Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have only owned one fountain pen prior to this, and I had it for many years. It cost a bit less than this one because it was a "knockoff" and I knew it. But it worked great. I was hoping this pen would be the same, and when I got 3 emails from the "family owned business" wishing me well, I felt like my hopes were justified. When the pen came it looked like my old fountain pen, it was about as heavy as the old one, and the cartridges loaded the same. No problem. I put the cartridge in and, after a lot of shaking and wishing, it finally began to write. Ok, a shaky start, but it was writing! After a couple of minutes of writing, it started skipping and forcing me to frequently go back and fill in. Now after a couple of weeks of using it, nothing has changed. It skips a lot. I replied to one of the kind emails I had been sent and told them of the problem of skipping. That was about 8 days ago and I've not heard back. Since 3 stars is average, I'll go with that. Maybe if I had owned other fountain pens I could be more certain in my comparison but I haven't. I will look elsewhere for the next one. UPDATE: Michael Dryden saw the review and wrote immediately to apologize for not answering my email. He told me his pens didn't skip and that I had to have a defective one and was sending a replacement. It arrived 3 days later and after the initial wrestling match to get the cartridge to snap in and the ink to flow, it began writing and I'm happy to say it does not skip like the "defective" one. On very rare occasions it will miss a spot but then what pen doesn't do that? So I am pleased with the company and Michael's response to make things right and happy to give the pen 4.5 stars and the company 5+ stars. I won't be looking for another pen anymore.