Experiences with Otto Hutt support?

[AndreasD]

I got a pen as a gift, an Otto Hutt model 04, and the situation and the gift giver means I have a lot of love for this pen as a gift. Sadly it doesn't work very well at all. It's a hard starter and after leaving it for a day or two it does not write at all without generous priming of the feed by the converter.

 

I tried to contact the company through the contact forms on their website, and have heard nothing at all. No response. At all. I tried once more with the returns/repairs form instead. No response. At all.

 

This one of the worst customer experiences I've ever encountered, any company or product. Are they this bad? Anyone have any experiences to share?

 

If it wasn't a gift I would have thrown the pen away, but I would love to think if I could someone to work on it, maybe it could become a decent writer. Suggestions on that also quite welcome. I live in Sweden, so I expect I would have to send it away out of country to get it worked on.

[Mark from Yorkshire]

They are normally good pens and reliable writers, what ink do you have in it? Also what paper are you using?

 

please can you post photos of the nib?

 

another thing to try is to thoroughly flushe the nib and feed through with clean, deionised water several times then let it thoroughly dry out and try inking it up again.

[Azulado]

First of all, the support of the brand is lacking, this should not be the case for a prestigious brand. Do you live in Germany or another country? Read this.

https://www.penexchange.de/forum_neu/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=37423&p=415522&hilit=otto+hutt+service#p415522
What checks have you done, do you know how to recognise a baby's bottom, is there space between the tines?
I have a flow problem with the Lamy Aion. It writes continuously, flawlessly, but the flow is inconsistent, it goes from balanced to wet. You notice how suddenly a lot of ink goes into the feed and the line gets darker. Just shake the pen and it happens. I put it down to the converter. A few days ago, I decided to fill the pen with Waterman Serenity blue and the behaviour has improved a lot, you can hardly notice the discontinuity anymore. I would advise you to try this ink first and then investigate further. Otto Hutt seems to be a guaranteed brand. 
By the way, I wrote to Lamy 4 days ago to explain my problem with the Aion and haven't received a reply yet. I know that the service within Germany is first class. I don't know if it's the same outside the country, we'll see. I don't even want them to fix it for me, I just want some advice on some questions. 

[AndreasD]

4 hours ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

They are normally good pens and reliable writers, what ink do you have in it? Also what paper are you using?

 

please can you post photos of the nib?

 

another thing to try is to thoroughly flushe the nib and feed through with clean, deionised water several times then let it thoroughly dry out and try inking it up again.

 

I have tried Noodlers Black and Iroshizuku Shin-kai according to my notes. I think I might have tried another one as well, as I almost always ink up new pens with Pelikan Royal Blue as the standard ink for me.

 

I've tried the pen on Tomoe River paper and on simple printer paper that usually works like a sponge and feather with most pens and inks.

 

Taking close up photos with a phone camera is not something I'm very good at. I have attached a few images that where not just blur and out of focus. Any specific angle or details you'd look for?

[AndreasD]

4 hours ago, Azulado said:

First of all, the support of the brand is lacking, this should not be the case for a prestigious brand. Do you live in Germany or another country? Read this.

https://www.penexchange.de/forum_neu/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=37423&p=415522&hilit=otto+hutt+service#p415522
 

 

No to sound too rude, but did you even read my first post? It clearly states that I do not live in Germany. Telling me a forum post about support works well in Germany is not very helpful.

[Azulado]

1 hour ago, AndreasD said:

No to sound too rude, but did you even read my first post? It clearly states that I do not live in Germany. Telling me a forum post about support works well in Germany is not very helpful.

Indeed, it was a somewhat quick reading that overlooked that detail. As to whether or not it is useful to know that they are better served in Germany, I think it is important for anyone who wants to buy this brand outside the country and has not bought the pen in a guaranteed shop, i.e. for someone who is reading us. 

6 hours ago, AndreasD said:

If it wasn't a gift I would have thrown the pen away

This does not speak well of you as a person. Then you take your frustration out on others. I have given you other advice. 

[Lam1]

I have no horse on this race. But @Azulado was trying to be helpful and, indeed, your reply was rude.

As a rule, when looking for help, it pays to be polite.

 

Besides, I believe Sweden, like Germany, is part of the EU, isn’t it? Thus it seems to me that experiences with customer support in Germany may be relevant in this case.

[Mark from Yorkshire]

@AndreasD from the photo you have posted all looks normal it would interesting to see a direct end on view of the nib and a flat one of the feed and slit. Try flushing it through with a little washing up liquid, but make sure it is very thoroughly cleaned out before inking up with plenty of clean water.

 

i would expect the Pilot ink to be wet and flow well. I would also expect feathering, bleed and spreading of that ink on copy paper. 

[AndreasD]

15 hours ago, Azulado said:

 

This does not speak well of you as a person. Then you take your frustration out on others. I have given you other advice. 

(this replied on the quote "If it wasn't a gift I would have thrown the pen away ")

 

Note that this was my initial post, not said in relation to you or anyone else in this thread. It was my intent to show how severe issues I have with this pen, i.e. it's practically useless as a writing instrument. It sure is a bit frustrating, but does not relate to your advice. My reaction to your advice was not frustration, just confusion. But, just to be clear, thanks for your input.

 

If you mean one should not throw away pens, I wouldn't mind sending off pens I have given up upon to people who want them. No worries!

[AndreasD]

On 11/9/2024 at 8:51 PM, Mark from Yorkshire said:

@AndreasD from the photo you have posted all looks normal it would interesting to see a direct end on view of the nib and a flat one of the feed and slit. Try flushing it through with a little washing up liquid, but make sure it is very thoroughly cleaned out before inking up with plenty of clean water.

 

i would expect the Pilot ink to be wet and flow well. I would also expect feathering, bleed and spreading of that ink on copy paper. 

 

I have now tried a few times to take a shot head on, but I have constantly failed. I have no idea how to make a phone camera focus that closely. Any hints by more experienced photographers? Try to take a snaphot through a loupe?

[dms525]

I have been considering buying an Otto Hutt Model 04 but have no experience to date. However, I do have two thoughts: First, if you are comfortable asking your friend where he or she purchased the pen, if it is from a reputable, authorized dealer, they may tune or exchange the nib for you. Worth a try.

 

Second, I have been told by an authorized dealer in the EU that the Model 04 uses screw-in JoWo nibs. So buying another nib and swapping it in may be the simplest solution. If the pen has a steel nib, this is not too expensive. If gold, it is obviously more costly.

 

Good luck! And do let us know how this turns out for you.

 

Happy writing!

 

David

[AndreasD]

11 hours ago, dms525 said:

I have been considering buying an Otto Hutt Model 04 but have no experience to date. However, I do have two thoughts: First, if you are comfortable asking your friend where he or she purchased the pen, if it is from a reputable, authorized dealer, they may tune or exchange the nib for you. Worth a try.

 

Second, I have been told by an authorized dealer in the EU that the Model 04 uses screw-in JoWo nibs. So buying another nib and swapping it in may be the simplest solution. If the pen has a steel nib, this is not too expensive. If gold, it is obviously more costly.

 

Good luck! And do let us know how this turns out for you.

 

Happy writing!

 

David

 

I have asked. It was bought in a book store that sometimes bring in some odd piece of stationary or pen. They mostly sell Lamy Safaris, so they don't have a workshop or any knowledge, really. It's an interesting suggestion to swap the nib, though, instead of somehow fixing it. I will consider that.

 

I have now taken the nib and feed apart and washed them extensively (again) and inked the pen with some MB ink this time. Maybe it suddenly start working when you disassemble and assemble again? It has been known to happen.

[AndreasD]

I have now let the pen sit since Wednesday, and it writes fine. Maybe taking it apart and assembling it again, did something? Maybe the extra rinsing did something? I have yet to try the pen with the same ink I had tried before, but so far it behaves.

 

It's almost funny, that yesterday I finally got a reply from Otto Hutt, suggesting I take the pen to a "Globus branch near you". Who? Also, no suggestion on how to find one, even though I had provided the details of where I live. To make it even better they referred to my "defective ballpoint pen"!?

 

I have only ever had contact with one pen brand for support before, TWSBI, and the Otto Hutt experience is really not flattering in comparison. Not confidence inspiring.

 

At least the pen looks nice, and right now seems to work ok. Thanks for the suggestions and feedback! I can look at a nib, but have no knowledge to say what it means that I see, so thanks for that. Also good to know at least the Otto Hutt support works in Germany.

 

Take care.

[dms525]

2 hours ago, AndreasD said:

I have now let the pen sit since Wednesday, and it writes fine. Maybe taking it apart and assembling it again, did something? Maybe the extra rinsing did something? I have yet to try the pen with the same ink I had tried before, but so far it behaves.

 

It's almost funny, that yesterday I finally got a reply from Otto Hutt, suggesting I take the pen to a "Globus branch near you". Who? Also, no suggestion on how to find one, even though I had provided the details of where I live. To make it even better they referred to my "defective ballpoint pen"!?

 

I have only ever had contact with one pen brand for support before, TWSBI, and the Otto Hutt experience is really not flattering in comparison. Not confidence inspiring.

 

At least the pen looks nice, and right now seems to work ok. Thanks for the suggestions and feedback! I can look at a nib, but have no knowledge to say what it means that I see, so thanks for that. Also good to know at least the Otto Hutt support works in Germany.

 

Take care.

 

I'm happy to hear your pen is writing well. Maybe it just needed the cleaning you did.

 

I have ordered the Otto Hutt Type 04 I have been considering. I ordered it with a EF nib. I am prepared to swap nibs for a custom-ground Cursive Italic JoWo nib, of which I have many. 

 

David

[dms525]

My Otto Hutt Style 04 arrived. I ordered this one with a steel Broad, thinking to have it ground to cursive italic. To my surprise, the nib is a #5 JoWo. I had assumed it was a #6. I do have a few #5 JoWo nibs. I swapped in a 14Kt gold B that was ground to cursive italic. I haven't tried the pen with the Otto Hutt B yet.

 

David

[AndreasD]

I would love to hear if your #5 JoWo is as bad as my pen seem to be, or if it's better.

 

I picked up my pen again today, having forgot about it. Once again it was a hard starter. Either I got a really bad one, or this is not a good pen/brand.