What's Your Worst Fountain Pen Shopping Experience

[inkstainedruth]

We got lousy service at a medium price range chain restaurant in VA on Saturday. We did the 2 for $25 menu and both got 6 oz. steaks. I said I wanted mine "pink in the middle" (I hate places that don't actually put guidelines in the menu for what their definition of that is -- some places it's medium and some places it's medium rare). My husband got medium rare and I got medium. And we waited and waited and had long since finished our salads and my husband finally flagged down the waiter, who said there was a problem in the kitchen. Well we finally got our entrees, and my steak was in no way, shape, or form "pink". Anywhere. (And I didn't get one of my sides... so my husband was good and swapped steaks with me while the waiter -- who really was trying his best -- got another steak that really WAS pink (okay, in future, I'll order medium rare at that chain). And I finally got my second side, along with a dupicate of the first one.

The waiter said that there were a lot of new people in the kitchen. Really? On a Saturday night? And of course that begs the question of what happened to the FORMER kitchen crew.... The waiter got an extra cash tip from my husband in addition to the estimated 15% on on the bill. But I want to do the survey on the the receipt about our experience. It had been a really long day (three separate tours at Monticello, so a LOT of walking) and we were both exhausted and really really hungry.

Usually this chain is good and pretty quick. But not that night in that location. And not in the location I stopped at several years ago south of Nashville. I flagged down the woman speaking to the people in the booth across the aisle and found out she was an assistant manager! And those other customers apparently ALSO were having some sort of problem.... So the asst. mgr. then came out and said they'd screwed up my order AGAIN. I ended up getting comped for my meal that night -- but the people I was with were long done eating before my (correct) order even came.... And let me tell you -- the assistant manager was NOT happy....

But then we'd had a run of good luck and fast service and at various locations both around here, in WV, up north, and down in NC two years ago on the way to the Triangle Pen Show. We just hit a bad location on a bad night (and it wasn't like the place was packed, even though it was a Saturday night). I was pretty much ready to talk to a manager at that point (and to impress upon said person that it was clearly NOT the server's fault... it was the kitchen's...). But then, as I said to some chick in France when I had problems with the extended warranty on my Parker Urban -- which got sent back TWICE for similar issues -- that Parker should care more about one mouthy American broad with access to an internationally read pen forum than all the potential customers they have in the Chinese market....

My mother would be so proud....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Charles Rice]

Worst experience by far - walking into Anderson's, spotting a Decoband and knowing I couldn't afford it. (at least for a while)

[Beechwood]

Broke my own rule and forgot my loupe and reading glasses when I visited a pen show, foolishly thought that I could rely on the pen seller for assistance. Bought a £600 pen that had been bodged, had a cracked non original nib, cracks to the barrel and needed an overall. I had trusted the seller who said that the pen was in excellent condition as far as they knew.

 

I know, all my own fault, caveat emptor, it was just that I had expected better.

 

 

[Honeybadgers]

 

Is it actually in Seattle? Or in that town east of Seattle (forget the name of the town) that has more antiques stores than you can swing a stick at? I want to go back to that town and go to the big antiques mall on the eastern end of town and just spend a few hours poking around -- instead of what happened when I was there several years ago and some guy just zoomed me around to the booths that he thought had pens in them.... I mean, I like looking for OTHER things too....

(On the way back down to the main drag to meet my husband and brother-in-law, I stopped at another place and picked up a Pastel Green Snorkel. I didn't get to ALL the places (the big place on the western end of town wasn't open the day we were there) but I did hit most of the antiques and collectibles places.

Snohomish. That's the town. The big place where I got zoomed around was listed on on the blue highway sign for that exit.... But I think I ended up going to 10 or 12 places. Plus coffee when we got there (because, Seattle), and a nice place for lunch, and then ice cream before we headed back to my in-laws' place in an easter suburb.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

It's the one on 1st ave near highway 99 in downtown Seattle. It's enormous. I'm not naming it because I always forget its name. I do like it, I just have given up on hunting through the cases (it's set up like little ikea rooms where people put all their things like little time capsules from their parents/grandparents, it's honestly wonderful and you get an amazing idea what the owners of these things were like - but that means hunting through a hundred different "knicknack" cases and then asking someone to open it so you can look at the ratty old esterbrook with no lever and broken nib because it was turned so you couldn't see it or the "$200" price tag)

[praxim]

I have been looking at some more Soenneckens on ebay recently. For that brand it seems an unusually dodgy market in both price and quality. There is the relatively commonplace occurrence of a reputable seller somehow neglecting to mention that the fine vintage Soennecken on offer has a "14k warranted" nib, or another has a Bock nib. Then there is a pen seller with a 100% reputation who "does not know how to test the pen", a button filler, so there is no writing sample. An unusual lack of talent, perhaps made more understandable by the fact it looks like someone has taken tin snips to the tines. Another pen is described as having a scratch on the nib, looking pretty much like a nib fracture to me. A couple of those problems were clear only when I copied the image then zoomed in on it.

 

In general I have done fairly well out of ebay, having little other choice for vintage pens. It seems to be getting harder to wade through the dross though, and some prices for various brands show eye-watering increases compared with those I have paid even 12 or so months ago.

[eerestis]

I once bought a calligraphy nib on Ebay. There was a dent at the end of the slit, and no ink was flowing. I decided that it's not worth it to send it back to USA from Europe, so I fixed the nib myself. I left a neutral feedback stating that the nib was a dud, but I could fix it myself. The seller decided to ban me from buying from them again. When addressing me he wrote my first name incorrectly to spell out an offending word. Nice and professional from people who have a pen shop.

[SpecTP]

I used to work in a framing shop and my boss was like that (the fact that she could have been the textbook case for Narcissistic Personality Disorder didn't help, and I eventually quit without having a job to go to because of all the BS and lies she told).

A friend of mine got dissed because she had gone the store in wearing jeans and told me about it afterwords. She said "I like to be comfortable. But because of how I was dressed I was basically ignored! For all your boss knew, I could have had a Gauguin hanging on my wall...."

I couldn't have said anything to my boss (and the incident with my friend was from before I started working in the place). But you and your wife should have complained to the store manager.... Because there's no excuse for that (reminds me of the scene from Pretty Woman).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I had a similar but opposite experience at a Saleen car dealer in TX. Two of us walked in to check out a Saleen S7, and we were in very mundane shorts and t-shirts. But we were greeted warmly and walked through several offerings. My guess was that the dealer recognized my friend who owns several Saleen. I also noticed similar experiences at the local Ferrari dealer in Dulles, VA. One of the salesman at the dealership once mentioned to me that folks come dressed in all manner and you can never tell, so always treat them all well.

[inotrym]

My worst buying experience was the one and only time I walked into a physical store to look at pens. I went in jeans and a t-shirt and apparently I didn't strike the owner as an actual customer, because he talked to me in a very condescending tone, half-heartedly took a couple of pens out of the display, barely let them hold them and didn't offer to let me try them, even though the shop has a spot with notepads, scribbled papers and ink bottles for this exact reason. I left with a small bottle of ink and a notebook, because despite everything I really hate taking someone's time and leaving without buying anything, but I decided that I will only buy online where communication is limited and purchases are just a transaction.

[inkstainedruth]

Yikes! I go into stores all the time wearing jeans. Even "tony" pen shops like Fountain Pen Hospital in NYC. I've never had a problem like that. I did get told, the first time I went in there, that I could only test 3 inks (that was when they still allowed dip testing). But then another guy told the first guy that he should go on break -- and the second guy only prohibited me from trying the MB ink because it was "sealed". I forget what all I got that first time (probably that's when I got a bottle of Noodler's Old Manhattan) but did pick up a very nice 3 pen leather zipper case (since lost ) and a copy of "da book" (the Frank Dubiel book on pen repair).

I try to hit FPH about once a year (generally around Christmastime) during the annual trip to the east coast to see relatives/in-laws. Someday I'll hopefully have time to make a return trip to Bromfield's, up in Boston, as well, but that's a little more awkward because of having to take the train into South Station and then figuring out which stop on the T). For FPH, I'm generally just taking the subway down from my sister-in-law's, although a couple of times we've driven there (one time we stopped on the way to her place and my husband dropped me off and I took the subway back uptown; another time my husband stayed in the car while I shopped).

I would think that if it was someplace that sold pens (except for maybe a MB Boutique) the people in the store would figure that no-one would be coming in EXCEPT pen people.... Although I used to work in a picture framing shop and a friend of mine got the same sort of treatment from my boss. As my friend said "I wear jeans because I like to be comfortable. For all your boss knew, I could have had a Gauguin hanging on my wall!"

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for formatting

Edited October 12, 2019 by inkstainedruth

[Honeybadgers]

Oddly both involved Greg Minuskin, on both ends of the spectrum (amazing and terrible)

 

First was when my mom got scammed on ebay buying me a lovely green parker vacumatic with a flex nib. Pictures had closeups of the nib and feed, but the pen I got had a badly chipped feed and a nib with bilateral cracks at the breather, so the seller did a bait and switch (the body was right, he just scammed me on the nib) Nobody but Greg would even LOOK at the pen, and for a slightly expensive (but reasonable considering the work actually done) price, he saved the nib completely, along with a new feed from a well known parker guy.

 

And then (after a couple very satisfied purchases from him) greg accidentally shipped me a 52 1/2v ringtop in cardinal red with a gorgeous flex nib, but with ink still in it. he accidentally ruined the pen, and instead of just taking ownership of the mistake when I asked he pay return shipping for me sending back his mistake (including verbally stating that I was just going to buy another pen from him,) proceeded to throw a fit and threaten me with his lawyer.

 

I'd still recommend buying from him. Just beware his... eccentricities.

 

Third place would be my experience with Jetpens horrendous customer service. I'm never buying from them again, and I will warn anyone considering a purchase from them to also never buy, because if there's a problem with your order, they can make your life miserable.

Edited October 12, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[Honeybadgers]

My worst buying experience was the one and only time I walked into a physical store to look at pens. I went in jeans and a t-shirt and apparently I didn't strike the owner as an actual customer, because he talked to me in a very condescending tone, half-heartedly took a couple of pens out of the display, barely let them hold them and didn't offer to let me try them, even though the shop has a spot with notepads, scribbled papers and ink bottles for this exact reason. I left with a small bottle of ink and a notebook, because despite everything I really hate taking someone's time and leaving without buying anything, but I decided that I will only buy online where communication is limited and purchases are just a transaction.

 

And yet, online places like goulet, vanness, anderson, and several others all have superb communication, customer service, and treat you with dignity and respect.

[bemon]

Oddly both involved Greg Minuskin, on both ends of the spectrum (amazing and terrible)

 

First was when my mom got scammed on ebay buying me a lovely green parker vacumatic with a flex nib. Pictures had closeups of the nib and feed, but the pen I got had a badly chipped feed and a nib with bilateral cracks at the breather, so the seller did a bait and switch (the body was right, he just scammed me on the nib) Nobody but Greg would even LOOK at the pen, and for a slightly expensive (but reasonable considering the work actually done) price, he saved the nib completely, along with a new feed from a well known parker guy.

 

And then (after a couple very satisfied purchases from him) greg accidentally shipped me a 52 1/2v ringtop in cardinal red with a gorgeous flex nib, but with ink still in it. he accidentally ruined the pen, and instead of just taking ownership of the mistake when I asked he pay return shipping for me sending back his mistake (including verbally stating that I was just going to buy another pen from him,) proceeded to throw a fit and threaten me with his lawyer.

 

I'd still recommend buying from him. Just beware his... eccentricities.

 

Third place would be my experience with Jetpens horrendous customer service. I'm never buying from them again, and I will warn anyone considering a purchase from them to also never buy, because if there's a problem with your order, they can make your life miserable.

I've been wanting to get a Sailor Pro Gear re-tipped and was tee'd up to send to Greg Minuskin. But I hear a lot of stories about his bad attitude so I've decided not to deal with him. There are alternatives that take longer but don't come with the negative reviews.

[Honeybadgers]

I've been wanting to get a Sailor Pro Gear re-tipped and was tee'd up to send to Greg Minuskin. But I hear a lot of stories about his bad attitude so I've decided not to deal with him. There are alternatives that take longer but don't come with the negative reviews.

 

Honestly, if re-tipping is your aim... Greg's hard to beat. His turnaround times are crazy fast, too (he had my parker welded, straightened and tuned and back in the mail to me within 48 hours of getting it)

Edited October 16, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[amk]

I must be lucky. My worst experience, I suppose, was a delay at ASA Pens, and it wasn't very long, just a couple of weeks. Overall, ASA has provided me with some marvellous pens at very good prices, so I can take a bit of a wait in my stride.

 

I have had a lot of lucky escapes - pens sent to me by amateur sellers (not pen people, not retailers) in an ordinary envelope wrapped in a couple of sheets of tissue, that kind of thing. Fortunately La Poste has looked after all of them!

 

Interestingly enough I haven't often come across snootiness in pen shops. I always dress like a slob when I'm flying - loose pants, a flak jacket, old t-shirt - and I always drop into airport MB boutiques to see what's new, and I have *always* been very courteously treated. When I was working on what qualified as a construction site - yup, even finance staff have to put on their high viz and hard hats - I wandered into a stationery shop in Peterborough still wearing my yellow vest, and was introduced to the 'chocolate mint' pinstripe Parker Duofold and several new notebook options...

[bemon]

 

Honestly, if re-tipping is your aim... Greg's hard to beat. His turnaround times are crazy fast, too (he had my parker welded, straightened and tuned and back in the mail to me within 48 hours of getting it)

I hear he's good, but I don't have much interest in sending a pen from Toronto to the LA area to land in the hands of someone with a questionable customer service record. That's a long way to travel and a pile of dollars for someone who doesn't act like he appreciates the business. Not to mention I'd worry about what sort of recourse I'd have if something did go wrong.

[Mechayoshi]

Not all of my pen purchases have been perfect but there’s only one incident where the way the seller behaved irked me. Both of my orders of Cult Pens have had something wrong. Let’s start with the least bad, my Lamy 2000 arrived with a loose clip. I inquired about it and they didn’t seem to know for sure if it was supposed to be that way or not and to ship it back would be a huge fee. I got the cap replaced under warranty in the US instead of dodgy overseas shipping.

You’d think I’d learned to buy from US only but I didn’t and ordered a broad Pelikan nib later. It arrived with constant skipping no matter how often it was flushed. The tines did need alignment but that didn’t fix it. They sent a replacement, no problem but it did the same. When communicating with the agent they kept suggesting it was my inks and not cleaning and never that it was a physical issue. I ate the loss and because again shipping back would be too expensive.

While I think rough shipping might have contributed to both of these cases, it’s no more Cult Pens UK for me.

[sombrueil]

I think the worst was at Bittner Pens in Carmel. I wandered in there and once Detlef realized that I loved vintage pens he pulled out his special box of treasures. That Pelikan 101N Tortoise still makes me sad.

[Arkanabar]

<snip>

 

Interestingly enough I haven't often come across snootiness in pen shops. I always dress like a slob when I'm flying - loose pants, a flak jacket, old t-shirt - and I always drop into airport MB boutiques to see what's new, and I have *always* been very courteously treated. When I was working on what qualified as a construction site - yup, even finance staff have to put on their high viz and hard hats - I wandered into a stationery shop in Peterborough still wearing my yellow vest, and was introduced to the 'chocolate mint' pinstripe Parker Duofold and several new notebook options...

I used to live near a high-end mall with a MontBlanc boutique (also Saks, Nieman Marcus, &c), and I wandered in one day wearing cargo shorts, bicycle shoes, and a bicycle helmet. Staff was extremely pleasant and helpful, letting me try out their floor model 149s in every nib width available.

[A Smug Dill]

While I think rough shipping might have contributed to both of these cases, it’s no more Cult Pens UK for me.

 

 

Whereas my several customer experiences purchasing from Cult Pens have been close to perfect.

 

I can't say the same about Niche Pens (aka Pure Pens), though — see here. Some items were completely missing from what I received^†, and most of what was there was covered in an inky mess of glass shards. After all the initial conciliatory words, the person I was dealing with suddenly switched gears and wanted to play hardball, when I asked him to send me replacements for what was missing or shattered, including an empty "gift box" in which my Faber-Castel Ambition pen came to replace the broken one. (Luckily, the paper insert in the box took most of the ink and glass that made it through the hole in the box.) The pen's box "has zero value" according to him, and if I wanted to push the issue, he'd insist that I ship everything back from Australia to the UK and get a full refund; there was no middle ground, and he has a Bachelor of Laws degree and know his legal obligations under applicable UK laws, yadda yadda. This was before PayPal started offering to cover return postage for online orders up to eight times a year for each customer. So I finally agreed to a partial refund (for the missing and shattered items, and a token amount to account for the staining on the other items and the broken pen box) that was less than what it would cost him to send me the replacement items from the UK, ended up not having some of the inks I'd wanted at the time (which may have been a blessing in disguise, since I've since come to mistrust Noodler's inks), and never once considered giving Niche Pens another cent of the $30k or thereabouts I must have spent since on fountain pens and inks.

 

^† Interestingly, I counted three bottles of ink completely missing from the package as ordered, but according to the customs declaration paperwork only one bottle was missing. Were they ever sent in the first place? I don't and couldn't know for sure.

[inkstainedruth]

Not all of my pen purchases have been perfect but there’s only one incident where the way the seller behaved irked me. Both of my orders of Cult Pens have had something wrong. Let’s start with the least bad, my Lamy 2000 arrived with a loose clip. I inquired about it and they didn’t seem to know for sure if it was supposed to be that way or not and to ship it back would be a huge fee. I got the cap replaced under warranty in the US instead of dodgy overseas shipping.

 

You’d think I’d learned to buy from US only but I didn’t and ordered a broad Pelikan nib later. It arrived with constant skipping no matter how often it was flushed. The tines did need alignment but that didn’t fix it. They sent a replacement, no problem but it did the same. When communicating with the agent they kept suggesting it was my inks and not cleaning and never that it was a physical issue. I ate the loss and because again shipping back would be too expensive.

 

While I think rough shipping might have contributed to both of these cases, it’s no more Cult Pens UK for me.

 

That's weird. I ordered a pen last spring from Cult Pens -- a Purple Cosmos Sailor Pro Gear Slim, and I had absolutely no trouble with them. Came quickly, was less expensive than any place I'd seen (I was surprised that any of the Purple Cosmos pens were still available ANYWHERE at that point), didn't have to pay VAT because it was being shipped to the US, and they answered questions I had to the best of their ability (I got a zoom nib).

I did have to have nib work done on the B nib on my first Pelikan M200 Café Crème -- it skipped, no matter what ink I put in it. But I chalked that up to Pelikan, not the vender I got it from (Rolf Thiel at Missing Pens) I ended up getting a couple of M405s from the same vender a couple of years, and one of them had a B nib and it was great. No issues with the nib at all (or, for that matter, on the EF nib on the other M405 I bought at the same time); well, except of course for getting the call from PayPal to make sure it was a legitimate purchase and not someone having hacked my account, that is.... "Why, yes, yes I DID make that payment. Thank you for calling...." ("Oh (bleep), I really DID just spend that much money just on two pens, didn't I...?")

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth