Brands You Will Never Buy From

[XiaoMG]

I will probably avoid anything with a generic German nib (Bock, Jowo) in the future, unless I can find someone to smooth and tweak it to my satisfaction.

[logantrky]

 

I have only avoided a parker thus far because I think that their clips are far too stylized, and detract quite significantly from the pen. Would take a parker with a plain clip (or no clip for that matter) any day

 

+1. To me, Parker arrow clips are hideous. I'll only buy vintage Parkers for this reason.

 

But I don't mean to offend anyone who likes them! To each his or her own.

 

+1

 

I've always thought Parker used the ugliest clips (the arrow), along with the dullest colors possible for the body. However, I cannot say I will never buy one.... :hmm1:

 

I doubt if I'll ever buy a Lamy again either. I had a CP1 but sold it because the nib was just terrible. It wrote far too scratchy for a medium. Plus, I'm not too crazy about their pen designs.

[georges zaslavsky]

Montblanc. My first expensive pen was a Montblanc because of their saturation advertising. It wrote okay, but one day it rolled off my desk onto a wooden floor and the barrel shattered. Montblanc customer service said 'too bad for you' and did not offer to help. I went back to them and said I needed a new barrel and they said they would sell me one but the price was almost as much as the pen cost me. I will never buy another Montblanc after that terrible experience. And ever since I have discovered all kinds of pen brands that are better made, write more smoothly, are nicer looking, cost less, and have customer service departments who actually care about customers.

 

Many people share your experiences and conclusion. But I covet the Henry Tate and if I could find an affordable (but genuine!) Skeleton, I would surely buy it. But never again a new Montblanc for me, because of the very reason you described. Still, I have fond memories of a Mb Meisterstück from my youth, long since lost though.

I cannot but laugh at the silly Montblanc habit to call their shiny but brittle plastic "precious resin". It is exactly as in the real estate trade: the more dilapidated the property, the more fascinating the descriptions with many an "original", "airy" or "unspoiled" thrown in. It fools nobody who's ever bought a house or a pen before, but immediately puts them on a par with the used car salesmen, the bankers and the buyers of scrap metals and used clothing.

If you knew Francis or Tom Westrich, they would have repaired your old pen and make it like new. The forumla of the resin changed in 1986-1987 and the newer resin formula was more prone to chattering than the old one. Though, I had one 1986 MB 149 which felt on the floor and it didn't break.

[georges zaslavsky]

Parker/Waterman/Sheaffer

Just when I think they can't go down the drain any further, they come out with stuff like the Parker Ingenuity and the upgraded Waterman Expert.

 

Honestly, when I had an Expert and a Hemisphere, they felt like Heros. Heavy, cheap lacquer, poor plating, poor printing, coarse threads, minimal finishing on the nibs

the first generation experts were much better than the second ones. And indeed Parker/Waterman/Sheaffer are just shadows of their own with a crappy after sales service

Edited April 14, 2012 by georges zaslavsky

[RayOski1]

Only evil deals in absolutes.

 

+ 10

 

It's all about personal experience isn't it. I like piston fillers, clips that aren't too tight and comfort with long writing jags.

 

I have had great experience with Lamy and have no problem with their utilitarian look. Their customer service has been excellent.

 

Montblanc. I have some beauties but they attract too much attention. Never had a customer service needs.

 

I find modern Parker and Schaeffer generally unappealing.

 

I love Noodlers ink. So much, I want to join the company if Mr. Tardiff needed a new employee. That said, I agree with others in this thread about most of their pens. I don't have time to tinker with them. The eyedropper that came with the Keung te Chung works adequately.

 

Visconti has disappointed. Marginal quality and poor customer service. But that's just my experience.

 

I am really enjoying my new acquisition - a KAWECO.

[RayOski1]

Something else kind of unusual, several people have listed TWSBI, but not said why. I wonder...

 

None of my TWSBI 540s write well and now they are developing cracks. The cap is becoming increasingly harder to screw in. TWSBI sends replacements etc. if you contact them (or so I heard) but I do not want to bother with such flimsy quality. I purchased a 1.1 stub which took a lot of work to start flowing right. On top of that, the 540 does not post. Those are reasons enough for me not to bother with TWSBI anymore - your mileage may vary.

 

Exactly !

[TemurAmir]

Krone

[Oranges and Apples]

I'm also going to stay away from iridium points.

 

 

O.O is that even possible? Perhaps you fancy dip nibs?

[PeterPenPencil]

I never purchase current produced f.pen brands due to following reasons

 

4. Japanese Company - their Q.C. is the best among pen manufacturers but I just don't like their too narrow nib.

 

 

Not sure what you are talking about here.

 

Yes, several Japanese manufacturers tend to have M nibs that equate to an F nib in other manufacturers lines (and all the rest of the line also tends to be narrower than non_japanese nibs), but so what?

 

They sell nibs all the way from ultra fine to ultra broad and you can get whatever you want. Are you so fussed that the nib you want might be labelled as a M instead of an F that you refuse to buy their pens? Seems very odd to me.

Yes the same with me, if I want a Sailor fine point (but hate too thin) I purchase the Medium, and that I did. Who cares it says Medium and is Fine?

[aschup]

I assume everyone who said Cross already has a Verve and thus does not need to buy another one.

[pajaro]

Some manufacturers make pens that you try and just don't care for. Some great old makers like Parker and Sheaffer have been bought by modern conglomerates and the pens might have lost a lot of their appeal, but who knows whether those and other companies might come to be owned by a person or group who actually cares about reinventing the product and restoring the product appeal?

 

Never say never.

[Ytland]

Probably would never buy a Bexley. Their designs are just the opposite of what I look for in a pen...

 

Jack.

[Audit This]

Parker. I was talked into one and it was an awful pen.

 

Although I have two MBs which I enjoy (one a gift and one bought at a fair price), I will think twice before buying another one. I am not big on the hyper-branding.

[goldiesdad]

Please send me all your lemons ... I never met a fountain pen I didn't like ... some are better than others ... I bought an expensive pen recently and my 25 dollar pen writes better go figure ...

[lurker]

Probably the Ahab Noodle. But not because I don't like it. It was a learning pen for me and for $20 I can't complain. If the paper is decent, I don't have problems writing with it. Only time I have problems is when I use crappy paper. I just want to move on up and get something a little nicer. No point in ordering another Ahab.

[hsianloon]

sailor.

have a sailor sapporo and it writes like a rusty nail trying to masquerade as a fountain pen

[The Good Captain]

sailor.

have a sailor sapporo and it writes like a rusty nail trying to masquerade as a fountain pen

I've the broad-nibbed version and it writes like a dream. Not a nightmare either.

[MKeith]

David Oscarson, Mont Blanc, Yard O Led, Visconti.....see a theme here? :hmm1:

[wspohn]

sailor.

have a sailor sapporo and it writes like a rusty nail trying to masquerade as a fountain pen

 

 

You do yourself a disservice by jumping to conclusions based on a sample size of one. Sailor makes some of the most interesting beautifully writing fountain pens out there, yet you have denied yourself the chance of ever finding that out, based on a single pen experience.

 

Presumably if your first dating experience had been similarly unsatisfactory, you'd be writing this from a monastery (or nunnery, whichever may apply).....

[jd50ae]

MB.

Don't even like them enough to spell it out.