In all my years purchasing pens, I can count on one hand the number of new pens I’ve received with noticeably low ink levels. It happens, but not that often (or maybe I’m just lucky). A pen neophyte could easily have mistaken the above pen (which doesn’t come ziplocked) as being used.

Even if the pen had not been used, JP’s email would’ve been less chafing if she’d explained that sometimes manufacturers mess up and offered to replace my pen on the first go round.

For an hyperbolic analogy, it’s like buying a brand new car at sticker price only to find, upon delivery, that there’s a minor dent in the hood. You might be able to forgive the dent, but…the car won’t start. When you contact the dealer and tell him there’s a dent in the hood and it won’t start, he tells you he doesn’t sell cars with dents, but you can pop the hood and jiggle a few wires.

If I’m asked to fix something I bought, it would be nice if that something were unmarred to begin with. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t have mattered how the ink level wound up depleted, just that it was and as a consumer I shouldn’t have been asked to blow dry it.

And to be clear, I understand that the customer service rep (I assume) meant no disrespect, but as a customer, I wish she’d have taken a moment to place herself in my position before responding. Now that it’s over and although she mentioned that I could contact customer service any time I have a problem, I don’t feel welcome to do so. It’s like the friendly JetPens vibe is somehow tarnished. OK, stepping off my soapbox now.

@Snady: Thanks, Snady. I don’t like contacting customer service either, which is why this experience was so rough on me…especially since I loved JP so much.

@manda: Thanks.

@D. Prudehomme: I finally did get my happy ending, but it was a Cadmean victory at best. I also hope that something good will come of this, and JP’s customer service will get that much better.

Anyway, at least it looks like you got a happy ending so to speak. Maybe some good will come out of this and they’ll learn how to improve their customer service. Sorry you had to deal with it though.

So that is really not that uncommon, but that obviously doesn’t mean you should have had a bad customer service experience.

I actually passed by your blog a while back to see what you’ve been up to, but it seemed you’d gone underground too.

And I completely understand what you’re saying. This time around* I felt less guilty afterward.

*This time around, however, the judge was a doof. Rather than give the other two boys the same sentence as the first (1.5 yrs in prison with 5 yrs probation), the judge gave one boy 30 days in jail with 5 yrs probation and the other boy–who claimed only to be the lookout–10 days in jail with 5 yrs probation.

Mind you, the boy who got the 30 day sentence had a previous juvenile arrest for aggravated assault (nearly beat another kid to death). Makes me wonder why this judge felt the need to be so lenient.

But, at least it’s over. :/ I can only pray they’ve truly learned from this and intend to turn their lives around for the better.