A good source for pen making supplies

[Texatdurango]

I recently came across a source for pen making tools and supplies and rather than tag this post at the end of a thread that was mostly negative, I thought they deserved a positive thread! I spoke on the phone with a pleasant lady who explained this was a small "mom and pop" business started by her husband more as a hobby and a means of helping others find hard to find items.

Here is my experience with Tryphon (http://www.tryphon.it/catalogo.htm
).

I placed an order on Thursday morning and recieved the package Saturday via USPS priority maill and incurred the actual shipping charge of $4.95. A pleasant surprise was that there were just as many complimentary samples of ink, waxes and cleaners as items I ordered!

Their timeliness seemed to be an issue with others so here is a time line of the events:

Tuesday sent an email and didn't hear anything so I called thursday morning around 8AM and a lady named Sylvia answered. She said the email address that was on the website was no good and apoligized. She gave me the new email address which I then used.

Thursday 8:33AM - Sent email describing what I wanted and asked for shipping charges.

Thursday 10:15AM - Received a reply saying the shipping would be $4.95 and gave me the paypal address. I sent paypal at this time.

Thursday 4:43PM - Received email from USPS_Shipping_Services@usps.com saying package shipped and was given the USPS tracking number.

Thursday 11:54PM - Received a follow up email saying the package was shipped and a thank you for doing business with them.

Saturday - Package arrived via priority mail.

I call this excellent service bordering on outstanding. The only thing she could have done was to call me every hour assuring me that all was well!

I will order again when supplies are needed!

 

[bgray]

Giovanni and Sylvia are great people.

But their service is definitely spotty.

Sometimes I have exactly your experience, and sometimes I get downright angry.

They take trips, vacations, and disappear sometimes. Nothing wrong with this, but simply post it on the website when you are gone. Or perhaps an automated reply to emails.

I keep them on my list of suppliers, but I also include the following....

http://www.pendemonium.com/
http://woodbin.ca/
http://www.pensacs.com/
http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref_txt.htm

There are others, as well.

 

[Texatdurango]

Giovanni and Sylvia are great people.

But their service is definitely spotty.

Sometimes I have exactly your experience, and sometimes I get downright angry.

They take trips, vacations, and disappear sometimes. Nothing wrong with this, but simply post it on the website when you are gone. Or perhaps an automated reply to emails.

I keep them on my list of suppliers, but I also include the following....

http://www.pendemonium.com/
http://woodbin.ca/
http://www.pensacs.com/
http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref_txt.htm

There are others, as well.

Yep, as she indicated, if the baby is sick or she is sick, no one is there to man the phone or check emails. I think you are right, they need a short paragraph stating that this is not a full blown commercial enterprise so folks won't expect "9-5" hours and service. Luckily, the items they offer are things one would stock up on rather than need on a moments notice.

On the flip side to this story, I also placed an order and sent a paypal payment with another pen supplies site last monday and have yet to hear a peep, not even a confirmation that they received my order. The looked like a good candidate to add to the list of suppliers. I'm going to call again tomorrow and if I don't get an answer I'll start the refund process through paypal.

 

[Jgrden]

George, thank you for those sites, I bookmarked all of them.

 

[alexkuzn]

I gave Tryphon a second try recently.
This time it was very fast. I received my toys in a week after I've emailed my order to Sylvia.