First ever Pelikan M800...Very disappointed! Is my pen faulty?

[mizgeorge]

21 minutes ago, halffriedchicken said:

Your barrel looks scratched when I look at the picture closely. If I got that pen from Amazon, I would return it and get a new one.

The OP said it's ink on the barrel, not scratches.

[halffriedchicken]

8 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

The OP said it's ink on the barrel, not scratches.

Ah you're right. My mistake.

[ralfstc]

I think it's the ink. Aurura Black can, in my experience, have odd results. I'd take the half hour to clean the pen out, flush it, and try a boring old Pelikan ink. At least you'll have a reliable comparison point if you decide to return it!

 

Cheers,

 

R.

[gyasko]

On 9/29/2021 at 11:56 AM, Karmachanic said:

Flushing a pen prior to first use is always a good idea, as it will remove any residual, oils/impurities. Drop of liquid detergent in a cup of water; flush 2/3 times and repeat with water only to remove the soap.

 

 

I’ve never found it to help.

 

It certainly won’t do anything for a nib that’s out of vertical alignment as this one is reported to be.

[Karmachanic]

7 hours ago, gyasko said:

It certainly won’t do anything for a nib that’s out of vertical alignment

 

Nobody suggested that it could. We discovered that fact subsequently.

[Ste_S]

I'm in the return it camp. 

 

Re-aligning tines is for cheap chinese pens, ebay purchases, and pens you've dropped. You shouldn't have to do it on a brand new M800.

[Bo Bo Olson]

The thumbnail trick is required, in you buy by rough and ready mail**. If you buy at a B&M the tiens are always aligned in the packages B&M's get are too heavy to be tossed around by man and robot.

 

**Some folks Insist that the display boxes are too sturdy to have the tines jar out of alighment in them, but can not explain why this happens only in mailed pens. 

 

After the first time or two, it becomes ho hum, the first time will remain in your memory....even if it is easy....There is the feeling of what if I press too hard.

Thumbnail from Breather hole down the up tine, press so the tine tip is lower than the low tine, hold for 2 seconds do 3 times should do the trick.....if more than 5 X are needed send in for repair.

[inkstainedruth]

I had a problem with skipping with my first M200 Café Crème, which had a B nib, no matter what ink I tried in the pen (and yes, I ALWAYS flush a pen out before the first usage -- a drop of Dawn dish detergent (I believe that the UK equivalent is a brand called Fairy) in about a quarter cup of distilled water, followed by thorough rinsing with more distilled water).  Turned out that the nib had baby's bottom [you can read about the issue here, and the relevant section is most of the way down the page: http://www.richardspens.com/ref/nibs/basics.htm]..  Twenty bucks US to a nibmeister at a pen show fixed the issue (of course a few months later I lost the pen, and another pen, and the case they were in on a trip.... ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bo Bo Olson]

On 10/1/2021 at 11:50 AM, Ste_S said:

You shouldn't have to do it on a brand new M800.

Mail is mail and a display box is only for displaying the pen in a pen shop; not through a contest between robot and man to how far a package can be bankshot.

 

I've been reading for years about folks new pens coming in by mail with tines misaligned. Cheap to expensive, it made no difference.

 

My very few new pens (7-8) were all bought in a B&M so were aligned.

 

Much of what I got used was by mail, so there were a few that needed to be re-aligned. Considering how flimsy some were packed, I'm surprised how many didn't have to be re-aligned.

 

[bunnspecial]

On 10/1/2021 at 8:44 AM, Bo Bo Olson said:

**Some folks Insist that the display boxes are too sturdy to have the tines jar out of alighment in them, but can not explain why this happens only in mailed pens.

 

How did those pens the B&M shops sell arrive at the shop?

[Bo Bo Olson]

At my B&M a man takes a dolly and lowers the back of the truck and rolls in a small foot high by 18 inch pallet off the truck and into the shop.

Was on my way to Subway cookies at the time.

 

Won a newspaper Lamy factory tour some 8 or so years ago.

At Lamy they have large pallets driven by small forklifts, into the truck. Only had to go 4 foot high on the wall which was empty at that time taller 4 level fork lifts weren't needed. 

 

When our tour got there @ 12:00-13:00There were some 18 chest high plastic wrapped pallets being worked  for truck delivery. Didn't see them putting the pallets together.

 

The warehouse only had two pallet spaces high on the wall. (floor and 4 foot high railing.) So a lot of just in time work. Having worked in a ware house expected a higher couple of warehouse walls but at E-80 a cubic meter a day cost, Lamy didn't have much expense.

So Lamy and I imagine the rest do have middlemen doing break down delivery. 

 

Our German mail is much, much cheaper than the US mail** but it is still much cheaper to have it delivered by truck. Sometimes it takes a  10 days, a couple weeks when I order something through my B&M, if done by mail it wouldn't take so long.

 

**The German Government is paying for the postal retires when the German post office was made public....it's only the new employees who are being screwed. Even gave early retirement to get the well paid out of the way.

Unlike bite the bullet for all the mail retires in the the US all at once, because UPS and FedEX got a law passed that US Mail can't bribe Congress and they still can.

[N1003U]

10 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

because UPS and FedEX got a law passed that US Mail can't bribe Congress and they still can.

There are two sides to that story, for sure…

[bunnspecial]

16 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

At my B&M a man takes a dolly and lowers the back of the truck and rolls in a small foot high by 18 inch pallet off the truck and into the shop.

Was on my way to Subway cookies at the time.

 

Won a newspaper Lamy factory tour some 8 or so years ago.

At Lamy they have large pallets driven by small forklifts, into the truck. Only had to go 4 foot high on the wall which was empty at that time taller 4 level fork lifts weren't needed.

 

I can virtually guarantee that every pen we buy in the US has passed through some sort of courier service multiple times before reaching us whether we buy it over the counter or not. I've had misaligned only rarely.

 

My M800 from Goulet came in what seemed to be a factory "sealed"(no actual seal, but unmolested) presentation box. I don't have it anymore, but IIRC it had the outer white sleeve that opened up to a "pedestal" type box. I don't think that there was a clamshell box, but instead a soft leather(leatherette?) pouch with an elastic band around it, and the pen was in tissue/a plastic sleeve inside of that. I may have missed pieces or misremembered the order they were assembled, but it was wrapped up.

Every new Montblanc I've bought has come in nestled down in the cushion in its clamshell box.

 

Lamys, depending on the pen/price point, have come either in the square cardboard "tube" or have been in Lamy tri-fold boxes.

[maclink]

@Bo Bo Olson I have close to 100 pens of varied makes and prices.  All but perhaps two of my pens did not arrive to me by mail.  None of my Pilot, Platinum or Sailor nibs have had misaligned tines on receipt.  Even the ones bought off Amazon.  Lamy and Montblanc have been fabulous as well.  One MB had misaligned tines but pre-owned when I bought it.  Misaligned tines have been with Bock/Jowo nibs and dare I say, Pelikan.  All my Pelikans were purchased from CultPens with three arriving with misaligned tines requiring adjustments.  

 

So I do have a LOT of experience with receiving pens by mail/courier, and with excellent results.  I have absolutely no reason to blame delivery for misaligned tines when on opening the presentation box, the pen is secured in its slot or under an elastic band while also securely capped.

 

I've had ONE experience with a pen arriving uncapped within its presentation box.  This was my Lamy steel.  It came with a medium nib that ironically had well-aligned tines despite the perilous journey. 

 

I've bought pre-owned pens that arrived not within a presentation box but less secure packaging.  All arrived capped and with  aligned tines.  The pre-owned MB I mentioned earlier did arrive in a presentation box securely capped.  I'd wager the misaligned tines and poor writing experience may have prompted the sale of the pen.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Good to know....that it may be Pelikan, Bock and Jowo nibs mostly.

We'll see how many other brands get a kick.

Other pens were mentioned if I remember correctly.

 

[Diver]

If I may suggest, as the pen was purchased thru Amazon, check their returns policy and get a replacement.  The cost of Pelikan's these days take them clearly into the high value/price bracket and are supposed to be a quality product.  Having to fix a nib, or flow issues is just not acceptable in my eyes (personal opinion of course).  If one buys a watch of a similar value and it can't keep good time, or stopped a few times a day, it should be returned.  So why not a pen?

 

Ink wise, Aurora black is a nice well behaved ink in my pens, but again, other pens/papers may act different.  Waterman serenity blue is my usual goto ink when breaking in a new pen.  If a pen misbehaves using waterman serenity blue, then theres definitly an issue that needs attention.