Good Experience with Kenro as Aurora USA distributor

It feels a tad odd for me to write about a service of a vendor, usually I am the "vendor" at least as far as my restored vintage pens go.

But this experience with Kenro is well worth the time for me to write it. I first came in contact with them at the Dallas Pen Show. Kenro is not a stranger to the major pen shows. But I didn't know at first that they are the USA distributor for Aurora pens.

Aurora, is probably one of few modern pens that I truly like. More specifically the Aurora Optima, their other models don't quite check my checkboxes.

I had a buy and sell experiences with a few Aurora Optima pens (one is at a local estate sale, imagine that), which is kinda indicate that I like them, that's why I subconsciously kept watching for them. And this latest one is a special edition Primavera, which according to the records, there were 7500 made. Mine is number 43XX something.

Here's where the story becomes interesting. This is what the pen looks like when it arrived:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...07a7d11f_z.jpg

Yep, the cap was split into two. And the piston was literally in pieces with the rod broken off half inside the barrel and outside. Now, I can restore a vintage Soennecken piston, but a broken modern piston? I ain't touching this. Not when Aurora still offer to repair it. And also, the barrel has a nice big crack.

In other words, a total mess. Now what?

So I did some research, found out that Kenro is the US distributor for Aurora, then I contacted them, at first Cary Yeager (Mr. Fountain Pen Day), whom I always happy to see at the pen show, and he told me to talk to Ryan Sirignano, who took over my case, shipped the broken pen to Italy, and told me when to check back with him.

This was before Christmas last year, so understandably, the wait is longer because of the holidays at Aurora. I asked about the pen a few weeks before the promised date, and Ryan replied promptly and said that he'll know more in the coming weeks.

At the 10-week mark, exactly as promised, Ryan informed me that my pen is back from Italy. Excitedly, I waited for the weekend to pass only to discover that they can't send the pen from New York to Texas until the Tuesday of the week, thanks to the President's Day.

But, the pen came to me at last, via tracked shipping, in a well stuffed box, inside a sturdy sealed envelope:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e6b0da0e_c.jpg

And inside the envelope, is that nifty stretch-able pen case holding my pen. Impressive!

Here's the pen, as you can see, new cap, new barrel, new piston (which is so smooth), and no ink. It's basically a new pen.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...223e7d95_c.jpg

In conclusion, the repair is of course not without a cost, but it is very reasonable when in the end I practically get a new pen that wasn't supposed to be available anymore (clearly they still have the material). I do notice that they also replaced the cap band with a different design, which, I personally like better, and it marks this pen as a "one-off" that makes it unique among other Primavera's out there. In fact, this pen has now become a pen restorer's Aurora Optima Primavera :)

So I have nothing but good things to say about my whole experience with both Kenro and Aurora. It is very apparent that they are good businesses who deliver what they promised. The correspondence was flawless, I never felt that I was ignored. And the professionalism permeates the whole experience.

Call me a happy customer. :)

When so many posts like this are put in place to rag on a vendor, it is awfully refreshing to see one this positive. Happy for you, Will!

Is it just me? I can't see the third picture that shows the pen. Just a blue square with a question mark inside it.

However, I know exactly what the pen will look like now, so that sounds like a good job from Kenro and Aurora. :) Happy for you too Will. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chrissy

Is it just me? I can't see the third picture that shows the pen. Just a blue square with a question mark inside it.

However, I know exactly what the pen will look like now, so that sounds like a good job from Kenro and Aurora. :) Happy for you too Will. :)

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Hi Chrisssy,

I was able to see the 3rd photo from my phone and computers, it is hosted on the same service as the 1st and 2nd afterall.

But just in case, I'll post it here once more:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...223e7d95_c.jpg

Thanks for letting me know.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by penwash

But just in case, I'll post it here once more:

[*IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49563014766_194e1d82ed_z.jpg[/IMG*]

Thanks for letting me know.

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Will, I can't see it either. When I did a quote/reply, I can see the source code for the image (and I've added asterisks so it shows up to you) but copying that link and putting it in a new window doesn't show an image either, whether I put http or https in place. Something is going weird, maybe the "live." part of the url or something.

Cheers,
Jon

I still can't see the 3rd image. :(

If I copy and paste the details in Jon's post (without the IMG & /IMG) I get a line of text that says "These aren't the droids you're looking for."

Can I suggest you try posting the image after deleting the "s" at the end of "https"

It should work now. It's a bad link. I corrected the link on my original post.

Thanks Will, I can see it now. :)

Lovely pen. :)

Here's the Optima Primavera in action:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...87836870_z.jpg

The Sloppy Sketch was inspired by a model of Electrolux vintage vacuum cleaner. They made some cool stuff back then, because this vacuum cleaner -- at least the machine part -- looks like a space shuttle from a 50's sci-fi movie :)

As a bonus, I'm testing a faux leather covered notebook that I got for $1.46 from Office Depot clearance aisle, complete with a dot grid refill. Hey, at least it handles the F-M Aurora nib just fine without feathering or bleeding.

That's looking great! (I think I agree with you about preferring the new cap band, too).