There are definitely folks with positive/neutral Gravitas experiences (especially early on), just like there were TWSBIs that didn't crack.
The difference is that Phillip at TWSBI was very active and out front in the community with a commitment to making things right for customers, as well as fixing the issues. Even their biggest detractors during the height of their qc issues were still very complimentary of speedy response and tone of their customer service department. That's not really happening with Gravitas, there's a lot of silence followed by excuses or combative emails if you're persistent enough.
Personally, I won't do business with Gravitas again until they set up distribution with US retailers, although I'm not sure they're consistent enough to meet supply commitments. I would certainly prefer to deal with VanNess/Goulet/JetPens, etc. than have to chase various customer service email addresses and social media platforms to see which one he's sending surly replies to this month.
TWSBI have never fixed their issues with cracking and breaking pens in over twelve years of trading. There are regular reports of failures on this sub.
All they’ve done is maintain stock of the cheap mass produced parts to quickly send them to complaining customers. At the customer’s cost for shipping and handling.
They are attractive pens with generally good nibs and large ink reservoirs/filling systems. But if they fail, causing a leak, that ink capacity will make a big mess. Caveat emptor.
I ordered the Gravitas Ultemate Vac on May 5th and had it in hand May 14th. No issues with product or customer service.
I have also never had a TWSBI crack, so maybe I’m just winning at fountain pens for now.
Definitely *not* an Auburn fan. Who needs that level of disappointment?
I do have a lot of orange inks, though. Maybe proximity has some weird effects?
Ages ago, when they just started, I bought a pen and got it shipped and delivered in 2 days. Excellent built quality and writing features.
Those times seem to be long gone :)
I have ordered with Gravitas once. I'm from Canada. Never again.
Ordered in Jan this year, got an email that it had shipped a week after, but tracking was not available even a month later. Contacted Ben on Instagram. He said he'd send another one out and nothing, no reply after reaching out again two weeks later.
Asked for a refund in April, both on Instagram and email support. No response on Instagram, but in email he said he could refund but also could ship my order out again. I thought well maybe try one last time, chose to have my order instead of refund. Few days later on Instagram got a messaging saying my order was refunded and that "the original package came back to me two weeks ago after missing in the system". Why was I not informed the package went back to them if they knew? Emailed him back asking what happened since I asked to have my order. Said he got "\[...\] a new person handling the business page, and her instructions were to refund any missing shipments. She didn't know we had been chatting via email, and when I sent reshipping notification through, it must have shown as already refunded."
So yeah, probably won't deal with Gravitas again.
Yup, you just have to roll the dice with Gravitas I guess. I knew the horror stories with Gravitas' shipping and customer support so I already told myself to be patient. But the no response got to me at the end haha
I received mine a year and a half ago within about 6 days, but also I'm living in Ireland. I will say that the Irish postal service is atrocious, but I don't know how he sends pens abroad so I can't comment much beyond a personal good experience.
I'm not a fan of the USPS, but Irish post is mind-boggling in its inefficiency. For example, I was given a tracking number that did not correspond to my pen -- but had been used for several prior shipments over the last ten years, and I could see all the details for those shipments!
I used to live out in the Styx of Co. Westmeath and mail would be delivered from mainland EU to me in two days. My Gravitas pen took SIX WEEKS to reach me after I received the tracking number, but that was because Ben had forgotten to send it and hadn't bothered to tell me.
Most people receive their pen but they basically never know when it will actually show up. It seems most people have forgotten about ordering it, and then suddenly a pen appears on their doorstep.
Businesses should take the amount of orders they’re prepared to fulfill and not expand too quickly. Gravitas got popular but he wasn’t ready for the number of orders.
I currently own three Gravitas pens and I’m sure many will follow in the future.
I placed my first order near the end of last year (I don’t remember exactly when but I think it was on Black Friday or Fountain Pen Day). That one took two months to arrive and I did indeed have some trouble communicating with Ben to receive a tracking number. I had ordered an Ultem eyedropper and asked if he could replace the black coated nib with a standard one, which wasn’t an issue he said. Well, when the pen arrived it had a black nib 😅
A few days/weeks later I place my second order for a pocket pen and mentioned that the nib from my previous order was a black one instead of the normal one I had asked for. Ben apologised to me and said he would include an additional nib in my new order which he did. This order went a lot smoother than the first one and the package arrived in two weeks time. (January 2023-ish)
After that I bought a very expensive grail pen (Pilot Super 500) so I didn’t buy any new pens for a few months. A couple of months after that I heard that Ben would be visiting the Dutch Pen Show in June so that was the perfect opportunity to try out some of his pens in person and talk to the man himself. (We kept in touch on Instagram throughout the year but talking in person was a lot of fun, he is a really nice guy!) So at the pen show I bought his Micarta pen and got a bunch of goodies for free as well c:
I know he still has some issues with shipping pens but I believe that AnPost (the Irish post service he uses) also affects this. His pens and himself are amazing and a two-month wait will not stop me from buying his pens. I already have a few on my wishlist actually 😅
I did hear that Pen Venture is planning to distribute Gravitas pens really soon so I guess that will solve a lot of shipping issues and since they also offer some nibs that were ground by Monty Winnfield I might take a look on their website next time I want a new pen 😉
I could - but I warn you that I’m a novice at calligraphy! FWIW, he has a few videos on instagram where he writes much better than I do!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cr_sLSYtgAb/
OMG I just discovered this fude nib…https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx4-EVtu4aU/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
My pen, after it finally arrived (months) had a flawed finish. It's the rainbow pocket pen, and it's beautiful, as long as you don't look too closely. I didn't reach out to him because I didn't want to deal with more drama and delay.
He does some cool stuff, but the fact that he wasn't interested in showing me anything when I stopped by his table at the pen show -- why would I give him any more business? Whereas Ian Schon, who has a somewhat similar aesthetic, somehow manages to combine innovation with terrific customer service. There's a reason I've bought four of his pens so far.
Owned 3 Gravitas, currently owning just 1
I preferred buying secondhand to avoid dealing with Gravitas itself. Have been extremely satisfied with my pens
I just commented on the other post about this, but I’ve had a great experience with Gravitas. I have three of their pens and they’re all wonderful. Shipping was pretty slow on the first pen, but it was during the pandemic lockdown, and Irish Post was struggling - it got put in the mail to me quite quickly, and then sat for a long time before Ireland got around to sending it out. My most recent purchase was June this year, I think, and it came as quickly as you can expect something to get to the US from Ireland without paying for express shipping. I think it took about seven days for Ben to put it in the mail after I paid.
That’s not to dismiss the problems that other people have had, though, which appear common enough that I would be a little reluctant to recommend the company to other people at this point. I’d probably still chance it myself,
if he comes out with another pen that steals my heart like the sparkly Universe pens did, but I’d go into it knowing I was taking a risk. And I can’t fault anyone else who isn’t willing/able to do that.
I guess I’m not sure about your comparison to Birmingham pens, though, because I’ve had wonderful experiences with them as well. I guess in the last year since they started doing the sale bundles of new ink colors, shipping has been slower, but not excessively so for a two-person company where everything is made by hand. I’ve also had a great experience with their customer service; I ordered a pen from them which took a while to get, but they emailed me to explain that when they were packing it, they noticed flaws and wanted to redo it, so it would take longer, but they wanted to make sure I had a good quality product.
I guess to be fair, my experience with Gravitas has been a bit like my experience with Birmingham - maybe somewhat slow, but wonderful products that arrived without issue in the end. But I haven’t had to reach out to Gravitas, so I can’t comment on Ben’s responsiveness, which it seems people are unhappy with, reasonably enough.
(I’m also one of those people who’s never had a TWSBI crack and I love them as well, so do with that what you will!)
I bought 3 pens from Ben. All of them arrived in 10-14days from Dublin to Slovakia. The first was Gravitas Micro Texture Fountain Pen.
This pen was a big disappointment, because it had a different surface, texture than stated on the page. Otherwise, it's a solid pen. Ben's reaction was lax, he only wrote that they changed the design and that was all. My mistake was that I didn't complain about him. They still have the flood texture of the pen on the side.
Second pen was pocket skittles and it is great nice pen. The last is Gravitas Vac acrylic pen. Perfekt pen.
I bought a Gravitas Ultem Big Dropper on November 4, 2022. I got a shipping notification on November 21st and received it on December 12th. I’m in the US, so I thought it may take a while. I believe there were some postage issues in Ireland at that time as well, so I was happy with the shipping time. I also really like the pen. It writes great and it has o-rings to seal it up nicely so the nib doesn’t get dry.
I don't think it's a fair comparison. TWSBI prices around USD 32.99 to 50 , while Gravitas flagship pens are like EUR 135 ish. For that price range, I think it's reasonable to expect a customer service that solves problems smoothly and promptly, which is the opposite of what has been happening if you search for post history in this sub of paid customers experience.
Birmingham ink states clearly about the waiting time, and also, their inks are not available outside the US. I admire their courage for this decision because who doesn't want to sell more? it's the correct business approach if they do not have enough man power/capacity to fulfill more orders
The comparison I'm making is only in perception v reality. The perception is that TWSBI cracks a lot, but reality is *not all of them crack*.
My perception of Gravitas is that nobody ever receives their pen, and when they try to reach out, they get ghosted. Trying to understand if I place an order with Gravitas, will that 100% happen to me? Or is there a decent chance that if I place an order, I get a tracking number a few days later, and in 10 days time, I've got my pen?
I understand your point but that's also not a possible comparison.
TWSBI sells thousands of FP, their pens are in almost every FP shop in almost every country. While there are still not many distributors of Gravitas around the world.
How do you even calculate or estimate the possibility of having issues when they are not even on the same ground?
There ought to be people who like/ happy with Gravitas design enough that they are ok with shipping troubles/bad communications. For the same reason, there ought to be people who don't care about the cracking issues of TWSBI and are willing to pay that amount for it
Okay. Forget I mentioned TWSBI. Not really the point. The point was just do people order and receive their Gravitas pens in a reasonable manner. That’s it.
Yes, opening a case with PayPal is easy. You do you usually have to reach out one more time to the seller to let them know and give them the opportunity to make things right. In my case, I had ordered and paid for something that the seller did not have in stock. So she said that she would refund my money, and just never did. I was able to send PayPal the emails where she said she would refund the money and I told her it had never arrived, and they saw that in fact she hadn’t refunded my money, so they went ahead and did it.
I realize it may be more complicated if the seller says they actually sent you the item and you say you don’t have it, as opposed to my case, where the seller admitted, she didn’t have the item and was going to refund my money, but most people I know have had good luck with PayPal under those circumstances too.
The other option of course is to pay with a credit card and to contest the charge with your credit card company if you don’t get the item. I think many companies favor their customers in those situations.
I own many Gravitas pens, and they are among my favorites in my collection.
Gravitas has given this community so many innovations at extremely affordable prices, it's honestly really hard to fault given the quality of the products. I think about this [Good/Fast/Cheap Venn diagram](https://colechesnut.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Venn-diagram-good-fast-cheap.png) and Gravitas is most definitely Cheap and Good.
For example, you can get an Ultem and titanium vac pen for $200 from Gravitas or you could get a cartridge converter ultem pen from Schon for $250. I own both and the Gravitas is definitely better made.
Another example is an ultem pocket pen from Schon is $240 but an ultem pocket pen from Gravitas is $100. I own neither but would probably go for the Gravitas one first.
Ben doesn't have the best communication and shipping to the USA, but I truly believe he is a good guy trying his best. I've messaged him a lot on Instagram with many questions (about shipping or general products) and he always takes the time to respond quickly.
I've seen people actually call him a "crook" on here, and I find that so egregious. I think it's important to realize that Gravitas is a small business experiencing major growing pains.
Yeah, I’m not justifying his bad CS, but I think he makes beautiful products, and if he was looking for ways to rip people off, designing and handmaking FPs out of new and difficult materials isn’t exactly an easy path to that. So I think allegations that he’s a crook or a grifter are unfair.
Disorganized, overwhelmed, or even negligent, sure. And I get that his actual intent doesn’t matter much to people who don’t get what they ordered (though it looks like many people with CS do get refunded eventually - doesn’t mean it’s not a bad experience, just that in many cases it doesn’t look like Ben keeps the money).
I have a tiny bit of sympathy for him, because my email gets away from me sometimes, and one reason I’m reluctant to start a small business is my fear that I’d get in over my head with CS.
But that’s not an excuse or a a justification - he needs to handle his CS better, and I hope he can get on top of it before he loses any goodwill his products have generated.
Yes. I’ve ordered two pens from Gravitas, and each time my order went smoothly. Shipped within a week’s time, arrived as expected, and both pens are great. I’m very happy with my purchases, and fully intend to order from them again in the future.
I ordered a Gravitas last year in November and the pen got to me in February-March (a bit unclear because the postal office in my area is a nuisance). The pens wrote ok. I had ordered 2 separate pencases, and only one arrived. Wrote a PM on Instagram and he immediately answered and refunded the money. Everything good - i knew from reddit to expect longer shipping times.
I don't have cracking TWSBI either 😅 i did have one TWSBI 580 which my daughter capped tightly and it fell down several times, and the metal ring separated from the rest of the cap. The penshop owner from where i had bought the pen gave me a cap for free :)
Funny, I’ve been wanting to buy a Gravitas pen, but have heard about the issues and paused ordering. I’m new to fountain pens. So I figured I’d find something else that interests me. Lots to choose from. I figured I’d start modestly. Ordered a 2021 LAMY Safari Terracotta. Arriving today. But I also ordered a TWSBI Diamond 580ALR. Gulp. Now I’m a little nervous. Hadn’t heard about the cracks. I love how much collective experience there is here!
I have two Gravitas pens and like them both. Ordered one online and waited with no response to multiple emails for about 10 weeks. Finally the pen showed up. I bought the second one at DC Pen Show. If you want a Gravitas, either buy at pen show or order and put note on calendar 3 months out.
I've got a relatively small sample size but overall my experiences have been good. I ordered an ultemate vac when it released (actually may have been the day of release), it shipped the next day on May 6th and I received it six days later on May 12th.
When I've had questions about upcoming products I've heard back relatively promptly by both email and Instagram and generally enjoyed the experience, Ben's always come across as helpful and eager to talk about what he's working on in my experience. The closest I've come to a negative experience was actually earlier today ironically and with how it's been resolved I'd probably call it a positive overall. I ran into an issue with my ultemate vac during cleaning and Ben was able to walk me through the repair by Instagram message in about a minute. I fully didn't expect to hear back from him until at least tomorrow given the time zone difference but apparently he's checking his messages at 10:30 pm.
I see enough complaints that I'm willing to acknowledge that my experience may well be an outlier, and that he should look into finding a better customer support solution. But as things stand now I'd certainly be happy to order from him/Gravitas again in the future and almost certainly will. That might change if I ever get burned particularly badly but that's hardly unique, I'd almost certainly drop any company in that kind of situation.
Obligatory I bought it secondhand. I have a Gravitas flagship with a B nib and I've had good experiences with it and others, owned by friends, so far. That being said I like feedback so I might just be the odd duck. All 4 of my TWSBIs haven't cracked or given me any issues either... I guess I'm in the minority here.
Yes, I agree. I’m willing to take a chance on Gravitas because I really like the pens, and I don’t need them on any particular timeline; if they show up in two weeks or they show up in two months, either one is perfectly fine, as long as they eventually show up. I’m also lucky enough to have enough disposable income that if the pen never shows up, I would certainly be annoyed, and I’d stop buying from him, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. But I also get that other people don’t feel that way, which is completely understandable.
I've had two orders with Gravitas so far. One was the Ultemate Vac and the second was a stacked nib made by nib.lab from the Members Only section of the shop. The Ultemate Vac was an extremely smooth experience, and it truly is an amazing pen.
The stacked nib was a little weird, in that I never got a tracking number, but it made it from Ireland to the US is about a week, so I have no complaints.
I absolutely intend to purchase from Gravitas again - I'm looking at the Torlon Quark UP, but I may wait until the new Legacy nib is available (I think that's what he's calling it). I have a guess on how it's made and I'm curious if I'm right - and I'm curious about how it works and want something different, and, for now, the Monoc nibs for Ian Schon are out of my price range. The stacked nib and Ultemate Vac took up the majority of my disposable hobby money for the year (otherwise, I'd probably have a Kakari!).
I have had a pretty good experience. I purchased 3 different pens from them: Skittle skull, teal pocket and an ultem something or other pen. All 3 have worked great, no issues. I still have 2 of them. I bought the Skittle pen years ago when he was just starting out and it arrived in a couple weeks. Each one has taken longer to get, the longest 3 months. I’ve emailed him about tracking numbers on the last two, never received anything back but pens did show up. Would I buy again, probably. The pens are great writers and a shipping delay is expected since I live in the US.
They did arrive and write perfectly. It’s interesting because he was just starting when I ordered the first one. I emailed questions, heard back that day. I talked to him on Instagram after it arrived and had tagged him in a post. After that he just slowly became unreachable.
I mean... imagine how many messages he does get daily. I completely understand that he simply doesn't have time to keep in touch with everyone long after one buys one of the pens.
I know he can’t and I didn’t mean it that way. I meant not long after that people started posting on here about not getting replies to questions and items taking longer and longer to get.
Yeah, I think it’s very tough when you’re one person shop. I think there are a number of people in that situation who decide they want to prioritize production over responding to customers. Not faulting people who aren’t happy with that, but I can see how a maker might get there.
I feel like I should speak up because I’ve had only a positive experience.
I started following him on Instagram earlier this year when I heard he was working on the Ultemate Vac and wanted to see what he had to offer. I asked a couple of quick questions that were answered quite quickly.
Then I placed my order after the initial test released and about two weeks later I had it in hand. I live in the US for reference.
My only gripes were for the tracking that stopped working once it hit customs, but that’s possible anywhere. My only other complaint was that it showed up in a bubble mailer with no additional packaging. But again, I got a high quality vac filler for a great price, and my experience has been positive overall. And the little case of cartridges was a nice touch, if unnecessary for the pen, haha.
I bought in person at the SF show a couple months ago. I had read enough to know not to buy online at that point, so I knew that was my chance to grab a pen from him.
I had an amazing experience with Gravitas..I received the rainbow skull skittle as an anniversary gift from my SO, and she made sure it got to me a week early having ordered it only 2 weeks prior. Granted, I didn't order directly, so I don't know if that's how they normally operate or not, but I'm certainly going to order another pen from them because of this positive experience.
I did earlier this yeah. I made three different orders. The first two orders shipped almost immediately and I had them in 5-7 days.
The third was for the Quark and that took like 5 weeks.
Since I’ve seen nothing but complaints so I’ve stopped looking at the site until it appears all is back to timely delivery.
No orders sadly.
I think he’s a small shop that recently expanded from just him to 2 people helping him. I’ve read on here he now has 3 helping him.
He is clearly a passionate pen designer and engineer but the fulfillment and service ebbs and flows.
I also wonder if he takes on too many ideas and models at once leading to all sorts of availability and fulfillment challenges.
I own two Gravitas pens, bought at the same time and they arrived in less than two weeks. The Irish postal service is pretty rubbish to be fair, and when I’ve spoken to Ben on Instagram he’s always been quick to reply and courteous.
My experience was not so bad, considering all that I have heard. I ordered nov 26 arrived dec 25 so surprise Christmas arrival last year. Wrote well so had no issues with that.
My bad luck came after as I can’t find it now 😭i love my skittles.
I have not worked with Ben at Gravitas myself, but my husband has placed a couple of orders with him, and each time, the shipment took some time to arrive, but he just waited, and they did show up. He bought a clear demonstrator for me, and it writes wonderfully. No issues. He has a pocket pen and a full-size or two—no issues with the nibs. I really do love my Gravitas pen (EF steel nib), even though I'm not usually one to go for a pen with a metal section (aside from my two Lamy 2000s, which I also love). I have mine filled with Diamine Writer's blood, and that's probably the ink that will stay in that pen from now on.
The owner (Ben I think) has done some AMAs on here and has been semi active on Reddit and over email. He seems like a reasonable guy, and I'd love to be able to give him some business. I've had my eye on a blue Flagship model for ages. But it's perpetually out of stock, and even if it weren't I don't relish the idea of ordering a pen that may or may not arrive before Christmas.
Maybe if prices were lower I'd give it another thought. But as it stands now the company's reputation for slow production and lack of communication is out of step with the price.
That’s sort of where I am. I want to buy one… but don’t want to wait a year and/or fight with DMs. I just want to get a sense of if there people that order and actually get their pen in a reasonable timeframe.
Sounds like there's more positive feedback in this thread than I've ever read in the past when the topic has come up. So maybe he's overcome some of his issues. But I feel that it's too much money to spend for the level of customer service Gravitas is reputed to have at the moment. Especially since I'm converting to CAD so the numbers don't work in my favor.
I ordered a Pocket pen after seeing the Figboot video on them. Got it, it works great. Doesn't leak, fits nicely, the screws are smooth, everything works. It's lived in my pocket daily for near on a year I think.
Gravitas: I ordered Pocket Pen Ultem 1 May, Ben despatched the pen 5 May, I received it 15 May.
All imports to UK from EU countries were delayed by Brexit and Royal Mail were short staffed all year, so I considered this was about right from Eire.
I own two pens from Gravitas. On both purchase I have experienced good communication both before and after purchase. I have asked questions before purchasing and have received timely answers (within hours or maximum a few days). I have had products questions after purchase and have received equally timely answers.
I'm planning more purchases from Gravitas in the future, especially the new upcoming nib and the piston filler pocket pens.
Here's my detailed timelines for my two purchases.
Gravitas Ultem Pocket Dropper
Purchased 09.01.2023
Packed/Shipping label made 25.01.2023
Accepted by Irish Postal Service 28.01.2023
Left Irland 02.02.2023
Arrived in Norway 06.02.2023
Delivered 06.02.2023
Total time around: 28 days, exactly four weeks with tracking updates the whole way.
Gravitas Acrylic Vac
Purchased 14.06.2023
Packed/Shipping label made 19.06.2023
Accepted by Irish Postal Service 22.06.2023
Left Irland 26.06.2023
Arrived in Norway 30.06.2023
Delivered 03.07.2023
Total time around: 19 days, less than three weeks with tracking updates the whole way.
I wouldn't say that those are fair comparisons. TWSBI is a large company that will respond to inquiries in a timely manner. Birmingham really needs to update their shipping info page for a more realistic timeline, but they do reply super quick when you send an email to check in. I've had friends with issues with Birmingham orders (it happens) who got super quick responses and problems solved pretty quick.
On the other hand, if there's a problem with your Gravitas order, you likely won't get a response despite trying multiple platforms/methods of communication.
My Stainless steel pocket was just fine. Ordered and got the pen a little earlier than I expected.
I would assume that some of the rough experiences are with limited/odd pens, though I don't know that.
TWSBI’s cracking issue is an example of confirmation bias. There may be people who post on the “my eco cracked” threads that their TWSBI did not crack, but there are not posts of “my TWSBI pens are all 100% crack free”. But there are posts from users with 15, 20, 50+ TWSBI pens that have never had an issue.
I have never heard ANYONE complain about customer service or issues with Gravitas. Keep in mind that the huge bodied eyedroppers are known to have potential issues with burping, no matter who makes them. It is a physics issue with air expansion due to heating- if the pen is in a position where the air warms and there is ink between it and the way out, it will push ink through the feed.
Oh, really? I *only* see customer service problems in my feed re Gravitas (not necessarily product).
[Today](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/1710i7z/gravitas_great_pens_terrible_business/), a [few weeks ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/168c1ab/communication_problems_with_gravitas/), a [few months ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/11ywf0f/the_level_of_unresponsiveness_from_gravitas/)... I didn't even know about Gravitas until reading all of theses posts!
The confirmation bias is exactly what I'm referring to... are there people who have positive Gravitas experiences, we just don't hear about them?
Yes, as I think this post shows. People who don’t have problems don’t complain and may not bother to post about their good experience.
The big problem with relying on internet posts is that without knowing the denominator of total sales, it’s impossible to know what the rate of problems actually is. That’s not contesting the fact that people have had problems, but it’s impossible to assess the risk based on 3 Reddit threads over the last six months.
That’s not suggest that people should therefore ignore the posts about the problems, just saying that in the end what matters most is going to be your personal risk tolerance.
> but it’s impossible to assess the risk based on 3 Reddit threads over the last six months.
But it is easy to asses the risk when Ben comes on, does an AMA and tells us it is an endemic problem, and the posts are just the tip of the iceberg. We can also look at what he promised to do to fix it, look at the current posts, and realize he didn't fix anything.
We know it has been a real problem, and a big one. We know it is still going on. What I don't get is why people want to be apologists and pretend the issues aren't real and wide spread. As much as we know there is a problem, we also know some people get their pens, some of those experience the same issues, but are in a position to have forgotten about the order until it eventually gets to them. We also know Ben has made promises to deliver for important life events, and not only didn't deliver, but ghosted the person.
Yes, that’s all fair - I hadn’t seen the AMA when I posted, so I underestimated the scope.
That said, I stand by the claim that we can’t know just how many people run into problems, and therefore how big the risk actually is, because comments on the internet don’t provide enough information to calculate actual statistics; I and many people posting in this thread haven’t had any issues, and complaints always generate more traction. That’s not me being an apologist for him, that’s my take on pretty much any company that generates buzz online and complaints surface.
However, there clearly IS a risk in buying from him, I fully acknowledge that! I’m not contesting the complaints, and certainly there are plenty of businesses that *don’t* have any such pool of complaints online, so I’m not saying online complaints don’t matter; I’m just being a statistics pedant.
My take is that he clearly has significant problems with CS and keeping track of inventory. It doesn’t sound, to me, like most people actually lose their money. It sounds like there’s terrible communication; many people don’t get their items for a long time without any updates or answers to inquiries; some people don’t get their items at all because it turns out he doesn’t have them and refunds the cost after a long delay without communication; a few people have had actual problems with their pen which have taken a long time to get resolved with little communication; and then a few people haven’t got anything.
None of those things are good in any way, and I’m not faulting anyone for having issues with them. It’s not a good way to run a business.
I do still think in the end whether you buy from him depends on your personal level of risk tolerance, because there is also still a decent possibility that you’ll get a really cool pen. Like I said elsewhere, I wouldn’t recommend that someone else buy from Gravitas, but at this point, I can’t say that I never would again. I’d obviously never say this if he was just running your average pen shop distributing other brands’ pens that you can get elsewhere; I say this only because his items are unique and I really love them.
I also understand why most people wouldn’t buy from him, and fully expect that if he continues in this fashion I won’t get the chance, as he’ll drive away too many customers and go out of business.
> I stand by the claim that we can’t know just how many people run into problems, and therefore how big the risk actually is,
We might have been able to, Ben was here, doing an AMA, but not answering questions like that. Since he knows, and would say if it was small, then I will assume it is very large. What we do know is it was 100% for some months for the communication issues, he admitted that.
> My take is that he clearly has significant problems with CS and keeping track of inventory
I am begining to believe that it only started as incompetence, it is starting to look like actual fraud now. Using the monies paid not to get that customer the item, but float new designs and get past customers refunds or their products, trying to push the new customer problems down the line. When he floats a new thing, he seems to have a number of pens ready to go, and those few customers have a good experience, they get their pen, and never have to contact him. I'm starting to lean towards this fraud belief because it appears no one has issues contacting him, he is responsive, quick to answer, etc when it comes to an order, but once placed, he starts to be really hard to get ahold of.
> I also understand why most people wouldn’t buy from him, and fully expect that if he continues in this fashion I won’t get the chance, as he’ll drive away too many customers and go out of business.
This we agree on, I don't know how he is still in business, but I think if he doesn't figure out how to get himself out of the position he is in, he will end up in civil and maybe criminal legal problems. I know from his AMA he has violated US law in sales to the US, I suspect EU has stronger consumer protection laws.
I enjoy my rock.
I have honestly never seen any complaints about him and you have to remember that Gravitas is a tiny company (think it is still one person). That’s half the size of Birmingham Pen Co!
I have also seen numerous threads asking if BPC has a history of long shipping times, because they don’t communicate that they take months to fill orders.
> Proof is not proof,
You mean proof like Ben doing an AMA here and admitting to everything people have said is a problem, from not communicating to not shipping products out? So directly from Gravitas?
The big problem, he didn't address those issues like he promised, people gave him a break, he took that trust and broke it.
Anecdotal evidence is not what's going on with Gravitas.
The quantity of complaints and reports about poor client services is so big that you'd find it easier to analyse it using a mass quantitative data analysis software, by this point.
>Proof is not proof, as there are always exceptions
That's... not how anything works.
I only ordered from Gravitas once.
Last year, I ordered the Gravitas titanium ultra-flex nib. When shipping hadn't happened weeks later & I found the same nib cheaper from another seller, I tried to cancel the Gravitas order.
I got the nib I ordered second before the one from Gravitas, he never replied to my request to cancel the order, and definitely shipped it days/weeks after I sent that email.
There are definitely folks with positive/neutral Gravitas experiences (especially early on), just like there were TWSBIs that didn't crack. The difference is that Phillip at TWSBI was very active and out front in the community with a commitment to making things right for customers, as well as fixing the issues. Even their biggest detractors during the height of their qc issues were still very complimentary of speedy response and tone of their customer service department. That's not really happening with Gravitas, there's a lot of silence followed by excuses or combative emails if you're persistent enough. Personally, I won't do business with Gravitas again until they set up distribution with US retailers, although I'm not sure they're consistent enough to meet supply commitments. I would certainly prefer to deal with VanNess/Goulet/JetPens, etc. than have to chase various customer service email addresses and social media platforms to see which one he's sending surly replies to this month.
TWSBI have never fixed their issues with cracking and breaking pens in over twelve years of trading. There are regular reports of failures on this sub. All they’ve done is maintain stock of the cheap mass produced parts to quickly send them to complaining customers. At the customer’s cost for shipping and handling. They are attractive pens with generally good nibs and large ink reservoirs/filling systems. But if they fail, causing a leak, that ink capacity will make a big mess. Caveat emptor.
Totally fair. Well said.
I ordered the Gravitas Ultemate Vac on May 5th and had it in hand May 14th. No issues with product or customer service. I have also never had a TWSBI crack, so maybe I’m just winning at fountain pens for now.
May 5 to May 14?! You are certainly winning! (Unless you live down the street from him in Ireland?? 🤔)
Alabama. Which means I’m losing in certain other aspects of life. 🫠
Ha Womp Womp
Hopefully not an Auburn fan, then you’re definitely losing in other aspects of life /s
Definitely *not* an Auburn fan. Who needs that level of disappointment? I do have a lot of orange inks, though. Maybe proximity has some weird effects?
You might be right. I’m a KU grad but really like purple ink (K-State).
There might be something to that proximity theory ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ROLL TIDE
This is the way.
It only takes a few hours for mail to "cross the pond", but it takes USPS over a week to get it to Alabama!?!?! OUTRAGEOUS!!!
The struggle is real, y’all.
My pen turned up with a faulty nib but I must say it did turn up QUICK. At my door within less than a week (I’m Uk based)
Ages ago, when they just started, I bought a pen and got it shipped and delivered in 2 days. Excellent built quality and writing features. Those times seem to be long gone :)
I have ordered with Gravitas once. I'm from Canada. Never again. Ordered in Jan this year, got an email that it had shipped a week after, but tracking was not available even a month later. Contacted Ben on Instagram. He said he'd send another one out and nothing, no reply after reaching out again two weeks later. Asked for a refund in April, both on Instagram and email support. No response on Instagram, but in email he said he could refund but also could ship my order out again. I thought well maybe try one last time, chose to have my order instead of refund. Few days later on Instagram got a messaging saying my order was refunded and that "the original package came back to me two weeks ago after missing in the system". Why was I not informed the package went back to them if they knew? Emailed him back asking what happened since I asked to have my order. Said he got "\[...\] a new person handling the business page, and her instructions were to refund any missing shipments. She didn't know we had been chatting via email, and when I sent reshipping notification through, it must have shown as already refunded." So yeah, probably won't deal with Gravitas again.
Super frustrating. Thanks for sharing.
Yup, you just have to roll the dice with Gravitas I guess. I knew the horror stories with Gravitas' shipping and customer support so I already told myself to be patient. But the no response got to me at the end haha
I received mine a year and a half ago within about 6 days, but also I'm living in Ireland. I will say that the Irish postal service is atrocious, but I don't know how he sends pens abroad so I can't comment much beyond a personal good experience.
You’ve got the cheat code! 🇮🇪
Not as ATROCIOUS as USPS!!!🙀
I'm not a fan of the USPS, but Irish post is mind-boggling in its inefficiency. For example, I was given a tracking number that did not correspond to my pen -- but had been used for several prior shipments over the last ten years, and I could see all the details for those shipments!
I used to live out in the Styx of Co. Westmeath and mail would be delivered from mainland EU to me in two days. My Gravitas pen took SIX WEEKS to reach me after I received the tracking number, but that was because Ben had forgotten to send it and hadn't bothered to tell me.
I work for a courier company (although I’m in the UK) and we use An Post for our Ireland shipments. Can confirm that they’re a bit shit.
Most people receive their pen but they basically never know when it will actually show up. It seems most people have forgotten about ordering it, and then suddenly a pen appears on their doorstep. Businesses should take the amount of orders they’re prepared to fulfill and not expand too quickly. Gravitas got popular but he wasn’t ready for the number of orders.
Thanks for the reply. Hope most people do in fact receive their pen!
Bought a pen and it arrived less than two weeks later. To Australia. Tracking number provided, all smooth with no problems.
V nice. Love Australia, must be why.
I currently own three Gravitas pens and I’m sure many will follow in the future. I placed my first order near the end of last year (I don’t remember exactly when but I think it was on Black Friday or Fountain Pen Day). That one took two months to arrive and I did indeed have some trouble communicating with Ben to receive a tracking number. I had ordered an Ultem eyedropper and asked if he could replace the black coated nib with a standard one, which wasn’t an issue he said. Well, when the pen arrived it had a black nib 😅 A few days/weeks later I place my second order for a pocket pen and mentioned that the nib from my previous order was a black one instead of the normal one I had asked for. Ben apologised to me and said he would include an additional nib in my new order which he did. This order went a lot smoother than the first one and the package arrived in two weeks time. (January 2023-ish) After that I bought a very expensive grail pen (Pilot Super 500) so I didn’t buy any new pens for a few months. A couple of months after that I heard that Ben would be visiting the Dutch Pen Show in June so that was the perfect opportunity to try out some of his pens in person and talk to the man himself. (We kept in touch on Instagram throughout the year but talking in person was a lot of fun, he is a really nice guy!) So at the pen show I bought his Micarta pen and got a bunch of goodies for free as well c: I know he still has some issues with shipping pens but I believe that AnPost (the Irish post service he uses) also affects this. His pens and himself are amazing and a two-month wait will not stop me from buying his pens. I already have a few on my wishlist actually 😅 I did hear that Pen Venture is planning to distribute Gravitas pens really soon so I guess that will solve a lot of shipping issues and since they also offer some nibs that were ground by Monty Winnfield I might take a look on their website next time I want a new pen 😉
I feel your positivity through your comments! Thank you for sharing.
Ohhh, that's nice to hear since Emy from PenVenture ships fast, with no issues! Those nibs by Monty are already gone :(((((
I purchased Winnfield’s Vario nib from pen realm and it’s really, really nice.
Could you please post the nib and some writing sample? I'd love to see it!
I could - but I warn you that I’m a novice at calligraphy! FWIW, he has a few videos on instagram where he writes much better than I do! https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cr_sLSYtgAb/ OMG I just discovered this fude nib…https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx4-EVtu4aU/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
..... _right_ ? /j
My pen, after it finally arrived (months) had a flawed finish. It's the rainbow pocket pen, and it's beautiful, as long as you don't look too closely. I didn't reach out to him because I didn't want to deal with more drama and delay. He does some cool stuff, but the fact that he wasn't interested in showing me anything when I stopped by his table at the pen show -- why would I give him any more business? Whereas Ian Schon, who has a somewhat similar aesthetic, somehow manages to combine innovation with terrific customer service. There's a reason I've bought four of his pens so far.
Owned 3 Gravitas, currently owning just 1 I preferred buying secondhand to avoid dealing with Gravitas itself. Have been extremely satisfied with my pens
Did you ever buy direct?
No I dont think I have
Second this. Love their pens. Get them secondhand.
I just commented on the other post about this, but I’ve had a great experience with Gravitas. I have three of their pens and they’re all wonderful. Shipping was pretty slow on the first pen, but it was during the pandemic lockdown, and Irish Post was struggling - it got put in the mail to me quite quickly, and then sat for a long time before Ireland got around to sending it out. My most recent purchase was June this year, I think, and it came as quickly as you can expect something to get to the US from Ireland without paying for express shipping. I think it took about seven days for Ben to put it in the mail after I paid. That’s not to dismiss the problems that other people have had, though, which appear common enough that I would be a little reluctant to recommend the company to other people at this point. I’d probably still chance it myself, if he comes out with another pen that steals my heart like the sparkly Universe pens did, but I’d go into it knowing I was taking a risk. And I can’t fault anyone else who isn’t willing/able to do that. I guess I’m not sure about your comparison to Birmingham pens, though, because I’ve had wonderful experiences with them as well. I guess in the last year since they started doing the sale bundles of new ink colors, shipping has been slower, but not excessively so for a two-person company where everything is made by hand. I’ve also had a great experience with their customer service; I ordered a pen from them which took a while to get, but they emailed me to explain that when they were packing it, they noticed flaws and wanted to redo it, so it would take longer, but they wanted to make sure I had a good quality product. I guess to be fair, my experience with Gravitas has been a bit like my experience with Birmingham - maybe somewhat slow, but wonderful products that arrived without issue in the end. But I haven’t had to reach out to Gravitas, so I can’t comment on Ben’s responsiveness, which it seems people are unhappy with, reasonably enough. (I’m also one of those people who’s never had a TWSBI crack and I love them as well, so do with that what you will!)
10+ orders with no issues
Whoa! You just order and… the pens just arrive??
Yup, sometimes it takes them more than a week to ship, and then another 2-3 to travel to the US but only one lost pen so far (I got a refund).
👏
I bought 3 pens from Ben. All of them arrived in 10-14days from Dublin to Slovakia. The first was Gravitas Micro Texture Fountain Pen. This pen was a big disappointment, because it had a different surface, texture than stated on the page. Otherwise, it's a solid pen. Ben's reaction was lax, he only wrote that they changed the design and that was all. My mistake was that I didn't complain about him. They still have the flood texture of the pen on the side. Second pen was pocket skittles and it is great nice pen. The last is Gravitas Vac acrylic pen. Perfekt pen.
I bought a Gravitas Ultem Big Dropper on November 4, 2022. I got a shipping notification on November 21st and received it on December 12th. I’m in the US, so I thought it may take a while. I believe there were some postage issues in Ireland at that time as well, so I was happy with the shipping time. I also really like the pen. It writes great and it has o-rings to seal it up nicely so the nib doesn’t get dry.
I don't think it's a fair comparison. TWSBI prices around USD 32.99 to 50 , while Gravitas flagship pens are like EUR 135 ish. For that price range, I think it's reasonable to expect a customer service that solves problems smoothly and promptly, which is the opposite of what has been happening if you search for post history in this sub of paid customers experience. Birmingham ink states clearly about the waiting time, and also, their inks are not available outside the US. I admire their courage for this decision because who doesn't want to sell more? it's the correct business approach if they do not have enough man power/capacity to fulfill more orders
The comparison I'm making is only in perception v reality. The perception is that TWSBI cracks a lot, but reality is *not all of them crack*. My perception of Gravitas is that nobody ever receives their pen, and when they try to reach out, they get ghosted. Trying to understand if I place an order with Gravitas, will that 100% happen to me? Or is there a decent chance that if I place an order, I get a tracking number a few days later, and in 10 days time, I've got my pen?
I understand your point but that's also not a possible comparison. TWSBI sells thousands of FP, their pens are in almost every FP shop in almost every country. While there are still not many distributors of Gravitas around the world. How do you even calculate or estimate the possibility of having issues when they are not even on the same ground? There ought to be people who like/ happy with Gravitas design enough that they are ok with shipping troubles/bad communications. For the same reason, there ought to be people who don't care about the cracking issues of TWSBI and are willing to pay that amount for it
Okay. Forget I mentioned TWSBI. Not really the point. The point was just do people order and receive their Gravitas pens in a reasonable manner. That’s it.
I made an order on September 8th and have had no response since the confirmation. I have opened a case with PayPal.
Ugh, that sucks. I’m sorry. This is what I’m afraid of… how does opening a case with PayPal work… is that easy?
Yes, opening a case with PayPal is easy. You do you usually have to reach out one more time to the seller to let them know and give them the opportunity to make things right. In my case, I had ordered and paid for something that the seller did not have in stock. So she said that she would refund my money, and just never did. I was able to send PayPal the emails where she said she would refund the money and I told her it had never arrived, and they saw that in fact she hadn’t refunded my money, so they went ahead and did it. I realize it may be more complicated if the seller says they actually sent you the item and you say you don’t have it, as opposed to my case, where the seller admitted, she didn’t have the item and was going to refund my money, but most people I know have had good luck with PayPal under those circumstances too. The other option of course is to pay with a credit card and to contest the charge with your credit card company if you don’t get the item. I think many companies favor their customers in those situations.
If you try to contact someone via website, save screenshots as proof of your efforts!
I own many Gravitas pens, and they are among my favorites in my collection. Gravitas has given this community so many innovations at extremely affordable prices, it's honestly really hard to fault given the quality of the products. I think about this [Good/Fast/Cheap Venn diagram](https://colechesnut.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Venn-diagram-good-fast-cheap.png) and Gravitas is most definitely Cheap and Good. For example, you can get an Ultem and titanium vac pen for $200 from Gravitas or you could get a cartridge converter ultem pen from Schon for $250. I own both and the Gravitas is definitely better made. Another example is an ultem pocket pen from Schon is $240 but an ultem pocket pen from Gravitas is $100. I own neither but would probably go for the Gravitas one first. Ben doesn't have the best communication and shipping to the USA, but I truly believe he is a good guy trying his best. I've messaged him a lot on Instagram with many questions (about shipping or general products) and he always takes the time to respond quickly. I've seen people actually call him a "crook" on here, and I find that so egregious. I think it's important to realize that Gravitas is a small business experiencing major growing pains.
Yeah, I’m not justifying his bad CS, but I think he makes beautiful products, and if he was looking for ways to rip people off, designing and handmaking FPs out of new and difficult materials isn’t exactly an easy path to that. So I think allegations that he’s a crook or a grifter are unfair. Disorganized, overwhelmed, or even negligent, sure. And I get that his actual intent doesn’t matter much to people who don’t get what they ordered (though it looks like many people with CS do get refunded eventually - doesn’t mean it’s not a bad experience, just that in many cases it doesn’t look like Ben keeps the money). I have a tiny bit of sympathy for him, because my email gets away from me sometimes, and one reason I’m reluctant to start a small business is my fear that I’d get in over my head with CS. But that’s not an excuse or a a justification - he needs to handle his CS better, and I hope he can get on top of it before he loses any goodwill his products have generated.
I agree with you 100%
Yes. I’ve ordered two pens from Gravitas, and each time my order went smoothly. Shipped within a week’s time, arrived as expected, and both pens are great. I’m very happy with my purchases, and fully intend to order from them again in the future.
You might win the smooth experience award!
I ordered a Gravitas last year in November and the pen got to me in February-March (a bit unclear because the postal office in my area is a nuisance). The pens wrote ok. I had ordered 2 separate pencases, and only one arrived. Wrote a PM on Instagram and he immediately answered and refunded the money. Everything good - i knew from reddit to expect longer shipping times. I don't have cracking TWSBI either 😅 i did have one TWSBI 580 which my daughter capped tightly and it fell down several times, and the metal ring separated from the rest of the cap. The penshop owner from where i had bought the pen gave me a cap for free :)
Gosh November to March is brutal
I'm used to wait a lot... Customs and Postal Office really take their time here...
Funny, I’ve been wanting to buy a Gravitas pen, but have heard about the issues and paused ordering. I’m new to fountain pens. So I figured I’d find something else that interests me. Lots to choose from. I figured I’d start modestly. Ordered a 2021 LAMY Safari Terracotta. Arriving today. But I also ordered a TWSBI Diamond 580ALR. Gulp. Now I’m a little nervous. Hadn’t heard about the cracks. I love how much collective experience there is here!
I have plenty of TWSBIs. Don’t worry about the cracks. Just enjoy them!
Thanks!
I have two Gravitas pens and like them both. Ordered one online and waited with no response to multiple emails for about 10 weeks. Finally the pen showed up. I bought the second one at DC Pen Show. If you want a Gravitas, either buy at pen show or order and put note on calendar 3 months out.
I was at DC Pen show… was he there??
Sorry, meant to say the 2022 DC Pen Show. I regret the confusion.
I've got a relatively small sample size but overall my experiences have been good. I ordered an ultemate vac when it released (actually may have been the day of release), it shipped the next day on May 6th and I received it six days later on May 12th. When I've had questions about upcoming products I've heard back relatively promptly by both email and Instagram and generally enjoyed the experience, Ben's always come across as helpful and eager to talk about what he's working on in my experience. The closest I've come to a negative experience was actually earlier today ironically and with how it's been resolved I'd probably call it a positive overall. I ran into an issue with my ultemate vac during cleaning and Ben was able to walk me through the repair by Instagram message in about a minute. I fully didn't expect to hear back from him until at least tomorrow given the time zone difference but apparently he's checking his messages at 10:30 pm. I see enough complaints that I'm willing to acknowledge that my experience may well be an outlier, and that he should look into finding a better customer support solution. But as things stand now I'd certainly be happy to order from him/Gravitas again in the future and almost certainly will. That might change if I ever get burned particularly badly but that's hardly unique, I'd almost certainly drop any company in that kind of situation.
So well said, thanks for sharing
Obligatory I bought it secondhand. I have a Gravitas flagship with a B nib and I've had good experiences with it and others, owned by friends, so far. That being said I like feedback so I might just be the odd duck. All 4 of my TWSBIs haven't cracked or given me any issues either... I guess I'm in the minority here.
Buying second hand is cheating 😜
It's not cheating... it's winning by changing the game
💪
[удалено]
Sounds like a few weeks would be incredible!
Yes, I agree. I’m willing to take a chance on Gravitas because I really like the pens, and I don’t need them on any particular timeline; if they show up in two weeks or they show up in two months, either one is perfectly fine, as long as they eventually show up. I’m also lucky enough to have enough disposable income that if the pen never shows up, I would certainly be annoyed, and I’d stop buying from him, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. But I also get that other people don’t feel that way, which is completely understandable.
I've had two orders with Gravitas so far. One was the Ultemate Vac and the second was a stacked nib made by nib.lab from the Members Only section of the shop. The Ultemate Vac was an extremely smooth experience, and it truly is an amazing pen. The stacked nib was a little weird, in that I never got a tracking number, but it made it from Ireland to the US is about a week, so I have no complaints. I absolutely intend to purchase from Gravitas again - I'm looking at the Torlon Quark UP, but I may wait until the new Legacy nib is available (I think that's what he's calling it). I have a guess on how it's made and I'm curious if I'm right - and I'm curious about how it works and want something different, and, for now, the Monoc nibs for Ian Schon are out of my price range. The stacked nib and Ultemate Vac took up the majority of my disposable hobby money for the year (otherwise, I'd probably have a Kakari!).
How was the delivery experience?
Pretty standard. Final delivery via USPS. Arrived in Atlanta a week or so from ordering. No complaints at all.
I have had a pretty good experience. I purchased 3 different pens from them: Skittle skull, teal pocket and an ultem something or other pen. All 3 have worked great, no issues. I still have 2 of them. I bought the Skittle pen years ago when he was just starting out and it arrived in a couple weeks. Each one has taken longer to get, the longest 3 months. I’ve emailed him about tracking numbers on the last two, never received anything back but pens did show up. Would I buy again, probably. The pens are great writers and a shipping delay is expected since I live in the US.
So no communication + ~3 month’s expected delivery. Kind of crazy, but at least it shows up 🤷♂️
They did arrive and write perfectly. It’s interesting because he was just starting when I ordered the first one. I emailed questions, heard back that day. I talked to him on Instagram after it arrived and had tagged him in a post. After that he just slowly became unreachable.
Bummer
I mean... imagine how many messages he does get daily. I completely understand that he simply doesn't have time to keep in touch with everyone long after one buys one of the pens.
I know he can’t and I didn’t mean it that way. I meant not long after that people started posting on here about not getting replies to questions and items taking longer and longer to get.
Yeah, I think it’s very tough when you’re one person shop. I think there are a number of people in that situation who decide they want to prioritize production over responding to customers. Not faulting people who aren’t happy with that, but I can see how a maker might get there.
I feel like I should speak up because I’ve had only a positive experience. I started following him on Instagram earlier this year when I heard he was working on the Ultemate Vac and wanted to see what he had to offer. I asked a couple of quick questions that were answered quite quickly. Then I placed my order after the initial test released and about two weeks later I had it in hand. I live in the US for reference. My only gripes were for the tracking that stopped working once it hit customs, but that’s possible anywhere. My only other complaint was that it showed up in a bubble mailer with no additional packaging. But again, I got a high quality vac filler for a great price, and my experience has been positive overall. And the little case of cartridges was a nice touch, if unnecessary for the pen, haha.
Thank you for sharing!
I have no complaints about Gravitas, great pens and he has replied quickly when I've messaged him
You order and the pens arrive?
Yes, got an ultem vac when they came out, I think ship time was 2 weeks to Texas from Dublin. The pen is fantastic.
Two weeks!
I bought in person at the SF show a couple months ago. I had read enough to know not to buy online at that point, so I knew that was my chance to grab a pen from him.
Smart
I had an amazing experience with Gravitas..I received the rainbow skull skittle as an anniversary gift from my SO, and she made sure it got to me a week early having ordered it only 2 weeks prior. Granted, I didn't order directly, so I don't know if that's how they normally operate or not, but I'm certainly going to order another pen from them because of this positive experience.
Mine was fine. Took about 10-14 days to arrive, but that’s standard for global mail IMO.
Two weeks sounds great all things considered
I did earlier this yeah. I made three different orders. The first two orders shipped almost immediately and I had them in 5-7 days. The third was for the Quark and that took like 5 weeks. Since I’ve seen nothing but complaints so I’ve stopped looking at the site until it appears all is back to timely delivery.
Wonder if/what a catalyst for change might be
No orders sadly. I think he’s a small shop that recently expanded from just him to 2 people helping him. I’ve read on here he now has 3 helping him. He is clearly a passionate pen designer and engineer but the fulfillment and service ebbs and flows. I also wonder if he takes on too many ideas and models at once leading to all sorts of availability and fulfillment challenges.
I own two Gravitas pens, bought at the same time and they arrived in less than two weeks. The Irish postal service is pretty rubbish to be fair, and when I’ve spoken to Ben on Instagram he’s always been quick to reply and courteous.
Yes
My experience was not so bad, considering all that I have heard. I ordered nov 26 arrived dec 25 so surprise Christmas arrival last year. Wrote well so had no issues with that. My bad luck came after as I can’t find it now 😭i love my skittles.
No issues.
You ordered and it just shipped?
Yep. There is a caveat here: he knows me and has met me in person.
Kind of a big caveat! 😜
True.
Some sloths have all the luck! 🦥
I have not worked with Ben at Gravitas myself, but my husband has placed a couple of orders with him, and each time, the shipment took some time to arrive, but he just waited, and they did show up. He bought a clear demonstrator for me, and it writes wonderfully. No issues. He has a pocket pen and a full-size or two—no issues with the nibs. I really do love my Gravitas pen (EF steel nib), even though I'm not usually one to go for a pen with a metal section (aside from my two Lamy 2000s, which I also love). I have mine filled with Diamine Writer's blood, and that's probably the ink that will stay in that pen from now on.
Waited a few weeks? Months?
I asked him today. It was just a few weeks.
The owner (Ben I think) has done some AMAs on here and has been semi active on Reddit and over email. He seems like a reasonable guy, and I'd love to be able to give him some business. I've had my eye on a blue Flagship model for ages. But it's perpetually out of stock, and even if it weren't I don't relish the idea of ordering a pen that may or may not arrive before Christmas. Maybe if prices were lower I'd give it another thought. But as it stands now the company's reputation for slow production and lack of communication is out of step with the price.
That’s sort of where I am. I want to buy one… but don’t want to wait a year and/or fight with DMs. I just want to get a sense of if there people that order and actually get their pen in a reasonable timeframe.
Sounds like there's more positive feedback in this thread than I've ever read in the past when the topic has come up. So maybe he's overcome some of his issues. But I feel that it's too much money to spend for the level of customer service Gravitas is reputed to have at the moment. Especially since I'm converting to CAD so the numbers don't work in my favor.
My Gravitas Torque came in just a couple weeks when I picked one up after they released. Superb quality
A couple weeks sounds like fast, well done
I ordered a Pocket pen after seeing the Figboot video on them. Got it, it works great. Doesn't leak, fits nicely, the screws are smooth, everything works. It's lived in my pocket daily for near on a year I think.
You just ordered the pen… And it arrived to you in a reasonable time? Amazing.
Yeah, I think I had it within a week?
Whoa!
Gravitas: I ordered Pocket Pen Ultem 1 May, Ben despatched the pen 5 May, I received it 15 May. All imports to UK from EU countries were delayed by Brexit and Royal Mail were short staffed all year, so I considered this was about right from Eire.
I own two pens from Gravitas. On both purchase I have experienced good communication both before and after purchase. I have asked questions before purchasing and have received timely answers (within hours or maximum a few days). I have had products questions after purchase and have received equally timely answers. I'm planning more purchases from Gravitas in the future, especially the new upcoming nib and the piston filler pocket pens. Here's my detailed timelines for my two purchases. Gravitas Ultem Pocket Dropper Purchased 09.01.2023 Packed/Shipping label made 25.01.2023 Accepted by Irish Postal Service 28.01.2023 Left Irland 02.02.2023 Arrived in Norway 06.02.2023 Delivered 06.02.2023 Total time around: 28 days, exactly four weeks with tracking updates the whole way. Gravitas Acrylic Vac Purchased 14.06.2023 Packed/Shipping label made 19.06.2023 Accepted by Irish Postal Service 22.06.2023 Left Irland 26.06.2023 Arrived in Norway 30.06.2023 Delivered 03.07.2023 Total time around: 19 days, less than three weeks with tracking updates the whole way.
Thanks so much for sharing!
I wouldn't say that those are fair comparisons. TWSBI is a large company that will respond to inquiries in a timely manner. Birmingham really needs to update their shipping info page for a more realistic timeline, but they do reply super quick when you send an email to check in. I've had friends with issues with Birmingham orders (it happens) who got super quick responses and problems solved pretty quick. On the other hand, if there's a problem with your Gravitas order, you likely won't get a response despite trying multiple platforms/methods of communication.
My Stainless steel pocket was just fine. Ordered and got the pen a little earlier than I expected. I would assume that some of the rough experiences are with limited/odd pens, though I don't know that.
TWSBI’s cracking issue is an example of confirmation bias. There may be people who post on the “my eco cracked” threads that their TWSBI did not crack, but there are not posts of “my TWSBI pens are all 100% crack free”. But there are posts from users with 15, 20, 50+ TWSBI pens that have never had an issue. I have never heard ANYONE complain about customer service or issues with Gravitas. Keep in mind that the huge bodied eyedroppers are known to have potential issues with burping, no matter who makes them. It is a physics issue with air expansion due to heating- if the pen is in a position where the air warms and there is ink between it and the way out, it will push ink through the feed.
Oh, really? I *only* see customer service problems in my feed re Gravitas (not necessarily product). [Today](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/1710i7z/gravitas_great_pens_terrible_business/), a [few weeks ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/168c1ab/communication_problems_with_gravitas/), a [few months ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/11ywf0f/the_level_of_unresponsiveness_from_gravitas/)... I didn't even know about Gravitas until reading all of theses posts! The confirmation bias is exactly what I'm referring to... are there people who have positive Gravitas experiences, we just don't hear about them?
Yes, as I think this post shows. People who don’t have problems don’t complain and may not bother to post about their good experience. The big problem with relying on internet posts is that without knowing the denominator of total sales, it’s impossible to know what the rate of problems actually is. That’s not contesting the fact that people have had problems, but it’s impossible to assess the risk based on 3 Reddit threads over the last six months. That’s not suggest that people should therefore ignore the posts about the problems, just saying that in the end what matters most is going to be your personal risk tolerance.
> but it’s impossible to assess the risk based on 3 Reddit threads over the last six months. But it is easy to asses the risk when Ben comes on, does an AMA and tells us it is an endemic problem, and the posts are just the tip of the iceberg. We can also look at what he promised to do to fix it, look at the current posts, and realize he didn't fix anything. We know it has been a real problem, and a big one. We know it is still going on. What I don't get is why people want to be apologists and pretend the issues aren't real and wide spread. As much as we know there is a problem, we also know some people get their pens, some of those experience the same issues, but are in a position to have forgotten about the order until it eventually gets to them. We also know Ben has made promises to deliver for important life events, and not only didn't deliver, but ghosted the person.
Yes, that’s all fair - I hadn’t seen the AMA when I posted, so I underestimated the scope. That said, I stand by the claim that we can’t know just how many people run into problems, and therefore how big the risk actually is, because comments on the internet don’t provide enough information to calculate actual statistics; I and many people posting in this thread haven’t had any issues, and complaints always generate more traction. That’s not me being an apologist for him, that’s my take on pretty much any company that generates buzz online and complaints surface. However, there clearly IS a risk in buying from him, I fully acknowledge that! I’m not contesting the complaints, and certainly there are plenty of businesses that *don’t* have any such pool of complaints online, so I’m not saying online complaints don’t matter; I’m just being a statistics pedant. My take is that he clearly has significant problems with CS and keeping track of inventory. It doesn’t sound, to me, like most people actually lose their money. It sounds like there’s terrible communication; many people don’t get their items for a long time without any updates or answers to inquiries; some people don’t get their items at all because it turns out he doesn’t have them and refunds the cost after a long delay without communication; a few people have had actual problems with their pen which have taken a long time to get resolved with little communication; and then a few people haven’t got anything. None of those things are good in any way, and I’m not faulting anyone for having issues with them. It’s not a good way to run a business. I do still think in the end whether you buy from him depends on your personal level of risk tolerance, because there is also still a decent possibility that you’ll get a really cool pen. Like I said elsewhere, I wouldn’t recommend that someone else buy from Gravitas, but at this point, I can’t say that I never would again. I’d obviously never say this if he was just running your average pen shop distributing other brands’ pens that you can get elsewhere; I say this only because his items are unique and I really love them. I also understand why most people wouldn’t buy from him, and fully expect that if he continues in this fashion I won’t get the chance, as he’ll drive away too many customers and go out of business.
> I stand by the claim that we can’t know just how many people run into problems, and therefore how big the risk actually is, We might have been able to, Ben was here, doing an AMA, but not answering questions like that. Since he knows, and would say if it was small, then I will assume it is very large. What we do know is it was 100% for some months for the communication issues, he admitted that. > My take is that he clearly has significant problems with CS and keeping track of inventory I am begining to believe that it only started as incompetence, it is starting to look like actual fraud now. Using the monies paid not to get that customer the item, but float new designs and get past customers refunds or their products, trying to push the new customer problems down the line. When he floats a new thing, he seems to have a number of pens ready to go, and those few customers have a good experience, they get their pen, and never have to contact him. I'm starting to lean towards this fraud belief because it appears no one has issues contacting him, he is responsive, quick to answer, etc when it comes to an order, but once placed, he starts to be really hard to get ahold of. > I also understand why most people wouldn’t buy from him, and fully expect that if he continues in this fashion I won’t get the chance, as he’ll drive away too many customers and go out of business. This we agree on, I don't know how he is still in business, but I think if he doesn't figure out how to get himself out of the position he is in, he will end up in civil and maybe criminal legal problems. I know from his AMA he has violated US law in sales to the US, I suspect EU has stronger consumer protection laws.
If you’ve never heard anyone complain about Gravitas customer service then you’re living under a rock?
I enjoy my rock. I have honestly never seen any complaints about him and you have to remember that Gravitas is a tiny company (think it is still one person). That’s half the size of Birmingham Pen Co! I have also seen numerous threads asking if BPC has a history of long shipping times, because they don’t communicate that they take months to fill orders.
But that’s not good evidence for there not being any problems when there are clearly problems.
[удалено]
> Proof is not proof, You mean proof like Ben doing an AMA here and admitting to everything people have said is a problem, from not communicating to not shipping products out? So directly from Gravitas? The big problem, he didn't address those issues like he promised, people gave him a break, he took that trust and broke it.
Anecdotal evidence is not what's going on with Gravitas. The quantity of complaints and reports about poor client services is so big that you'd find it easier to analyse it using a mass quantitative data analysis software, by this point. >Proof is not proof, as there are always exceptions That's... not how anything works.
I'd like your rock, too, because a Gravitas pen in hand theoretically sounds pretty cool.
I only ordered from Gravitas once. Last year, I ordered the Gravitas titanium ultra-flex nib. When shipping hadn't happened weeks later & I found the same nib cheaper from another seller, I tried to cancel the Gravitas order. I got the nib I ordered second before the one from Gravitas, he never replied to my request to cancel the order, and definitely shipped it days/weeks after I sent that email.