Diplomat Aero Fountain Pen Discussions | Drop

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Diplomat Aero Fountain Pen

FULL DISCUSSION

charlizeworshipper

Nov 23, 2018

Hmmm, pass. No Extra Fine nib option on offer, and more expensive by almost 10% (shipped) than at least one current Black Friday promotion elsewhere, even if I were prepared to forgo an EF nib. I just cannot trust German pens to truly deliver fine lines with a Fine nib, as much as I regard German precision highly.

Nov 23, 2018

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writerstephen

480

Nov 23, 2018

charlizeworshipperWhere did you find an Aero cheaper than this?

Nov 23, 2018

charlizeworshipper

Nov 23, 2018

writerstephenLa Couronne du Comte.

No 'premium' or 'surcharge' for Extra Fine nib option, unlike many other fountain pen retailers; that's very important to me in how I rank my preferred suppliers.
21% VAT included in the listed prices are not applicable for exports, and are automatically deducted once a foreign delivery address is supplied during checkout (or, for repeat customers just by being logged in while shopping).
Black Friday discount code was sent directly to marketing email subscribers, but anyone can apply the code successfully. If you aren't a subscriber, you can still easily get the code from discussion forums here and there.
Free international shipping once the total amount – before discount, but after VAT component is taken out – for an order reaches a minimum threshold. (Note: This pen alone does not qualify, but topping the order up with a pen case or couple of bottle of inks gets me there easily, and buying those inks isn't something I wouldn't otherwise do, with LCdC offering them at significantly cheaper effective prices to me than anywhere else, for this same list of reasons.)

I now have one of these pens with EF nib on its way to me in Australia, and the effective cost is under €100. I wouldn't automatically buy every pen from LCdC, but for German and Italian brands, I'll test Massdrop's (and any other retailer's) offers against them every time.

Nov 23, 2018

katerchen

271

Nov 25, 2018

charlizeworshipperIs the 'EF Tax' a thing now? I've never seen them being more expensive before, but now I'm hearing this phrase from multiple places ... EDIT: Just our of curiosity I registered with LCdC. They are fine folks, regularly featured in Sbrebrown's videos. They have a good selection and reasonable prices, so I wish them only the best. But. The best coupon code I could find was 10% which still leaves me at E197 (~223USD) for the gold nib variant. I get that it's fashionable to knock on MD, but how is that a better deal if I don't care about the wait time? EDIT2: I realized you're from OZ. Shipping cost is probably murder.

Nov 25, 2018

charlizeworshipper

Nov 25, 2018

katerchenI've seen it more in the last 12 months, with some retailers and some European brands (especially Lamy). <EDIT> The Black Friday discount code is for 20%-off site-wide, all weekend. A few weeks ago, another 20%-off code was sent to email subscribers for Fountain Pen Day, and again valid all weekend. Just for the hell of it, not that I would personally take the 14K gold nib option myself, unless I'm absolutely convinced it will consistently deliver a narrow enough line worthy of the EF nib width and perform better than the standard steel EF nib... I just put a Diplomat Aero with 14K gold EF nib into the shopping cart on its own, and on checkout it comes to €175.21 (⋍ US$199) shipped to Australia.

Nov 25, 2018

Tumbledry

Nov 26, 2018

katerchenProblem with LCdC is they often advertise items they don't have in stock. That's been the case in over 90% of my orders with them. Their website does not take into account stock availabilty or lack of. Prices are great but you may want to check availabilty first. You could be waiting 4, 8, 12, 16 or more weeks for your order to ship from LCdC in Holland. Add customs clearance on top of that. I know as I speak from my own experience with a number of orders with LCdC. I'm currently still waiting on an item I ordered and paid for in December 2017 though they told me would only take a few months. BTW the surchage on EF nibs is not retailer dependant it's manufaturer dependant. Go to LCdC and look at the cost of a Lamy or Pelikan pen with EF nib's. LCdC also charge extra!

Nov 26, 2018

charlizeworshipper

Nov 26, 2018

TumbledryLCdC charges a premium for EF nibs only for some Pelikan models, such as the M205 demonstrators, but not for the opaque M205 models, or any of the M200 models including demonstrators. No ‘EF tax’ on the Pelikan Souverän 1000 Black, either. (I'm not going to look further and compile a full list, since I'm not actually that interested in buying a Pelikan.) Cult Pens in the UK does not charge a premium for EF nibs even on the M205 demonstrators.

Nov 26, 2018

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charlizeworshipper

Nov 26, 2018

katerchenJust now I got another 20%-off site-wide discount code from LCdC in email for Cyber Monday.

Nov 26, 2018

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Tumbledry

Nov 26, 2018

charlizeworshipperRe: Cult Pens. Great seller!! Highly recommended. Just purchased from them and delivery was only a few days. I reiterate, FROM MY EXPERIENCE LCdC advertise & sell items on their website that they DO NOT have in stock. I have a slew of orders to prove it. With me they usually come back indicating and I quote " " Sadly the Fountain Pen is not in stock at the moment. We expect it within two weeks and will ship your order upon arrival." In actuality, shipping from the LCdC store ended up being 32 weeks and 10 weeks for another pen ordered the same day. A problem when one buys items as gifts. Why , from my experience, LCdC PERSIST on advertising AND selling goods they do not have in stock is misleading to say the say the least.

Nov 26, 2018

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charlizeworshipper

Nov 26, 2018

TumbledryI know, I've had many instances of that too, but then at least they accept orders when 20%-off promotions or what-not are in effect, and will honour the discounted price if you can wait for the goods to be available, instead of rejecting (say) your order for a fancy pen with a factory Stub nib at a great price just because they don't have one of those pens in stock on the day the promotion is current and you want to take advantage of it.

Nov 26, 2018

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katerchen

271

Nov 26, 2018

charlizeworshipperHmm, I wonder what it takes to get on their mailing list. Only the first actual order? They have my email now. Funny, how you can't get rid of some other vendors' mass emails fast enough, yet the one that you are actually curious about is not sending anything ... Thanks for the heads-up. FWIW I ended up ordering the pen from here. The difference is not that enormous.

Nov 26, 2018

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charlizeworshipper

Nov 26, 2018

katerchenUm, this, perhaps? Did you simply create an account a few hours ago? <EDIT> I just noticed a new drop being posted, for the LAMY Imporium in Titanium… and beaten on price by LCdC again! Luckily I'm not tempted by Lamy pens, especially ones that are more than $80, although if I see a Lamy CP1 being offered for a good price I may get a second one. After buying four new pens – three relatively expensive ones at that (the Diplomat Aero not being one of them) – in the past few days, and some other things such as inks, paper, and books on calligraphy too, my funds are temporarily depleted. :-/

Nov 26, 2018

Tumbledry

Nov 26, 2018

charlizeworshipperWhat's the use of a 20% discount when one waits 52 weeks (which I am ) for an order to be filled. Or even 32 weeks, 30 weeks, 17 weeks, 12 weeks etc..... (all of which I have). If buyers are ok waiting 52 weeks, 32 weeks, 30 weeks, 17 weeks, 12 weeks etc..... fine but you did not warn them of this practise in your earlier posts. In other words until I brought the matter up. Who are you really charlizeworshipper. Ummmmmm There are reputable and really customer friendly retailers such as Cult Pens, Goulet, Fontoplumo, Appleboom etc...... all of whom tell you if an item is in stock at the time of order not after you have ordered and already paid such as with LCdC. LCdC grabbed my attention with their wonderful discounts then took my money and told me after the fact that an item they advertised on their site as being available, actually was not. Some might even say this is false advertising. What happens when you have spent hundreds of dollars (if not more) are waiting months for your order to ship from the LCdC store and LCdC go belly up? There goes your money if the payment method you used will not reimbure you. LCdC MO seems to be beating other vendors in price but in 90 % of my experience not having the stock in place to fill the order in a reasonable time. For me 52 weeks, 32 weeks, 30 weeks, 17 weeks, 12 weeks is no longer reasonable. Fellow pen lovers need to be made aware of this practise so they can decide for themselves. Hopefully now they are. BTW I purchased my Diplomat Aero here on Massdrop. The price is great and I can rest assured I will not wait a year for my order to arrive.

Nov 26, 2018

charlizeworshipper

Nov 26, 2018

TumbledryWho am I really, you question? I answered, over in the other discussion thread. My orange Diplomat Aero with an EF nib, ordered from LCdC on 3 November 2018, is due to arrive in the post in the next several hours, or so Australia Post advised me. I'm already eyeing the charcoal coloured one as a future purchase, pending whether I think the EF nib actually writes finely enough for the grade. If Massdrop is going to offer that pen for no more than US$115 shipped to Australia and with no GST slapped on top of it, I'll be happy to consider it. I'm also looking at perhaps getting more Platinum #3776 Century celluloid models with F nibs. I just bought the brown tortoise model from Amazon.com.au (sold by Amazon US) for the equivalent of US$189, shipped to Australia and GST inclusive. If Massdrop can offer the stone wall or koi carp models for no more than US$204 – that's US$199 plus a nominal shipping charge of US$4.99 – all up, I'll be interested. (LCdC is currently offering the koi carp model at US$266 all up. I'm not buying.) <EDIT seq=1 date=2018-11-28> For what it's worth, the two articles Australia Post advised me on (and indeed delivered yesterday) turned out to be something else. I got the post office staff to look in their back-office systems (which shows information not available to senders and recipients by self-service) about the two purportedly 'untrackable' articles from the Netherlands, and they said the articles are still with Customs in Sydney. Bummer. <EDIT seq=2 date=2018-12-11> I just got back from an overseas trip, and finally managed to get my hands on the two packages from LCdC that were delivered a day too late, such that I could not collect them before I left. Both parcels were opened and resealed for Customs inspection; one was by Australian Customs (so says the green resealing tape), and I can only assume that the other one was by Netherlands Customs officers because the white resealing tape on that has Dutch words printed in bold along its length. That would account for some of the delay in delivery, and I cannot exactly blame LCdC for that.

(Edited)

Nov 26, 2018

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