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Rod Warranties - Old and New

2K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  marvin 
#1 ·
I broke my rod this past weekend otherwise I would have joined everyone at the clave. All I had as a backup was a five weight and it was hardly a match for schoolies never mind FA's.

Anyway I called Gloomis and they have a new policy, if it wasn't broken due to a manufacturing defect they charge you $45.00 for a new one, ship it 2nd day air at their expense and provide return postage for you to send your rod back to them. Since this break was obviously my fault (actually my wife's, she stacked the beach chairs on top of it), and I want to fish again as soon as possible, I didn't argue.

It seems to be a good deal but the past two times I broke my rod they sent me a new one at no charge and now they suddenly changed what I had understood to be an unlimited warranty. Does anyone remember GLoomis's old warranty (around 1993)?

Now that I know the value of a backup rod I'm going to get another. I would think that St Croix or Redington offer warranties that are the same as this one while their rods are much cheaper. Does this new type of warranty justify the high prices we pay for the rods?

-Jim McC
 
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#2 ·
Too bad Jim, I had a couple spare 9wts available. Oh well, next time don't hesitate to ask.

In my opinion, the warranty is a key part of the price but when I pay top dollar I do so because the performance of the product is worth it, or once in a while I do it for the prestige. In other words, the difference between a $100 and a $200 is pretty large, but mostly hardware. For instance the Redington at $75 is a nice blank but the hardware isn't the same as a $200 St.Croix Legend, and the blank isn't nearly as good as the $240 entry level Sage. When you jump to the next level, at $300-350 you are at beginning of the high end rods with significantly better blanks and great hardware. Not a heck of a lot more per dollar, but there's a little something extra in most cases (in my opinion). This extra is NOT proportionate for the dollars added but it's worth the price to me.

Once you get to the $500-$600 mark you are often buying for prestige, the extra performance over the $250-$350 rods isn't accountable for twice the price but the prestige of the rod may be worth it to the buyer.

All cases above are rods with unconditional lifetime warranties. Sage occasionally charges $20 for shipping BTW.
 
#3 ·
Jim,

I lost the tip off of my 9 wt Redington at the clave. My wife was doing an errand right next to a Redington dealer a couple of days later, so I handed her the rod and asked her to bring it in for me. When I got home from work, there was a new rod waiting for me.

That kind of warranty service is pretty hard to beat. And I really like the rod ($300. new).

Marvin
 
#4 ·
Jim, I think that the G Loomis policy in '93 was the same as most. Warrented on workmanship and materials. "You break it, you pay around 70 bucks to get it fixed." If you told them it broke when you were "just false casting it", they might have fixed it for free.
In the following years Loomis struggled with the ethics of the unlimmited warrenty and ultimately came up with a fare program. Now they drop ship you a new rod no questions asked(for 45 bucks). I suppose that their rods should cost less because they don't have to cover the "unlimmited warrenty" but they haven't raised prices in a while either.
 
#5 ·
Good point Eddie - perhaps this policy allows them to manage costs and keep the prices stable. Nothing wrong with that!

Also, Loomis sells more gear rods than fly rods and the breakage rates for those must be a lot higher. I don't see people driving down the highway with their fly rods banging around in the back of their pickup trucks, nor do I see people laying flyrods down on the deck to run to the next hole... well not more than once anyway


Just a guess but it may be a factor in a rod warranty. Sage has been very good to me, I've only busted two myself (although I've had as many busted as loaners) and they wanted $20 handling for two, the other two were free and they expedited shipment via UPS air for one I needed real bad.

The warranties definitely work well for us careful consumers, I hope people who abuse them won't cause the manufacturers to change their ways in the future.
 
#7 ·
John,

She did it because she knew I wouldn't have time to use it for a while-
kinda let her rack up points without it costing anything http://216.71.206.188/images/flytalk/Wilk.gif" border="0" align="middle">

But my favorite part of the story is that when she went into Roach's, Mike showed her the new rod, then put it on the counter and turned around to get the rod tube. My wife reached for the rod, which had a price sticker on the reel seat, saying "now I can find out what he paid for it". Mike immediately spun, grabbed the rod, scraped off the sticker, and put it back on the counter with a big smile on his face.

Now THAT'S service!!! <img src="http://216.71.206.188/images/flytalk/Happy.gif" border="0" align="middle"> <img src="http://216.71.206.188/images/flytalk/Happy.gif
 
#9 ·
That's a great story Marvin!

Roach's eh? They always recognize my face, I've been going there since my friends and I used to ride the bus to get panfish gear as kids. The sons were always a few years older than me and I could always relate to them.

They've been around for a long time. They used to have some real New England classic flies from local tyers in their fly drawers.

Always some good stories from the old timers too. They still around?
 
#10 ·
Juro,
It's mostly the younger guys these days- but I too remember hearing some amazing tales when I'd stop in. Of course, I always wondered just _how_ accurate some of these stories were........

John,
I'll send you an application form- classes start when all the fish are gone
 
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