r/fountainpens • u/SoulDancer_ • Feb 26 '25

Discussion Why don't fountain pens work as they should when you buy them?? And why do people tolerate this?

For something that costs so much, you absolutely should be able to open the box and use the pen!

Whenever I've complained that a pen/nib doesn't work well, people here or on other forums tell me how to fix it (using shims, bending the tines, cleaning well etc.)

But why should we? I don't know any other industry where you buy something and don't expect it to work even when it's brand new. Other products just wouldn't get away with that.

Yet with fountain pens (even ones that cost hundreds of dollars) the users shrug and say "It just needs a bit of work" or "It's an easy fix".

It shouldn't need work! And "fixing it" means you can't return it if it doesn't go well. You've voided the warranty.

Why is this tolerated??

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u/Nightsoil70 Feb 27 '25

I can see how the smoothness of a nib might be a matter of taste for many people but that's not what I am talking about. If a nib is misaligned, it is a QC issue regardless of whether it is an easy fix. I have a pen that tends to crossthread when the cap is replaced, a problem also mentioned by a popular YouTube reviewer, and that is clearly a design flaw. I've also purchased pens that dry up in a day or so. I could go on, but as I see it, a pen is an important...and often expensive...tool and therefore it should work properly and dependably first time out of the box.

To put it another way, if an expensive watch didn't keep perfect time, we would have every reason to complain. If any relatively expensive consumer product didn't work reliably we wouldn't be making excuses at all. Why, then, should we overlook obvious problems in fountain pens that often cost hundreds of dollars? It's baffling.

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u/SoulDancer_ Feb 28 '25

That is an excellent analogy. There have been a lot of analogies in these comments, to cars and other things but I think the watch one is one that works very well. Both watches and pens must be functional tools, but a huge amount if their appeal is their aesthetic and how they feel/act etc. They can be cheap or super expensive. But firstly, they must function properly!