Reflections: Guarantees Hap-Pen

(Originally posted April 19, 2013)

Product guarantees aren't what they used to be.

Today, nearly everything comes with some sort of written guarantee, or warranty, no matter how big or small the product. It's usually printed in type so small a magnifying glass is needed to decipher it, runs on for pages and pages, and generally excludes whatever problem you're having with the product anyway.

After the end of World War II, Hap Dawson had a little extra money and decided to purchase a really fine fountain pen. Ball point pens were just coming on the market; Hap had more trust in the old-fashioned fountain pen.

Hap was very cautious about spending money, and he spent some time making a decision on which brand to buy. Finally, he decided on a Sheaffer pen, one of the main reasons being that it came with a "Life Time Guarantee." The company had been in business for many years (and is still)

He purchased the pen and stored away the case with the small written certificate of guarantee inside.

At the time, Hap worked at the Dawson Brothers grocery store on New Madrid's Main Street. Later, he and his wife Verba purchased the old Rosie's building on Mott Street and operated a small bar into the late 1980s. Hap said he used the fountain pen daily for nearly 35 years.

That's a lot of miles and letters for any pen, and in the early '80s it "played out," as he described it.

He found his Life Time Guarantee certificate and mailed the pen off with a letter of explanation to the Sheaffer Pen Company.

One can only imagine some employee at Sheaffer opening up Hap's package and finding a 35-year-old worn out pen and Hap's letter about the Life Time Guarantee.

It was about a month before he heard back.

He showed the letter from the company to a few of his patrons who had stopped by for a late afternoon beer.

It began, "Dear Mr. Mott. " Hap lived on Mott Street and the writer must have been confused--or perhaps flabbergasted at the age and condition of the pen and that the customer still had the guarantee certificate.

The letter went on to explain the company had examined the worn out pen and would be willing to repair it; however, that model had not been produced for many years and they had no parts to repair it with. Never-the-less, the company wanted to honor its guarantee and offered to replace the pen with a brand new one. If Hap didn't want the new pen, they would return his old one.

The patrons at the bar assumed that Hap would take the new pen, but to everyone's surprise he declined and asked for his old one to be returned.

He said he was attached to the old pen, and if it couldn't be repaired, he'd just put it away.

He could get all the free ball point pens needed down the street from the Bank of New Madrid. In the last 35 years he had developed a greater confidence in the new pens.

And he did just that.

But, hats off to the Sheaffer Pen Company; their guarantee was the real deal.