Sorry Twsbi,. It's Over.

[bayindirh]

Anytime I had a warranty service issue with a pen, I had to send my pen to the manufacturer incurring my own shipping costs. The manufacturer inspects the pen,and confirms if it is a defect or not, and then sends a replacement unit or offers to repair the defect. TWSBI went above and beyond to offer to send a free new nib no questions asked. Asking the OP to pay the nominal shipping fee for the nib is more than fair considering they did not require her to send the faulty unit back. If the OP didn't want to pay any shipping, then she should have pressed the retailer. In any industry standard purchase, if the retailer won't step up to help the customer, then the shipping costs to send the product to the manufacturer is the consumers responsibility. I don't know why the OP thinks in this case it should be any different. I really don't understand that logic. I will leave it there as obviously this is a fruitless exchange.

I understand your point and you're right, but not completely. The problem that we (as in general thread) cannot agree is the pen is defective out of the box. It should be repaired, exchanged or refunded under warranty. I don't know OP's jurisdiction but, in my country you cannot charge for warranty service and, in this case the burden is on the seller. If TWSBI don't allow them to handle the case, then the burden is on them.

 

I agree and understand "We take nibs from Jowo (and we buy so much that) we cannot control every one of them". However, if something is under warranty, you cannot charge them. This is against the law and, against the established norm around the warranty idea.

 

Let's consider an analogy. You buy a refrigerator. Seller's service guys bring it to your home and open the box. The thing is badly damaged and they simply say "Oh, as the seller we cannot handle this, please call the manufacturer." and leave. You call the manufacturer and they state that they cannot control every aspect of the shipping and they can happily send you another if you ship the refrigerator back to them on your expense and they cannot guarantee that the new one will arrive undamaged. How realistic is that?

 

Warranty exists for this exact reason. For a set period of time, the problem with the good is remedied free of charge unless there's a deliberate misuse and/or abuse of the good.

 

Since we are talking about nibs, sending pen to manufacturer under seller's expense for inspection and incurring costs later if there's an evidence of misuse is also understandable and acceptable.

 

However, playing hot potato with a good which's just out of the box is bad customer relation management at best.

 

TWSBI is not the only company tries to go above and beyond for their products.

 

- A Jabra dealer has refunded my money (since the product has been discontinued) after my expensive BT headset malfunctioned 3 days after warranty ends. They also didn't sent me my receipt. I only had an order number.

- Logitech sends replacement parts, free of charge if the item is a consumable (e.g. mouse glider pads). If the item is damaged or malfunctioned during warranty, they only want the USB plug and the attached label back. Nothing more. They send the replacement even before you post your USB plug. There're a lot of stories of exchanged items free of charge beyond warranty period for paint and other cosmetic problems. Again, they only want the plug and ship before plug arrives.

- Corsair has replaced my 8 years old RAM kit (all four modules) with two screenshots (order history and RAM test showing the fault). I've paid the shipping to NL, and they shipped free of charge with expedited air mail. The arrived modules were a newer version too.

 

So, while warranty and after-sales service experiences can vary, we can at least accept that a new nib unit or pen exchange wouldn't hurt the seller or TWSBI over a single incident. Then, you can earmark the customer behind the scenes if he/she makes repeated claims over time.

[max dog]

I don't think a refrigerator/appliance warranty is an apples to apples comparison to pens. If I buy a new Lamy Safari (or Parker Sonnet, or Montblanc 149 or Pelikan M200, or Pilot Falcon etc), and I don't like the nib, I can guarantee you if I call Lamy (Montblanc, Pelikan or Pilot or any other brand on the planet) and ask them to send me a new nib, they won't unless I ship them the pen at my own shipping expense first for a proper warranty inspection. If anyone is aware of a brand who freely sends brand new nibs free of charge, shipping included just for the asking, let me know as I will buy all my pens from them.

[Glenn-SC]

The OP said that the nibs defective; ""horrible, scratchy nib".

 

Why should anyone have to pay for a product and then pay again to make it function as it should have?

[Uncial]

Consumer rights vary from country to country, but where I live if any product I buy, regardless of what it is or how much it cost, if it is defective and does not work as advertised I can take it back to the store I bought it in and ask for it to be fixed, for a replacement or a refund and the store is legally bound to provide one of these for me (providing of course that my usage of said product was not damaging to it). The store where I bought it would always be my first port of call, but if I bought online and from a different country and needed a replacement part I would generally expect to pay postage (but not for the actual part).

 

So, for instance, if I bought a Pelikan fountain pen from my local brick and mortar store and it had a defective nib I would take it back to that store for a refund or replacement. If I bought a Pelikan online and it had a defective nib and I asked the seller from a different country to provide a replacement and they agreed to send a new nib, I would fully expect to pay the postage. A little annoying for sure, but I'd expect it.

 

In this instance the OP gives the impression they returned to the store, presumably to ask for a refund or replacement - if I'm understanding their post, it seems they asked for a replacement. Seems reasonable to me. I don't know the consumer rights of the OP's country of residence, but it may be that the store owner broke the law by refusing to deal with the issue and bounced it back to TWSBI and the buyer to sort out between themselves. Now it may be that there are curious consumer laws where this person lives, but to be fair to TWSBI they offered a solution which was declined - and declining the offer was perfectly within the rights of the buyer. They have decided that this whole experience has left a bitter taste in their mouth about ever buying another TWSBI. I'd posit that many of us here have gone through this experience at one time or another and in various ways that has left us feeling less than pleased with service from a shop or a brand. But five pages about the cost of postage?! Seems like some manner of competitive arguing is going on here rather than a discussion of common sense. I'd state the term I'm thinking of, but it would be censored.

[Intensity]

Really this is a perfect representative generic internet thread of this day and age. People come in and vent about their own experiences and opinions. It has the right mix of indignation, inflammation, and righteous defense. All fueled by the unnecessarily provocative thread title that is sure to draw lots of curious clicks and thus continue the discussion far past the point of usefulness.

[bayindirh]

Really this is a perfect representative generic internet thread of this day and age. People come in and vent about their own experiences and opinions. It has the right mix of indignation, inflammation, and righteous defense. All fueled by the unnecessarily provocative thread title that is sure to draw lots of curious clicks and thus continue the discussion far past the point of usefulness.

I for one participate in this threads to genuinely discuss. Yes, these threads generally derail themselves to loop-style discussion which do not reach a consensus but, I've found that I like to go the extra mile to understand how the other people think.

 

I try very hard not to provoke anyone, I just want to move discussion further. If you think that I have a role in this thread's derailment, I'm genuinely sorry for that and it shows that I need to learn much more.

[Intensity]

No no, I do not mean to point fingers--there have been plenty of helpful replies that tried to stay objective and offer insight. It's just that the OP exited the stage a while ago, and at this time we do not have any more actual facts to go on. It's all in the details. It could really be a shady vendor, or any number of things. Plus the specific laws and regulations matter. We will never know. That's why I said "past the point of usefulness".

[Matlock]

"past the point of usefulness".

Fully agree, it is no longer serving any useful purpose.