And shocked Pelikan only offers a 3 year warranty on their pens. My pen is 3 1/2 years old. Charpak says I need to pay for a new barrel and labor costs. I'm wondering if anyone's Pelikan has broken apart between the black finger grip (not sure if this black section is part of the nib assembly) and the barrel? I love the nib and keep this pen on my desk and basically use it every day to write checks or make some notes while on the phone. I'm wondering if Pelikan glues the barrel to the nib and this failed or if this was a fracture of the barrel per se. It seems like a clean separation and two parts simply separated that were somehow connected at one point. I'm scratching my head on how could this break apart? Thanks for any feedback. I've only got a handful of fountain pens and this is my only Pelikan. Wondering if quality control at Pelikan has become a problem or this is a freak occurrence. Dan