Seeing Syngent's post about the end of Conway Stewart as we have known it reminded me of the customer service issues that both Brianw and Isaac complained about at different times over the last year or two.
Does anyone else have any good or bad things to say about the customer service of the fountain pen companies that we talk about around here?
I'll start. I have had very good customer service with Pelikan's U.S. distributor, Chartpak. There is a woman who seems to run the customer service department there named Abi. She has always been very helpful when I have worked with her on replacement parts and nib exchanges.
As much as I like Lamy products, I have only contacted their U.S. customer service once; their U.S. distributor at the time was Filofax I believe. That was to try and make an nib exchange. I was the original purchaser of the pen, had all of the paperwork saying so, and had bought the pen from a licensed distributor. The gentleman I talked to at Filofax was not very helpful to say the least. However, it is my understanding that Filofax is no longer the U.S. representative.
Finally, I have had my Mont Blanc 149 serviced once in the 10 years I have owned it. About a year ago I sent the pen to their Chicago boutique to have it repaired. It had gotten a bunch of scratches, gouges etc, and for about $80 or $90 they completely rebuilt and serviced the pen for me. When I got it back it looked brand new. The turn around was about 6 weeks I believe. I was happy with the service from the Chicago boutique and with the end result (I believe the Chicago boutique actually sent it to Texas or somewhere down south to service it). I felt the price was fair for the service I received.
Does anyone else have any good or bad things to say about the customer service of the fountain pen companies that we talk about around here?
I'll start. I have had very good customer service with Pelikan's U.S. distributor, Chartpak. There is a woman who seems to run the customer service department there named Abi. She has always been very helpful when I have worked with her on replacement parts and nib exchanges.
As much as I like Lamy products, I have only contacted their U.S. customer service once; their U.S. distributor at the time was Filofax I believe. That was to try and make an nib exchange. I was the original purchaser of the pen, had all of the paperwork saying so, and had bought the pen from a licensed distributor. The gentleman I talked to at Filofax was not very helpful to say the least. However, it is my understanding that Filofax is no longer the U.S. representative.
Finally, I have had my Mont Blanc 149 serviced once in the 10 years I have owned it. About a year ago I sent the pen to their Chicago boutique to have it repaired. It had gotten a bunch of scratches, gouges etc, and for about $80 or $90 they completely rebuilt and serviced the pen for me. When I got it back it looked brand new. The turn around was about 6 weeks I believe. I was happy with the service from the Chicago boutique and with the end result (I believe the Chicago boutique actually sent it to Texas or somewhere down south to service it). I felt the price was fair for the service I received.