Fountain pens and Halloween

Okay, so, the final verdict is in: our Halloween party is a Day of the Dead party on November 7. That way we can go to Steamcon and World Fantasy.

I have a fountain pen that got busted when I let somebody else write with it and they pressed down much too hard in a weird direction. Note that I do not mean “busted to the naked eye” I just mean that the alignment of the tines had gone off a bit, enough so that it wouldn’t write. This made me very unhappy because I really liked that pen, and Waterman doesn’t make that model anymore. So I sent it to them for repairs.

Now, Waterman used to be a French company. I believe they still manufacture many of the pens in France, but the company has been bought out a zillion times, with the upshot that they used to be the kind of classy company that gave you a lifetime guarantee on their pens and now they are the kind of normal but irritating company that gives you a one year warranty or whatever.

(The return envelope says “Newell Rubbermaid”)

They sent me the pen back, supposedly as-is, claiming that since they don’t make that model anymore there are no parts for it. I wanted to scream at them. “Of course you don’t make it anymore you idiots! I sent it to you to be repaired, do you even know what that word means?”

They included a letter in which they offer 25% off list price on a new pen, but it’s not just a coupon or whatever, I have to call them or some damn thing, and the wording, “if this offer is acceptable to you please call us” is probably because they know I could take them to court over not honoring the warranty or something, but really, like I’m going to go to court over a fountain pen that, brand new and full price, was less than $200. (I honestly now can’t remember if it was a $160 pen that I paid $80 for, or an $80 pen that I paid $40 for. It was steeply discounted because it was discontinued. I never understood why things go on sale when they are discontinued, doesn’t that make them more valuable?)

Anyway, I’m not sure what I want to do about that. 25% off is pretty good, but I’m really irritated right now and fuming and thinking “what about Mont Blanc, huh? Do they still have a lifetime guarantee? Or have they also been bought out by a company that makes dish tubs?”

Also, if anyone out there has any experience actually repairing fountain pens, I would appreciate some info. Thanks!

Update: I had kind of a fit and ordered a replacement on ebay. Take that, stinky new Waterman. The non-repair adventure did get me one thing: the paperwork they sent back told me what model the pen is. A Laureat. I had forgotten the name. So I searched on the name hoping for repair advice and saw shopping listings.

If the pen gets here in a timely manner and works correctly I will stop pouting.

Update 2: If all goes well, that also means that I have a rather nice Waterman Laureat fine point fountain pen which has been permanently tweaked to be optimized for writing with the left hand. I know there are left-handed fountain pen enthusiasts out there, so if you want it, let me know.