Conway Stewart Belliver... Meh...

[Postscript]

The only English pen I own so far is a Yard-o-Led which is built exceptionally well and I love. I've been finding myself flirting with the CS pens lately but this review gives me serious pause. Maybe it was an outlier? Good, thorough review though. Thanks!

As an owner of YOL, CS, and Onoto I am not in the least disappointed with any of them. I am sorry that OP had bad luck with his but all of mine are without flaws. And far more appealing than my MB pen,

 

Post Script

[Paul80]

And not a single reply from Mary as to how acceptable this standard of work is to Conway Stewart or otherwise.

 

Her Silence says it all.

 

Paul

[dneal]

I don't expect anything from them really, since I haven't asked; but I did point this thread out to Mary Burke in the CS subforum. She said she copied it and forwarded it to HQ. I would think somebody would have said something by now. B. Gray himself posted to the "scratchy edison" thread (and YouTube video while it was still up). It's not like he doesn't have anything better to do.

 

Like I said earlier, the internet is a factor in today's business environment - especially for small makers and vendors. Ignore it at your peril.

 

I do wonder on what's going on at CS though. I see vendors that no longer carry them, few stocks on hand, and lack of communication (recently). One fellow looking for service got no response from CS via email and phone (although MB did post to his thread). One fellow in this thread reports his shop has yet to receive a response with regard to ordering a pen.

[Paul80]

I have been told by admin to stop posting anything negative on the subject of Conway Stewart pens so will bow out now.

 

Good luck with your pen though.

 

Bye

[SignalboxCat]

The only English pen I own so far is a Yard-o-Led which is built exceptionally well and I love. I've been finding myself flirting with the CS pens lately but this review gives me serious pause. Maybe it was an outlier? Good, thorough review though. Thanks!

 

Probably not an outlier unfortunately. I have just posted my experiences with my purchase of 3 lever-fill C-S Marlboroughs- (one in Ebonite, two in acrylic) on the C-S forum https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/239850-cs-belliver-issue/page-2 and time will tell whether or not the moderator removes my post.

 

The Ebonite one was flawless and worked out of the box, the 2 acrylic pens both had serious problems which rendered them unusable out of the box. One had a nib problem, the other had problems with nib, cap clip and lever. I have had a nib unit swap for the former and the other I returned for exchange. I have still not had the pen returned (nor any communicaiton about when this will be)- so I am seriously out of pocket and if the replacement pen does not arrive my next weekend I will be contacting my credit card supplier for a refund.

 

Caveat emptor!

 

'Cat

[senzen]

Pity, they're nice looking pens... The Clarkson reference just about kills it.

[dneal]

 

Probably not an outlier unfortunately. I have just posted my experiences with my purchase of 3 lever-fill C-S Marlboroughs- (one in Ebonite, two in acrylic) on the C-S forum https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/239850-cs-belliver-issue/page-2 and time will tell whether or not the moderator removes my post.

 

The Ebonite one was flawless and worked out of the box, the 2 acrylic pens both had serious problems which rendered them unusable out of the box. One had a nib problem, the other had problems with nib, cap clip and lever. I have had a nib unit swap for the former and the other I returned for exchange. I have still not had the pen returned (nor any communicaiton about when this will be)- so I am seriously out of pocket and if the replacement pen does not arrive my next weekend I will be contacting my credit card supplier for a refund.

 

Caveat emptor!

 

'Cat

 

 

Sorry to hear of your experience. I noticed that you have one "dripping" from the nib (from your comments in the other thread). I'll add to this review that my Belliver was initially bad for pooling ink, and writing overly wet for the first half-dozen letters or so. I had to disassemble the feed and heat set it (hot water for the plastic feed), which solved the issue.

 

It is a buttery smooth and wonderful writer now. The pity is that it should have been that way out of the box. I only spent about 30 minutes (maximum) of effort to get it that way. I'll get around to correcting the brass inserts at some point...

 

Really it's a shame, because I'd like to see this brand succeed. The lack of communication that seems apparent of late is particularly concerning.

[jonro]

I have a Belliver and, fortunately, I did not have any of the issues experienced by the OP. Mine is exceptionally well-made with looks to match and it has one of the smoothest (fine) nibs on any of my pens. My impression was that CS's QC is excellent. After reading this review, I see that it is not all that it should be. At these prices, there is no excuse for a pen being shipped to a customer with those issues. My experience with my Belliver and a Churchill leave my wanting more CS pens in my collection. Their understated excellence is exactly the aesthetic I prefer. I hope that these QC lapses are rare occurrences.