General Experiences With Pen Companies After Sales Repairs Services?

[The Blue Knight]

The thread on "Parker no longer repairs there pens" got me thinking what are peoples experiences of after sales repairs with pens?

 

I haven't had much experience but are there companies that are particularly notable?

[Beechwood]

I have only had two post sales experiences Parker and Montblanc.

 

Parker were terrible, their final comment was that they couldn't fix the problem. MB were great, the pen was clogged with MB Lavender, they fixed the issue and replaced the barrel. Not cheap but a quality service.

 

One FPN professional seller who said that his gold Parker 95 was new and unused, pen arrived with a scuffed pen and cap and had ink residue throughout the pen, they said that I was being unreasonable in not accepting the pen as it was, a community after all.

 

One vintage pen that was sold by a well known pen seller, both online and on ebay, described as excellent in every respect, pen arrived with a worn out nib and wouldnt fill, pen went back to him, returned about a month later, still not working with the comment 'sorry, best I can do'.

[Addertooth]

I know this varies from your intent, but learning to fix pens on your own, avoids "social" frustration. Most are not hard to repair once you understand the concepts that drive fountain pens. Certainly there are some models which are viewed as complete beasts to fix; I avoid those models.

 

There are some amazing repair-artisans who are out there. Their work is legendary. In the final analysis, nobody will sweat minor details more than the owner. Especially if the owner suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). I often buy pens which I KNOW are broken. I get them at a low price due condition. The pens are repaired and gain an instant bump in value. Patience is as important as skill. All the skill in the world will not save you, if you lack patience and take the "quick route".

[The Blue Knight]

There are some amazing repair-artisans who are out there. Their work is legendary. In the final analysis, nobody will sweat minor details more than the owner. Especially if the owner suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). I often buy pens which I KNOW are broken. I get them at a low price due condition. The pens are repaired and gain an instant bump in value. Patience is as important as skill. All the skill in the world will not save you, if you lack patience and take the "quick route".

 

I have a lot discontinued pens pens so often pen repairs have to be done myself. In that regard Parker 61's with missing arrows go for very little, If your willing to accept the flaws some pens are very good value.

[putteringpenman]

I had an issue with my Pilot Custom 823 where the threads on the vacuum piston knob stripped. I contacted Pilot USA and they told me to send them the pen. Within 2 weeks I got the pen back with no charge (the pen was still under warranty). Overall great service!

[Honeybadgers]

Visconti were... Okay. Coles isn't very impressive for what you spent on the pen.

 

Parker, not bad. I didn't love the nib they swapped in's character, but it wrote well, and the service was good (if not expedient)

 

Yafa? Outstanding. Weirdly outstanding.

 

Pilot also great, just not very fast.

 

Platinum is great and fast

 

Wancher is amazing

 

TWSBI is like pulling teeth interacting with their USA sales rep, but he does always resolve the problem.

[Kenlowe]

TWSBI is like pulling teeth interacting with their USA sales rep, but he does always resolve the problem.

 

Twsbi blamed me for the cracks in their pen, and then they blamed Diamine for the staining in their pen and this was after they insisted that I sent the pen to them by registered mail, which cost almost as much as the pen, and also paid for the return journey.

 

I passed on the Twsbi comments to Diamine but they didn't give two hoots either

 

I don't buy any make of pen again when the customer service is worse than expected

Edited July 14, 2020 by Kenlowe

[bemon]

I've had experience with Montblanc, Parker, Pilot and Lamy.

 

Parker couldn't replace a damaged cap for a discontinued finish on a Duofold, so they generously offered me a $200 credit to use on stylo.ca for another Parker product.

 

Pilot is helpful if you buy the pen from them or an authorized retailer. But slow and not exactly accommodating. But if you report that you bought a pen on eBay they unapologetically wash their hands of your problem. Good thing their products are solid to begin with, and don't require much service.

 

Lamy is my favorite. Fast, friendly and affordable support. They're a joy to work with. I've dealt with them 3 times for one of my L2Ks. 3 times per pen you'd think the pen was bad, but it was just my long suffering L2K that never saw a moment of actual care on my part. Because of their customer care Lamy is the brand I chose to start my daugter off on for her fountain pen journey.

 

Montblanc, well it kind of goes like this: "Yes Sir, we can address that issue. Before we go any further, will you be paying is in gold bricks, precious stones or your first born?" In other words you get professional results, but you're better off with a Lamy in every way.

Edited July 14, 2020 by bemon

[sandy101]

With Montblanc I had a painless experience. I dropped of the pen at the local Montblanc dealer - they sent it off to Hamburg for repair and I got back the same pen two weeks later, nicely polished and no leak - cost was £90.

 

With Caran D'ache, I sent a Madison with a cracked, leaking plastic section to their UK representative. It cost me £65, and the pen was returned with a new metal section that current Madison's have and an 18K nib - instead of the 14K nib I sent back to them. It took about six weeks as an invoice got lost in the post, but after agreeing and paying for the repair it took 2 weeks to get the pen back.

 

With Cross, again, I used the local dealer, paid them £7 for postage and Cross "repaired" a leaky 11 year old Cross Century II at no extra charge. I suspect that they just attached a new nib unit as it came back with a different nib.

Edited July 14, 2020 by sandy101

[ISW_Kaputnik]

I've had experiences with:

1. Taccia. I bought an Overture, which is not a current model, and perhaps nothing special, but seemed very upscale to me at the time. The nib was dry to the point of almost not writing. I sent it to them and it came back rather quickly, and writing very nicely indeed. I paid for my shipping to them, but they didn't charge me for return shipping or anything else. This was some eight years ago, I think, so I wouldn't care to guarantee that they're still the same, but it was a very positive experience. Would have been more positive if it had written well out of the box, of course.
2. TWSBI. My Mini had faint cracks in the barrel. They replaced it without too much drama. I've since given that pen away, but I'd have to rate the experience as good.
3. Delta. The plating on the Fusion nib was coming off after very little use, which I considered unacceptable. They wanted what seemed to me a rather high return postage fee in advance, but I played along. It came back with a new nib, but writing rather dryly. I did my best to increase flow, but didn't want to pay them any more for a pen that was never going to become a favorite. Delta has since gone out of business, I believe, although I was actually not dealing directly with them but with their parent company. Yafa?

[Kenlowe]

It would be useful to see a comparison table when we have had a reasonable number of reports, it seems to me that at the top is MB, stand by their product, sort out repairs but at an above average cost.

[Estycollector]

Wonderful experience with:

 

Parker51.com

PO Box 980236

Park City, Utah 84098

email: repairs@parker51.com

[BaronWulfraed]

Only one experience with pen repair by manufacturer... 2005, Parker 100 blue/gold. The "fingers" in the cap were scraping off the blue enamel/lacquer of the section. They replaced the pen as I recall (I doubt they just replaced the section and the inside of the cap).

[eciton]

I've posted about this a few times recently on ukfountainpens.com

 

Nettuno — fabulous service direct and via Izods. Sent me a new nib and associated parts, no questions asked.

 

Scribo — fabulous service direct with contributing help from Scribe.ph. Worked on my pen really fast and sent it back to me with a free bottle of ink and a nice letter.

 

Visconti — zero response from the brand on social media, and slow but polite service from La Couronne du Comte, which involved them paying to collect the pen from me via DHL, send it to the distributor for a nib swap, and ultimately me getting a new pen sent to me, which unfortunately had a noticeably worse barrel pattern and more significantly, the wrong nib installed. I'm waiting to find out about a refund.

 

Lamy — I suffered a cracked cap in my 2000 and Lamy replaced it free of charge and very politely.

 

Montblanc — I sent two pens in for a nib swap and the experience was wonderful. I enquired about a service and nib adjustment on my Agatha and they were very helpful, but I ended up adjusting the nib myself.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Lamy like Cross is still free repair.........with Lamy of course I have no problems....it's an 18 minute drive.

Lamy is not fast, nor will they go faster when E-badgered, it is how ever free. You do have a second fountain pen. Right?

 

Pelikan use to be good, and free, but that's Germany, not what ever company has the US monopoly which many complain of. Pelikan may no longer be free. I don't know not having any problems....even with the old to very old used pens.

 

MB will charge you for any work after your warrantee is up.

[Storch]

My only experience (thankfully) was with Coles of London. I bought a Visconti second hand and it had the finials replaced with the customizable initial (not mine) so I was looking to bring the pen back to original. They sent me a replacement free of charge but it turned out to be the newer style, not the older style that matched the pen. In the end, the person I bought it from found the original and sent it to me so it all worked out in the end, but Coles was genuinely helpful withing their abilities especially considering that I told them it was a secondhand pen ad they weren't seeing a dime from helping me.

[Honeybadgers]

My only experience (thankfully) was with Coles of London. I bought a Visconti second hand and it had the finials replaced with the customizable initial (not mine) so I was looking to bring the pen back to original. They sent me a replacement free of charge but it turned out to be the newer style, not the older style that matched the pen. In the end, the person I bought it from found the original and sent it to me so it all worked out in the end, but Coles was genuinely helpful withing their abilities especially considering that I told them it was a secondhand pen ad they weren't seeing a dime from helping me.

 

 

Coles was okay for me. They replaced several pens for me that would not write, and not a single one I got back ever wrote correctly either. One homosapiens they replaced came with a very obvious defect in the little mypen jewel, which they did replace.

 

But they refused to honor a "30 day nib warranty" on day 32. On an $800 pen, I'd expect better than that kind of service. Goulet, however, goes a full 90 days. they took it back, exchanged me down to an EF at my request, tested the pen at my request, and just threw in a $100 visconti pen case for my inconvenience, totally unsolicited.

 

So my experience with visconti's appalling quality control has actually been pretty pleasant because I buy Goulet.

[AmandaW]

 

Twsbi blamed me for the cracks in their pen, and then they blamed Diamine for the staining in their pen and this was after they insisted that I sent the pen to them by registered mail, which cost almost as much as the pen, and also paid for the return journey.

 

I passed on the Twsbi comments to Diamine but they didn't give two hoots either

 

I don't buy any make of pen again when the customer service is worse than expected

This ^^^

 

TWSBI expected me to pay international shipping to fix a nib that came out of the box as scratchy as a feral cat. Or fix it myself and void the warranty if I did. What warranty? It was a horrible experience to witness the retailer blame TWSBI, and TWSBI blame Jowo. I thought they were better than that. I thought they would have my back if I bought new at full price.

 

I lose because no longer enjoy my little collection or look forward to collecting more. They lose too, I saw the new Prussian Blue and thought 'how pretty'. But no, I wouldn't enjoy the wait, I'd be worrying it could be (bleep) and I'd be stuck with it.

 

And I stopped reading the thread here that documented the experience because some members defended their practice and accused me of being a snow flake. Like that made it better? I want my experience of a new pen to turn out better than any of that.

[AoKiu]

I have a Sheaffer Legacy Heritage LE 1913-2013 with a cracked inner (plastic) cap and ink on the grip section.

When I looked up the contact information on www.sheaffer.com I sent an inquiry to crossasia@cross.com (I'm living in SEA). My email bounced back as undeliverable. I tried the US email consumerre@cross.com and it was classified as spam.

 

I WILL NEVER EVER BUY A PRODUCT FROM SHEAFFER AGAIN!

Edited July 15, 2020 by AoKiu

[Joe124013]

 

Yafa? Outstanding. Weirdly outstanding.

 

 

That's not my experience, although I don't know if that was them or Pineider. I had a Honeycomb that the cap broke on, was put in contact with Yafa to try to get a replacement. Took a ton of back and forth over a couple of months before I was told that they were waiting to make more. Checked in every month or so for the next few months without hearing anything. Then about 8 months after I first contacted them received a new cap in a plain envelope in the mail without a heads up it was arriving or anything. To cap it off, the replacement barely fits. Pretty much why I've decided to never buy any product of theirs again.