Pen abuse

[GaryMGg]

I've seen talk about customers abusing the pens and I always thought "How will I know if someone abused the pen?"
Well, I've been sick the last couple'a days & coming out of the Dr's office yesterday,
I wasn't 100% on balance. I had my latest daily carry pen in my front pocket. As I was
gettin' into my truck, I took the pen out and was going to put it into my
shirt pocket. It slipped outta my hand and fell about 5 feet landing flat along it's length on gravelly asphalt [V].
The nice deep CA finish is now chipped and dinged; there's a depression in one spot that looks like little tiny prickly heat. The nib is scratched.
I guess I know what customer abuse looks like now.

 

[ed4copies]

More important, hope you are feeling better soon!!!!!!!!!

You can make MORE pens, only have one body - try to make it last!

 

[thewishman]

Ouch!

 

[wdcav1952]

Gary, just in case it is contagious, please go breathe on Tim Tebow! []

Seriously, I'm sorry to hear you are under the weather and hope you and your pen are better soon.

 

[GaryMGg]

That's just too funny; I love it!

Originally posted by wdcav1952
Gary, just in case it is contagious, please go breathe on Tim Tebow! [] ...

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm feeling much better; still crappy, but much better.

Hard to believe but I went to the doctor's Tuesday before going back to work to make certain I wasn't contagious to my coworkers. We work too close together much of the time for me to risk their health -- get those minds outta the gutter; it's computer stuff, shared keyboards, desks, chairs, and such.

Anyway, dropping the pen and marking it with evident mistreatment got me wondering:
How do y'all determine someone's abused a pen and what do you charge to disassemble and repair one when asked?
Do you charge more to disassemble and refinish the better kits than the lesser ones?
Do you charge more for the risk involved in possibly ruining a segmented pen upon disassembly?
Let's say you've got a good customer and decide to repair it gratis, do you warn them that the disassembly could result in a blank failure and you may have to remake the pen in whole or in part?
What other things do you consider when you undertake these things?

Thanks for your ideas.

 

[Russianwolf]

I wouldn't consider dropping a pen abuse. crap happens to everyone.

To me abuse would be someone intentionally doing something to hurt the pen. I think of the bic chewers for example although I can't imagine someone chewing one of our pens. Or otherwise intenionally putting the pen in harms way. I would think it would be evident from the damage being confined to one area or so.


If someone where to bring me back a pen who dropped it by accident and says "I dropped it and messed it up, can you fix" I would do it for a small charge. If someone brought one that looked abused, the charge would be higher to try and make them respect my work more. If it looks like it's my workmanship that's the culprit, then I'll fix it for free.

 

[alamocdc]

I have one customer who's pen abuse involves losing them. He's bought two in the last two years and has managed to lose them both. It seems he carries them in his pants pocket and they seem to disappear when he sits down somewhere. He found the first one after he bought the second, but has since lost it again. He asked me (jokingly) if my pens came with a replacement guarantee. I said, "Sure... the replacement will only cost you (insert regular price here) to cover the deductible."

 

[tharp]

"Pen" abuse?
This is insane!
Do we call it abuse in regards to having to refix it, or are we calling it abuse because it's being "hurt" in some way? I don't get this topic at all.
Tom

 

[GaryMGg]

Tom, you're entitled to think what you will.
I believe abuse is the proper term.

Abuse is defined to include the following behaviors:
to use wrongly or improperly; misuse; to treat in a harmful or injurious way.
Wrong or improper use doesn't necessarily mean intentional misuse.
Just because it's an accident doesn't mean it's not abuse.
If the term bothers you pick another, I won't be offended.

Dropping a pen onto rocks and pebbles from a 5' height is abusing the finish.
I didn't mean to abuse the finish on the pen -- it was an accident, but it's what I did.
That event which damaged the finish on my pen got me to thinking and asking the questions I asked. Anyone else have something useful to contribute?

 

[RONB]

I had a pen come back that the girl tried to run it through a paper cutter accidentally . It was mane of Wenge and a chore to repair.It's worth it for good customer relations. I repair the pens for nothing, just be honest with me about what happened.I need to have happy customers, my best advertising is word of mouth.

 

[redfishsc]

Originally posted by GaryMGg
<br />I've seen talk about customers abusing the pens and I always thought "How will I know if someone abused the pen?"
Well, I've been sick the last couple'a days & coming out of the Dr's office yesterday,
I wasn't 100% on balance. I had my latest daily carry pen in my front pocket. As I was
gettin' into my truck, I took the pen out and was going to put it into my
shirt pocket. It slipped outta my hand and fell about 5 feet landing flat along it's length on gravelly asphalt [V].
The nice deep CA finish is now chipped and dinged; there's a depression in one spot that looks like little tiny prickly heat. The nib is scratched.
I guess I know what customer abuse looks like now.

Well I just can't imagine something like that ever happening to me....[}].


I do regret they make our pens out of a softer metal (some sort of brass-like alloy?), but I must tell you that I am impressed with the Black Ti--- I dropped a cigar pen head-first from my shirt pocket directly onto concrete. It landed on the nib, bounced, spun a 180 and hit the clip finial.

Only two very small, almost unnoticeable narks. I use that pen balancing my checkbook all the time and usually don't notice it. I wish all my customers would like the black ti as much as I do!

 

[tharp]

I'm not arguing the definition of the word "abuse".
I just think it's a little overboard in regards to a piece of wood. It doesn't have a soul for crying out loud. It can't feel pain, it has no idea it's been "abused". I just think the term should be reserved for REAL abuses like a child or an animal thats all. And I'm okay with the definition in a sense, but it just seemed like people were attaching an emotional response to it. I think when we classify a pen as "abused", we cheapen the severity of real abuses.
It's just my opinion and I'm certainly not criticizing so please don't be offended, I'm just trying to understand that's all.
If someone buy a pen, and then throws it on the ground, stomps on it, scratches it, even burns it.. so what, they paid for it. It's a waste of money, but in my opinion, not abuse.
Tom

 

[DCBluesman]

When I talk about abusing a pen, I mean doing something other than normal use as a pen. That includes dropping it on concrete. I only use that definition in making a determination as to whether or not I feel an obligation to repair any damage.

 

[alamocdc]

I'm not trying to be argumentative here... honsetly. But several years ago I received the same kind of comment concerning the use of the word slave. While I'll do my very best to keep this from being political, there are words in the English language that have multiple meanings. Some definitions of some of these words refer to unfortunate and downright distasteful and disgusting acts. Slave (or slavery) and abuse are two such words. However, to say that the use of these words can henceforth only be used when referring to these distasteful and dispicable things is nothing short of censorship. Abuse is defined as:
â€"verb (used with object)
1. to use wrongly or improperly; misuse: to abuse one's authority.
2. to treat in a harmful, injurious, or offensive way: to abuse a horse; to abuse one's eyesight.
3. to speak insultingly, harshly, and unjustly to or about; revile; malign.
4. to commit sexual assault upon.
5. Obsolete. to deceive or mislead.
â€"noun
6. wrong or improper use; misuse: the abuse of privileges.
7. harshly or coarsely insulting language: The officer heaped abuse on his men.
8. bad or improper treatment; maltreatment: The child was subjected to cruel abuse.
9. a corrupt or improper practice or custom: the abuses of a totalitarian regime.
10. rape or sexual assault.

You are, of course, free to disagree.[]

 

[GaryMGg]

Tom,
In all my days, I've never ever equated abuse of an object with abuse of a living thing. So, I really had no idea where you were coming from.
Now that you've written it that way I understand why you wrote what you wrote.
Lou's explanation is what I was thinkin' when I wrote my original post.
Our experiences color our expectations: I grew up workin' on bicycles and "abuse"
was kids bringing in bent wheels and busted forks with bunny hopping damage.
The warranty doesn't cover abuse.
In my mind, there's abusing an object and then there's abusing a person: spousal abuse, child abuse, and so forth.
The former holds no emotional impact for me -- it is what it is.
The latter makes me want to abuse a baseball bat over some freako's head.
They're very different.

And, yes if I equated abusing the pen with abusing a person, I'd be insane. []

 

[tharp]

Okay, my final word.. I'm not trying to split hairs, but I heard someone mention "hurting the pen". I think THAT'S what kinda confused me. When someone "hurts" something, we are assuming there is "hurt" involved, with hurt comes pain. with pain comes the ability to feel. So, when I heard the word "hurt", it naturally confused me. I don't believe you can "hurt" something that doesn't have the ability to feel pain and couldn't understand the big deal about someone trashing a pen, So I mistakingly thought I wandered into a Druid den. Not trying to cause a conflict or start a war. I apologize if anyone was upset. It's just the perfectionist in me to understand what people are saying. Hope everything's cool.
Tom

 

[karlkuehn]

Wow, Tom, I bet you're hell on a salesman trying to explain and sell you an extended warranty. []