Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was really excited about buying my first fountain pen, it looked great in the photos and it had a ton of positive reviews. The only thing that met my expectations was the color. The biggest issue is the photos in the listing that have been altered to make the pen appear larger than it really is. I am a commercial photographer and I have been in the studios where Amazon photographs their products and I know several people who have worked there and how they operate. The photos of this pen alone are distorted with a wide angle lens to make it appear wider. In the photos where it's held in a hand, the pen is photoshopped, not just to use the same photo to show multiple colors (which is standard practice and not misleading) but to appear larger (which is only ever done with the intent of misleading the consumer). I was expecting a barrel just slightly wider than the standard disposable pen you'd find in any office, but it's actually slightly smaller and therefore very uncomfortable to use. The pen also comes with no ink. I have since discovered that this is a common practice with fountain pens, to lower their handling costs. They do mention it in their ad but it's buried in () in a long list among a bunch of all caps marketing hype. The pen was also difficult and unpleasant to use. I bought some ink and tried it out and it was scratchy and skipped unless I used so much pressure it nearly tore the paper. Finally, when I mentioned these complaints, the seller ignored them entirely, then followed up with a request for a 5 star review. I returned the pen and received a refund which I used to buy a pack of 4 fountain pens from a competitor for nearly half the price of the one awful pen from Dryden. The new pens are amazing, the photos were accurate, they are a great size and they all write as smooth as silk. Highly recommend looking elsewhere and reporting Dryden's unethical behavior to Amazon.