First Foray Into the Dark Side (first JDM order)

[garroyo130]

48 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

FedEx conveyors are the death of many packages. 

Over 20 years, I've purchased a dozen +2 JDM rods without any damage. 

I've always been impressed with the quality of packing on these rods - some seem like you could drive a UPS truck over them without damage. 

Most recent rod purchases were from Asian Portal and FishingShop,kiwi. 

I'm curious whether quality of vendor packaging was a factor, and what Japan vendor you used. 

 

It was asian portal but I too was surprised at the packaging. It was a couple of boxes folded into a triangle essentially ... I'm sure it also didn't help that it's a super ultra light so it doesnt take quite as much 

Obviously when it arrived broken my immediate thought was ... its a sign .. you need to order the more expensive model you were looking at 

[bulldog1935]

Made me look at some of my received packing. 

All in light but extremely stiff round, corrugated tube (cardboard).  Plat used corrugated plastic pipe. 

 

Except my 1-pc Valleyhill from AP came in a heavy square-section cardboard tube with a Daiwa label (probably from a rod they received) - guess I got lucky. 

[redmeansdistortion]

My last two rods both came from Digitaka and were packed in heavy duty cardboard tubes.  I'd expect them to live through nuclear war, that cardboard was thick stuff!

[fishwizzard]

Really surprising, I feel like the last rod I got from Asian portal was packed in PVC pipe. I wonder if they use different packing materials for different price point rods?

[garroyo130]

1 minute ago, fishwizzard said:

Really surprising, I feel like the last rod I got from Asian portal was packed in PVC pipe. I wonder if they use different packing materials for different price point rods?

 

No idea but honestly blessing in disguise ... refund is already in my bank account and I found a better model for only a few bucks more. Going plat this time. 

[fishwizzard]

9 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

 

No idea but honestly blessing in disguise ... refund is already in my bank account and I found a better model for only a few bucks more. Going plat this time. 

That’s a shockingly fast turn aroudn for a FedEx claim. Might want to pick up a lottery ticket along with the replacement rod.

[garroyo130]

1 minute ago, fishwizzard said:

That’s a shockingly fast turn aroudn for a FedEx claim. Might want to pick up a lottery ticket along with the replacement rod.

 

I contacted the seller and didnt hear a thing from them ... zero response so I started the claim. Then all of a sudden a refund showed up from the seller.

[bulldog1935]

Asian Portal probably contracts their English interpretation - most of Japan does.

English-speaking people are at least as hard to find in Japan as Japanese-speaking people are to find here. 

It takes awhile for your e-mail to be forwarded, interpreted, sent back, and reviewed.

If they wrote you a reply, it would have to go back through the interpreter again. 

 

I can think of exactly six people in Japan I have communicated with over 20 years who have a working handle on English - one of them was a guide in Montana before returning to Japan.  English is just as foreign to the Japanese as Japanese is to you.