Write On! – Lifetime Warranty

Warranty, uh, good god, what is it good for, absolutely nothing. I know, that's not how the song goes, but is this the pervasive opinion of a lifetime warranty? From personal experience, when I read that a product has a lifetime warranty I tend to be pretty skeptical. What's the catch? What does "lifetime" mean? What parts or labor aren't covered by the term warranty? Interestingly enough, writing instruments have long had lifetime warranty or similar verbiage used in some form in their marketing or even marked on the pens themselves. "Warranted" nibs were used by numerous manufacturers to denote a 14k gold nib, though as time went on this term was watered down by placement of very tiny stamping of "plated" in certain places by lesser companies attempting to convince people to buy their products. "Warranted" is often associated with Waterman because many of their pens had this word stamped prominently on them, though other manufacturers of the same time used it. The word "lifetime" in pens is most associated with Sheaffer and their Lifetime pen, which was not an official nomenclature of a model, but rather a term that was used in a marketing campaign from the brand. Sheaffer and Parker both hod visual representations of this lifetime warranty on their pens; Sheaffer's being the white dot and Parker using a blue diamond, for the most part these emblems were on the pen clips. In 1947, most companies did away with the lifetime warranty and moved to a limited warranty after a court ruled they had to disclose shipping fees associated with sending a pen in for a warranty repair in the same size font on all of their literature. While a few companies reinstated the lifetime warranty, most discontinued it after a time and now offer a limited warranty.

Several modern companies have made the conscious decision to offer a manufacturer's lifetime warranty on their pens. We are one of those companies. This decision was easy to make because we continue to manufacture our products in our shop in Mesa, Arizona, and many of the "small" brands that offer similar warranties likely made this decision for the same reason. Offering a lifetime warranty on product defects and manufacturing damage also means we stand by our workmanship. Our products are put through rigorous testing and function checks before shipping, and while we don't catch every defect we want to make sure that if a product ends up in a customers hands and it's damaged or defective that we repair or replace it. Our lifetime warranty applies to parts and assemblies manufactured by our company. However, items sourced from other manufacturers like nibs, clips, converters, and click mechanisms; we do extend a limited warranty on those items that covers abnormal and early failure. A lifetime warranty is an essential part of our brand that speaks louder than marketing, mottos, and mission statements. It is a promise we make to our customers that the product they're purchasing is of the quality they expect from our brand.

One aspect that isn't technically a part of the lifetime warranty itself, because we offer it on all non-disposable parts, is our repair and service department. Our repair and service department provides a variety of service to keep your Karas Pen Co product in tip-top shape. In most cases the repairs and services provided are free of charge, and simply require the customer to send the item back to us. We frequently repair pens that are over a decade old and require clip rethreading, tip boring, and other damage that can occur while carrying or using our products. Pens get sent in for service that include polishing, cleaning, and sometimes nib tuning and smoothing. Services like this ensure our products function optimally, and provide peace of mind to our customers. There have even been a few times where someone sent in pens for service that weren't Karas Pen Co products because they couldn't find anyone to service them, and we've serviced those pens to the best of our ability. Our repair and service department is a vital part of our lifetime warranty and our limited warranty protections.

Not all warranties are the same, and even certain lifetime warranties often come with a lot of fine print. We steer clear of the fine print, and try to be as transparent as possible. We make pens meant to last lifetimes, plural, and the importance of providing a lifetime warranty on a durable product isn't lost on us. Karas Pen Co pens aren't branded or patented, rather; the design, quality, and workmanship IS our brand. A lifetime warranty is one more way we ensure brand integrity and customer confidence. At it's basic level, offering a lifetime warranty is just good business; and that's the type of business we like doing.