Bought A Fake Safari...

[LeRoiSoleil]

from Amazon in late December. I can no longer return it. Is there any point in complaining to Amazon? Would it be better to inform Lamy directly, or would that be pointless?

 

Is the genuine charcoal Safari painted, or is it molded in textured metallic gray? The fake is definitely painted.

Edited March 7, 2015 by LeRoiSoleil

[rochester21]

No photo of the culprit? Anyway, i had the impression that both the original as well as the fakes are made from colored plastic, without them being lacquered/painted.

Edited March 7, 2015 by rochester21

[Charles Rice]

Would it be better to inform Lamy directly, or would that be pointless?

 

 

 

Totally pointless

[LeRoiSoleil]

No photo of the culprit? Anyway, i had the impression that both the original as well as the fakes are made from colored plastic, without them being lacquered/painted.

Looking more closely, it's textured dark gray plastic painted metallic gray. Difficult to photograph, but hopefully you can see where the paint is coming off.

[LeRoiSoleil]

A couple more photos.

[thatotherguy1]

My charcoal Safari isn't metallic and it isn't painted. It was molded from a charcoal grey plastic with a fine matte finish. It looks like you got a bad one...

[migla9]

founfain pen? Hmmm...

[FayeV]

A couple more photos. 2015-03-07 15.48.36.jpg2015-03-07 15.45.32.jpg

 

I recently came across a fake Lamy Safari. It had the same "founfain pen" misspelling and the Lamy logo on the nib closer to the nib tip. I enumerated some of my other observations in this post:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/285327-are-there-any-fake-lamy-safaris/

I noticed the differences right away because I already own several real ones, but I'm sure this fake would fool a lot of people who are buying it as their first Safari.

I have received genuine Lamy Safaris in the past, purchased from Amazon and reputable fountain pen retailers. It's just bad luck running into such a seller.

[LeRoiSoleil]

It's close enough that I had no reason to think there was a problem as it was my first Lamy. Now I need to get myself a real charcoal Safari.

[TheRealScubaSteve]

Give Amazon a shout and explain that you just discovered it's a fake. They may opt to help. If not, you've lost nothing more.

[LeRoiSoleil]

True.

[alaskazimm]

I also bought a charcoal grey Safari from Amazon last month that shows some of the telltales from above and from FayeV's thread. I'm thinking it's also a fake. I've noticed two other things about it - 1. It's an EF nib but it's almost a sloppy wet writer. The line is bigger than my M Safari (bought from Goulet). This is with both converter (with Noodler's 5 O'clock Shadow) and the cartridge that came with it; 2. the nib is very tight on the feed. I pulled the nib off and tried to use another nib (also from Goulet) on it, but the genuine nib is so loose that it falls off the feed.

[TheRealScubaSteve]

Is it Amazon selling these or a third party?

[alaskazimm]

Mine was from National Deals USA fulfilled by Amazon.

 

Also in looking closer at the nib, I see the slit is cut from the center of the tip to one side of the relief hole. Either this is a fairly good fake or it was made on a Friday.

Edited March 8, 2015 by alaskazimm

[Mike 59]

Another difference I can see between the real and fake nibs, is that the breather hole should be in line across the nib with the corners on each side of the nib.

The red line in my photo shows what I am trying to describe.

The fake nibs have the breather hole further forward than this.

[LeRoiSoleil]

Mine was from a third party seller as well. It gushed ink when I first got it. There was a small space between the nib and the feed which caused this. The tip was also scratchy from the tines being out of alignment. I was able to adjust it so it is a decent writer. At least I learned a lot about tuning a nib with this fake! I also bought a Lamy nib from Goulet and tried putting it on, but it didn't even come close to fitting -- same as alaskazimm; It was loose enough that pointing the nib toward the ground would have caused it to fall off. It did make me have serious doubts about Lamy's quality, but the other (verified genuine) Safari I got is excellent. It's one of the most reliable pens I have.

Edited March 9, 2015 by LeRoiSoleil

[FayeV]

Is it Amazon selling these or a third party?

 

Mine was from a 3rd party seller, OfficeSupplyandThings, fulfulled by Amazon. Right now they have zero items listed in their store. Smells like a fly-by-night business. I'm guessing they won't resurface again with any new products in their store. I couldn't find a way to rate the seller, and at this point it would probably be pointless if they've disappeared for good. And I hesitate to write a blanket "this is a fake" review for the pen since it is sold by many sellers and I'm sure some of the other sellers are selling genuine products (I've bought genuine ones on Amazon in the past).

 

I didn't even bother to ink up my fake to see how it wrote.

[wastelanded]

I bought a fake Safari on eBay. A turquoise for $10, I kind of knew what I was getting into. But I was curious. The plastic is more brittle, the body impressions aren't as deep, but it's a disturbingly good copy. And I've owned far, far worse F nibs.

 

The feed, although of a rougher material, even has the removable cover over the ink channel.

 

And yes, it is pointless to notify Lamy.

 

ETA: "founfain pen" is never, ever a good sign.

Edited March 11, 2015 by wastelanded

[dunivanb]

I think I have one of these as well. It was my first safari. Not a bad pen though, mine actually writes quite well.

 

No paint peeling either, it's very smooth and noticeably lighter than my vista. The only big flag I've found was the converter, it is really cheap compared to my legit vista.

 

I was going to buy another one that's genuine, but I think my next pen will instead be the alstar in black and I'll use this as an everyday carry.

[ParkerQuink]

I am just seeing this for the first time now, and I can hardly believe it! This is crazy! Why would people make fakes of a ~$30 fountain pen...of all things! These things really must be a hot commodity! In a sense...I'm glad to know that there are enough FP fans out there!