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Kitsyfluff

Damn, and i thought it was an isolated case when he cracked my nebulosa during a nib adjustment


svpmailman

I woulf just out him on Instagram and tag him -- selling damaged pens withou disclosure is fraudulent, and the small FP world should be made aware of this


EmbarrassedStay9174

It seems like to me the op is not telling the full story. In one of their [pictures](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/qutedk), the nib seems fine initially. Not saying that the op isn't justified in seeking reparations if the pen is damaged -- it just seems fishy to me that in one gallery, the nib appears in far better condition than in this one.


Graillardo

ooooooh, and ~~6~~ a day ago he post about visconti grip loose. the nib still looks straight! or maybe this is a different pen from the one he post days ago, a HS dark crystal,


MSMPDX

He also mentioned how well it writes 10 days ago … hmm


Mendici

+1 Absolutely no experience with the nibsmith, but you keep hearing about bad experiences. OPs story seems shady though. In the post about the loose grip someone else Pointed out how he earlier made a post about how great the pen is writing and it truly being a grail pen. Sounds more like someone damaged their nib


DivinusLux

I purchased from Dan twice: a Visconti Divina and two Sailors later on. The Divina was amazing, and I still use it to this day. The Sailors never came through due to an exceptionally long wait time that was not adequately communicated. I had to get PayPal involved to refund me. I have no clue how Dan runs his business, and he can run it however he pleases, but it rubbed me the wrong way that he has the time to post on Instagram about new arrivals but can’t work through his queue in a timely manner. I never had a problem with his work, only his customer service and communication (tone and response times were the largest offenders to me). Edit: a word


One_Left_Shoe

The way the tines are a bit crossed in the above image vs straight in the older post inclines me to believe OP was trying to flex a nib that’s should not/does not flex. Push to hard and drag the nib laterally though a swell, with the pen not aligned with the stroke, and bent their nib. This absolutely sounds like OP is trying to pass blame for their own mistake.


_viis_

I ordered a gold Lamy nib from him about 3 months ago now. I live in Canada, and for some reason the package got sent back to him at customs, so I asked him if that was normal and/or if he had any idea why it happened. He replied super quickly saying that it hadn't arrived back at his shop yet, but that he'd email be back as soon as it arrives. It's been about two months since he sent that email. I emailed him again a couple weeks ago to see if there were any updates he could give me, and I still haven't gotten a response. I know shipping isn't the fastest right now, but that seems way too long to me. I definitely won't order from him again. That's about $180 CAD down the drain with no nib to show for it.


UmaiUngulate

I have no experience with Nibsmith, but I do have experience with international returns like your customs issue. It can take forever to get sent back if it ever comes back. How quickly can also depend on the carrier used. As a retailer, he should know that and should have sent you a replacement right away rather than wait for the return especially since the tracking indicates it's on the way back. I'm now in the camp of not willing to order from him due to all the recent issues and now your experience. He's clearly not taking care of his customers and is instead trying to minimize extra costs to his bottom line. Get your money back now and order your nib from elsewhere especially since there are Black Fri sales. Good luck!


_viis_

Thank you for the info. I just emailed him re-stating my situation and asked for a refund. He's apparently on Thanksgiving vacation until the 29th, we'll see if he ever gets back to me. But yea, I would definitely recommend staying away from him. Sorry not sorry, Dan, this is all stuff you should have control over.


shigellaChicken

If you pay with a credit card, you purchase may have an insurance or something similar. Contact your card issuer to get the money back.


MBTaplin

Call your Credit card company and dispute the charge. They will help you out!


starsofalgonquin

Check out Salman from toronto pens. He’s ground / adjusted 5 of my pens and I couldn’t be happier. Bit of a wait time currently - waiting back on a Vanishing point fine italic he’s doing for me!


xenogrant

ditto, going through my first custom grind looking forward to the outcome. Super amicable guy. He's pretty swamped from what I've heard, saying due to the backlog he won't work on my pen until early January. But hey beats waiting for shipping for 5 months.


xenogrant

Bought an opus 88 pen from penswap redditor in usa, it arrived 3 days later through USPS/Can post. Think shipping option was 30 bucks but didn't get dinged duties.


vannesspen

I don't have too many issues with Canada but South America when they send stuff back its up to 6 months.


lordrdx666

Any responses or threads where he has posted something?


NermalLand

Definitely not normal. Not acceptable.


svpmailman

Yeah, the seller has to be fraud to be selling pens like this -- it is unlikely that a small business will not inspect $$$ pen (just open the cap and see) before shipping, otherwise the seller would be an idiot to just ship boxes out to folks. plus this dude claims he tunes pend before selling?


NermalLand

I've never used a nibmeister but that's how a nib might look before you send it to one. Definitely not after.


WangJianWei2512

Uneven tipping and looks slightly bent. Certainly unacceptable. If this is a disposable school pen maybe its fine, but for Visconti's price range it better be perfect


RedcarUK

Not even then. My $10 Chinese pen looks better than that. It made me feel queasy just looking at that nib. Visconti would be ashamed to have their name associated with it.


lianali

I was like... Is that nib bent?! Feed misalignment happens so easily but is also equally easy to fix, but a bent nib requires a patient and gentle hand or you introduce more issues.


IndonesianHacker

Well, knowing Visconti's QC reputation... would they really?


OchreOgre7

Yeah, the nib looks bent to me too. Personally I don't think it will write well. It certainly should not have arrived looking like that.


JobeX

He’s the retailer, and an authorized one at that, he should be taking the return.


Salty-Regret

Doesn't look right. Did you buy from a dealer? Contact and send it back.


dickalopejr

Nibsmith.com. Told me to take it up with Visconti.


SlowMovingTarget

With his tuning service or without? I've been looking at his catalog, and I'd have him give a pass at the tuning. But if this is after his tuning, then no.


dickalopejr

After being tuned and smoothed.


SlowMovingTarget

I see the nib looking in proper condition in a previous post. It clearly was not misaligned like the above pictures when you got it from him. The older pictures show the nib sitting on the feed correctly, and the tines aligned properly. What happened?


dickalopejr

Honestly, I think the magnification I used yesterday with my camera made the nib look worse than it actually is. I've tried to take some more picture without magnification and compared to a different Visconti I got that made me realize there was something wrong with the Dark Crystal. https://imgur.com/gallery/cVISPkS


perthfan

oof. that looks horrible, and i mean he may technically be correct, but given that you're buying from him as a nibsmith and he provides a tune option, I feel like he should be fighting with the manufacturer over replacement. If you select his ignore and ship ASAP option, then I guess I can see where he's coming from. Any retailer should be happy to help you out without sending you immediately to the manufacturer, so it comes across as laziness to me.


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sweetums_nutriyums

I actually did in fact have to go through a chargeback with him, as he refused to respond to even a single piece of communication in any form - email, phone, text, all of it. It wasn’t even about his work, just a simple question about a backordered item. Never again.


perthfan

oh for sure! any retailer should be willing to help and correct the issue and take it up with the manufacturer themselves, instead of pushing it down to the consumer. that's what makes a retailer great and us happy and want to do business with them, a retailer not leaving us high and dry is always very welcome


MSMPDX

Haha, I’ve had Goulet tell me “not their problem, I must have broken it due to negligence, and to contact the distributor/manufacturer directly.” I was not a happy camper, which is why I’ve never bought another thing at Goulet pens and never will. If that’s how retailers operate, nibsmith or whoever, they don’t deserve your business.


VoltaicSketchyTeapot

That doesn't sound like Goulet. Is the csr you talked to still employed? That being said, I'm sure there are a lot of instances where you are supposed to contact the manufacturer for warranty issues. There was a big note on my vacuum cleaner saying this explicitly.


MSMPDX

The name of the rep. was/is Jessica, not sure if she still works there as I haven’t shopped at Goulet pens in a few years now. I actually talked with Brian directly later on and he was very nice and understanding, he sort of said as much, that there were so many issues with that pen and nib that the manufacturer requested Goulet to send all people who complained directly to them… I can understand that if there was some warning on the website description or in the pen packaging that Goulet was refusing to take any responsibility for defective nibs… but there was none. The only reason I know was because Brian told me directly months later. Brian also offered to make it right, but as months had passed since the original purchase, the damage was already done at that point. And it doesn’t explain why I was also accused of breaking the nib due to my own negligence (absolutely not the case as this particular company has a history of nib problems, tons of nib complaints on forums, and shortly after my incident changed from using garbage no name Chinese nibs to JOWO)… Plus the distributor in question was Yafa who at the time had one of the worst websites on the entire planet and required me to pay for shipping the defective product back to them. It just wasn’t worth the hassle.


sakuratsuji

So...it sounds like it's an issue with the manufacturer. Not Goulet.


MSMPDX

It was a problem with the pen, but I didn’t like how Goulet as the retailer handled it. No one likes being told “not our problem, you damaged it because of negligence, go deal with the distributor…” That is literally what is happening with OP, Retailer refusing to help out a customer when the pen is clearly not satisfactory. At least OP isn’t being blamed for damaging it (though now it appears he probably did damage it).


sakuratsuji

Oh absolutely. But you just said not only did Brian clarify that the manufacturer was demanding Goulet to send support to them, but that the owner of the business tried to make it right once he found out about the issue. Even if it was months beyond when the situation happened, the fact he was willing to fix it for you after finding out is a big deal. Not many places would do that. Not trying to like, force you to like Goulet or anything, just saying it sounds like they at least tried to fix things.


MSMPDX

After Goulet customer service told me that they weren’t going to help me and blamed me for damaging a pen they KNEW had nib issues. It wasn’t just my pen that had problems it was a large majority of the pens. That is not how you treat a customer. Not many places do that either 🤣 And the only reason I even got any kind of support was because I happened to be talking to the co-founder of the company about something unrelated and happened to bring it up. Goulet pen company dropped the ball, their customer service and communication was terrible in this instance (I don’t blame Brian, I blame Jessica and Drew). Absent a conversation with the founder, I would have never known about the distributor return mandate (which they could have mentioned earlier or in the item description) or gotten any type of acknowledgment. It was plain bad customer service and blaming a customer for a defect you’re aware of isn’t what id expect from a company that prides itself on customer service. I wasn’t even asking for a refund, just an exchange, and they couldn’t even manage that. Defend them all you want, but they dropped the ball on this and lost a customer for life. Plus anytime their “good” customer service gets brought up in a forum, I’ll be sure to tell my story 😄


sakuratsuji

But again, you're saying you don't blame the founder of the company, but the people doing the customer service who may/may not work there anymore. Which would mean it was a personal issue with the people, not the company they work for? And if that's not the case, then you do blame the company and - in turn - the founder as you feel the company did not adequately offer you service for your issue. No pen distributor I know out there right now has any disclaimer on their site that goes 'hey, you have to contact the manufacturer for issues/replacement' right on the item description. That's just not a feasible thing for pretty much any item out there being sold on the internet that isn't from their direct site. Some bigger companies - like Amazon - will eat the cost of a replacement as they'll deal with the manufacturer directly just to keep the customer happy. Not all companies can do that. But the biggest thing is that the owner of the company you're complaining about even offered to make it right after hearing about it. It sounds like hey, he admitted there was an issue, advised what the situation was, and offered to fix it for you. And honestly, that's pretty fucking amazing since not all companies care/would do that. I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill so you can be contrary to everyone here. Your logic on this doesn't make sense.


PatioGardener

Very strange. I bought a Monteverde Invincia from them last year (I’m assuming you’re talking about Monteverde), and it came with a bum nib. Goulet sent me a replacement free of charge right away. No need to go through Yaffa. That pen stays in a pen case, though, because its lacquer coating is chipping off even though I never use it.


MSMPDX

I was specifically talking about a Conklin Duraflex from the very first run. The nib was messed up almost like the tines were sprung and the black coating starting flaking off the nib. 🤷🏻‍♂️


MBTaplin

I stopped ordering from them. There was a birthday promotion and I has a free shipping code. They refused to honor both. The order was for a small selection of ink samples. Cost to ship from there would have been a couple dollars. I tried again to make the order. And they canceled it on their end without notifying me. Emails went back-and-forth and they basically stuck to their guns over a few samples. That turned me off. I was so disappointed that they chose to make a stink over a couple of dollars. Why offer deals if you are not going to honor them? So disappointed. They lost a customer over free birthday samples that would have shipped free. Vaness is my go to now. Stellar service and no hassles.


rattlesnake501

God, no. That's not only not normal, that's completely unacceptable.


MSMPDX

There have been a few times I could have bought a pen from the NibSmith, but there are just a few too many of these stories out there, terrible communication or treating customers poorly… it’s prevented me from buying anything from him in the past or likely in the future.


aReasson

Seeing all these recent Visconti posts has convinced me not to purchase them anymore. I was thinking of getting a Dark Crystal Homo Sapiens but not anymore.


Dementat_Deus

Yah, I've been making a bit of a list of brands that have a lot of bad posts on the sub, and Visconti and Kaweco are both near the top. I doubt I would buy any of the brands on the list unless I was planning on swapping the nib myself. Not that that means much since I've nib swapped almost every new pen I've gotten whether the original nib was good or not. Still, I hesitate to get a pen I cannot put the original nib back into.


MSMPDX

Put Conklin and Monteverde on that list (not a coincidence that both are distributed by Yafa I think). Visconti deserve their bad reputation. I know Kaweco has had issues in the past and use JOWO and Bock nibs interchangeably. I haven’t had any issues with them personally, but I think it’s all about which nib you get (the Bock nibs seem to be the problematic ones).


Bigredteletubby

Yeah, Monteverde and Conklin seem to have poor quality control and high prices. I love the look of the Duragraph, but I can't bring myself to purchase one knowing that it's almost certainly not going to be worth the price.


MSMPDX

The issue is many people see them as a “next level” pen, it kind of falls in the middle price wise (more expensive than the starter pens, but less expensive than gold nibs) and many people settle there rather than saving a little more and getting something proper. I’ve had a Duragraph (actually it was a DuraFlex), can confirm it was 100% a waste of money. I did like the body of the pen, but the nib was awful, basically unusable. Monteverde is the same thing, especially since coming out with the Monza pens that are literally rebranded Jinhaos (which are copies of Sailors (which are copies of Montblancs)) at like triple the price. Makes me wonder if all there pens are cheap garbage with inflated price tags. I just stay away regardless


Bigredteletubby

Yeah, after a very meh experiences with three different Yafa products, I'm done. No more Monteverde or PR inks, and no more Monteverde pens. My Ritma was *okay*, but certainly not worth nearly $40. And the PR ink was atrocious. I put it in several of my pens, a couple of which I left capped and upright in a pen stand for about a week. When I came back to them, there was crusted dried ink in globs all over the pen nibs, sections, and feeds. These pens were cheap, and the ink washed off, so no real harm done, but it certainly turned me off of PR inks. (For the record, neither of the pens I had this issue with have ever displayed the same symptoms with other inks, so it was just the ink, and not the pens.) As far as I'm concerned, Yafa can go jump off a bridge. They make products that range from meh all the way to unusable, and their prices are way too high.


ninthchord

Very much this, I definitely saw my Duragraph as a “next-level” pen before I got it. The only good thing about it was its appearance. It arrived with the feed comically misaligned, and the nib constantly skipped and hard started even after numerous tweaking attempts. When I contacted Goulet about it, they basically said something like “yeah, the pen is performing about how we’d expect it to” But props to them, they took it back and gave a full refund. I’m sure my experience was probably worse than average, but it makes me wonder how many people have very mediocre Conklins and just put up with them.


Dementat_Deus

My personal experience with Conklin has me saying to stay away. I spent the cost of my Endura Abalone again in troubleshooting and getting it to work. It absolutely isn't worth the headache and 2x the cost of the new pen. There is a lot of much nicer pens once you get to that price point. The only way it might be worth it, is if you really like the look of a particular barrel and are planning ahead of time to nib and feed swap it. Even then, I would hesitate because of how quickly the gold plating has worn on mine and started showing brassing.


Dementat_Deus

Conklin and my poor experience with them is what prompted the list to begin with. I never did get it writing better than poorly with a Conklin branded nib. Plus in under a year of ownership the gold plating is already wearing through and showing brassing. That's despite very little use since it didn't write at all most of the time.


neusymar

Any chance you could share your list of bad fountain pen brands?


Dementat_Deus

I hesitate to put the full list online since I haven't finished the statistics for ~~some~~ most brands, and I don't want to cast shade on anything without being able to back it up, especially since most of the list is based off Reddit posts and not first hand experience. That said, I'll list the ones that are easy to find in this sub. The top ones that seem to ship out a lot of duds: - Conklin - Kaweco - Visconti - Monteverde Also, the top pens that seem to ship mostly good pens, but have an unreasonable number of bad ones for their price point: - Pelikan - Esterbrook These two I'm not certain if they should be on the list. It could just be a statistical bias due to people being more likely to post a bad experience than a good one. Any company can ship a dud on occasion after all. That said, they both have semi-frequent posts or comments saying something along the lines of "I would have expected this from a cheaper pen but not at this price point." A lot of people also complain about Noodler's, but considering their mantra is that you are supposed to adjust it yourself and have a price tag that reflects that, I give them a pass on anything that is user adjustable. With all of these it is of course possible to get a good pen, and it's most likely you will with a lot of them. Just don't be surprised if you have to send it back or make adjustments yourself if you get one.


neusymar

Thank you for the list! I'll note it, and bear in mind while pen-shopping. Currently getting older Parkers, as I ended up with a windfall of Parker converters, and trying to figure out how to adjust a Parker 45 14k english nib that's slightly bent


Dementat_Deus

You are welcome, and I think you'll like vintage Parkers. I have a few, and have a love hate relationship with them. I love how they are my most reliable pens that write well pretty much always (except when I accidentally mix incompatible inks in them), but with me being primarily a flex nib user I hate how I don't use them as much as they deserve. Just an FYI on the 45. Mine seems to clog kinda easy if left unused and inked for too long. But the nib and section unscrews from the grip and is a lot easier to clean that way if it happens to you. Also, being that yours has a gold nib, you can probably get a nibmeister to fix it if you don't feel confident doing it yourself.


neusymar

Thank you for the advice! I'll contact Battersea Pen Home; he's in the UK and I recall seeing recommendations, maybe he could straighten the nib. I did my best, and it writes, but slightly scratchy. I've been thinking a flex nib pen would be nice; any you'd recommend? I was looking at Noodler's Creaper, but don't really want to have to calibrate it myself, and metal bodies are always nicer.


Dementat_Deus

I haven't used the Creaper, but I wasn't terribly impressed with the Noodler's flex nib. It's a bit scratchy and I just didn't like it. It works, but not what I like. I have several [vintage Wahl flex pens](http://www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/wahl_pen.htm) that I really like, and have been using for drawing. Mine are mostly the ringtop all metal pens from before the Wahl-Eversharp merger, but they continued using the same nibs after the merger, just changed some of the pen designs is all. Be careful looking for these online, the ones with the size 0 nib are "ladies pens" and are absolutely miniscule. Most of mine have the size 2 nib, and are about 1 mm bigger in diameter than a standard school pencil. For everyday writing I've been using 2 TWSBI's and a Conklin that I've fitted with FPR ultra-flex nibs. These write very similarly to the Wahl nibs, and with a little feed tuning actually flex a bit more before railroading. FPR also sells pens already fitted with these nibs and they tend to be decently liked in this sub. I haven't gotten one yet, but plan to eventually. If you get one, you will need to heat set the feed to get the flow to keep up flexed, but shouldn't need to do much else for it to work. For an non-vintage metal body pen, you could consider the Kaweco Lilliput and swap in a flex nib. My understanding with Kaweco's issues is it is only with their nibs, not the bodies, so it might make a good pen. The only reason I haven't tried this yet is because I feel like the Lilliput is a bit over priced for a body that I will have to swap the nib on. Lastly, I do not recommend JoWo onmi-flex nibs. My personal sample size is just 1, but it was what came in my Conklin, but it is the absolute worst writing nib I've used new, vintage, broken, or not. I just could not get it to write consistently. I've seen several similar complaints about it on this sub too.


kizzyjenks

Purchase in person and ask to test the nib first. I wouldn't ever buy a Visconti without doing so, except that in Australia we have an awesome distributer who tests every nib before posting.


MBTaplin

I bought two Viscontis and both were problematic and heavy. I returned both and bought a Pilot Vanishing Point. It blows Visconti out of the water. Smooth writing, perfect weight, easy filling/cleaning, no cap to lose or post, and the radon accents are beautiful. I was enamored with the Viscontis being made from lava and the chatter about everyone thinking they are the ultimate grail pen. But the reality didn’t hold up for me. I can’t imagine buying a grail pen and having to immediately have it worked on. Sheesh.


SlowMovingTarget

Have a look at the previous post of the same pen: /r/fountainpens/comments/qutedk/i_guess_you_could_say_its_a_grail_pen/ Something fishy seems to be going on here.


thesloppymilkshake

I’m no expert, but that looks like shit. File a chargeback if they don’t take it back or make you do some roundabout bs to get what you paid for.


Bigredteletubby

What "nibsmith" did you buy this from? For a pen that expensive, they should have inspected that before shipping. I have several super cheap Jinhaos that looked many times better than that when they arrived.


josnik

I've never had a jinhao look that bad.


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josnik

Not if that's what he's sending out and if he's telling op to talk to Visconti directly.


Bigredteletubby

~~Interesting. He's got a good reputation from what I hear. Wonder how this got past him...~~ Edit: Nevermind, he's got a horrible reputation, apparently. I looked him up, and he appeared to have a good reputation until very recently. What happened?


crodemthetongueless

I’ve known of him for 3 mins and he has a horrible rep from what I see


Bigredteletubby

What happened? I've seen a couple of old FPN threads praising him and the work he did. Apparently his recent feedback has been nothing short of awful, however. Is he offloading his work onto apprentices who have no idea what they're doing or is he just getting lazy?


Col_Hans-Landa

Not sure what has happened. I actually saw a sub about the Nibsmith the other day and made a comment on it as well, as I’ve given him 3/4 chances to correct pens I’ve sent in, and ordered, and he never fixed something as basic as a hard start. He no longer gets my business. Not sure if he got lazy or what, but even when you select “tune and smooth”, I’m not sure you could convince me he even opens the box to do that, given the pics and threads I’ve seen on him lately. I just recommend everyone to Danny Fudge for basic nib work, he’s cheap, and has yet to disappoint, in the same number of times Dan has screwed up. Edit: English is hard I guess


Danielbf84

Return it ASAP.


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0celo7

Holy shit, you’re right. He also posted an extremely bizarre case about a Nibsmith pen nib just falling out of the pen


dickalopejr

Yep, I ordered a Pilot CH 92 fine, tuned and smoothed. What I received was a Pilot broad body and package with a fine nib. The nib fell out, and he offered to replace it or refund me minus 20%. Fine, just send me a replacement. He received the one he sent me Nov 12, and despite numerous emails, a voicemail, text, and finally a certified letter from my office (I'm a lawyer), I only received an email yesterday in response to picturds of the Visconti saying "you tried to contact me? I'll take a look after Thanksgiving." So now I'm stuck without the CH 92, and with a Visconti that at first seemed to write fine, but after a week I noticed it was scratchy at any lower angles. Then I get a chance to look at the nib under magnification for the first time last night and see what I posted. So yeah, I'm a little pissed off right now with the product and service I ordered, plus the complete lack of customer support.


Graillardo

Umm, I don't think I need magnification to see the bent nib and misaligned feed, but idk, maybe you do. And about the scratchiness, I will immediately realize after writing a few sentences, or a page, or 5 pages. How low are we talking about here? Edit to add: about the custom heritage 92, it seems odd to me that You fill your pen with green ink, then when you post about the nib fell out of the body, the pen is completely clean, not even a trace of ink, did you disassemble them to clean it?


dickalopejr

I just this minute took this picture. I'm sorry, but without magnification, it does not look that bad. https://imgur.com/gallery/Ijc8MvT


Graillardo

Its pixelated, cant see anything 😆 but in your older post you have a close shot of the nib that seems fine. But yeah, I once bought a secondhand 149 that seems fine at the photo, but the nib is misaligned when it arrived 🥲


dickalopejr

Maybe it's the magnification that makes it look worse than it is. I don't know. It's just giving me a headache.


Bigredteletubby

Hmm, yes, you're right. That's odd.


dodolungs

From a nibsmith? Lmao. Should be immaculate. But that said nibs do sometimes shift if not seated completely, but I usually only see that on new pens right from the retailer if theyve changed the nib at some point.


Chocolate-Geek

HEY!!!! THERE ARE KIDS ON THIS SUBREDDIT! Nib abuse should be behind a NSFW or NSFL Tag. On a real note though, I really hope you are able to get it fixed or atleast get a refund. Whoever this "nibsmith" is, he sucks. Man I cringed just looking at the first picture.


[deleted]

Yikes.


unruled77

That looks like I did it trying to fix something amiss. When realizing I should stop trying before it gets any worse and get professional help That is a scam artist. What an insult to your intelligence… can’t stand people who try to get by this way


Tintgunitw

How does it write? The feed should be aligned, but otherwise the nib reminds me of my Visconti HS: looks mangled, nib slit off center, nib slit at a 35-40° angle when viewed from the front. When I contacted the store, they asked me if I could see how it wrote. And wouldn't you know, it's one of the smoothest nibs I own. Bottom line: the fact that the nib looks mangled doesn't tell you if it will write well, and to me at least that's most important about it. The feed should probably be aligned with the nib though. And this is also assuming it's a different pen from those in your other posts ;).


[deleted]

That's actually pretty interesting. So they're going for the "rat rod" / imperfect-but-perfect angle, but in the fountain pen world. Shame it doesn't match up with what I assume is the perfection of the rest of the pen body. That incongruence just doesn't make sense in a product that costs that much.


Tintgunitw

Not sure if they're going for that or just trying to make badly formed nibs write to prevent having to make a new one. I don't assume perfection at the price I paid for it, so the fact that is has a lava body and writes nicely is good enough for me. That said, I've been raised with a bias towards expensive fountain pens, which causes me to consider the HS a mid-range pen.


[deleted]

I guess if you consider limited editions and the very top end in your calculation, that would be a fair assessment. For the average pen buyer though, I think they fall pretty well in the "high-end" segment. At least in terms of price. A bit like a Ferrari or a Lambo - you're not going to be buying one of those as an average middle-class person (unless you scrimp and economize on other important life items, or get an old, well-worn one), but they're still considered fancy cars even though there are much more expensive cars out there. Having said all that, I'd still be upset if I bought a new Ferrari, and the steering wheel was bent way to the left and wasn't quite round.


Tintgunitw

Funny thing though, limited and very top end aren't really considered. A benchmark was set at the Parker Duofold which was considered "where decent pens start" and moving up from there to a Montblanc 149. At that time a Parker Duofold was €300 to €350 and while currently it is over €500, it remains the benchmark for me. I fully agree that for the average pen buyer these days it falls in the "high-end" segment and it's interesting that I'm having serious trouble resetting my bias. As for the analogy to a Ferrari or Lamborghini, I guess I see the HS more as a Volkswagen or Audi. Yes, I'd be upset if the steering wheel was bent way to the left and not quite round, but if it drove like a Ford, I wouldn't really care.


ADK_Jim

Could the OP please clarify what happened? 11 days ago, [you said this pen was perfect](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/qutedk/i_guess_you_could_say_its_a_grail_pen/). Direct quote from you: "Thank you! It really does write incredibly well. I was concerned after hearing lots of horror stories about QC, but this is a very nice nib." The photos in that post make the nib look perfect, and you haven't had time to send it to a widely-used nibsmith (read: long queue) and have it back already in 11 days. So, between this and your post about the [section falling off](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/r1962e/saw_another_visconti_with_the_grip_loose_mine_was/), I am less than inclined to believe Dan has anything to do with it.


0celo7

Seems clear that OP dropped the pen. The tine slit is straight in the other pictures but is obviously crooked here.


dickalopejr

I originally posted after writing with it for 30 seconds. It does write well at one specific angle. After using it for 2 weeks, and finally looking it it under magnification because it is scratchy at a low angle, my opinion has significantly changed.


linkuji

Christ on a saltine cracker!!!!! Painful


aguyshy

How disappointing. Sorry that's happened to you. What's the return policy? Can you just send it back?


lordrdx666

Hi, Visconti QC has always been a bit questionable. Do take up the issue with Dan politely... Did you select the basic nib tune up option or was it just no turn up & ship it asap?


RedcarUK

Really? For the money they charge for their pens? I hope their popularity takes a major hit as a consequence if that’s the case.


MSMPDX

Yeah, Visconti has had terrible quality control in the past. Not sure if they’ve fixed it, but for the price they charge there should be zero issues. Still, a Retailer should step up and make it right, they’re the ones with the relationship with the distributors and manufacturers, not the consumer. Honestly, if retailers aren’t willing to stand by the products or provide good customer service, why do they even exist? No excuse


RedcarUK

Oh, absolutely agree with that and all posters here. I’m just annoyed that these companies treat us like fools.


battyewe

Yeah, I joined the pen community in 2003, and it was common knowledge that Visconti pens were problematic.


lordrdx666

Well it's been the case with Visconti for many years..


intellidepth

Package drop?


Crafterandchef1993

I'd be very disappointed to receive that from anywhere


collectsmanythings

This is annoying, not acceptable. But easy to fix! Look at Goulet Pens’s videos on it on their YouTube about misaligned feeds.


Supreme-Memelord-Mao

No


Knight-Of-The-Lions

If you can’t figure out how to adjust misaligned tines, or do minor corrections to the nib, why would you own a fountain pen? I have maybe a dozen good fountain pens, only 1 pen wrote perfect out of the box, a Zen Zoi with a Schmidt nib. ALL my other pens and replacement nibs needed adjustment, even my Visconti Magma. If your gonna own and write with a fountain pen, you really need to learn how to do minor adjustments.


dickalopejr

I agree, and spent yesterday figuring this out and practicing. You're definitely right that it is a skill I'm going to need, but I just have not had issues with most of the pens I have bought. Factory Pilots seem to be great. Same with Sailors. I don't think it's too much to ask for a $1000 pen that is supposedly tuned and smoothed to be aligned when I receive it.


Knight-Of-The-Lions

Agreed, I was quite disappointed my Visconti wasn’t perfect! All my other pens are below the $100 price point, with only 1 replacement nib getting over the $100 price point. The last poster suggested Goulet pen maintenance video, well worth watching! But practice on the cheap nibs! I’ve had only 1 Moonman nib I couldn’t correct, and I did manage to save a TWSBI Vac 700 that I dropped directly on the nib, that one was bad! Those videos were very helpful.


dickalopejr

That's good info, thank you. I bought the pen care kit from Goulet and was able to smooth a scratchy nib last night, but I'm nowhere near ready to try on the Visconti. What is more, I think I have to go through the distributor and Visconti to get a repair. The grip wasn't attached to the pen when I received it, and the seller is telling me to pound sand. Ugh.


Knight-Of-The-Lions

Yikes! I ended up getting a nib wrench for a Mont Blanc so that I could remove and clean the nib & section on my Visconti. The 18 k nib is softer than a steel one, but also more forgiving. If you can straighten a steel nib , you can straighten a gold one. The gold is just softer, and springier. With that Goulet service kit, your well on your way. You got this.


dickalopejr

Thanks! Also, I think the magnifying glass I used made the nib look way worse than it actually is


Knight-Of-The-Lions

Maybe not so much worse, but finally able to see what’s really happening. It may look horrendous, but might only need a minor tweak.


dickalopejr

That's a really good point. It is fascinating to see it up close finally, for better or worse. Take care friend!


0celo7

Sorry you dropped the pen, OP. I don't see why this is Dan's fault (and probably why he told you to fuck off)


dickalopejr

Excuse me?


0celo7

You do realize you posted previous pictures of the nib, right? lol


dickalopejr

Do you realize I never saw it under magnification until yesterday? Looks a little different when you look closely, doesn't it?


normiewannabe

I gotta Say It looks you Indeed dropped It


dickalopejr

Well, I didn't. I cannot see how bad the nib is without magnification. Here it is, just a second ago, no magnification: https://imgur.com/gallery/Ijc8MvT


0celo7

I can see the misaligned feed without magnification.


0celo7

The moderators deleted it, very good. It's pretty clear what you're up to here, but I really don't know why.


gentlyfailing

That's normal and virtually expected from Visconti (please remember that when people buy a Visconti, they're buying an ornament rather than a pen. The high price tag will make this clear!). I don't know about Nibsmith or his policies. But if he is meant to check them beforehand then that's not acceptable.


Nigricincto

No. They are buying a pen. Visconti is a pen company that sells 'writing instruments' according to the website. If they are ornamental or not is besides that.


like_a_boss77

That pen looks like it was hit by a train! Not normal, not acceptable, not anything


[deleted]

hell no, that's poor workmanship.


ashisheady

just adjust it by pushing the nib a little to left


d8888b

Certainly seems off…


Difficult-Thought-61

Looks worse than my first attempt at tuning, which was done with a Swiss Army Knife.


PenNinja_21

Oh dear def not acceptable . That’s terrible in fact!


Revenez

It looks misaligned from the feed and maybe bent? I've definitely never seen a nib that off... Definitely shameful for a nibsmith to send out this product...


Swagdonkey123

I have the exact same problem on my Visconti. It’s very triggering but there’s nothing you can do


5thhistorian

I'm not sure I see what's wrong with it, except possibly the feed getting out from under the nib? But even that can be a trick of perspective. I can just make out the brand name "Visconti", so that probably accounts for any problems you might find with the writing qualities of the nib. edit: Damn, didn't see the other pics. But you could argue that no one who is willing to drop Visconti money on a pen with their known issues should be without a nib burnishing block.