Quality and Service aren't what they used to be
I purchased a Pelikan M800 fountain pen via a third-party seller. Out of the box, the nib of the pen was very scratchy and skipped very much. I contacted the seller to get the pen repaired and they in turn contacted Pelikan/Hamelin. After not hearing back for weeks, I contacted Pelikan myself via their support form on their website. The form itself felt unprofessional and I got no clear confirmation indicator when I sent the request (working in the tech industry, this is poor user experience). I haven't even gotten a confirmation email, which is basically the industry standard for support forms. Some days later, I again filled out the support form -- same experience, and no confirmation mail. Some days after that, I felt helpless and contacted the seller again. The seller then reached out to the field service department of Pelikan, which in turn forwarded to topic to the support staff. Some time after that, I finally was allowed to send my pen to Pelikan for repair. At that point, 1.5 months had passed. After receiving the pen back, its state was better, but still unacceptable regarding its high price. Owning other high-end fountain pens, I can say without a doubt, that even the quality of the manually repaired Pelikan fountain pen was not comparable to the out-of-the-box quality of my other fountain pens. I really like the look and balance of the Pelikan M800, but that is of no use, when it doesn't write well. Since at that point, 2 months had passed, I lost my hope in the quality and service of Pelikan. Thankfully, my seller refunded me the full price after I had returned the fountain pen to them.
If you buy a Pelikan fountain pen, I would advise you to look for older ones. I own an older Pelikan fountain pen (pre 2000s) and am very much satisfied with it. But the current state of quality and service is abysmal. If you want to buy new, I very much advise against buying from Pelikan.






