I regret so much having bought a VAC Mini...

[marcelo]

I changed almost half of the pen with spare parts sent from TWSBI, greased the rubber, operated it kindly, but it keeps failing to work, and leaks...

 

 

Leak.jfif Leak.jfif

[Asteris]

On 1/14/2022 at 5:10 PM, marcelo said:

I changed almost half of the pen with spare parts sent from TWSBI, greased the rubber, operated it kindly, but it keeps failing to work, and leaks...

 

 

Leak.jfif 82.94 kB · 2 downloads Leak.jfif 82.94 kB · 0 downloads

Have you tried applying silicone in the threads?

[marcelo]

8 hours ago, Asteris said:

Have you tried applying silicone in the threads?

 

Yeap. Tried everything.

[Asteris]

1 hour ago, marcelo said:

 

Yeap. Tried everything.

Well, maybe the resin is cracked. You have to wait for a more informed person to this matter to wrie their opinion.

[maclink]

The pen should simply work without any of that fuss.  I think it should be returned/replaced without all these experiments with seals and silicone.

[marcelo]

I never received that offer, what, IMO, they should have done.

[amberleadavis]

Contact them again. They should make this right.  My Vac Mini has been very reliable.

[marcelo]

12 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

Contact them again. They should make this right.  My Vac Mini has been very reliable.

 

I did it earlier today, thanks to your advice.
 

But these are their reply and my reply to them (what makes me angry is them insisting on that I would be overtightening the cap and/or grip section):

 

HI Marcelo

 

Sorry but we do not do pen exchanges for used pens.  We have replaced the grip sections and a barrel for you before.  It is not that easy to crack these parts.  As long as you are careful with not over tightening the cap or the grip section into the barrel, cracks are rarely going to develop.  As for the rubber piston, you need to make sure you grease the rubber piston and metal rod every now and then.  If you dont do this you are allowing old ink to dry it out and that will cause it to fall off.  This would be the same even if you had a piston filler.  The pens need to be maintained.

--

Philip Wang
www.twsbi.com

------------

Dear Philip,

I told you before but will tell it again: I never overtightened the cap or the grip section. And yes, you sent a new barrel and grip section. I changed both, greased the rubber piston and the metal rod (as I have done before), and kept using the pen as gently as ever, but it never stopped leaking.

Your service is great, Philip, but I definitely can't say the same about the quality of your product.

 

Cordially,

Marcelo

[amberleadavis]

Ouch.

[AmandaW]

I had similar email treatment when I bought an Eco that had an unusable nib out of the box. They were prepared to send a new nib, but expected me to pay for international shipping to get it. And fit it myself (some retailers warn that doing so on the Eco is at the user's risk and voids the warranty).

 

I went from being a fan girl pre-ordering each new Eco colour to just two purchases since (and one of those secondhand). And no longer enthusiastically recommending the brand. It felt a sad finish for me.

 

I refused to let it get me down though, I'm looking out for the new Kaweco Perkeo colours instead. Nice sturdy pens and with a long cartridge a great capacity. They make quite a rainbow in their drawer.

 

[marcelo]

8 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

Ouch.

 

That's how it is. regrettably.

[marcelo]

On 1/31/2022 at 10:36 PM, AmandaW said:

I had similar email treatment when I bought an Eco that had an unusable nib out of the box. They were prepared to send a new nib, but expected me to pay for international shipping to get it. And fit it myself (some retailers warn that doing so on the Eco is at the user's risk and voids the warranty).

 

I went from being a fan girl pre-ordering each new Eco colour to just two purchases since (and one of those secondhand). And no longer enthusiastically recommending the brand. It felt a sad finish for me.

 

I refused to let it get me down though, I'm looking out for the new Kaweco Perkeo colours instead. Nice sturdy pens and with a long cartridge a great capacity. They make quite a rainbow in their drawer.

 

 

That's how they do business, much unfortunately.

[jchch1950]

On 2/1/2022 at 8:36 AM, AmandaW said:

I had similar email treatment when I bought an Eco that had an unusable nib out of the box. They were prepared to send a new nib, but expected me to pay for international shipping to get it. And fit it myself (some retailers warn that doing so on the Eco is at the user's risk and voids the warranty).

 

I went from being a fan girl pre-ordering each new Eco colour to just two purchases since (and one of those secondhand). And no longer enthusiastically recommending the brand. It felt a sad finish for me.

 

I refused to let it get me down though, I'm looking out for the new Kaweco Perkeo colours instead. Nice sturdy pens and with a long cartridge a great capacity. They make quite a rainbow in their drawer.

 

Did you buy it from a pen store or directly from Twsbi?

[AmandaW]

11 minutes ago, jchch1950 said:

Did you buy it from a pen store or directly from Twsbi?

 

From a local online pen store. They said the only thing they would do was send me a nib to fit myself (which would void the warranty) or contact TWSBI. I contacted TWSBI.

 

This was a new pen, newly released colour, at full retail price.  I expected the retailer to replace the pen with one that wrote or fix it, their choice.

[jchch1950]

18 hours ago, AmandaW said:

 

 

 

This was a new pen, newly released colour, at full retail price.  I expected the retailer to replace the pen with one that wrote or fix it, their choice.

+1.

[tim77]

On 1/14/2022 at 4:10 PM, marcelo said:

I regret so much having bought a VAC Mini...

 

Me too.  Mine cracked almost immediately and started leaking ink.  A remplacement barrel did exactly the same.  It has managed less than two ink fills and never so much as left my desk.

 

TWSBI has offered to send more spare parts, but at a cost approaching half the entire pen.  With no reason to believe it will not immediately crack yet again, I prefer to just bin the pen.

 

What really riles me is TWSBI's claim to have solved their problems with cracking plastic.

[1nkulus]

On 2/1/2022 at 8:56 AM, marcelo said:

That's how it is. regrettably.

Sorry to hear your 'not uncommon' experience.

I would not have bothered with the brand unless you had decent local support.

Plenty of issues outlined on the forum and no shortage of other brands to consider.

 

I got rid of mine a while back and have no intention of ever recommending them.

IMO, it is just not worth the time/effort to sort lest it have/develop a fault.

 

IF you must have it, then treat it as a punt and spend what you can afford to lose.

[marcelo]

On 2/4/2022 at 8:20 AM, AmandaW said:

 

From a local online pen store. They said the only thing they would do was send me a nib to fit myself (which would void the warranty) or contact TWSBI. I contacted TWSBI.

 

This was a new pen, newly released colour, at full retail price.  I expected the retailer to replace the pen with one that wrote or fix it, their choice.

That's what I would expect too.

[marcelo]

On 2/12/2022 at 6:50 PM, 1nkulus said:

Sorry to hear your 'not uncommon' experience.

I would not have bothered with the brand unless you had decent local support.

Plenty of issues outlined on the forum and no shortage of other brands to consider.

 

I got rid of mine a while back and have no intention of ever recommending them.

IMO, it is just not worth the time/effort to sort lest it have/develop a fault.

 

IF you must have it, then treat it as a punt and spend what you can afford to lose.

 

A punt! That's what it is. 👍

[marcelo]

On 2/11/2022 at 8:11 AM, tim77 said:

 

Me too.  Mine cracked almost immediately and started leaking ink.  A remplacement barrel did exactly the same.  It has managed less than two ink fills and never so much as left my desk.

 

TWSBI has offered to send more spare parts, but at a cost approaching half the entire pen.  With no reason to believe it will not immediately crack yet again, I prefer to just bin the pen.

 

What really riles me is TWSBI's claim to have solved their problems with cracking plastic.

 

Thanks for your account, Tim. 👍

I have 12 FPs from 7 different brands and the TWSBI is the only one that never worked properly.