Am I allowed to be annoyed ?

[Marco63]

Good afternoon, I bought two Parker Victory, an Mk 1 and an Mk IV, at an antique shop.
One was the one that had that gunky section I asked help on a few weeks ago and the other was in better shape.
I changed the sacs, filled the pens and started using them. Immediately I saw that the nibs had issues, so did a quick search on the internet for repair shops/people/whatever in the UK and came up with a list. Contacted a few, some replied 'too busy' some not even bothered and a couple said 'send them over'.
I picked one of the two and sent them over. The pens returned and, bearing in mind that only the nibs had to be 'tuned', I thought the job was straightforward. I also included a cover letter in the parcel explaining what the problems where.
The Mk IV skips letters, I have to pass over again on the letters to get ink out of the nib.
The Mk 1 writes while the section is wet, i.e. after filling the sac, then dries out and stops writing.
The nib was scratchy, and this I pointed out went I sent it over, and it returned exactly as it was.
If I press the filling button to let some ink out, the pen resumes writing.

I paid 20 GB Pounds for the two pens and 6 GB Pounds for the sacs, so what do I complain, I hear you say.
35 GB Pounds each for fixing them.

I'm certainly not going to send back the Mk 1 to this person, I'll find somebody else even if I have to pay for it again.

My complaint is for the service, that I paid for, but didn't get.
The guy is somebody considered reliable in this market so I thought this was some sort of warranty.
I wrote him explaining how annoyed I am, and I'm beeing polite.

Regards
Marco

 

[jar_]

Sure you can be annoyed but the issues you describe don't sound like nib related but rather either feed/air channels or hand/arm writing style issues.

 

[Marco63]

And shouldn't the guy have discovered this himself and fixed them? The nibs in these pens were, in my opinion, bent and had somehow been 'fixed' prior to my possession. I told the guy that one was writing too wet and the other too dry. I could put a sheet of paper between the nib and feed of one and could put a sheet of paper between the points of the other one. If I, a total ignorant on the matter, spotted these things couldn't he detect them too?

 

[kcore]

Your frustration is understandable. It is standard practice for people who tune these pens to only tune them by dip testing them. You might want to explain the situation and see if they are willing to keep working on them to get them writing to your expectations. It might be completely out of their skill set to fix the issues and would hopefully say that right from the start. I wish I could offer some credible people to assist you but I'm not familiar with the UK. Maybe some other members from the UK might be able to offer some suggestions. I hope you get your pens writing

 

[Marco63]

Kcore, after reassembling the pens I filled them and discovered their flaws. This is why I wanted an expert to fix them as mainly I don't have the tools nor the expertise to tweak nibs and feeds. If it is practice for 'repairers' to just dip them and try them it is not very correct towards the customer, but this is my opinion. I tend to exclude the way I write as jar_ suggests but relate it more to feed nib 'mating'

 

[Nightshade18]

Every right to be annoyed in my opinion Marco, if you've clearly specified the problems and paid for a professional to repair, you should expect a satisfactory result.
I've used 2 people in the UK to repair my pens, one was a disappointment and I wouldn't recommend, the other was fantastic. As you've written to whoever you've used, I'd be inclined to give them chance to rectify the situation.

If you don't get anywhere, feel free to drop me a message and I'll pass details for my good contact if you'd like.

 

[Marco63]

Thank you Nightshade. I have explained by email the problems to the guy and enclosed a note in the parcel. I don't know what else I could have done. Anyway he had another go at one of them and said that the last resort would be to change nib. I've filled the sac and emptied it, it still isn't performing. Ink dries in feed while I write, have to keep orienting nib on paper to get ink to flow too. I got a quote for a new nib and am sending the pen off today. Still it will not have cost me a fortune to get it fixed and hopefully with a new nib this should be the last time I have to send the pen back. But, he should have spotted / proposed this the first time I sent the pen over. When I do my DIY at home I replace everything that is not performing as it should and I am not a 'professional'. All that has happened brings to my mind a book I read ages ago on Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirsig, exactly the same situation with this pen.

 

[Marco63]

UPDATE !!! I sent back again the Mk IV which was really impossible to use. After a couple of weeks the guy writes me saying that the only solution would be to change the nib, and quotes me for the repair. I receive the pen by the end of September and he tells me to try it our before paying him, never sadi this before. I have been using it since and the pen works extremely well. I have noteced the new nib too. Wrote back thanking him for the good job and told him that the change of nib could have been done earlier thus avoiding me sending the pen 3 times for a repair. The Mk I has ceased to behave randomly, all I have to do when the ink dries out is to sligthly press the filling button in order to get the ink flowing again, a bit of a pain but at least it works nicely too (not sending it back again). Don'y know whether I will rely on this guy again in the future though or if he will accept any more pens from me Have a nice day