After the overwhelming help here... I've located a place to purchase a new kit.
Most members believe the vendors here are the only place to buy from, not so. I found a source that is not only quick in responses, but also very helpful. I plan to get more than just the one kit after my positive experience, and at a better price, but I would be willing to pay more for this service.
It would also help a TON if your thread title weren't a vague meandering stream that babbles it's way into a brook and slowly finds it's way out to sea ....
Nobody knows what this thread is about by looking at the title. The only reason the vendors came to post in this thread is because others who had the time chanced in and see that you were looking for help.
The only thing your complaint tells anybody here is ... you don't know how to ask the right questions, you don't care enough to have your problem fixed, and when you don't get the problem fixed right away you find fault with us not being able to read your mind to find the problem and present you with the perfect solution right away.
If you had asked the right question to start with, say, by giving the thread a proper title, the vendors would have paid MUCH more attention, and you would have been on the right track right away.
If you cared enough to have your problem fixed, you would have found out which vendor carries the product you had a question about, and SOMEONE DID TELL YOU, and then you would have GONE TO THEIR SPECIFIC SECTION OF THE FORUM TO ASK YOUR QUESTION DIRECTLY TO THEM. Or you could have sent them a private message. It is more than apparrent to everybody reading this thread that you didn't bother to do either, so, you didn't care about your problem enough to fix it yourself.
Lastly, even with the actual vendors here posting in the thread, you don't even bother to TALK TO THEM.
Nobody can help you if you don't even bother to help yourself.
I'm sorry if I am coming off as some kind of uncaring individual, but I can assure you, the opposite is the truth. On the other side of his computer screen, he's got a CUSTOMER who is WAITING PATIENTLY for him to finish his or her pen, and he's wasting time beating around the bush playing the blame game because the internet doesn't come with an "easy mode" button.
I'm perfectly willing to bet that he could have gotten that part in all of 4 business days if he'ld only gone straight to Ed and Dawn of Exotic Blanks like he was told. With all the pens that Ed takes apart and puts back together for his demo videos and to send replacement parts out for whatever reason, I'm certain he's got spare parts taking up a few drawers, and whether or not you bought the kit from Ed, he'ld take the time to figure out your problem and send you the part, because making you happy is only good business sense. If you're happy with the service, you'll come back, you'll buy from them because they take care of their customers. They're good people, and that's just how it is.
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Oh, and last but not least, why is this topic even in the CASUAL CONVERSATION forum???
You have a question about a pen part, not the color of the sky or how to barbecue chicken! It would have gotten MUCH better views and responses if you had place your topic in the Penturning forum, the Fountain Pen forum, or, most especially, the correct marketplace forums.
Personally, if I had an issue like this, I would have posted a "want" ad in the
Deals Trades Gifts and Wants forum. I would have asked if anybody had a spare parts bin with the appropriate pen parts and the specific part that I need, and I would have offered at least the postage cost to have the incomplete kit sent to me... If I hadn't gotten any response there within 48 to 72 hours (not counting weekends, because we all have family life), then I would have gone back to my vendor and simply purchased another kit.
I still get stuff from PSI, because they're the first place that I found and I do like a lot of their selection. But if I buy something from a vendor and need it replaced, I'm going to go back to that vendor unless I have had serious problems with their business ethics or attitude. I've had NOTHING but good relations with all the vendors here.
