Warranty - favorable or fiendish experiences

[fishballer06]

Shimano - Received a Stradic that was never fully assembled properly (the rotor wasn't even attached to the body). Sent it back and got a new one in under 2 weeks total. 

 

Bagley - Bought a balsa squarebill that was cracked at the corner of the body where the bill connected. They told me how to fix it, and send me two replacement baits for free. 

 

Dobyns - I bought an Extreme rod. Used it one outing and caught a few nice fish with it. Noticed a few days later that the blank had a bunch of stress cracks in the middle of the blank. They immediately sent me a return shipping label and a replacement rod. Took a week total. 

[ironbjorn]

I know some people here almost if not outright refuse to use a warranty service because of some moral reasoning, but if a multi million/billion dollar company is going to offer me one (a guy who uses coupons to get 50 cents off a sack of potatoes), I'm going to use it and not lose any sleep over what amounts to an insignificant fraction of a penny to them. Dobyns and Fenwick have both been great for me. Never had to warranty a reel yet.

[the reel ess]

"It's a 2-part warranty. If it breaks in half, you get to keep both pieces."

[ajschn06]

Anything pure fishing is amazing.  Fenwick, Abu, etc.  Tried to deal with Daiwa once but you have to mail the rod back just to get it checked.

 

Fwiw, warrantied an Abu Vendetta ($79.99) casting rod last spring.  Out of stock at the time so after a couple months they sent me a Veritas ($99.99) instead.  Wasn't a fan of the white and never really used it, so when they released their Veritas Tournament series ($169.99) I inquired with them and explained the situation and asked if I could swap out the white Veritas for the new one, and I would pay the difference.  They sent the rod, didn't make me pay the difference, and told me to keep the other one as well.

 

On top of all that, the original issue with the vendetta was just with the tip eye.  I replaced it, and now have 3 nice Abu Garcia rods for the low price of $79.99.

[Midwest Fisherman]

To follow up on my previous reply on my St. Croix warranty process which was settled today, broke an Avid X which is no longer available. They offered a victory at no charge except for $25 shipping or $110 credit and I could up grade to my liking and they cover shipping. I upgraded to a Legend Tournament.

[MacJig]

4 hours ago, ajschn06 said:

Anything pure fishing is amazing.  Fenwick, Abu, etc.  Tried to deal with Daiwa once but you have to mail the rod back just to get it checked.

 

Fwiw, warrantied an Abu Vendetta ($79.99) casting rod last spring.  Out of stock at the time so after a couple months they sent me a Veritas ($99.99) instead.  Wasn't a fan of the white and never really used it, so when they released their Veritas Tournament series ($169.99) I inquired with them and explained the situation and asked if I could swap out the white Veritas for the new one, and I would pay the difference.  They sent the rod, didn't make me pay the difference, and told me to keep the other one as well.

 

On top of all that, the original issue with the vendetta was just with the tip eye.  I replaced it, and now have 3 nice Abu Garcia rods for the low price of $79.99.

Yeah Abu is a tremendous company. 

[ironbjorn]

11 minutes ago, MacJig said:

Yeah Abu is a tremendous company. 

Just wish the products were decent still, but nope.

[ajschn06]

56 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

Just wish the products were decent still, but nope.

Yeah I don’t get this.  I had bottom of the line Abu stuff (RevoX/vendetta) and I preferred it over my Tatula combo.  Their reels are a little heavy, about the only complaint I can see that holds much weight based on my experiences.  I haven’t had a chance to fish it but my veritas TX/Revo stx combo looks/feels amazing.

[Siebert Outdoors]

I've had to use Loomis(Rods), Shimano and Diawa for reels.  All of them had great service.  I have a bunch of St Croix rods but never needed any support.

[the reel ess]

6 hours ago, ajschn06 said:

Anything pure fishing is amazing.  Fenwick, Abu, etc.  Tried to deal with Daiwa once but you have to mail the rod back just to get it checked.

 

Fwiw, warrantied an Abu Vendetta ($79.99) casting rod last spring.  Out of stock at the time so after a couple months they sent me a Veritas ($99.99) instead.  Wasn't a fan of the white and never really used it, so when they released their Veritas Tournament series ($169.99) I inquired with them and explained the situation and asked if I could swap out the white Veritas for the new one, and I would pay the difference.  They sent the rod, didn't make me pay the difference, and told me to keep the other one as well.

 

On top of all that, the original issue with the vendetta was just with the tip eye.  I replaced it, and now have 3 nice Abu Garcia rods for the low price of $79.99.

I've found Daiwa to be fantastic customer service. Now I haven't dealt with a broken rod. But they sent me free parts for a very old Procaster reel not once, but 3 times. They didn't even respond to my email. They just mailed them.

[MidwestBassAttack]

I recently used the warranty process with Falcon and it was smooth as silk. Had the new Cara Deep Runner. Used it maybe twice and the blank snapped about 3-4 inches from the top. 

 

Took pictures, provided explanation, and sent proof of purchase along with the cut blank on a Friday. Got a response back that Monday. Picked an XH Amistad as a replacement, paid $20, and had the new rod in hand on Wednesday.

 

Great team out there at Falcon!

[leinad]

just a shoutout to dobyns for great customer service. my favorite finesse rod a 661sf snapped about 12" from the tip fighting a 14" trout thanksgiving morning ( managed to bring the fish in ) , my first ever rod that broke in 50 years of fishing. called them the monday after the holiday and explained my situation. dobyns sent me a return label and sent a replacement rod that i received today (10 day turn around). it's been quite some time since i have gotten that excellent a service from a company when problems arise. thanks again dobyns.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Fiendish was my last experience.

Quantum Tour S3 reel had an issue, against my better judgement, I sent reel in cost me $11 shipping. They didnt fix my reel they sent me a replacement. The replacement was a downgraded Smoke S3. To top it off the replacement has the same issue.

 

[Scott F]

I’ve used St. Croix’s warranty a couple of times. Because I take a fishing trip to north central  Wisconsin every year, both times, I took my broken rod to the factory store where they replaced it on the spot. I also had a two piece, St. Croix Premier rod that was over 20 years old that I took in. They gave me a new model for half price of a new Premier. 

[MacJig]

On 12/8/2021 at 2:36 PM, ironbjorn said:

Just wish the products were decent still, but nope.

Oh, I really like both Abu Garcia and Fenwick. I have a number of their rods and reels. 

[MacJig]

On 12/8/2021 at 4:20 PM, Siebert Outdoors said:

I've had to use Loomis(Rods), Shimano and Diawa for reels.  All of them had great service.  I have a bunch of St Croix rods but never needed any support.

I had one experience with St Croix with a broken rod. I thought the experience was a little over the top. It certainly wasn't as easy as Abu. First, they wanted to charge me a $50 fee to replace my broken rod. Well it was a mojo bass that I think I paid around $120 for. So I'm paying s $50 fee for a rod I only paid $120 for. Seems like not much of a warranty. Then I had to saw my broken rod in half and send a picture. I said to the rep (who was very.nice and professional) "it's already broken. Why break it more"? I think the answer was something like ... "So you still can't use it."  Ok !?!  In the end, the rep did cut the fee In half for me at $25 so I did proceed with the service. If he would have pressed a $50 fee, I wouldn't have done it. Abu much more customer friendly. But I still like my St Croix rods and continue to purchase their products. 

[J._Bricker]

 I’ve been very happy with Loomis, Daiwa, and Shimano’s warranty / rod replacement programs. I’d tell ‘em what happened or what I did and follow their recommendations or instructions. Pay whatever the fee is or the shipping costs are and a new rod arrives in a few days. 
 Powell’s is very easy, but cringe worthy and I guess effective in stopping folks from gaming the system. Email three photos, one of the rod’s info, one of the rod’s Powell trademark, and one where you cut through the Powell trademark.

[Gera]

Any experiences with Megabass?

[Kirtley Howe]

I purchased a Shimano reel. Used it 3 or 4 times, and it stopped working. Opened it up and found a gear had broken. Took a couple of pictures, attached them to an email and sent it off to the company. I included my phone number, email address, and street address. Never heard a word from them in 2 weeks, and was starting to get a little hot under the collar. Went out to the mailbox one day, and there was a package from Shimano. In it was a brand new reel which was an upgrade from the one I had that broke, and a gift certificate for $25.00, and a letter of apology for my reel breaking.  I was more than pleased, and always consider buying Shimano for any product they have in what I am looking to purchase. Overall, I would say they had great customer service.

[bulldog1935]

since nobody has mentioned 13Fishing, that's the only rod I've ever broken. 

The redfish ate the lure when I was taking it out of the water.  My fault, I high-stick set at the exact moment the redfish exploded - ok, it was the redfish's fault, too. 

I called expecting a discount replacement, because I like the rod.  Nope, as long as it's a fishing break, it's warranty.  Send in the portion of the rod with the label, and I had a new rod in 10 days total. 

 

A note about Falcon.   Falcon, Academy and I go way back (used to shop in the 1st Academy, Army surplus in Austin; even worked with the owner's son at an R&D company).  At one time, ok, it was in the '90s, Academy quit carrying Falcon rods, because the two companies had a falling out over warranty.  It seriously lasted most of that decade, and I'm glad they worked it out. 

[flyfisher]

haven't bothered with any warranty returns with conventional but I have with fly rods and the easiest by far was TFO.  Had a rod I broke but they have a no fault deal.  I sent it in with a check for $40...guy calls me back and says we don't make that rod any more but I will give you a store credit for $250 which was the retail of the rod at the time it was made, I paid 150 for the combo on sale.  I throw in an additional $40 to make up the difference of a rod I wanted and it was shipped out.  Whole process took about 3 weeks and about 10 days of that was shipping time back and forth.  

I've also dealt with sage and St Croix for fly rods and they are all around the same but slower TAT as they have to recreate the piece that broke in their shop.

[Junk Fisherman]

Every rod I've broken has been my own fault.  Both Loomis and Dobyns have been great with their replacement programs.  The Loomis replacement cost me $108 but I received a $450+ rod (GLX) after using heavily using my old rod for 20 years before breaking it.  Dobyns wasn't as a beneficial replacement but they were more than fair and took the sting out of replacing broken rods.

 

On a side note, my Motorguide Xi5 pedal has not been turning my motor to the left.  It was a replacement I bought this past January.  (3 pedals now in 6 years)  Took that pedal to a service center yesterday and it was still under warranty.  They handed me a new $175 pedal.  Made my day.   

[MacJig]

29 minutes ago, Junk Fisherman said:

Every rod I've broken has been my own fault.  Both Loomis and Dobyns have been great with their replacement programs.  The Loomis replacement cost me $108 but I received a $450+ rod (GLX) after using heavily using my old rod for 20 years before breaking it.  Dobyns wasn't as a beneficial replacement but they were more than fair and took the sting out of replacing broken rods.

 

On a side note, my Motorguide Xi5 pedal has not been turning my motor to the left.  It was a replacement I bought this past January.  (3 pedals now in 6 years)  Took that pedal to a service center yesterday and it was still under warranty.  They handed me a new $175 pedal.  Made my day.   

Those are great companies that work with you even when the fault is your own. It makes you want to be loyal to those companies. But I was also thinking that the mark up on rods must be tremendous. Even at a fraction of the price they must be making a good profit. 

[thunderblack]

On 12/10/2021 at 12:51 PM, Gera said:

Any experiences with Megabass?

Yes, they sent me a replacement guide for free and have always been friendly and helpful with questions. 

[Choporoz]

I snapped a Dobyns Champion Extreme a few weeks ago.  Six or seven year old rod; entirely my fault .  I didn't call or email....just sent the 8 inch logo piece of rod with a brief note asking if I could get different DX model...and a check (replacement cost and shipping per the Dobyns web site.)

  I mailed it on December 7th.  Yesterday (13th), the rod I requested was on my doorstep.   Incredible.