September 3, 2008

Blue Sharpie Pen Blues

My original Sharpie Pen review is easily the most viewed page on this blog, and because of that, it is still drawing frequent comments that most of you are unaware of.  One item has recently appeared in the comments section of that page that I had to bring up, because it is just too good to let wither away.

Pen Addict reader and commentor Stunod7 has seen some of the same issues that many of us have with the shade of blue in the Sharpie Pen being too light.  I never persued it any further, but luckily for the rest of us addicts, Stunod7 did.  I'm going to repost some of the comments here so you can see the chain of events:

August 25, 2008 9:37 PM
Stunod7 said...

    Here is what is crazy. I've bought several packs of these pens and have the same complaint about the blue color. I've bought 10 pens total and 2 of them are a deep, dark, very rich blue. The rest are this namby-pamby light blue color that I hate. I trying to get some kind of resolution from Sharpie. I've sent them a message and I'll give them a call if they don't respond because I love the way the pen writes but I'm a blue person and this light blue won't cut it.

August 26, 2008 3:51 PM
Stunod7 said...

    So far the only thing I've gotten back was an address that I can ship the pens back to and they will replace them. I asked them to clarify the color for me because I wasn't interested in getting back pens of the same color ink.

    The investigation continues....

August 27, 2008 4:55 PM
Stunod7 said...

    According to a Sanford Consumer Affairs Associate that I spoke with these pens should be producing a deeper blue. They are replacing the... 8 or so pens I've purchased and sending me an additional 2 as well.

    They actually requested that I scan and eMail them the samples of my specific issues, which I did. Also posted them on Flickr (see below)
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/stunod7/sets/72157606984074337
    Am I taking this too far... Am I that much of a pen addict...

Stunod7 went on to exchange emails with the Sanford Consumer Affairs Associate, which he has forwarded to me, noting their willingness to make things right for their customer.  Channeling my inner Consumerist, nice job by the Sanford team for going above and beyond, and thanks to Stunod7 for sharing his tale.

And yes Stunod7, you are that much of a pen addict!

8 comments:

Jordan said...

I received 2 replacement pens yesterday (as well as 2 dry erase markers) and they are the deeper blue. But what is funny is after a few of the lighter blue pens spent a week or so in my glove box, they got darker, but others didn't.

I also received an update from the Sanford rep who received this from someone above her that stated "This is probably due to some minor variability that we have in the manufacturing process"

The last 4 of the lighter color pens I have will be headed back to them tomorrow.

And, for anyone who has been following... Here are ink samples from the new pens compared with the old pens: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stunod7/2825486860/

Unknown said...

Lucky, I've waiting for a response on whether they are still making the fine point Sharpie Professional or not since like early August

Unknown said...

Oh, and all of mine appear to have the light color

dowdyism said...

Thanks again for all of the great follow-up stunod7!

Speedmaster said...

I'm glad you posted this. My blue Sharpie pen is already skipping after only a few days of light use.

Speedmaster said...

And on the color, I checked the Flickr images that were posted. Mine definitely write in the lighter blue color. Just another data point for what it's worth.

dowdyism said...

My two are the light blue version as well.

Miss H. said...

I read about the Sharpie Pens on your blog and was so excited! I've been looking for them everywhere - Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Publix, Rite Aid, Office Depot (or Max - I can't remember), Sam's, etc. but I haven't found them yet. I ask the people that work there and they show me the retractable Sharpie (cute and handy but not what I was looking for).

Sigh, the search continues.

I enjoy your blog. Every year at this time of year I get to address a little over 400 invitations so I always end up buying about 6 different pens and trying them out on the envelopes before deciding on the one to use.