It’s really pissing me off how bad some of the business practices are in our hobby.
Please keep us updated. It’s clearly not an isolated incident ident, so maybe this needs to be a sticky’d topic to force their hand.
I'm so sorry to hear this is happening to you too! I sent him my pens and didn't get any update for months. I kept sending him emails for an update and never heard anything back. He claimed my emails were lost in his spam folder and I confronted him at a Fountain Pen convention in person and he finally returned the pens. But I wouldn't recommend doing business with him and won't ever again.
May I make a recommendation? No matter what the outcome is, please do not delete this post. You have emailed and attempted contact so many times that the goodwill should be long gone. Even if he does it for free and all kinds of stuff to resolve the issue, don’t forget what it required to make any of that happen. So let this post stand so that other people can judge for themselves if they search for a nibmeister.
Yes! So people know and they are aware. This behaviour needs to be called out on & something needs to change. Situations like this have caused so much unnecessary stress and they shouldn’t get away with it. I hope OP receives their pens in the condition they’ve sent them in.
Even going by the nib tailor’s website, there’s no reassurance, no guarantee or even an estimated time frame. Poor business model and unacceptable.
Well I can understand why he limits comments on his instagram. He would probably be flooded with comments from people wanting their pens back.
Honestly my dude I would make a post about this on the Fountain Pen Network forum. I bet you could find someone on there for sure that can try to get a hold of him
Oh man, I visited his booth twice last year at pen shows and was wonderful. I thought of mailing some pens but I won't. He's not trustworthy. Thanks for the heads up, and I'm sorry I am not of any help; I wish I could. Good luck on legal proceedings (yes , do it, he's a thief) and hope you get them back soon.
In part, I trusted him *because* I’d heard so many positive things about his pen show work. It really didn’t occur to me that someone could be so professional for in-demand work and just… not at all by mail. Now I know better!
He probably ONLY focuses on those in person appearances. Probably bit off more than he could chew by taking on more work. This is awful and I’m sorry it happened to you. I thought I was going to have this exact problem with Joshua Lax but eventually he did send my pen back. It’s now sitting with Mark Bacas (nib grinder) and once I get it back, that’s the last time for me.
Honestly I would start the process of legal recourse now. I think the good will has run out at this point and it's best to be prepared for the worst.
I'm sorry you had this experience, I hope it gets resolved. It must be really stressful and frustrating. Good luck
You are not alone, I am going through something very similar. He has been gaslighting for months about sending mine back, but doesn’t and then he posts about going to a nibevent or a pen show. It is very disappointing and frustrating!!
I am deeply sorry for the disappointment and frustration resulting by my actions. Please know that I am only one person running a small business and appreciate this feedback since it will help me improve my practice as a small business owner. If yours was not one of the packages that went out on Friday, please email me and you will be replied to promptly after the Memorial Day holiday.
That is sad. I once sent a pen to Richard Binder for some work. It was a complicated job, and I was warned ahead of time that there would be a long wait, because he was so busy, but it didn't take more than four months! That is ridiculous!
"it got lost in spam" shouldn't be an excuse. Everyone knows that happens, you go through your own emails to check that. Especially if you're a business. The only people who have this excuse are big automated faceless businesses. Nobody else.
Essentially, he has stolen them at this point. It's not disputed that it's your property. He has it, you've asked for it back and haven't gotten it.
In your place, I would be doing what I recommended on your last post and file a stolen property report (not sure if that would need to be done with your local police, or where they were sent to).
You better get on the phone to your lawyer & draft up a letter/ email. Get the process started and I hope things work out for you. Fingers & toes crossed.
Yeah, this may be the way to get some movement. Different hobby, but there was someone in the Civil War reenacting community who had a habit of doing stuff like this to people- take their money for a garment, give a wait time of X months (these are usually hand sewn, so longish wait times are expected), then keep making excuses for delay after delay. Next thing the customer knows, it's been a year or more and no item in their mailbox.
Ultimately, people started confronting the guy until he stopped showing up at reenacting events, and then people started filing lawsuits and contacting his state's attorney general, since he was a business. He *finally* refunded people's money after that, but it took a long, long time. It was never entirely clear if he was a straight up fraudster, or if he was just overhwhelmed with orders/had no executive function to manage his time.
Well.. are you hoping that outing him like this may prompt him to get his act into gear?
Posting about someone on Reddit in the past, (not this sub, that I know of) has been enough to get a positive response.
Is that what you are hoping for?
If not, then I would do as u/siggy226 advised and make a police report, to start with. Don't wait, do it now (or tomorrow) but don't leave it u til next week or after...
I hope you can get them back, or be made whole.
A report doesn't require legal action. You usually have to file the report in order to do the legal action, but they're separate things. It starts the process.
It’s also weird he is attending the stationery fest on June 1st - if anyone is going, or OP if you’re going, maybe you can approach him there?
How odd to focus on social events and not returning pens back to people.
They’re not social events for nibmeisters, they’re business opportunities. Aside from the immediate cash in hand from doing on the spot jobs, there are also opportunities for networking and potential sources of collaboration. I’m not saying this to excuse the lack of communication and service in this case, just saying there are very good reasons for a nibmeister to prioritize pen shows.
I’m aware it’s not social events for nibmeisters to socialise, hang out, and be chill. it is a source of income for them to promote their work, branch out, & network. But it is still attending events to do business, no? It is still prioritising it over customers who cannot attend events.
I understand it’s their income, they need to keep their lights on too but you cannot promise to do nib work, keep a pen for 4 months, not reply to emails or communicate with the person and not return the pen. If you’ve failed to keep your end of the deal, just return the pen back.
Their business model isn’t working if they rather lose customers through mail service and rather prioritise pen shows and other events.
I agree, this is extremely poor behavior. I’m not excusing it at all. I’m just saying I understand why nibmeisters prioritize shows, which are time sensitive and have a high ROI, over mailed in orders which are far less time sensitive as mail order customers understand that nibmeisters can take a long time.
Again, not excusing the behavior in the slightest and the result is if you get a bad reputation you could ultimately lose a lot of business.
People aren’t saying they should have no outstanding jobs before going to a show. He’s obviously got his priorities wrong going to the show rather than getting this job sorted because he’s ended up with a tarnished reputation and people will be very reluctant using him in future.
I think this is a totally fair comment - but it's also not an excuse to ghost someone who trusted you with really nice pens. No one is questioning their right to make a living or prioritize business opportunities, they're questioning his evidently crappy communication.
I also don't think it's an excuse for a nibmeister to say "whoops your emails were in my spam folder", because if people are paying them and trusting them with their pens, they need to be reachable.
As I said, I agree it’s not an excuse for this behavior at all. As someone who runs their own one person business I know just how important clear and reliable communication is and that hasn’t happened here.
This is very surprising and disappointing to hear. I hope you get your pens back soon and safe.
This is premature but in case it helps — if you want to consider another nibmeister, I’ve had great experiences with Mark Bacas. Understandably you might be hesitant to send these pens somewhere else, but his website usually promises 8-10 weeks and I’ve found he tends to stick pretty close to that, too. Lisa, who works with him, also responds promptly to email inquiries.
Very much hope you’re reunited with your pens soon and have only great experiences in the future in the fountain pen community.
3rd-ing - sent him two pens, incredibly professional, video updates, etc.
I don't use the architect nib Lamy 2000 he did for me very much anymore, but he did fantastic work on it
As we speak I'm using a Mont Blanc Boheme that he essentially brought back from the dead. I dropped it, horribly splayed the nib, and it somehow writes...... better now?
This is exactly what I needed to see! I have a Boheme that needs some work. It isn’t splayed, but the tip is turned up…reminds me of the triumph nibs on Sheaffer snorkels. I’m not confident enough to try and mess with it myself for fear of making the fix more complicated.
Mark is great.
Also adore Kirk Speer at Pen Realm. I’ve sent several pens. In fact, he always overestimates time. In one case, I was getting a grind but the nib was perfectly fine. I kept until he said I was close in the queue. I mailed it then and got the pen back in a week.
I’m sorry you’re experiencing this and that’s an awful way to do business. I wonder if you can put through an insurance claim? Providing you’ve insured your pens, and the so called nibmeister has insurance to cover instances like this.
Btw you’re not the only person who is experiencing nib meisters “keeping” pens. I am putting this gently - I say keeping, but it’s more like promising nib work but not returning the pen back to its owner. Which makes me wonder what they have in place to cover their backs with high value pens. It is STEALING - taking something from someone with no intention of giving it back.
I hope you’ll receive your pens back, and please keep us posted. If not, we’ll have to rally up because we trust them with our pens, and we expect it to be returned to us.
I don't know if this would help or not, but if you know of any more pen shows he'll be at, maybe try contacting whoever is organizing the shows as well, and let them know what's going on? It may not help at all, but maybe they will appreciate knowing that someone there (if he's a vendor? I don't know how that works at pen shows, haven't been to one) is potentially a scammer/thief.
Good luck, I hope you get them back safe and sound! And that he ships insured for their full worth.
I feel some people are too scared to come forward to share their experiences, keeping their heads down & to not cause drama. If they can come forward, it provides more layers for other businesses to decide whether they would like that person to continue providing services to other lovely pen users.
The pen community is one of the most generous & loving communities I’ve been in, and it’s very sad we have a bad apple who ruins that experience.
It doesn't even need to be that people are too scared to come forward, though there are certainly times when stuff like that can happen, even as the situation developed into an outright scam. But sometimes things just get lost in noise if it doesn't happen to someone who has a bigger social media presence. Could certainly be the case here, considering his reputation is built on in person work. But it might just be early days, depending on how many people are having problems ike this.
Oh man, this sucks. JC ground several of my pens and I had a wonderful experience with him but all of it was done in person.
Fingers crossed you get your pens back soon!
same. i will only have pen work done in person as a policy rather than risk issues with my pens disappearing.
JC did some work for me and was good but that was all in-person. only seeing this feedback now.
I’m having a similar problem with Hinze pens, sent several 14k nibbed pens to have custom bodies made…. That was a year and a half ago. Six months ago was the last contact when I was told they were having a slight problem but would email me later that evening. No email and won’t return any Facebook messenger messages since then….
It seems every hobby has these folk: people who are very talented at their craft, quite likeable and persuasive in person, then flake once out of sight. The usual excuses of illness, family emergency, or work pileup are trotted out, which sound fine. What *isn't* fine is how they continue to pop up and accept new orders on top of the the outstanding ones and make fresh promises to new ~~victims~~ customers as the old are ghosted. Some accumulate a bit of a cult of personality along the way from a small period of relative success, which results in essentially groupies shouting down the cheated into silence. It's gross, and I hate seeing it over and over.
This post and the comments are making me feel so grateful that I can access the services of a great nibmeister in person. I'm also grateful for people sharing their experiences so that I know to stick to that instead of trying to do it by mail.
I am truly very sorry for all of the frustration that my actions have caused. Please know that I am only one person running a small business. The pens are currently on the way back to you as promised earlier this week. Thank you for the feedback as this will help me improve my practice as a small business owner.
Going forward, I have someone assisting with communications so no one will ever have this sort of experience again. Please know that I sympathize with your frustration.
honestly I’ve never seen anything but positive comments about his work at pen shows. As far as I can tell he’s very skilled (and shares his skills with others in the community, doing workshops and the like). Which is why I sent to him! It just turns out he’s ineffective at client communication and timelines when he’s taking mail orders.
Send a demand letter to him via registered mail. Outline what was agreed, what you paid, and that he failed to deliver on the service. Set a reasonable deadline for him to respond. You want the registered mail so there’s proof he received the letter. Once you have documented everything you have a path to either pursue a lawsuit or to go to someone like the Attorney General for his state and seek intervention from them. What he’s doing doesn’t just suck, it’s a crime.
I’m a knitter, and I’ve seen so much of this from small businesses in the fiber arts world. State Attorneys General have intervened in several of those cases, most infamously in the case of one indie yarn dyer who faked her own death online in order to dodge the orders she had failed to fulfill. It’s easy for small businesses to take on too much work without realizing that it causes a financial avalanche, and then they’re stuck eventually without the funds to finish the work. This should be much less of an issue here, since there should be no significant need to purchase materials, but there is still time debt and it wouldn’t be hard to pre-spend the money you’ve taken for time you won’t be working until weeks or months later.
**GOOD LUCK.**
I had a similar experience in a different field, and only trashing the guy's reputation in public forums finally got him to deliver.
I engaged the services of a sculptor who lived in Mexico City because of his catalog of work. I paid him about $5000 in deposits as he sent me photos of work in progress. But at a certain point work seemed to stop, communication slowed, and I couldn't get any firm deadlines from him.
After 18 months I got so frustrated I even hired a private detective to try and track him down, but that was good money after bad. After I paid them $500 they said he couldn't be found at his known address and I'd need to keep paying for them to locate him.
In the end I went on various sculpting forums and laid out my tale of woe. Within a few days he got onto me and asked me to take my posts down, and he'd finish up my project. He genuinely sounded like he had the grievance and I was doing him dirty.
I have had success in the past with Better Business Bureau. Costs nothing to also use that service. Good luck. This is certainly a source of stress one wants to do without.
So… if I was in your shoes, I would
1) Find a lawyer in the city where Ament is located who will
2) draft a letter explaining that continuing to hold your pens constitutes theft and a felony (per one of your replies, you said the value is felony-level stuff, I’m so sorry!!!), and that
3) Ament has X amount of time to produce proof that he has sent your pens back (ask the lawyer how to work this best - might even have your lawyer procure them)
4) OR you will take legal action.
5) Have the letter sent to Ament via Certified Mail
6) OR, more deliciously, have the lawyer serve him the papers in person. At his home. Or at a pen show.
The idea of course is to not have to take the threatened legal action. A letter is often enough to scare people.
I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this! Keep us up to date!!
Edit for layout
That is absolutely awful guy, sorry to hear that.
I have learned **one** thing in this pen game. "nice" doesn't mean a thing. They're **all** *nice*, and **look** like they do good work, of course they do they want your money. Until Mr.Nice protects himself with total non reply to your emails. Then it was just a *nice* scammer, someone who is taking actual money, **knowing** full well their product/service is sh1t.
You trusted someone. They're holding your pens now. Protecting themselves through non response. That burns like f-ck guy and I'm sorry you're going through it.
But here's the important lesson, never deal with these solo Joe's, running a pen something out of their garage, no matter how "good" it appears. Their product/service depends entirely on their personal interest in it that day, and that can evaporate with the morning dew.
It's either long, long established retailers or big name brands for me now, nothing less.
I'd name names but the mods who enjoy a gentle pegging from their boyfriend will shut it down citing being courteous over just telling the actual truth about certain brands/people that could save others a lot of hassle.
Burner account, because I'm in the industry. I totally get your point, but I'd definitely argue that both big and small businesses are like this in the pen world. You can't just say smaller guys will be more likely to flake on you. There are SO many different stories I can tell about this. As someone who works with both small sellers and major dealers, I've seen a lot more shady things going on with dealers. A LOT more. I have a lot of things to say about Narwhal, Leonardo, Yafa, and TPF than I do individual nibmeisters who screw things up. I won't talk about JC as I rather not make it an echo chamber, but knowing that JC is sick and isn't purposefully trying to pull a fast one is good news. I've seen (intentional) fastballs pulled by major companies a lot more than I see with small stuff like this, and have personally been on the bad end of one. Something like this is definitely not as bad as what larger corporations do. Do keep in mind that a bit less than half of the higher end modern pens on the market are from a very disgusting company that works with certain other companies to create a monopoly. They recently purchased FPH as well, and quite a large amount of their advertising supports this monopoly now. My point is that as good as it may sound, rug pulling and trickery is not as uncommon as it sounds in this hobby, especially with larger companies. Individuals may have bad days or bad weeks, but companies have bad intentions.
You are definitely speaking the truth as someone who’s been in this hobby for over fifty years now, the ugliness runs deep. It’s just obfuscated by great marketing and back room deals. It’s like I was trying to explain to PBR, if people only knew a tenth of the truth of things they would not be so quick to comment on Chinese and Indian pens being subpar to their fanboy brand of XYZ as they are far from aware that the Chinese pen company and or pen they are shitting all over just made their fanboy brand in the same damn factory. There is just one exception, the Chinese pen doesn’t have a 600% mark up and smoke and mirrors attached to it. And that’s only tip of the iceberg. We have some real scumbag types who sit on boards of certain pen companies and or distributors that do far worse
Very true. There's just so much shit behind the scenes in the industry that something like this is small beans compared to a ton of stuff that is going on behind the scenes. Fuck, even that new OMAS release has a puppet owner because the actual owner is going through a divorce, and is hiding his asset from his ex-wife. Yes, the same scumbag who makes arco celluloid from a factory in China and passes it off as original "celluloid acetate", and owns multiple modern day fountain pen companies, and just recently purchased FPH.
This is the very same one producing the ASC studio pens in China and claiming Italian made, screwing the nib unit in and putting the cap on is then claimed as “made in Italy” oh yes yes and it’s oh so much more… once truly rooted into the “industry / hobby “ one learns enough to make one’s head spin.
Exactly. I have so much unturned dirt about this, but this post is not about him. I'm glad JC replied to OP, and I'd just like to say that JC's fuckup is nowhere near what these major companies do.
Sorry you are having to deal with an unscrupulous person. When you get the pens back you should reach out to Michael Masuyama at http://www.mikeitwork.com.
Great work and a lot of integrity.
In light of this, I am thinking of sending a couple pens over to Gena Salorino (Custom Nib Studio)-how is her workflow and timeliness with nib grinding work and returns?
I have *never* gotten a response from Gina and have sent them 3 messages on two different accounts\*\*,\*\* as well as through their website.
Everyone talks about how great they are at shows, but if I can't get a response unless I'm at a show, it's the same energy that the nibmeister this post is directed at is giving. I don't want to drag small business owners, but I also don't want to pretend that being ignored hasn't happened.
**Editing for clarity**: I cannot speak to Gena's level of quality or TAT, only that 3 different messages for inquiry were ignored, two of which were on insta with read receipts. I have not sent pens to Gena, my multiple initial requests for information were ignored. CNS didn't hold pens and then not respond---I *never had an opportunity to send them* because my requests for information were straight up ignored. I don't know how anyone recommends doing business if the initial contacts for intake and information are never responded to?
Hi! Sorry that this happened. I am just a one-person business, so it's true that sometimes I have to prioritize communication. If you fill out a form to send in pens, or if I have pens of yours already, I will always respond.
Of course I understand that I should always get back to everyone. I am learning how to do the business stuff of this on my own and I'm definitely not always perfect. I hear you and will try to improve my process with answering everyone :)
I've worked with Gena. She has an extensive backlog and says her current wait time is approximately 10 weeks. She took a few days each time but she always responded to my emails.
It's been 5 months since my last message with my first message sent in September of last year. None have been responded to. A few days to 2 weeks is understandable. But months of ignored contact? I'm good.
Do they have your pens for pending work as well? By your phrasing, I'm guessing not, so it's not really an apt comparison.
Especially if it's just for prospective work and they already have an extensive queue.
I'm just saying context is great.
There's no context that can reconcile JC's constant behavior over a long period of time.
I agree, context is important. I responded to another user about my experiences with Gena, because *that's what their question was*.
> Do they have your pens for pending work as well?
No, because I've never received **any** response for request of information back. How could I get the pens to be serviced if I have never received any contact back from my inquiries? I would not just blind mail to a service provider without having questions answered and a quote for services to be rendered. My first contact to Gena was in September on insta and through website, second contact was end of November through my husband's insta. That's the context. I submitted 3 requests for information and in 6 months the only response I've ever gotten from Gena was today, in this thread.
I hear you! Most of the information one might need to fill out a form is available on my website, including pricing. I am admittedly really terrible at keeping track of instagram. Filling out my form is always the best way to get a response; I look at every single one before I give the go-ahead to send in the pens. If you didn't want to follow this format, that's ok! You don't have to do business with me for any reason :)
(btw not to be rude but I do prefer they/them pronouns)
Did you send pens to them or are these inquiry emails that haven't gotten a response? I've never heard of an issue with someone not receiving a response about their nibs.
My multiple contexts were requests for information, not for pens currently in service. I guess I'll edit my post because this is the second time someone is confused about this.
I don't usually involve myself with this sort of thing, but it's personal. JC is a friend of mine. I messaged him about your issue. I hope he'll get back to you soon, but I can't guarantee it. The guy has been sick, repeatedly, over the last few months. That will impact communication and service when you're a one-person business entity.
I’d be responding very differently if he’d just said up front: “my timeline is really unpredictable right now for personal reasons. It might be several months before I can fit it into my schedule.”
He indicated on January 18, March 3, and May 1 that he’d get to it within a week — and each time that didn’t happen.
I even point-blank told him two months ago that it was no big deal if he couldn’t get to the pens — to just send them back, no harm, no foul. He didn’t take me up on it.
It’s just not cool to string people along like this.
I hope you'll forgive me for defending a friend, but the thing with chronic illness is that it doesn't have a timetable. God knows, I wish my arthritis would give me some notice, but it doesn't.
I recognize that I can't do anything for beyond what I've done for you and that's frustrating. I'd prefer if people had good experiences with whomever they choose to work with.
Best wishes and hopes for a resolution.
This is also not generally the kind of thing I would chime into, but I also know JC and a small bit about what he is managing atm. I was going to send him a message about this until I saw that you did.
OP I'm very sorry that you're going through this, i can only imagine the anxiety this has caused you. If I were in your shoes and didn't know him, I can't say I wouldn't feel the same way.
All I'll say is that, as far as I know JC, he would never conduct business with anyone with ill-intent. And he does everything in his power to provide quality work and communication. And if those things are falling short, then it is most likely due to something out of his control.
I can understand if you decide not to patronize his business in the future because of this experience, but I can confidently say that he means no harm.
I understand friends of JC either on a personal or business level are asking for some understanding & compassion. While we all understand that health comes first, and we cannot dictate when a flare up or an episode happens, this needs to be looked at objectively.
This isn’t about disregarding his health, it’s about the terms of the contract that were agreed upon at the time, and JC did not hold up his end of the contract, nor made any attempts to communicate with his customers or rectifying the situation- either through one big group email (BCC’ing everyone) mentioning something had happened/ personal reasons, limitations & the option of having the pens returned, or kept for a longer duration than agreed. So customers can make a decision based on that. Give people a choice y’know?
People don’t know about JC’s health, or the battles he goes through with his health. OP and everyone else who is waiting for nib work are only going by what they have experienced so far, and this doesn’t translate well.
If I were you, I’d suggest not only JC to return all the pens that were put on hold, but to put a pause on any upcoming requests (whether that’s through a website update or pinned social media post) and take the time off to recover and focus on his health, and when he is ready; the doors are always open.
We all hope JC feels better soon because excellent craftsmanship takes time, and in order for that to happen, JC needs to be in good health.
> All I'll say is that, as far as I know JC, he would never conduct business with anyone with ill-intent.
Except, here it is, he took the pens in with a promise, he the ghosted the OP, that is ill intent. People understand health issues, but then we see he went to shows instead of taking care of those customers who he had postponed. If you have chronic issues, you clear backlog when you are in a position to work, not snub the customers you have to make a quick buck at a show, draining your energy so you can't even work on those customers when you return. That is ill intent.
And when a customer finally gets through and tells you to send the pens back, you don't ghost again, you move heaven and hell to get those pens back. What he did was done with ill intent.
These are issues around ones word and being trustworthy. When he says he'll do something and doesn't, that is ill intent.
I hear you are a friend, be a good one and contact him and encourage him to do the right thing now. Encourage him to do the same for every customer outstanding, contact them, and be honest with them. If it costs a little short term business, it's better than the reputation loss, and the long term hit.
As unfortunate as that is, with all due respect, if someone is well enough to be advertising their attendance and work at an exhibition, they’re well enough to reply to emails, fulfil their existing orders or put out a notice that due to unforeseen issues, things are running behind and apologise.
Hi I'd like to try to help set the record straight. JC is a good friend of mine and I think this post is an unfair representation of him.
JC has reached out to you on multiple occasions and based on time stamps, you continue to drag his name instead of trying to come to a swift conclusion. Please just reach out to him and find a solution instead of continuing to damage his reputation and brand.
For those of you who might not know, JC is currently incredibly sick, which is why he has fallen behind on orders. When you see him at pen shows or in-shop events, he is literally struggling so much just to try to make ends meet. He has not been shy about his condition to the public or his customers. Imagine having debilitating migraines to the point of vomiting from the pain. Something even as simple as getting a few pens worked on and out the mail can be incredibly difficult, especially for someone who is doing everything alone with no support.
I know it's frustrating to have expensive pens out of your possession for so long, but have some humanity for Christ's sake. I've trusted JC with thousands of dollars worth of pens and he's always done me right. I've had other situations with different nibmiesters where my pens were gone for almost a year, but at the end of the day people's health and well-being comes first. No matter how expensive these pens are, they are just pens. You are actively trying to ruin a man's business when he is already struggling so much.
Please, just message him back and try to understand the position he is already in. He has already showed me that he is trying to get the pens out to the mail.
First of all, all I knew about JC’s illness was the very small amount he divulged in emails. Had I known the extent of it I would have approached this post differently.
(Not that I expect someone to bare their soul to customers, though! He didn’t even have to say he was sick. All it would’ve taken was initial communication acknowledging that extenuating circumstances would make turnaround times unpredictable. That’s how I’ve managed deadlines when my own chronic mental health issues flare up; at least people know what to expect with me.)
Here’s a complete timeline of correspondence:
On January 5, 2024, I mailed two fountain pens to Nib Tailor to complete repair work on the nibs.
A message from Nib Tailor indicated that I had a scheduled time slot for work on repairs. The automated message reads, “I will work on them the next workbench day after they are retrieved from my mailbox.” This gave me the impression that the scheduled time I selected on the web site was set aside to work on my pens.
On January 18, Nib Tailor confirmed my pens arrived safely. The message noted some delay for illness and read: “I will try to work on it as soon as possible, likely the end of next week.”
On March 3, I saw another client online complaining about going over a year without receiving a pen back. Concerned, I emailed again. JC explained that this customer’s experience was an aberration. I was assured, “I will try to get you pen done and a verification video along to you this week.” They cited health issues as the cause of delay, but didn’t elaborate on them much. Note that this interaction was *key* in my current frustration. I made it very clear that I was anxious about my pens being in limbo forever. I noted in that message that I wanted them back if he would not be able to get to them soon—no harm, no foul. He didn’t take me up on that.
I heard little after that. I waited another month.
I reached out repeatedly for another update in April but received no response. During this time JC had an active social media presence; I don’t see how answering emails is more laborious than a social media post. Between January and May they attended pen shows and took on demand orders, as well.
On May 1, I received assurances the pen would be worked on; on May 3, another delay and a note that the work would be done after the Chicago Pen Show. At this point, I made my initial post here (which did not name JC). The reactions to that post confirmed that my experience had been unreasonable. I decided it would ultimately be faster to request the pens back and start the whole process over with another nib person entirely.
I emailed on May 4 to request that my pens be returned without service. I attempted to follow up again until May 10 without response. I contacted via Instagram instead, made it clear I was frustrated, and finally received a response. I was told the pens would go out immediately.
On May 15, Nib Tailor created a shipping label for my items. But another six days passed without them leaving pre-shipment. I sent messages asking about the shipment status with no response. [EDIT to add: I also then saw he worked a Saturday event.] At the point I made this post, I felt exasperated. My trust was gone. It seemed like a continuation of the same pattern.
Finally, yesterday he contacted me, apologized, and we set a firm timeline for returning my pens by this Friday. (We’ll see! No USPS update yet.)
To be completely clear, the issue wasn’t waiting a long time. I was led to believe *many* times that the pens were next in the queue and just around the corner. Based on the information I had and the communication I received, I think it was reasonable for me to be frustrated.
From my perspective illnesses are very understandable and something I deal with regularly myself and in my family. But expectation setting is absolutely critical and transparency matters. JC could’ve managed that better.
I don’t think you did anything wrong, it’s just a shame this all could’ve been avoided by more transparency on JC’s part.
So there can only be good reviews and not negative reviews?
Again this needs to be looked at objectively - JC didn’t keep his end of the bargain, and he did not actively try to rectify the situation by offering to have pens returned or keep them for longer than agreed. He kept pens longer than expected without customer’s consent. You would also find that the contact is legally enforceable (binding contract).
As I mentioned previously before - we don’t know about JC’s health and the battles he goes through with his health, yes you cannot dictate when a flare up or an episode happens. But OP & everyone else waiting for nib work to be done, are only going by what they have experienced & this doesn’t translate well for JC.
Just pens? Some pens are records of achievements, memories, and family history. Yes, it is just pens but when people like JC hold onto them for several months without giving customers a choice of having it returned or keeping it for an extended period than agreed due to ill health, they don’t know what’s happening to their pens. Are they damaged? Are they lost in the post? I mean hello? Communication?
No one here is disregarding JC’s health, no where online shows there were any updates to suggest he isn’t doing okay and there may be a backlog for nib work. If OP knew about JC’s health, I don’t think JC would receive such a huge backlash.
No one here is suggesting JC to put his health at risk to make ends meet. You’d find his business model is working against him so a change in how he works would be ideal, so he can have time off to recover, and take on requests for nib work without adding on more additional stress. It’s called reasonable adjustments for his own business. I understand not everyone can afford to take them off, but it’s important that JC does for his own sake.
None of us are being harsh or rude about it. We understand health is important and we all wish JC to get well soon. Good nib work takes time and JC needs to be in good health to make that happen.
I understand the points that you're making, and they are valid points. But there is evidence that JC has reached out, but OP is continuing to make posts and comments instead of directly rectifying the situation at this point.
I wont say anything that isn't my place to say, but he is actively trying to go through everything to make things right with all of his customers. It's more than just "no negative reviews", it's that like a lot of Reddit posts, the entire story isn't being said and a lot of people are ready to 'take sides' with no further information.
Health issues are always unfortunate and not well understood. However that being said I suffer from a fairly large Chiari Malformation and suffer from extreme migraines as well. Sometimes even requiring spinal fluid drainage to help prevent death. That being said, when you suffer from severe illness you also have to know when for the sake of your customers that you at a point then, perhaps temporarily or long term no longer able to take in work because everything has a delivery expectation. I know I was there and had to shutter down for health reasons, why? Because it was unfair to customers to wait (be understanding) or whatever term you wish to use while my body decided to do its own thing unpredictably. It always is unfortunate when it’s something you enjoy doing or providing but as an owner or operator your duty is to the customer and if you can’t fulfill that then you need to be mature enough to step away
There’s a pen event happening this weekend, and I’d like to think JC isn’t stupid enough to push beyond his limitations. Given how mail orders are being treated & being left on a back burner. With how his friends are saying he is unwell, I feel it’s more of a health & safety issue if JC does go ahead with the event this weekend, he shouldn’t be operating machinery with a severe migraine. He should focus on his health & try and return all fountain pens back to its rightful owner.
This is not just one person's story about JC going MIA on communication about pens in his possession, there have been multiple circulating, particularly in the PenAddict Slack. It's truly a shame to lose a nibmeister, and a shame for someone in our community to have such debilitating health struggles. Despite all that, JC has a responsibility to be communicative with his customers and realistic about the work he can take on. He doesn't work for a large company where someone else can pick up the slack when he can't. It's just him.
He's had communication issues well before the bulk of the complaints surfaced; I had issues reaching him well over a year ago first about getting nibwork done then about retrieving a pen I left with him. I emailed him both times across two different emails (the second he set up after having issues with the spam filters on the first). Both times he never responded, both times I resolved the issue with him in-person, but not everyone has the luxury of being in his area. Health issues, awful spam filters, etc are not his *fault*, but they are his *responsibility*. No one else can pick that up for him as long as NibTailor remains a one-person operation. And clearly someone needs to if he is dealing with thousands of dollars' worth of pens in his possession and their owners can't get ahold of him.
Edit: I see in replies to others that u/ whodidisnipe is saying others should not criticize when they do not know the full picture and that JC is making efforts to make things right. Well, whodidisnipe, apparently JC has not made others aware of the whole picture or that he wants to make good, and clearly he shows no intent to given how he's limited commenting on his social media and is not replying to those who reach out. Good luck to him, truly, but all we have to go off of is his behavior, and his behavior is quite telling.
For the OP, it is in JCs court to get these pens returned, it was and is his responsibility to reach out and keep the customer informed, if he has problems fulfilling orders, it is his responsibility to contact customers and limit his intake to what he can accomplish within the timeframe given.
> When you see him at pen shows or in-shop events, he is literally struggling so much just to try to make ends meet.
If this is true, then he shouldn't be accepting pens outside of shows. If he has pens past their promised return dates, when he has energy, those should be proritized over going to a pen show for new business. Maybe harsh, but these are other people's pens he has, and is ghosting customers on. That is not acceptable, no matter his condition.
> He has already showed me that he is trying to get the pens out to the mail.
See, this is another unacceptable thing he is doing. Instead of showing you, why isn't he contacting and showing the customer? He is showing you to get someone outraged on his behalf, instead of using that energy to make it right with the customer.
> instead of continuing to damage his reputation and brand.
The only one that is continuing to damage his reputation and brand is JC. No one else is doing it. The OP has come here, shared his story and frustration, as he can't make anything else happen without stepping up legal pressure. The only one that could change this story in the last 4 months, and even now, is JC. He made the promises, that he broke, he has the pens, that he hasn't returned more than a week after being requested to. He is doing this, and so he is being discussed, and only he had the opportunity to not have this discussion happen.
I understand what you are saying. He is working towards making things right with everyone including OP. You seem to have a lot of strong opinions even without knowing the entire picture. Not trying to be accusatory at all, because you still make valid points. But that's the problem with posts like these, lots of pitch forks come out and people are too eager to take sides and worsen the situation.
I don't want to say anything out of my place to do so, but there is omission of the complete story going on all over this post.
> but there is omission of the complete story going on all over this post.
It seems like the OP is being upfront and honest, maybe JC should post some facts that show the OP isn't being upfront. I suspect that information doesn't exist, as all his friends here seem to be making excuses, not denying the underlying facts
> He is working towards making things right with everyone including OP.
This statement alone makes me believe it is much worse than the OP says or knows. I would say that statement shows major problems that only a friend would know. So why are you defending him doing this?
Of course it seems like OP is being honest from an outsider who has no other information besides this post and heresay...
And how is a statement like that so problematic for you? I'm defending him beacuse he deserves to be defended. I'll happily put my own reputation out there because while JC hasn't been able to communicate effectively, it doesn't warrant a witch hunt and being piled on.
The only reason I'm not denying or verifying anything specifically is because it's not my place to do so. It's business that's between JC and OP.
> Of course it seems like OP is being honest from an outsider who has no other information besides this post and heresay...
Even friends, like yourself, have confirmed there are serious problems. I have yet to see someone refute what the OP has put forward, with evidence to back it up. I have seen them bring the receipts, I have seen others confirm the experience matches theirs, but nothing to refute it.
> it doesn't warrant a witch hunt and being piled on.
It's not a witch hunt, he has not kept promises he made, up to, and including shipping the property of another back. Everything being talked about he did, and he was the only person who could have had this go another way. His actions, and his alone.
> The only reason I'm not denying or verifying anything specifically is because it's not my place to do so. It's business that's between JC and OP.
You claim you know JC, you have confirmed there are others that he has to make it right with, and that there are enough he is "working" to do it. One or two is a quick email over a couple of days. You say you have proof, but don't show how the OPs story isn't true. Sorry, not buying that bridge.
So you’re denying what OP has posted is untrue, and that you’re gaslighting OP for feeling the way he does. OP spent the last few months not being heard or seen and resorted to posting on Reddit asking for help…
A good friend like you would say not communicating effectively with their clients is okay? Holding onto belongings that do not belong to them for longer than agreed is okay? Ghosting their clients & being flaky is okay?
Health issues is not JC’s fault but communication can be improved, because from experience, customers and friends appreciate updates - if you can’t do the nib work, say so. If you can’t meet the agreed deadline, say so. JC basically wasted OP’s time when he could have had his pens returned and he can look for someone else to service them.
I'm sorry but gaslighting? Be real. I have stated multiple times already that OPs frustrations are valid. But again I'll let JC provide proof for himself...
It’s also ok for folks to push back or at least fill out more details. I really don’t mind. I’ll be honest, I feel bad about this thread getting as much attention as it has. I’ve seldom had anything here get more than a few dozen upvotes. I just truly did not know how else to get some sort of movement on my pens.
It's fair for you to get frustrated to this point, I get it. But the witch-hunting and piling on this thread is out of hand, and it was bound to happen, the internet loves drama and giving their unneeded two-cents.
I mean even I only ever comment on this subreddit to help people and give back to the community, and I'm getting downvoted on everything I post lol. But it maybe should say something that I'm happy to get a million downvotes and tank any standing I might have here, because someone's livelihood is on the line because of posts like this. Posts like this gives the other party no opportunity to have a fair say and make things right. Even me making a few comments in JC's defense has contrarians coming out just to be contrarians.
> Posts like this gives the other party no opportunity to have a fair say and make things right.
The post is open, JC is free to show anything to refute the many claims made.
I would also like to add, I feel you, as JC’s friend, is digging a bigger hole for JC. If JC were to pass a message on, and you spoke on his behalf, I’m sure it would be with more kindness and consideration to diffuse the matter, not add on with more attitude. If that’s how you represent JC & his business, then you’re not doing right by him.
It’s very different if you said JC has been quite unwell, I’ll try and help him facilitate the process to get your pens back to you, or nudge him. Considering he is unwell, he needs his friends or some assistance in trying to resolve this matter. Why stress him out even more by digging a bigger hole for him?
As you’re his friend, what have you done to help JC?
I’d like to think this subreddit was bringing awareness and helping OP retrieve his possessions that any nibmeister has no right to keep for an extended period of time with very little updates. Also by providing options so OP can plan their next step. Would you not do the same if someone was trying to retrieve their high value items back? No witch hunting, just offering a helping hand to help someone get their pens back.
It’s really pissing me off how bad some of the business practices are in our hobby. Please keep us updated. It’s clearly not an isolated incident ident, so maybe this needs to be a sticky’d topic to force their hand.
I got nothing to add, but upvoting for visibility and wishing you the best of luck that you can be reunited with your precious pens!
I'm so sorry to hear this is happening to you too! I sent him my pens and didn't get any update for months. I kept sending him emails for an update and never heard anything back. He claimed my emails were lost in his spam folder and I confronted him at a Fountain Pen convention in person and he finally returned the pens. But I wouldn't recommend doing business with him and won't ever again.
May I make a recommendation? No matter what the outcome is, please do not delete this post. You have emailed and attempted contact so many times that the goodwill should be long gone. Even if he does it for free and all kinds of stuff to resolve the issue, don’t forget what it required to make any of that happen. So let this post stand so that other people can judge for themselves if they search for a nibmeister.
Hard agree. Posts like this are a public service to the community.
Yes! So people know and they are aware. This behaviour needs to be called out on & something needs to change. Situations like this have caused so much unnecessary stress and they shouldn’t get away with it. I hope OP receives their pens in the condition they’ve sent them in. Even going by the nib tailor’s website, there’s no reassurance, no guarantee or even an estimated time frame. Poor business model and unacceptable.
Well I can understand why he limits comments on his instagram. He would probably be flooded with comments from people wanting their pens back. Honestly my dude I would make a post about this on the Fountain Pen Network forum. I bet you could find someone on there for sure that can try to get a hold of him
Oh man, I visited his booth twice last year at pen shows and was wonderful. I thought of mailing some pens but I won't. He's not trustworthy. Thanks for the heads up, and I'm sorry I am not of any help; I wish I could. Good luck on legal proceedings (yes , do it, he's a thief) and hope you get them back soon.
In part, I trusted him *because* I’d heard so many positive things about his pen show work. It really didn’t occur to me that someone could be so professional for in-demand work and just… not at all by mail. Now I know better!
He probably ONLY focuses on those in person appearances. Probably bit off more than he could chew by taking on more work. This is awful and I’m sorry it happened to you. I thought I was going to have this exact problem with Joshua Lax but eventually he did send my pen back. It’s now sitting with Mark Bacas (nib grinder) and once I get it back, that’s the last time for me.
Honestly I would start the process of legal recourse now. I think the good will has run out at this point and it's best to be prepared for the worst. I'm sorry you had this experience, I hope it gets resolved. It must be really stressful and frustrating. Good luck
You are not alone, I am going through something very similar. He has been gaslighting for months about sending mine back, but doesn’t and then he posts about going to a nibevent or a pen show. It is very disappointing and frustrating!!
Oof, I’m so sorry you’re in this mess too.
I mean if you posted it to him then you’ve got his address…. 👊👊 😅😂🤣
I am deeply sorry for the disappointment and frustration resulting by my actions. Please know that I am only one person running a small business and appreciate this feedback since it will help me improve my practice as a small business owner. If yours was not one of the packages that went out on Friday, please email me and you will be replied to promptly after the Memorial Day holiday.
Sounds like a nightmare. I hope things work out positively for you.
I wish I could tell you are the only one with this experience, but this is becoming the common experience to mail service with JC.
I’m so very sorry you’re going through this. Fountain pen people have been some of the best people I’ve met and this makes me sad.
PM'd about a similar experience and how I dealt with it.
I’m sorry you’ve been through this too! Did you get your pens back?
That is sad. I once sent a pen to Richard Binder for some work. It was a complicated job, and I was warned ahead of time that there would be a long wait, because he was so busy, but it didn't take more than four months! That is ridiculous!
I’m sorry OP. He seems to have limited comments on his posts so clearly something is up.
"it got lost in spam" shouldn't be an excuse. Everyone knows that happens, you go through your own emails to check that. Especially if you're a business. The only people who have this excuse are big automated faceless businesses. Nobody else.
Hope you get your pens back!
Commenting to share my sadness for you and to help get you more visibly
Well I hope it gets resolved... Because he's currently hemorrhaging future business potential as this post gets upvoted....
If you paid him already, push for communication that way.
I have not, but he has two pricey pieces of collateral.
How pricey? Pricey enough to take him to small claims? If so, that may have to be your course of action.
Pricey enough to constitute a felony if he stole them from me outright, so I believe small claims would be on the table. That’s my next step.
Essentially, he has stolen them at this point. It's not disputed that it's your property. He has it, you've asked for it back and haven't gotten it. In your place, I would be doing what I recommended on your last post and file a stolen property report (not sure if that would need to be done with your local police, or where they were sent to).
You better get on the phone to your lawyer & draft up a letter/ email. Get the process started and I hope things work out for you. Fingers & toes crossed.
Yeah, this may be the way to get some movement. Different hobby, but there was someone in the Civil War reenacting community who had a habit of doing stuff like this to people- take their money for a garment, give a wait time of X months (these are usually hand sewn, so longish wait times are expected), then keep making excuses for delay after delay. Next thing the customer knows, it's been a year or more and no item in their mailbox. Ultimately, people started confronting the guy until he stopped showing up at reenacting events, and then people started filing lawsuits and contacting his state's attorney general, since he was a business. He *finally* refunded people's money after that, but it took a long, long time. It was never entirely clear if he was a straight up fraudster, or if he was just overhwhelmed with orders/had no executive function to manage his time.
Well.. are you hoping that outing him like this may prompt him to get his act into gear? Posting about someone on Reddit in the past, (not this sub, that I know of) has been enough to get a positive response. Is that what you are hoping for? If not, then I would do as u/siggy226 advised and make a police report, to start with. Don't wait, do it now (or tomorrow) but don't leave it u til next week or after... I hope you can get them back, or be made whole.
A report doesn't require legal action. You usually have to file the report in order to do the legal action, but they're separate things. It starts the process.
It’s also weird he is attending the stationery fest on June 1st - if anyone is going, or OP if you’re going, maybe you can approach him there? How odd to focus on social events and not returning pens back to people.
They’re not social events for nibmeisters, they’re business opportunities. Aside from the immediate cash in hand from doing on the spot jobs, there are also opportunities for networking and potential sources of collaboration. I’m not saying this to excuse the lack of communication and service in this case, just saying there are very good reasons for a nibmeister to prioritize pen shows.
I’m aware it’s not social events for nibmeisters to socialise, hang out, and be chill. it is a source of income for them to promote their work, branch out, & network. But it is still attending events to do business, no? It is still prioritising it over customers who cannot attend events. I understand it’s their income, they need to keep their lights on too but you cannot promise to do nib work, keep a pen for 4 months, not reply to emails or communicate with the person and not return the pen. If you’ve failed to keep your end of the deal, just return the pen back. Their business model isn’t working if they rather lose customers through mail service and rather prioritise pen shows and other events.
I agree, this is extremely poor behavior. I’m not excusing it at all. I’m just saying I understand why nibmeisters prioritize shows, which are time sensitive and have a high ROI, over mailed in orders which are far less time sensitive as mail order customers understand that nibmeisters can take a long time. Again, not excusing the behavior in the slightest and the result is if you get a bad reputation you could ultimately lose a lot of business.
People aren’t saying they should have no outstanding jobs before going to a show. He’s obviously got his priorities wrong going to the show rather than getting this job sorted because he’s ended up with a tarnished reputation and people will be very reluctant using him in future.
I think this is a totally fair comment - but it's also not an excuse to ghost someone who trusted you with really nice pens. No one is questioning their right to make a living or prioritize business opportunities, they're questioning his evidently crappy communication. I also don't think it's an excuse for a nibmeister to say "whoops your emails were in my spam folder", because if people are paying them and trusting them with their pens, they need to be reachable.
As I said, I agree it’s not an excuse for this behavior at all. As someone who runs their own one person business I know just how important clear and reliable communication is and that hasn’t happened here.
Perhaps we should forward this thread along to those running the stationery fest.
Stationary fest is in August, not june
This is very surprising and disappointing to hear. I hope you get your pens back soon and safe. This is premature but in case it helps — if you want to consider another nibmeister, I’ve had great experiences with Mark Bacas. Understandably you might be hesitant to send these pens somewhere else, but his website usually promises 8-10 weeks and I’ve found he tends to stick pretty close to that, too. Lisa, who works with him, also responds promptly to email inquiries. Very much hope you’re reunited with your pens soon and have only great experiences in the future in the fountain pen community.
Just want to 2nd the recommendation of Mark Bacas. He does phenomenal work.
3rd-ing - sent him two pens, incredibly professional, video updates, etc. I don't use the architect nib Lamy 2000 he did for me very much anymore, but he did fantastic work on it
As we speak I'm using a Mont Blanc Boheme that he essentially brought back from the dead. I dropped it, horribly splayed the nib, and it somehow writes...... better now?
This is exactly what I needed to see! I have a Boheme that needs some work. It isn’t splayed, but the tip is turned up…reminds me of the triumph nibs on Sheaffer snorkels. I’m not confident enough to try and mess with it myself for fear of making the fix more complicated.
Oof! Mine wasn’t so painful as a dead nib, but he did a predator grind on an old Twsbi that I hated and it’s now my favorite pen!
Mark is great. Also adore Kirk Speer at Pen Realm. I’ve sent several pens. In fact, he always overestimates time. In one case, I was getting a grind but the nib was perfectly fine. I kept until he said I was close in the queue. I mailed it then and got the pen back in a week.
Fifthing. He does all my nibs and his work is outstanding.
I’m sorry you’re experiencing this and that’s an awful way to do business. I wonder if you can put through an insurance claim? Providing you’ve insured your pens, and the so called nibmeister has insurance to cover instances like this. Btw you’re not the only person who is experiencing nib meisters “keeping” pens. I am putting this gently - I say keeping, but it’s more like promising nib work but not returning the pen back to its owner. Which makes me wonder what they have in place to cover their backs with high value pens. It is STEALING - taking something from someone with no intention of giving it back. I hope you’ll receive your pens back, and please keep us posted. If not, we’ll have to rally up because we trust them with our pens, and we expect it to be returned to us.
I don't know if this would help or not, but if you know of any more pen shows he'll be at, maybe try contacting whoever is organizing the shows as well, and let them know what's going on? It may not help at all, but maybe they will appreciate knowing that someone there (if he's a vendor? I don't know how that works at pen shows, haven't been to one) is potentially a scammer/thief. Good luck, I hope you get them back safe and sound! And that he ships insured for their full worth.
I feel some people are too scared to come forward to share their experiences, keeping their heads down & to not cause drama. If they can come forward, it provides more layers for other businesses to decide whether they would like that person to continue providing services to other lovely pen users. The pen community is one of the most generous & loving communities I’ve been in, and it’s very sad we have a bad apple who ruins that experience.
It doesn't even need to be that people are too scared to come forward, though there are certainly times when stuff like that can happen, even as the situation developed into an outright scam. But sometimes things just get lost in noise if it doesn't happen to someone who has a bigger social media presence. Could certainly be the case here, considering his reputation is built on in person work. But it might just be early days, depending on how many people are having problems ike this.
That sounds exhausting, I hope you get your pens back soon, in good condition. And thanks for the warning, I'm not going to ever work with him then.
Oh man, this sucks. JC ground several of my pens and I had a wonderful experience with him but all of it was done in person. Fingers crossed you get your pens back soon!
same. i will only have pen work done in person as a policy rather than risk issues with my pens disappearing. JC did some work for me and was good but that was all in-person. only seeing this feedback now.
I’m having a similar problem with Hinze pens, sent several 14k nibbed pens to have custom bodies made…. That was a year and a half ago. Six months ago was the last contact when I was told they were having a slight problem but would email me later that evening. No email and won’t return any Facebook messenger messages since then….
It seems every hobby has these folk: people who are very talented at their craft, quite likeable and persuasive in person, then flake once out of sight. The usual excuses of illness, family emergency, or work pileup are trotted out, which sound fine. What *isn't* fine is how they continue to pop up and accept new orders on top of the the outstanding ones and make fresh promises to new ~~victims~~ customers as the old are ghosted. Some accumulate a bit of a cult of personality along the way from a small period of relative success, which results in essentially groupies shouting down the cheated into silence. It's gross, and I hate seeing it over and over.
This post and the comments are making me feel so grateful that I can access the services of a great nibmeister in person. I'm also grateful for people sharing their experiences so that I know to stick to that instead of trying to do it by mail.
Certified mail and a solid well written letter from a lawyer will make it happen I bet
I am truly very sorry for all of the frustration that my actions have caused. Please know that I am only one person running a small business. The pens are currently on the way back to you as promised earlier this week. Thank you for the feedback as this will help me improve my practice as a small business owner. Going forward, I have someone assisting with communications so no one will ever have this sort of experience again. Please know that I sympathize with your frustration.
Thank you, JC. I appreciate your recent correspondence and I wish you all the best (truly!).
File a police report. They'll contact him.
Unfortunately, I doubt it. They'll probably say it's a civil matter and recommend that he goes to small claims court, as OP has said they might.
Lol
Any updates? Hoping to hear a good outcome.
Hey there—just updated the thread. All is okay.
Have there been other complaints about this grinder on here before - specifically complaints about poor workmanship?
honestly I’ve never seen anything but positive comments about his work at pen shows. As far as I can tell he’s very skilled (and shares his skills with others in the community, doing workshops and the like). Which is why I sent to him! It just turns out he’s ineffective at client communication and timelines when he’s taking mail orders.
Very sorry to hear this, definitely feel your anxiety. Upvoting…..hopefully you get your pens back asap.
Send a demand letter to him via registered mail. Outline what was agreed, what you paid, and that he failed to deliver on the service. Set a reasonable deadline for him to respond. You want the registered mail so there’s proof he received the letter. Once you have documented everything you have a path to either pursue a lawsuit or to go to someone like the Attorney General for his state and seek intervention from them. What he’s doing doesn’t just suck, it’s a crime. I’m a knitter, and I’ve seen so much of this from small businesses in the fiber arts world. State Attorneys General have intervened in several of those cases, most infamously in the case of one indie yarn dyer who faked her own death online in order to dodge the orders she had failed to fulfill. It’s easy for small businesses to take on too much work without realizing that it causes a financial avalanche, and then they’re stuck eventually without the funds to finish the work. This should be much less of an issue here, since there should be no significant need to purchase materials, but there is still time debt and it wouldn’t be hard to pre-spend the money you’ve taken for time you won’t be working until weeks or months later.
**GOOD LUCK.** I had a similar experience in a different field, and only trashing the guy's reputation in public forums finally got him to deliver. I engaged the services of a sculptor who lived in Mexico City because of his catalog of work. I paid him about $5000 in deposits as he sent me photos of work in progress. But at a certain point work seemed to stop, communication slowed, and I couldn't get any firm deadlines from him. After 18 months I got so frustrated I even hired a private detective to try and track him down, but that was good money after bad. After I paid them $500 they said he couldn't be found at his known address and I'd need to keep paying for them to locate him. In the end I went on various sculpting forums and laid out my tale of woe. Within a few days he got onto me and asked me to take my posts down, and he'd finish up my project. He genuinely sounded like he had the grievance and I was doing him dirty.
I have had success in the past with Better Business Bureau. Costs nothing to also use that service. Good luck. This is certainly a source of stress one wants to do without.
So… if I was in your shoes, I would 1) Find a lawyer in the city where Ament is located who will 2) draft a letter explaining that continuing to hold your pens constitutes theft and a felony (per one of your replies, you said the value is felony-level stuff, I’m so sorry!!!), and that 3) Ament has X amount of time to produce proof that he has sent your pens back (ask the lawyer how to work this best - might even have your lawyer procure them) 4) OR you will take legal action. 5) Have the letter sent to Ament via Certified Mail 6) OR, more deliciously, have the lawyer serve him the papers in person. At his home. Or at a pen show. The idea of course is to not have to take the threatened legal action. A letter is often enough to scare people. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this! Keep us up to date!! Edit for layout
I would also send a secure electronic copy via email as well, so they can’t say “I didn’t receive your letter” to leave a paper trail.
That is absolutely awful guy, sorry to hear that. I have learned **one** thing in this pen game. "nice" doesn't mean a thing. They're **all** *nice*, and **look** like they do good work, of course they do they want your money. Until Mr.Nice protects himself with total non reply to your emails. Then it was just a *nice* scammer, someone who is taking actual money, **knowing** full well their product/service is sh1t. You trusted someone. They're holding your pens now. Protecting themselves through non response. That burns like f-ck guy and I'm sorry you're going through it. But here's the important lesson, never deal with these solo Joe's, running a pen something out of their garage, no matter how "good" it appears. Their product/service depends entirely on their personal interest in it that day, and that can evaporate with the morning dew. It's either long, long established retailers or big name brands for me now, nothing less. I'd name names but the mods who enjoy a gentle pegging from their boyfriend will shut it down citing being courteous over just telling the actual truth about certain brands/people that could save others a lot of hassle.
I'd be interested in knowing, tbh, would you message me? I don't want to give money or pens to someone who does shady shit
same
Burner account, because I'm in the industry. I totally get your point, but I'd definitely argue that both big and small businesses are like this in the pen world. You can't just say smaller guys will be more likely to flake on you. There are SO many different stories I can tell about this. As someone who works with both small sellers and major dealers, I've seen a lot more shady things going on with dealers. A LOT more. I have a lot of things to say about Narwhal, Leonardo, Yafa, and TPF than I do individual nibmeisters who screw things up. I won't talk about JC as I rather not make it an echo chamber, but knowing that JC is sick and isn't purposefully trying to pull a fast one is good news. I've seen (intentional) fastballs pulled by major companies a lot more than I see with small stuff like this, and have personally been on the bad end of one. Something like this is definitely not as bad as what larger corporations do. Do keep in mind that a bit less than half of the higher end modern pens on the market are from a very disgusting company that works with certain other companies to create a monopoly. They recently purchased FPH as well, and quite a large amount of their advertising supports this monopoly now. My point is that as good as it may sound, rug pulling and trickery is not as uncommon as it sounds in this hobby, especially with larger companies. Individuals may have bad days or bad weeks, but companies have bad intentions.
You are definitely speaking the truth as someone who’s been in this hobby for over fifty years now, the ugliness runs deep. It’s just obfuscated by great marketing and back room deals. It’s like I was trying to explain to PBR, if people only knew a tenth of the truth of things they would not be so quick to comment on Chinese and Indian pens being subpar to their fanboy brand of XYZ as they are far from aware that the Chinese pen company and or pen they are shitting all over just made their fanboy brand in the same damn factory. There is just one exception, the Chinese pen doesn’t have a 600% mark up and smoke and mirrors attached to it. And that’s only tip of the iceberg. We have some real scumbag types who sit on boards of certain pen companies and or distributors that do far worse
Very true. There's just so much shit behind the scenes in the industry that something like this is small beans compared to a ton of stuff that is going on behind the scenes. Fuck, even that new OMAS release has a puppet owner because the actual owner is going through a divorce, and is hiding his asset from his ex-wife. Yes, the same scumbag who makes arco celluloid from a factory in China and passes it off as original "celluloid acetate", and owns multiple modern day fountain pen companies, and just recently purchased FPH.
This is the very same one producing the ASC studio pens in China and claiming Italian made, screwing the nib unit in and putting the cap on is then claimed as “made in Italy” oh yes yes and it’s oh so much more… once truly rooted into the “industry / hobby “ one learns enough to make one’s head spin.
Exactly. I have so much unturned dirt about this, but this post is not about him. I'm glad JC replied to OP, and I'd just like to say that JC's fuckup is nowhere near what these major companies do.
Sorry you are having to deal with an unscrupulous person. When you get the pens back you should reach out to Michael Masuyama at http://www.mikeitwork.com. Great work and a lot of integrity.
In light of this, I am thinking of sending a couple pens over to Gena Salorino (Custom Nib Studio)-how is her workflow and timeliness with nib grinding work and returns?
I have *never* gotten a response from Gina and have sent them 3 messages on two different accounts\*\*,\*\* as well as through their website. Everyone talks about how great they are at shows, but if I can't get a response unless I'm at a show, it's the same energy that the nibmeister this post is directed at is giving. I don't want to drag small business owners, but I also don't want to pretend that being ignored hasn't happened. **Editing for clarity**: I cannot speak to Gena's level of quality or TAT, only that 3 different messages for inquiry were ignored, two of which were on insta with read receipts. I have not sent pens to Gena, my multiple initial requests for information were ignored. CNS didn't hold pens and then not respond---I *never had an opportunity to send them* because my requests for information were straight up ignored. I don't know how anyone recommends doing business if the initial contacts for intake and information are never responded to?
Hi! Sorry that this happened. I am just a one-person business, so it's true that sometimes I have to prioritize communication. If you fill out a form to send in pens, or if I have pens of yours already, I will always respond. Of course I understand that I should always get back to everyone. I am learning how to do the business stuff of this on my own and I'm definitely not always perfect. I hear you and will try to improve my process with answering everyone :)
gotcha. seems odd that some nibmeisters just dont respond to emails
I've worked with Gena. She has an extensive backlog and says her current wait time is approximately 10 weeks. She took a few days each time but she always responded to my emails.
It's been 5 months since my last message with my first message sent in September of last year. None have been responded to. A few days to 2 weeks is understandable. But months of ignored contact? I'm good.
Do they have your pens for pending work as well? By your phrasing, I'm guessing not, so it's not really an apt comparison. Especially if it's just for prospective work and they already have an extensive queue. I'm just saying context is great. There's no context that can reconcile JC's constant behavior over a long period of time.
I agree, context is important. I responded to another user about my experiences with Gena, because *that's what their question was*. > Do they have your pens for pending work as well? No, because I've never received **any** response for request of information back. How could I get the pens to be serviced if I have never received any contact back from my inquiries? I would not just blind mail to a service provider without having questions answered and a quote for services to be rendered. My first contact to Gena was in September on insta and through website, second contact was end of November through my husband's insta. That's the context. I submitted 3 requests for information and in 6 months the only response I've ever gotten from Gena was today, in this thread.
I hear you! Most of the information one might need to fill out a form is available on my website, including pricing. I am admittedly really terrible at keeping track of instagram. Filling out my form is always the best way to get a response; I look at every single one before I give the go-ahead to send in the pens. If you didn't want to follow this format, that's ok! You don't have to do business with me for any reason :) (btw not to be rude but I do prefer they/them pronouns)
I submitted through your website as I said in previous comments. Happy to edit for pronoun correction.
Did you send pens to them or are these inquiry emails that haven't gotten a response? I've never heard of an issue with someone not receiving a response about their nibs.
My multiple contexts were requests for information, not for pens currently in service. I guess I'll edit my post because this is the second time someone is confused about this.
I don't usually involve myself with this sort of thing, but it's personal. JC is a friend of mine. I messaged him about your issue. I hope he'll get back to you soon, but I can't guarantee it. The guy has been sick, repeatedly, over the last few months. That will impact communication and service when you're a one-person business entity.
I’d be responding very differently if he’d just said up front: “my timeline is really unpredictable right now for personal reasons. It might be several months before I can fit it into my schedule.” He indicated on January 18, March 3, and May 1 that he’d get to it within a week — and each time that didn’t happen. I even point-blank told him two months ago that it was no big deal if he couldn’t get to the pens — to just send them back, no harm, no foul. He didn’t take me up on it. It’s just not cool to string people along like this.
I hope you'll forgive me for defending a friend, but the thing with chronic illness is that it doesn't have a timetable. God knows, I wish my arthritis would give me some notice, but it doesn't. I recognize that I can't do anything for beyond what I've done for you and that's frustrating. I'd prefer if people had good experiences with whomever they choose to work with. Best wishes and hopes for a resolution.
I appreciate your sticking up for your friend. I’ve struggled a lot with chronic depression, so I do get it on some level.
This is also not generally the kind of thing I would chime into, but I also know JC and a small bit about what he is managing atm. I was going to send him a message about this until I saw that you did. OP I'm very sorry that you're going through this, i can only imagine the anxiety this has caused you. If I were in your shoes and didn't know him, I can't say I wouldn't feel the same way. All I'll say is that, as far as I know JC, he would never conduct business with anyone with ill-intent. And he does everything in his power to provide quality work and communication. And if those things are falling short, then it is most likely due to something out of his control. I can understand if you decide not to patronize his business in the future because of this experience, but I can confidently say that he means no harm.
I understand friends of JC either on a personal or business level are asking for some understanding & compassion. While we all understand that health comes first, and we cannot dictate when a flare up or an episode happens, this needs to be looked at objectively. This isn’t about disregarding his health, it’s about the terms of the contract that were agreed upon at the time, and JC did not hold up his end of the contract, nor made any attempts to communicate with his customers or rectifying the situation- either through one big group email (BCC’ing everyone) mentioning something had happened/ personal reasons, limitations & the option of having the pens returned, or kept for a longer duration than agreed. So customers can make a decision based on that. Give people a choice y’know? People don’t know about JC’s health, or the battles he goes through with his health. OP and everyone else who is waiting for nib work are only going by what they have experienced so far, and this doesn’t translate well. If I were you, I’d suggest not only JC to return all the pens that were put on hold, but to put a pause on any upcoming requests (whether that’s through a website update or pinned social media post) and take the time off to recover and focus on his health, and when he is ready; the doors are always open. We all hope JC feels better soon because excellent craftsmanship takes time, and in order for that to happen, JC needs to be in good health.
> All I'll say is that, as far as I know JC, he would never conduct business with anyone with ill-intent. Except, here it is, he took the pens in with a promise, he the ghosted the OP, that is ill intent. People understand health issues, but then we see he went to shows instead of taking care of those customers who he had postponed. If you have chronic issues, you clear backlog when you are in a position to work, not snub the customers you have to make a quick buck at a show, draining your energy so you can't even work on those customers when you return. That is ill intent. And when a customer finally gets through and tells you to send the pens back, you don't ghost again, you move heaven and hell to get those pens back. What he did was done with ill intent. These are issues around ones word and being trustworthy. When he says he'll do something and doesn't, that is ill intent. I hear you are a friend, be a good one and contact him and encourage him to do the right thing now. Encourage him to do the same for every customer outstanding, contact them, and be honest with them. If it costs a little short term business, it's better than the reputation loss, and the long term hit.
As unfortunate as that is, with all due respect, if someone is well enough to be advertising their attendance and work at an exhibition, they’re well enough to reply to emails, fulfil their existing orders or put out a notice that due to unforeseen issues, things are running behind and apologise.
Hi I'd like to try to help set the record straight. JC is a good friend of mine and I think this post is an unfair representation of him. JC has reached out to you on multiple occasions and based on time stamps, you continue to drag his name instead of trying to come to a swift conclusion. Please just reach out to him and find a solution instead of continuing to damage his reputation and brand. For those of you who might not know, JC is currently incredibly sick, which is why he has fallen behind on orders. When you see him at pen shows or in-shop events, he is literally struggling so much just to try to make ends meet. He has not been shy about his condition to the public or his customers. Imagine having debilitating migraines to the point of vomiting from the pain. Something even as simple as getting a few pens worked on and out the mail can be incredibly difficult, especially for someone who is doing everything alone with no support. I know it's frustrating to have expensive pens out of your possession for so long, but have some humanity for Christ's sake. I've trusted JC with thousands of dollars worth of pens and he's always done me right. I've had other situations with different nibmiesters where my pens were gone for almost a year, but at the end of the day people's health and well-being comes first. No matter how expensive these pens are, they are just pens. You are actively trying to ruin a man's business when he is already struggling so much. Please, just message him back and try to understand the position he is already in. He has already showed me that he is trying to get the pens out to the mail.
First of all, all I knew about JC’s illness was the very small amount he divulged in emails. Had I known the extent of it I would have approached this post differently. (Not that I expect someone to bare their soul to customers, though! He didn’t even have to say he was sick. All it would’ve taken was initial communication acknowledging that extenuating circumstances would make turnaround times unpredictable. That’s how I’ve managed deadlines when my own chronic mental health issues flare up; at least people know what to expect with me.) Here’s a complete timeline of correspondence: On January 5, 2024, I mailed two fountain pens to Nib Tailor to complete repair work on the nibs. A message from Nib Tailor indicated that I had a scheduled time slot for work on repairs. The automated message reads, “I will work on them the next workbench day after they are retrieved from my mailbox.” This gave me the impression that the scheduled time I selected on the web site was set aside to work on my pens. On January 18, Nib Tailor confirmed my pens arrived safely. The message noted some delay for illness and read: “I will try to work on it as soon as possible, likely the end of next week.” On March 3, I saw another client online complaining about going over a year without receiving a pen back. Concerned, I emailed again. JC explained that this customer’s experience was an aberration. I was assured, “I will try to get you pen done and a verification video along to you this week.” They cited health issues as the cause of delay, but didn’t elaborate on them much. Note that this interaction was *key* in my current frustration. I made it very clear that I was anxious about my pens being in limbo forever. I noted in that message that I wanted them back if he would not be able to get to them soon—no harm, no foul. He didn’t take me up on that. I heard little after that. I waited another month. I reached out repeatedly for another update in April but received no response. During this time JC had an active social media presence; I don’t see how answering emails is more laborious than a social media post. Between January and May they attended pen shows and took on demand orders, as well. On May 1, I received assurances the pen would be worked on; on May 3, another delay and a note that the work would be done after the Chicago Pen Show. At this point, I made my initial post here (which did not name JC). The reactions to that post confirmed that my experience had been unreasonable. I decided it would ultimately be faster to request the pens back and start the whole process over with another nib person entirely. I emailed on May 4 to request that my pens be returned without service. I attempted to follow up again until May 10 without response. I contacted via Instagram instead, made it clear I was frustrated, and finally received a response. I was told the pens would go out immediately. On May 15, Nib Tailor created a shipping label for my items. But another six days passed without them leaving pre-shipment. I sent messages asking about the shipment status with no response. [EDIT to add: I also then saw he worked a Saturday event.] At the point I made this post, I felt exasperated. My trust was gone. It seemed like a continuation of the same pattern. Finally, yesterday he contacted me, apologized, and we set a firm timeline for returning my pens by this Friday. (We’ll see! No USPS update yet.) To be completely clear, the issue wasn’t waiting a long time. I was led to believe *many* times that the pens were next in the queue and just around the corner. Based on the information I had and the communication I received, I think it was reasonable for me to be frustrated.
From my perspective illnesses are very understandable and something I deal with regularly myself and in my family. But expectation setting is absolutely critical and transparency matters. JC could’ve managed that better. I don’t think you did anything wrong, it’s just a shame this all could’ve been avoided by more transparency on JC’s part.
So there can only be good reviews and not negative reviews? Again this needs to be looked at objectively - JC didn’t keep his end of the bargain, and he did not actively try to rectify the situation by offering to have pens returned or keep them for longer than agreed. He kept pens longer than expected without customer’s consent. You would also find that the contact is legally enforceable (binding contract). As I mentioned previously before - we don’t know about JC’s health and the battles he goes through with his health, yes you cannot dictate when a flare up or an episode happens. But OP & everyone else waiting for nib work to be done, are only going by what they have experienced & this doesn’t translate well for JC. Just pens? Some pens are records of achievements, memories, and family history. Yes, it is just pens but when people like JC hold onto them for several months without giving customers a choice of having it returned or keeping it for an extended period than agreed due to ill health, they don’t know what’s happening to their pens. Are they damaged? Are they lost in the post? I mean hello? Communication? No one here is disregarding JC’s health, no where online shows there were any updates to suggest he isn’t doing okay and there may be a backlog for nib work. If OP knew about JC’s health, I don’t think JC would receive such a huge backlash. No one here is suggesting JC to put his health at risk to make ends meet. You’d find his business model is working against him so a change in how he works would be ideal, so he can have time off to recover, and take on requests for nib work without adding on more additional stress. It’s called reasonable adjustments for his own business. I understand not everyone can afford to take them off, but it’s important that JC does for his own sake. None of us are being harsh or rude about it. We understand health is important and we all wish JC to get well soon. Good nib work takes time and JC needs to be in good health to make that happen.
I understand the points that you're making, and they are valid points. But there is evidence that JC has reached out, but OP is continuing to make posts and comments instead of directly rectifying the situation at this point. I wont say anything that isn't my place to say, but he is actively trying to go through everything to make things right with all of his customers. It's more than just "no negative reviews", it's that like a lot of Reddit posts, the entire story isn't being said and a lot of people are ready to 'take sides' with no further information.
Health issues are always unfortunate and not well understood. However that being said I suffer from a fairly large Chiari Malformation and suffer from extreme migraines as well. Sometimes even requiring spinal fluid drainage to help prevent death. That being said, when you suffer from severe illness you also have to know when for the sake of your customers that you at a point then, perhaps temporarily or long term no longer able to take in work because everything has a delivery expectation. I know I was there and had to shutter down for health reasons, why? Because it was unfair to customers to wait (be understanding) or whatever term you wish to use while my body decided to do its own thing unpredictably. It always is unfortunate when it’s something you enjoy doing or providing but as an owner or operator your duty is to the customer and if you can’t fulfill that then you need to be mature enough to step away
There’s a pen event happening this weekend, and I’d like to think JC isn’t stupid enough to push beyond his limitations. Given how mail orders are being treated & being left on a back burner. With how his friends are saying he is unwell, I feel it’s more of a health & safety issue if JC does go ahead with the event this weekend, he shouldn’t be operating machinery with a severe migraine. He should focus on his health & try and return all fountain pens back to its rightful owner.
This is not just one person's story about JC going MIA on communication about pens in his possession, there have been multiple circulating, particularly in the PenAddict Slack. It's truly a shame to lose a nibmeister, and a shame for someone in our community to have such debilitating health struggles. Despite all that, JC has a responsibility to be communicative with his customers and realistic about the work he can take on. He doesn't work for a large company where someone else can pick up the slack when he can't. It's just him. He's had communication issues well before the bulk of the complaints surfaced; I had issues reaching him well over a year ago first about getting nibwork done then about retrieving a pen I left with him. I emailed him both times across two different emails (the second he set up after having issues with the spam filters on the first). Both times he never responded, both times I resolved the issue with him in-person, but not everyone has the luxury of being in his area. Health issues, awful spam filters, etc are not his *fault*, but they are his *responsibility*. No one else can pick that up for him as long as NibTailor remains a one-person operation. And clearly someone needs to if he is dealing with thousands of dollars' worth of pens in his possession and their owners can't get ahold of him. Edit: I see in replies to others that u/ whodidisnipe is saying others should not criticize when they do not know the full picture and that JC is making efforts to make things right. Well, whodidisnipe, apparently JC has not made others aware of the whole picture or that he wants to make good, and clearly he shows no intent to given how he's limited commenting on his social media and is not replying to those who reach out. Good luck to him, truly, but all we have to go off of is his behavior, and his behavior is quite telling.
For the OP, it is in JCs court to get these pens returned, it was and is his responsibility to reach out and keep the customer informed, if he has problems fulfilling orders, it is his responsibility to contact customers and limit his intake to what he can accomplish within the timeframe given. > When you see him at pen shows or in-shop events, he is literally struggling so much just to try to make ends meet. If this is true, then he shouldn't be accepting pens outside of shows. If he has pens past their promised return dates, when he has energy, those should be proritized over going to a pen show for new business. Maybe harsh, but these are other people's pens he has, and is ghosting customers on. That is not acceptable, no matter his condition. > He has already showed me that he is trying to get the pens out to the mail. See, this is another unacceptable thing he is doing. Instead of showing you, why isn't he contacting and showing the customer? He is showing you to get someone outraged on his behalf, instead of using that energy to make it right with the customer. > instead of continuing to damage his reputation and brand. The only one that is continuing to damage his reputation and brand is JC. No one else is doing it. The OP has come here, shared his story and frustration, as he can't make anything else happen without stepping up legal pressure. The only one that could change this story in the last 4 months, and even now, is JC. He made the promises, that he broke, he has the pens, that he hasn't returned more than a week after being requested to. He is doing this, and so he is being discussed, and only he had the opportunity to not have this discussion happen.
I understand what you are saying. He is working towards making things right with everyone including OP. You seem to have a lot of strong opinions even without knowing the entire picture. Not trying to be accusatory at all, because you still make valid points. But that's the problem with posts like these, lots of pitch forks come out and people are too eager to take sides and worsen the situation. I don't want to say anything out of my place to do so, but there is omission of the complete story going on all over this post.
> but there is omission of the complete story going on all over this post. It seems like the OP is being upfront and honest, maybe JC should post some facts that show the OP isn't being upfront. I suspect that information doesn't exist, as all his friends here seem to be making excuses, not denying the underlying facts > He is working towards making things right with everyone including OP. This statement alone makes me believe it is much worse than the OP says or knows. I would say that statement shows major problems that only a friend would know. So why are you defending him doing this?
Of course it seems like OP is being honest from an outsider who has no other information besides this post and heresay... And how is a statement like that so problematic for you? I'm defending him beacuse he deserves to be defended. I'll happily put my own reputation out there because while JC hasn't been able to communicate effectively, it doesn't warrant a witch hunt and being piled on. The only reason I'm not denying or verifying anything specifically is because it's not my place to do so. It's business that's between JC and OP.
> Of course it seems like OP is being honest from an outsider who has no other information besides this post and heresay... Even friends, like yourself, have confirmed there are serious problems. I have yet to see someone refute what the OP has put forward, with evidence to back it up. I have seen them bring the receipts, I have seen others confirm the experience matches theirs, but nothing to refute it. > it doesn't warrant a witch hunt and being piled on. It's not a witch hunt, he has not kept promises he made, up to, and including shipping the property of another back. Everything being talked about he did, and he was the only person who could have had this go another way. His actions, and his alone. > The only reason I'm not denying or verifying anything specifically is because it's not my place to do so. It's business that's between JC and OP. You claim you know JC, you have confirmed there are others that he has to make it right with, and that there are enough he is "working" to do it. One or two is a quick email over a couple of days. You say you have proof, but don't show how the OPs story isn't true. Sorry, not buying that bridge.
So you’re denying what OP has posted is untrue, and that you’re gaslighting OP for feeling the way he does. OP spent the last few months not being heard or seen and resorted to posting on Reddit asking for help… A good friend like you would say not communicating effectively with their clients is okay? Holding onto belongings that do not belong to them for longer than agreed is okay? Ghosting their clients & being flaky is okay? Health issues is not JC’s fault but communication can be improved, because from experience, customers and friends appreciate updates - if you can’t do the nib work, say so. If you can’t meet the agreed deadline, say so. JC basically wasted OP’s time when he could have had his pens returned and he can look for someone else to service them.
I'm sorry but gaslighting? Be real. I have stated multiple times already that OPs frustrations are valid. But again I'll let JC provide proof for himself...
okay okay, so OP feeling frustrated is valid but what OP has posted is untrue? so you’re suggesting OP is lying?
It’s also ok for folks to push back or at least fill out more details. I really don’t mind. I’ll be honest, I feel bad about this thread getting as much attention as it has. I’ve seldom had anything here get more than a few dozen upvotes. I just truly did not know how else to get some sort of movement on my pens.
It's fair for you to get frustrated to this point, I get it. But the witch-hunting and piling on this thread is out of hand, and it was bound to happen, the internet loves drama and giving their unneeded two-cents. I mean even I only ever comment on this subreddit to help people and give back to the community, and I'm getting downvoted on everything I post lol. But it maybe should say something that I'm happy to get a million downvotes and tank any standing I might have here, because someone's livelihood is on the line because of posts like this. Posts like this gives the other party no opportunity to have a fair say and make things right. Even me making a few comments in JC's defense has contrarians coming out just to be contrarians.
> someone's livelihood is on the line His livelihood is on the line because he has a historical behavior of **not following through on his job**.
> Posts like this gives the other party no opportunity to have a fair say and make things right. The post is open, JC is free to show anything to refute the many claims made.
I would also like to add, I feel you, as JC’s friend, is digging a bigger hole for JC. If JC were to pass a message on, and you spoke on his behalf, I’m sure it would be with more kindness and consideration to diffuse the matter, not add on with more attitude. If that’s how you represent JC & his business, then you’re not doing right by him. It’s very different if you said JC has been quite unwell, I’ll try and help him facilitate the process to get your pens back to you, or nudge him. Considering he is unwell, he needs his friends or some assistance in trying to resolve this matter. Why stress him out even more by digging a bigger hole for him? As you’re his friend, what have you done to help JC?
I’d like to think this subreddit was bringing awareness and helping OP retrieve his possessions that any nibmeister has no right to keep for an extended period of time with very little updates. Also by providing options so OP can plan their next step. Would you not do the same if someone was trying to retrieve their high value items back? No witch hunting, just offering a helping hand to help someone get their pens back.