Rod customer service

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark Byrne on July 21, 2009 at 12:03pm

I too have had wonderful customer service from Lamiglas!
www.huntingandfishingnw.com
Mark

Permalink Reply by Andy Smith on July 21, 2009 at 4:32pm

Ben that is good to here. I am pro staff for lamiglas, and sell lamiglas rods on line at
www.questprotackle.com. So i am happy to here they are taking good care of you.

Permalink Reply by Ben Holten on July 21, 2009 at 8:59pm

I made an error Shimano sent me a Crucial rod. I loved my V Series rod, but I am not complaining about the Crucial. They actually list for more than I paid for my V series. Fenewick sent me a replacement today.

Ya I really liked talking with Lamiglas. The cool thing was when I talked to customer service they new stuff about their rods.

Permalink Reply by C-RIDE on July 21, 2009 at 9:08pm

The one thing I have learned is don't buy a custom rod. All of the name brand rods are just as good and back thier product up. I bought a few TH customer rods for Steelhead and Salmon. All three broke and they will not return phone calls, nor will they honor the $50.00 (no questions asked) warranty. I have been fighting with them for 3 years and just gave up. I payed 250-300 per rod. G-loomis or Lamiglas all the way!

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on July 21, 2009 at 10:43pm

I have broken three of my Loomis rods this year and they replaced them all, no questions asked, but they are so far behind in production that I had to wait eight weeks for one. The second one Auburn Sports replaced with a rod they had in stock and the third one I am still waiting on but should have this week I guess.

I have never broken any rods before this year but now I am really glad I have the warranties now.

Permalink Reply by T Dot on July 21, 2009 at 10:53pm

Shimano = $10 no questions asked
Okuma = $50 no questions asked
Dobyns = $60 no questions asked

ive had no problems with shimano what so ever. okuma's customer service is horrible, but if you have a rod question i know someone you can contact. as for dobyn's, if you have a question that needs answered, you will have 5 or more quality guys from around the country answer your question.

Permalink Reply by Chris Blandi on July 21, 2009 at 10:54pm

I have had no issues with the G-Loomis Expeditor service. I was told recently that a rod was backordered and it may take up to a month, but they must have got one in quicker than normal because the wait time was one week.

Permalink Reply by islandbass on July 21, 2009 at 11:20pm

Glad to hear that you were taken care of by Shimano and Lamiglas.

I have received the best service from Lamiglas. I've been fortunate (knock on wood) to not have been as clumsy as I was the day I broke my Lami. Doh!

Permalink Reply by S Hwang on July 22, 2009 at 10:28am

Cant say the same about Don at Dons custom rods, or Rob at gorgerods, their customer service is excellent.

C-RIDE said:

The one thing I have learned is don't buy a custom rod. All of the name brand rods are just as good and back thier product up. I bought a few TH customer rods for Steelhead and Salmon. All three broke and they will not return phone calls, nor will they honor the $50.00 (no questions asked) warranty. I have been fighting with them for 3 years and just gave up. I payed 250-300 per rod. G-loomis or Lamiglas all the way!

Permalink Reply by Marc Marcantonio on July 22, 2009 at 4:41pm

I learned a valuable lesson as far back as 1965 about rod warranty claims. I wasn't old enough to drive, so my dad would drop me off at White Clay Creek in Delaware so I could fish for trout all day, and then he would pick me up when I was done. We had a station wagon with one of those electric rear windows...I always put my rod in the back of the wagon with the rod tip sticking out of the window that was down a few inches so the rod wouldn't get bent. I had saved up my money until I could afford a brand new Wright & McGill yellow glass rod (glass rods would take a "set", so you didn't want to bend them except when fighting a fish, hence the reason the rod was sticking out the window).

It was a particularly hot day, and the dust was starting to roll into the open back window so my dad closed the electric window. Yep, he cut off the tip of my favorite (and only) rod. There was no warranty then, nor would one apply because it was not the rod's fault that it broke. Nonetheless, my dad suggested I write to them and explain exactly what happened. I wrote the letter, told them how much I treasured the rod, and asked if there was any way it could be repaired? They wrote back and thanked me for the letter, and sent me a brand new rod with no charge!

Contrast that approach to others that BS the manufacturers about how their rod broke, and see what kind of response those people get from any rod manufacturer. BS is the reason the "no questions asked" warranties were developed.

Another thing that I see all the time are rods that are damaged by stepping on them on the front deck (especially when both anglers are fishing the front deck), or damaging them when putting them in or out of a rod locker. In most cases the damage occurs, but doesn't show up until later when you set the hook or are fighting a fish close to the boat. The angler then thinks the rod was defective; but the problem was the person stepping on the rod or jamming it in the rod locker.

Also think about the guy who practices "highsticking". When you move up to a high modulus graphite or boron rod, the sensitivity is gained by making a stiff, yet thin-walled blank. The highest dollar rods are often the most fragile when you exceed the design limitations of the rod. These rods are not designed to be bent at the steep angle that occurs when you high-stick a bass (pointing the rod to the sky when the bass is close to the boat so your line angle is almost verticle). What happens is the round rod blank gets distorted into an oval shape, and it loses its hoop strength and shatters. This is also angler error. Don't bounce a big bass on an expensive dropshot rod!

If you treat the equipment right, and are honest with the rod company when a problem does occur, you will more often than not get treated fairly in return.

ciao,
Marc