It was missing the clip, no damage whatsoever to the cap, maybe it never had a clip. Sent it off to a dealer-repair pen friend who said he could install the correct clip. I was nervous but he assured me, no problem.
A week or so later I received a letter. This is before I had a cell phone or even a computer. The letter started....
"Dear Len, "
soon as I saw that "Dear Len" a chill went up my spine, really, it did not sound good. If it was to be good I would have seen the pen and an invoice.
"Sorry Len, but there is always a risk in any repair and it so happens that when pulling the inner cap the entire cap shattered. It is not salvageable so i will give you the pen when I see you at the upcoming OH Pen Show. I really felt bad, for myself and also for the dealer.
At the show I sold the pen without the cap for a reasonable amount. The buyer came back a few hours later to show me he found the correct cap that matched the barrel and he was really really happy. Well, that made a horror story turn out well in the end. Just too bad I didn't find that cap first.
One more horror story. I'm at a pen show standing in front of a seller's table, My foot knocks over a small brief case on the floor. I ask the person to the right and a person to the left..."Is this yours?" "No" "No" I opened the case and saw about 50 pristine as near perfect as possible Vacumatics. Obviously someone got caught up in a trade or chat and walked off forgetting several thousand dollars worth of Vacumatics. At that moment I actually felt the flush of fear that person was having thinking he lost his Vac collection and someone may just walk off with it. I thought about who was there that might have such a collection, asked a few possible suspects and finally found the right person. When I asked..."do you have a nice case full of pristine Vacumatics?" I could still to this day see the horror on his face turn a few shades paler and the despair in his eyes. Then he correctly described what he had in the case I handed it to him. For about the next 20 minutes all he could say is "Oh my G-d!" "Oh my G-d!"
I guess we all have some kind of horror story about pens over the years. Got one?
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