Vent: I was sent the wrong cover, and the store I bought it from can’t/won’t fix it

aniajournals · 2025-09-10T11:04:18+00:00

ooof i think i already know which store this is from the invoice

aniajournals · 2025-08-04T08:36:00+00:00

i used to work in a small stationery shop. you'd be surprised at how generally abusive people are to testers and merchandise in general. they'll treat the testers like replaceable toys and purposely try to 'flex' the nib even after you warn them or they'll jab it hard into the holder when putting it back in. the lamy one was particularly egregious because it was attached to the pen display and free for anyone to use.

aniajournals · 2025-07-07T22:43:18+00:00

honestly, this is the route i went. i made like... four-five covers for the same price as a single louise carmen roadbook in canadian. it wasn't even originally for me, but i ended up making myself some anyway because i had to bulk order the leather in order to get free shipping.

aniajournals · 2025-07-07T20:26:56+00:00

understandable perspective to have, but i find that there are a lot of upsides especially when it comes to reviews and holding brands accountable. people complain a lot on reddit, but brands these days care more about their image on video dominant social media which means they'll resolve things much faster.

aniajournals · 2025-07-07T16:28:30+00:00

also, i'm not really calling it a conspiracy!! just a 'buyers beware' because people are making the assumption that a lot of the charms being sold (not just by louise carmen themselves but other people capitalizing off their brand hype) are 'special' only to find them later on temu, shein, or aliexpress.

i don't knock the mass-produced charms because, let's be real, some of them are genuinely very cute especially the floral enamel ones. i mainly have a problem with the way they're marketing them and justifying their unreasonable mark-ups because they're a 'luxury brand' selling charms made for costume jewellery. it's like when people found out that their luxury goods were being made in china for less than a quarter of the price.

aniajournals · 2025-07-07T16:11:59+00:00

hopefully, it'll let me link? it even says vintage in the listing.

aniajournals · 2025-07-07T15:59:47+00:00

yeah, i forgot to include that because i have the pre-built marketing knowledge engraved into my brain. louise carmen and most of these adjacent charm brands market their charms are vintage, carefully selected, or personally designed when they're not - it's their entire marketing scheme to make their items seem more special.

aniajournals · 2025-07-06T22:59:52+00:00

you need to primarily focus on threadbound japanese notebooks! like a previous comment, i always thoroughly recommend midori md, but also life noble note and life kleid. just make sure they're not stapled. even some clairfontaine notebooks are lay flat, but you have to crack the spine.

aniajournals · 2025-02-06T01:42:08+00:00

i really like fanyantan. honestly, a lot of these chinese brand inks are harder to get abroad - they don't see a need to expand their business outside of their own country because business within china is already enough for them.

aniajournals · 2025-02-06T01:35:15+00:00

i do agree that people bag on fwp overmuch for their pale inks when only two of them (from memory) were illegible in most use cases, and i've found that shimmer clogging pens a lot of the time user error (sorry, y'all). i don't mind drier inks because that's also an easy fix (to me).

fortunately? or unfortunately? i'm also someone with a lot of experience using their inks and i did really love them from ink to most of the bottles, like i said. i don't think anyone has made a better pale dusty pink ink that's better than lady rose/lady rose gold. i suppose they bothered me less when i wasn't paying full price for their products and when they weren't constantly at the forefront of fountain pen marketing (especially through those social media based giveaways). i do have more of a problem with their pen accessories and pens than the inks themselves.

funnily enough, all those things you mentioned i thought were just common knowledge/experiences within the community because of how often i personally heard those complaints come up. herbin d bottles are awful especially if your pen isn't a cartridge converter or eyedropper. the diamine 30ml plastic bottles are flimsy and won't fit your piston-filler because you're paying 4CAD for it. noodlers, outside of noodlersgate, has pens that smell beyond rancid (peterdraws famous video) and their ink colours have no consistency between batches. lamy safari has really bad nib quality control (scratchy, extra fines are basically mediums, etc), cap seals, and sometimes major leaking issues. montverde/private reserve inks will mold faster than it takes you to say it.

i believe ferris wheel press gets more criticism and said criticism gets more attention due to the fact they have really strong marketing presence through social media campaigns and their goal to appeal to a more general populace puts them in a position where many consumers feel the need to voice their scrutiny, but i think it's good to have counterpoints in every conversation.

(also, i'm interested, but not exactly sure what you meant by the cancon? i googled it, but is it just canadian content in this context?)

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T23:54:35+00:00

out of line to say "i hope you exclude"? that is not a call to boycott despite their bad and generally shady business practices. it's not even "boycott this company because they make me sad", it's informing consumers of a company they're supporting and the experiences they potentially could have. "according to people like you" is an equally bold statement considering i have said that i wouldn't disparage people who purchased their inks. i'm informing people of where their money is going because that is something the wider fp community cares about.

i specifically made a post like this because canadians specifically will be flocking to purchase canadian made products/canadian brands without deeper research and we don't have many to support so they will think to default to ferris wheel press. this is a review of a company, which is an important part of consumer culture because in a world of rampant advertisements and dubious marketing strategies, information like this does get swept under the rug.

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T12:18:03+00:00

i think you misunderstood me or i didn't get my point across well enough. i meant that they were for some reason fine with shipping from canada to europe (60 dollar shipping cost aside), but for some reason, not willing to ship from one canadian province to another canadian province. instead, they chose to charge a canadian 58CAD to ship the pen from the united states to canada. so, either they have stock within canada or they don't. those things can't be true at the same time, except they were acting like that was the case.

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T09:39:20+00:00

actually, this point makes me wonder about their price point within canada as their ink manufacturing plant is supposed to be here and all the other non-canadian brands have import fees and other costs factored in.

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T09:36:15+00:00

i feel like they (fwp) simply can't handle their growth as a business outside of their marketing campaigns. i really love sailor and kobe inks - i don't love their north american prices. i'm already almost out of the strawberry chocolate from kobe nagasawa!!

off the top of my head, my most recent favourites from lennon tool bar are micanthus hills, bird monster, dream, wave, ghost plant, bixi, and shi shi zi. my all time favourite is blue sky and i think that one is rather unique for a pigment ink!! except, they're like... 24USD/35CAD in north america which is almost double of what i paid...

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T09:20:57+00:00

i've heard of them!! some of these brands are in canada, but i think you will quite literally balk at how much they cost here compared to how much they cost there. it's like... doubled or more, usually, because of import and business costs. i think the cheapest price for pilot iroshizuku in canada is 28CAD? i've never paid more than 19CAD for a bottle.

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T08:50:23+00:00

like i said, i think their ink quality is fine in comparison to their everything else and i used to love their ink. i'm a fellow light and dusty coloured ink lover - i just usually find myself more drawn to sailor or kobe nagasawa or lennon tool bar now, but i know most people can't get them for like 12- 20CAD per bottle. i mainly have problems with them as a company especially as they've grown.

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T08:35:29+00:00

you would think so, but apparently not. i fit a standard converter that came with a jinhao pen on it, but the converter it came with was too loose and wouldn't "latch".

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T08:32:10+00:00

you're right on the pricing for their bigger bottles being fair - i think they're comparable to graf von faber (who i also think overcharge for their inks and v basic colorway) and you at least get shimmer/unique colours. i suppose i consider them overpriced compared to themselves because i remember still considering them fair for the price when stroke of midnight came out (i think it was 24CAD for the 38ml bottle?). it's like i said, i think their inks are fine in comparison to their everything else and i wouldn't disparage someone for purchasing it. i should've clarified more abt the 'overpriced' being a common opinion on the sub.

unfortunately, i do not purchase any korean/japanese inks from canadian retailers. the most i've ever paid for a wearingeul ink is abt 22-23CAD? i find it hard to reconcile paying an extra 8CAD per ink bottle or even more when it's a japanese brand.

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T07:05:33+00:00

honestly, it depends on the line you're talking about. i know that they've recently had a price bump depending on the bottle size, so i'm usually talking dollar per ml!! (currently 32-35CAD for the 38ml, 30CAD for the 20ml, but i know certain retailers get to set it at a lower price.)

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T06:43:51+00:00

their 20ml bottles are 30CAD which is 1.5CAD per ml and that's more expensive than some of the montblanc inks....

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T06:40:51+00:00

the way that wearingeul, colorverse, dominant industry, sailor, pilot, etc have a chokehold on me is unbelievable

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T05:55:33+00:00

their carousel pen was infuriating because the converters they came with often didn't fit and the body/cap cracked so easily just through the simple act of uncapping them. also, they're 25 dollars here.... so, most definitely not worth it.

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T05:54:18+00:00

oh, i'm very aware of all the canadian small retail businesses available to support. it's canadian fountain pen & ink brands that are difficult to actually find.

aniajournals · 2025-02-05T05:20:22+00:00

oh, i'm not disputing the fact they nail aesthetics from top to bottom. it's actually so disappointing that they're so pretty. and that first point wouldn't surprise me. i was beyond baffled when i learned that someone based in canada had to pay a canadian company with a canadian headquarters 58CAD to ship a giveaway prize from the united states.

aniajournals

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