My disgust with Shimano

[Guest DavidGreen]

Shimano Reel Warranty

Shimano warrants to the original purchaser that this product will be free from non-conformities in material or workmanship for the period of one year from the date of purchase.

To request repairs (or non-warranty service) send your reel, postage pre-paid, to the Shimano Authorized Warranty Center nearest you. Retailers and wholesale outlets are not required or authorized to perform warranty repairs or exchanges on behalf of Shimano. If sending your reel to Shimano directly, please call for verification on due date as some seasons experience high volume.

All warranty requests must be accompanied by a dated sales receipt, your name, address, telephone number (daytime), email address (optional), and a brief description of the issues related to your warranty request.

The following items will not be covered under warranty:

Non- ARB Ball Bearings, Roller Bearings

[G3 Fan]

Flechero,

 I agree with you about supporting companies that make things right, and I also think that Shimano might have some quality control issues. My brother in law bought a Stradic/Bionic Blade combo from BPS. He is new to fishing and after awhile he started complaining that he didn't think the reel was very smooth and he was going to updgrade on his next reel. I fished with it and told him I thought it just needed cleaning. When I took the sideplate off the whole inside of the reel was packed with grease. His next purchase was a Stradic/Extreme combo and the Stradic was bone dry, the bag the reel was in had plenty of oil in it though along with the exterior of the reel. The plug on the lube port was held on by a few threads. None of these issues were as extreme as yours nor were the reels as expensive but you would think somewhere along the lines these things would get inspected before shipping.

[flechero]

ReelMech,

With all due respect, a written warranty inplies that a working product was first delivered, and in my case it was not.

I honestly do see your point. But, my only expectation was to purchase a reel that worked out of the box... and I'm 0 for 3 with my last 3 shimano reels- that is beyond bad luck, IMO. And it's different than having a warranty issue come up within year one. The difference is that I have not used to reel yet, so in my mind, either the retailer or shimano failed to hold up their end of the agreement. (my $250 for a working reel)

I bet if your last 3 shipments of rod blanks were cracked or had paint runs, and you had to pay return shipping to get them replaced, you'd be tired of it by the 3rd consecutive time.

Remember, I never complained or even said a word about the first 2 "bad" reels... but the shipping charges add up. I'm at almost $30 in pack/ship/insurance charges because either retailers or shimano failed to take 5 seconds to see if a reel worked before sending it out. That is poor Q.C. by one of them and disregarding me after the fact is poor customer service by both of them.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this. My point in this whole post was that a $10 gesture by shimano would have been repaid tenfold (at least) in future profits off my business, I have bought 5 MG's in the past 8 months alone and was planning to add a few more to that. But now I'm re-thinking that plan and will be trying out a couple other reels... Case and point to shimano.

In the grand scheme of things, if I only have this to complain about then life is good... thank you, God!  

[flechero]

Catt,

Thanks for the clarification.

[aggiebassin]

i'm sorry to hear that.  i have only had one problem with one shimano ever.   it was a 50 mg, but i bought it at academy and just exchanged it.  

the odds can't be too great that you would get 3 reels that are messed up...you must be a lucky guy.....lol

sorry again....

[Guest DavidGreen]

flechero,

I hear ya bud.. Good luck with your next purchase's...

Tight Lines !!!

[fish-fighting-illini]

One reel I could see Reel mech's point but 2 and 3 in a row then it is time for Shimano or for Shimano to designatte its chain of command to step up. If they don't then Flech's business is going elsewhere that's the bottom line.

Flech,

I'd send a letter to Shimano of exactly what you'd expect. Include a picture of all your rods and reels together side by side ( sounds like a bunch). Circle all the ones that are or could be Shimano's and tell them all of those will be Diawas and whatevers in 3 weeks. If they don't take the hint then they don't get it and it is their loss..

Give it a shot.

[RiskKid.]

I think 3 bad reels is really frustrating and a bummer. Flechero, I don't blame you for being upset, I know I would be. I don't know about the debate over the shipping but I sure would be questioning future purchases of the same reel. I sure hope you get this resolved as I know its really frustrating when you have to expend negative time and energy to make things right when they were not your fault.

On a lighter note LBH is starting this Daiwa Posse and there are always the Phlueger Mooks  :

[cart7t]

originally posted by reelmech

The big box retailer places the reel back into stock for sale because even they were not being told the truth....

Hmmm..

I work in electronics repair.  Companies regularily get returns back due to liberal exchange policies most big box retailers have these days in order to compete.  You're right, lot's of times customers think they have to make up an excuse in order to return something even though said return policy doesn't indicate that.  Regardless of whether the unit has a listed problem or not, unless the customer didn't even open the box, the unit is sent to service, we check it out and find no problem and send it back but at that point the retailer is obligated to sell such item as 'open stock'.  It comes with a full warranty but there's no mistaking the unit was previously owned, whether used or not. If the box was never opened, it's OK at that point to return it to stock, commonly happens during the Christmas returns season.  I'm not aware of a law on any books that makes that a requirement but it would seem as though sticking something back in stock as new that was previously used isn't kosher.

[cart7t]

While I can not speak for Bass Pro Shops or Cabala's I can speak for Academy since I work for them. When an item is returned it is returned to Customer Service who is told by the customer the reason for the return, if the customer does not state the item is defective the associate will place the item in that departments return box. The item is then picked up along with all returned items by that departments associate and placed back into stock.

If the customer tells Customer Service the item is defective the Customer Service associate will tag the item as defective and the item is not returned to stock. Defective items are not checked by anybody; they are simply marked defective and sent to shipping/receiving.

You can bet Bass Pro Shops or Cabala's policies on returned items are handled in the same manner.

Whether the reel is defective or not, Academy is representing something as New in the box when it isn't.

If I'm buying something at a NEW price, I expect the only hands to have been on it before mine to be the assembly line workers and a QC person at the end of said line. Anything else is mis-representing the reel as NIB.

[rebar]

I don't know if it pertains to this problem or not but I have received reels where the IAR bearing were not assembled right. The plastic housing was not snapped into place. But mine worked they just reeled rough. A NEW reel should be fixed/replaced postage paid by the seller.  New poster here, looking forward to checking the site out.    

[Culprit]

The new line revo stx's will  weigh only 6.3oz  

[Vyron]

The new line revo stx's will  weigh only 6.3oz  

I am a shimano man , but  come on!!! after reading this :

http://www.tackletour.com/reviewabugarciapreview08.html

baitmonkey is calling big time  

[lubina]

Just don't buy Shimanos. I don't have any personal experience with their reel support but I know a bit about rods CS response on Crucial rods.....and I rather buy a rod with Megabass warranty, Shimano is just an step lower.   Deplorable.