one year warranty though, so...yeah...anyway, I get the impression that Endless Pens = Michael, and that regardless of how big or small of a business they are, he essentially has final say in what happens with your order.

 

I tried to be courteous and patient, but let me just say it took over two months to get a replacement pen and then when it came in, it had green ink all over the nib, in the cap and dried to the binde. It came wrapped in a cellophane sleeve that was heavily wrinkled and no Pelikan box, white leather pouch, papers, nothing. Just the pen. So, of course, I wasn't sure what to think here...was it new? Was it a return they sent me by accident? I messaged them and said I would try to clean it up and get the green stain off the binde, and that if it wrote fine, I would keep it, but if I couldn't get the stain off, I'd rather send it back and get another one sent to me. Seems understandable from where I was sitting...well, Michael didn't like that and blew up on me. He was so "offended" that I would suggest it wasn't a brand new pen sent directly from Pelikan in Germany!! He didn't even have to be doing this, and this is how I treated him??

 

Yeah. It was covered in green ink...I mean, I know Hanover ain't dip testing with sticky green ink -- they'd use Pelikan 4001 blue, right? So, what was I supposed to think?

 

Anyway, I replied and tried to be courteous, we agreed to call it a misunderstanding (he claims he personally dip tested it and forgot to clean it) and I kept the pen. It writes better than the first one and I'm just happy I didn't get swindled out of my money, lol.

 

Will I ever order from Endless Pens (or their store on eBay) again, though?? Uh, no. I've never been talked to like that as a customer and for me, it's just unacceptable. I don't like to gripe, and I wasn't even going to post all this, but well...there you have it.

[sirgilbert357]

@sirgilbert357 I'm so glad to hear of your happy ending or rather new beginning of Pelikan reborn. These run downs are useful reference in case others get caught in the same boat.

 

A word of caution to anyone who would heed it: https://www.thepenguinpen.com/learn/article/6

 

I thought Pelikan nib replacement was a easy casual user affair, but I was incorrect.

 

• EF today, BB next week eh, no
• Hey let's just unscrew the nib to get a thorough cleaning; eh, no

We sat on a breakdown repair lecture from Rick Propas at the SF Pen show who knows a bit about Pelikans.

 

He noted the historical background of nib swaps: https://www.thepenguinpen.com/learn/article/6 and outlined the risks involved with nib swapping vintage or modern. In short, it was a highly suggestive "No" even on modern (despite his site page) or be prepared for replacement.

 

More power to those who nib swap with abandon but now with this knowledge, nib swaps for barrel cleaning would be a No for me and for tipping change, rare at best.

 

I also asked him about a fix for solvent failure between the barrel and section for a vintage 400NN and he said No --> replacement (also no to cyanoacrylate with mixed review, it thought crazy glue fixes everything! ) btw Cliff Harrington, a stellar dealer is great to work with.

 

Also he had high praise for Mr. Zorn, who can fix anything!

 

Thanks for the post and the link.

 

Funny you mention Ron Zorn. I actually talked to him quite a bit about the issue with my pen. He is incredibly knowledgeable and came across as a true gentlemen to me. I enjoyed talking to him. The only thing I can come up with is either something weird going on with the feed or the solvent was starting to fail between the section and the barrel (this is something Ron has seen quite a bit in his line of work) and there were possible micro cracks letting air in. Anyway, I learned that you shouldn't tighten the nib down on a Pelikan very hard because the harder you torque the nib down, the more it stresses the solvent bond between the section and the barrel. Swapping nibs out often would stress the same part of the pen as well. I'm of the opinion that you should screw the nib in gently, and only as tight as it has to be to prevent leaking -- and then leave it alone!

 

If you want multiple nibs, buy multiple pens. A lot of times the nibs are the majority of the cost of a whole new pen -- especially if you are buying used. Why not get a whole pen for just a tad more than the cost of the nib? Then you don't have to swap anything...just a thought.