Questions and Answers on
Vintage Pen Repairs pennaviðgerðir
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| Authorised and registered repairers for Parker products | Authorised and registered repairers for Waterman products |
If your pen is less than about 15 years old, it is highly
likely that you need to return it direct to the manufacturer's service department.
The pen can be routed to the manufacturer through any authorized high street retailer.
We do not repair Montblanc or Pelikan pens.
What pens do we repair?
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We offer a full repair and refurbishment service for all vintage fountain pens. We have extensive experience of repairing all vintage pens, particularly the Parker Duofold range, Parker 17, 21, 41, 45, 51, 61, 65, 75, Conway Stewart, older Montblanc, Pelikan, Mabie Todd (Swan and Blackbird), Sheaffer, Waterman. We also have an extensive stock of original spare parts for all these makes, particularly for the Parker 51. We work with lever fillers, piston fillers, leverless models, plungers and virtually every kind of filling system We are recommended by Sheaffer UK for Sheaffer vintage pen repairs and by Parker and Waterman for all their products If your pen is less than about 15 years old or under a manufacturer's warranty, it is highly likely that you need to return it direct to the manufacturer's service department. The pen can be routed to the manufacturer through any authorized high street retailer. We do not repair Montblanc or Pelikan pens - these should be returned direct to Montblanc or Pelikan's service dept. |
From
our parts stock: Sheaffer PFM nib shells and Sheaffer Snorkel nib units |
What happens when I have sent my pen to you?
On receiving your pen, we will send you a written quotation for the repair work. If you wish to continue with the work, you then send us a cheque or credit card details. If not, then we will return your pen to you. Once we have received your cheque (or credit card details), work on your pen will be completed as soon as possible, but probably around 4 weeks. We only bank your cheque (or charge your card) when we return your pen to you, so please do not be concerned if the cheque doesn't show up on your bank statement immediately.
The repair quote will detail the cost of service, cost of spare parts required (if any) and the cost of return insured postage and packaging (£6 within the UK). The repair quote will also give a brief description of your pen's model, age and valuation for insurance replacement purposes.
How much will it cost?
A basic service for a pen with a rubber
sac
(eg button filler, lever filler, push-knob filler, Swan Leverless type of pen) is £30-£35
inc VAT
A basic service for other filling systems (eg an Onoto piston filler,
pneumatic filler, Sheaffer Snorkel/Touchdown, Parker Vacumatic etc) is
£40-75 inc VAT
Additonal charges are made for nib straightening and smoothing.
We always return pens using insured mail - the charge for this postage and
packing for one pen within the UK is £6 inc VAT. Within Europe, we use
either Registered Airmail or Fedex and can provide you with a quote for both
So most service bills total around £40-50 plus the cost of any replacement parts such as nib or clip. The basic service charge will be increased if additional work such as nib straightening or smoothing is required.
If we think that your pen is not worth repairing, then we will advise you of this. Unfortunately, some pens do sometimes reach the end of their useful life and, unless of sentimental value, it sometimes makes better economic sense to buy a new one.
We carry a very comprehensive range of spare parts (including original nibs, clips, barrels etc). If your pen requires any replacement parts, we will itemise the cost of these in our repair quotation. The cost of these parts is additional to the basic service cost.
How long will it take?
Turnaround time for repairs varies and is currently (summer 2011) around 2 weeks.
I live in Europe - can I send my pen to you?
Yes - please mail your pen to us at the following address:
Battersea Pen Home
PO Box 6128
Epping
England CM16 4GG
Payment from outside the UK is usually by Credit Card - We accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express
I live in the USA or elsewhere outside Europe - Can I send my pen to you?
No - Due to difficulties with import duties and taxes, we only accept repairs from customers in Europe who are within the European Union. If you live elsewhere, please ask us for a recommended repairer and we will try to advise you of a repairer within your own country.
If you are in the USA, we recommend
Rick Horne
www.thesouthernscribe.com
e-mail
If you are in Canada, we
recommend Peel Pen Shop, 142 Fullerton Street, London, Ontario N6A 5P2
Tel 519-438 9720
www.peelpenshop.ca
e-mail
If you are in Australia or New
Zealand, we recommend Peter Ford at
www.vintagepens.com.au
e-mail
How do I send my pen to you?
Please make sure it is securely packaged in a padded envelope and use the Royal Mail's Special Delivery Service. Forms for this are available at any Post Office. This service gives you insurance cover for the pen and requires a signature on delivery. The package is also trackable, so by phoning the Royal Mail, you can locate the package.
Click here for easy-to-print sheet of contact information details
Please make sure that you include a note advising us of any special problems (eg scratchy nib, poor flow etc)
Our address is:
Battersea Pen Home
PO Box 6128
Epping
England CM16 4GG
We operate only by post - you cannot deliver your pen to us personally
What happens if you can't repair my pen?
We will advise you of the problem
and we will pay for the return insured postage.
It therefore doesn't cost you anything if we are unable to repair your pen.
Do we guarantee our work?
Yes, when we service a pen, we expect it to give good, reliable service for a reasonable period of time. We therefore undertake to re-service free of charge any pen which, for any reason related to the original work, fails to function satisfactorily within twelve months from the service date.
Do we sell spare parts or ink sacks?
We do not generally sell parts - we only supply parts as part of our repair service. The main reason for this is the length of time it takes to identify the correct part - an impossible process if one doesn't have the pen requiring the part to hand. So please do not send us a part of your pen - we will just return it to you.
For example, customers frequently phone asking for a new clip for their Parker 51 without realising there are more than 24 variations of 51 fountain pen clip!
We do sell nib units for the Parker 25 and Parker 75 as these are standard screw-in assemblies.
Ink Sacs
For experienced do-it-yourself repairers, we offer a Collectors Mixed Selection of 20 ink sacs for £35 plus p&p (see below). This selection contains the most frequently sizes and usually consists of:
1 x No12 2 x No14 2 x No16 12 x No18 2 x No20 1 x No22
As a guide, a Conway Stewart Dinkie would take a No12; a Conway 58 Duro would take a No18 and a Parker Senior Duofold would take a No22. Repairing pens most usually found within the UK, one would use substantially more No18s than any other size.
We do not sell individual sacs.
Pencil Leads
We sell 1.1mm pencil leads which fit Yard-O-Led; most Parker, Waterman, Sheaffer (and other) pencils up to the 1940s when most manufacturers switched to the thinner 0.9mm as used in the Parker 51 pencils. See our pencil lead page for more information on lead diameters.
