Worst Fountain Pen Mistake?

[kshankar]

Tied for first place:

 

1) Bought a Namiki Vanishing Point off eBay. The medium nib is too fine for my tastes (I mentioned this to the owner of a pen shop in Chicago who said the VP was his most popular pen; he said the Japanese pens are often that way), I find the refilling finicky (managed to dislodge the spring the first time I went to fill it; I was able to fix it, but at first panicked and wrote to Pilot/Namiki and they said I wouldn't be able to fix it on my own and they would want $25 to do it!), and it never sits in my hand nicely.

 

I'd be happy to sell it for $80 - blue - including shipping. I haven't posted enough to be able to sell it in Marketplace. Sigh.

 

2) Less expensive mistake: accidentally bought a Montblanc converter for $21 off eBay (clicked on the wrong thing) and I have no Montblanc pens. Anyone need a Montblanc converter? Or can I use it in another pen?

 

Sigh.

[StephY]

Not buying a MB Hemingway when I had the chance in the 90's.

[rogerb]

I. Buying a Lamy 2000, based on the many recommendations on FPN, then wasting many more $$ (and time) sending it to Richard B in the hope of making it something I'd be happy to use.

 

2. Dropping a friend's 1930s 14k trimmed blue-green ripple ebonite Waterman ....which I'd taken to get restored....on a tiled floor, shattering the barrel

Thanks to FPNers I got it fixed (but at a considerable cost!)

[impossiblebird]

... accidentally bought a Montblanc converter for $21 off eBay (clicked on the wrong thing) and I have no Montblanc pens. Anyone need a Montblanc converter? Or can I use it in another pen?

 

It should fit any pen that will take an international converter, with the possible exception of some Waterman models.

[jebib]

My extremely poor judgement in trading. I have managed to trade away a Waterman Edson, Original Bexley Big Red, and a Visconti Manhattan for pens today I just can't remember. Needless to say he doesn't do any trading anymore.

[redisburning]

I. Buying a Lamy 2000, based on the many recommendations on FPN, then wasting many more $$ (and time) sending it to Richard B in the hope of making it something I'd be happy to use.

 

this was one of mine too, but not my worst. I found the nib to be a good writer but too clinical, and in the end I could never bond with such an ugly pen.

 

I think with that pen, maybe it's too many people for whom it's their first/only "high dollar" pen, or people who only buy modern pens, in addition to the people who like that sort of thing.

 

There have been two cases where I have written with a fountain pen nib that I could not fault but felt disappointed, and both pens were German. If I ever buy another German pen, it will be another Montblanc. Despite the flow problems my converter has that pen gives me something the Lamy 2000 and a pre-unification Pelikan simply lacked; the pen calling out for me to write with it.

[ravantra]

I have had three. All three were LENDING THE PEN FOR JUST A SECOND TO SOMEONE WHO DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO USE ONE. Three bent nibs, one coming out looking like a forked tongue. Now, I have to anger people by saying "Sorry, but no you can't borrow my pen for just a second".

 

By the way, all three instinctively tried to use the nib upside down.

 

 

Thats my nightmare, loaning a pen! Have done it once with diasterous results ... never again.

[amyx231]

im trying to convert a friend. she liked the pen, hated the ink - she writes in red, i used black, im not sure why she found black objectionable. it was well-behaved, no feathering or bleed through.

[amyx231]

altho, i should mention that i dont actually know what feathering really looks like.

[auslese]

losing my second 149 for the third time

and by the time the girlfriend in whose house I left it

had sent it back to me...

I looked up how much a replacement would cost and

was aghast at how $$$$ the things have gotten—

so investigated Ebay for a less costly alternative,

have ended up with 7 Pelikans and 2 Watermans

and 4 older MBs and there is no end in sight...

Edited February 26, 2011 by auslese

[dsatco]

Yeah, I bought one of these and hated it, so I threw it in the trash. Good riddance.

 

See it here

[englishchese]

Is it bad to lick the nibs

[Blade Runner]

Okay, you asked for it (only kiddin' a bit). Buying a new MB from a good store in brick.

The new 146 didn't work, and me handing it in to MB headquarters here resulted in their sending me the pen back marked "repaired" (for free, I must say) but it still never worked, so I chucked it.

If that had ever happed with a cheapie, I would have forgotten about everything.

But I think that MB is so expensive because they think that their pens (and likely everything else in their house) are so good.

 

Wrack

I would have persisted until they gave me a new pen in working order. That was your right with a new pen.

Throwing it out was definitely a mistake on top of their lemon. Ouch.

[amyx231]

Okay, you asked for it (only kiddin' a bit). Buying a new MB from a good store in brick.

The new 146 didn't work, and me handing it in to MB headquarters here resulted in their sending me the pen back marked "repaired" (for free, I must say) but it still never worked, so I chucked it.

If that had ever happed with a cheapie, I would have forgotten about everything.

But I think that MB is so expensive because they think that their pens (and likely everything else in their house) are so good.

 

Wrack

 

 

next time u wanna chuck a pen, give it to me? *puppy pout* anything can be fixed.

but seriously, you should have talked to CS more. My new phone was freezing, took 3 days, but i got a reset. (didnt help much, tho, its a software issue)

[Blade Runner]

Okay, you asked for it (only kiddin' a bit). Buying a new MB from a good store in brick.

The new 146 didn't work, and me handing it in to MB headquarters here resulted in their sending me the pen back marked "repaired" (for free, I must say) but it still never worked, so I chucked it.

If that had ever happed with a cheapie, I would have forgotten about everything.

But I think that MB is so expensive because they think that their pens (and likely everything else in their house) are so good.

 

Wrack

 

 

next time u wanna chuck a pen, give it to me? *puppy pout* anything can be fixed.

but seriously, you should have talked to CS more. My new phone was freezing, took 3 days, but i got a reset. (didnt help much, tho, its a software issue)

Exactly. I have experienced nib QC problems with a number of brands, and sometimes pens had to be sent back more than once (my record is 4 mailings), but with letters and calls, they eventually got resolved. I no longer buy those brands, but that's another topic.

[Blade Runner]

Reminds me of a poster who found fungus growing in their bottle of Herbin ink and threw it and the value of the ink down the drain!

I also discovered a contaiminated bottle of the same ink, but after contacting their representative, I was given the option of a new, larger volume of the same ink or my money back provided I send them my ink. I requested a refund which they fulfilled along with reimbursement for shipping. Think before you chuck!

[varmas]

Buying more FPs than I can use in my lifetime. That has stopped, well almost.

 

Licking the nib. This goes back to my schooldays, I started using FPs when I was 8 or 9, when the only pens we had were cheap plastic sticks that needed to be jumpstarted.

Some days, when using a B nib, I end up looking like a Chow Chow. With all the blue ink in me I can safely say I am the only true blue-blood in Singapore.

 

 

Stay well,

Solomon

[Blade Runner]

My biggest mistake was losing a "51". During the traverse of an Icelandic lava field, it slipped through an opening of my rucksack.

It wasn't rare and only cost $15, but still.

[mdbrown]

For me it was selling my mint bordeaux Montblanc 146. I regretted it within days....

[MIHCK]

About six years ago, losing a Pelikan pen case with two Pelikan 200s and a Pelikan 400 in the back seat of a DC cab. Kids, don't carry your pen cases in your pants pockets. Talk about learning the hard way.