Post Warranty Support...

terry m · Oct 23, 2018

What is your expectations when it comes to post warranty support or repair service for high price items?

I learnt first hand today that Wychwood offer zero support or repair service for their products once the 12 month warranty has expired.

Bite alarms, reels, bivvies and other high cost items seemingly should be tossed into the trash if faulty outside warranty. Poor, very poor in my opinion, and would discourage me from buying Wychwood/Leeda products in the future..

chrissh · Oct 23, 2018

I had the same with Nash a bite alarms over 12 mouths no support. A lot of the products are made out of the UK

The only help I got from Nash was take it back to the tackle shop you bought it from

Is it worth buying expensive product such as bite alarms or electronic items if there’s no support after 12 mouths?

markcw · Oct 23, 2018

terry, if you are not going to buy Wychwood or Leeda products, include MAP as well, they are all
under the same umbrella, Daiwa and shimano will repair reels that are a few years old as long as parts are in stock/available.

Daiwa and Tri cast have pole sections for current as well as discontinued poles, Also other brands such as maver and map have top kits which are compatible with each other.

sam vimes · Oct 23, 2018

The harsh reality is that, for huge swathes of the tackle market, once it's not a current product, you are pretty much stuffed. If you buy a product towards the end of it's product cycle, and something goes wrong inside the X months warranty, there's a fair chance that you'll just get offered their newer similar product.

Fishing tackle is little different to many other consumer products in this respect. It's actually taken mass market tackle a fair while to catch up with market trends in this respect. To stand a chance of better you have two options. Buy products that are actually made, or at least assembled, in the UK (Delkim, Harrison, Daiwa, Youngs reels etc). Doing so generally involves paying a significant premium. The next hope is to buy from one of the bigger multinationals (Shimano etc). However, even these seem to be getting poorer for long term support.

Mark Wintle · Oct 24, 2018

Have a look through this: Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Which? Consumer Rights

Your contract is with the retailer not the manufacturer/wholesaler and is not necessarily restricted by manufacturers' warranty periods.

steve2 · Oct 24, 2018

It's bad enough trying getting anything repaired in warranty period let alone out side it. Manufacturers of all things will try all ways to wriggle out.

Ray Roberts · Oct 24, 2018

I tried to get a couple of spare sections for some Free Spirit rods and their customer service is non existent. They aren’t even contactable by the punter and you have to go through the dealer.

I ended up having to purchase new rods. After waiting six months I cancelled the order and although they are nice rods I will never again buy one of their products. Zero out of ten for customer care and service.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

barbelboi · Oct 24, 2018

The best support I've had is from Harrison and Youngs - both replaced, free of charge including postage, parts that I had lost or damaged myself without question............

PS Neither were still in the guarantee period.

thecrow · Oct 24, 2018

Marks link is worth reading, I was under the impression that goods should be of "merchantable quality" who decides how long that is I don't know but fishing tackle wont be exempt from the law.

iain t · Oct 24, 2018

Problems with rods that are under a lot of strain when casting and reeling in. so breakages can be quite usual. Claiming under warranty can be even more of a strain. It's even harder to prove it's the rod that is at fault. I've had some headaches in the past claiming.
I've even had to go to the small claims court to claim off one manufacturer that promises a lifetime warranty. Their lifetime warranty seemed to work whilst they made the rod.
On other warranties that is 12 months long and you the user breaks the rod or item after the 12 months period, the manufacturer/shop do not have to replace or repair the item.

Keith M · Oct 24, 2018

I recently had to get a replacement tip section for a Drennan Ultra float rod that I’d only used a couple of times; which split and broke while I was threading some light line through its tip section, and I had to pay the full price of around £60 for the replacement tip section simply because the rods warranty had recently expired.

NB: The shop I bought it from (Leslie’s of Luton) had closed a few months earlier so I couldn’t take it back to them.

So your not alone.

Keith

binka · Oct 24, 2018

By and large it seems to me that the modern way of the world has swayed manufacturers attitudes to 'fekk you we've had your money, now go and whistle'.

There will be exceptions of course but that's my overall experience with these things and it's why I boycott certain brands and any others which are held under the same umbrella eg. Pure Fishing.

If ever I eventually run out of brands i'll go 100% vintage!

thecrow · Oct 24, 2018

binka said:
If ever I eventually run out of brands i'll go 100% vintage

And fish with sticks :wow:

markcw · Oct 25, 2018

Nothing wrong with vintage Steve, I have 2 seatboxes an AS1 and a Boss box, both over 25 years old and going strong, If I ever needed spares I would have to try ebay and other sites, I also have a Daiwa seatbox, spares available even if I have to use other brands parts,Drawers, seat, legs are interchangeable with other brands, also recently bought the new Preston Innovations Ls30 seatbox, spares available, I wonder if the Daiwa and Preston boxes will still be in use after 25+ years the same as AS1 and Boss.? The build quality on those is brilliant. I have rods by Daiwa that are of similar age and still get used regularly, and a couple of reels. My point is some tackle from years gone by seems to be made to last compared to some modern day tackle and our throwaway society.

mikench · Oct 25, 2018

markcw said:
and our throwaway society.

Mark when you start to throw things away let me know and I'll bring my large net to catch it!

You are right though! However the tackle industry is far better than most! White goods manufacturers , mobile phone companies build in obsolescence deliberately! Look at Apple!! At least a 30 year old rod is still capable of being used and enjoyed ! You cannot say the same for your iphone1, HTC wildfire or Old laptop!!!!

ieh · Oct 30, 2018

Interesting comparison between coarse and fly rods here. Many of the latter come with lifetime warranties with fixed (reasonable) prices for new sections. The rods themselves can be eye wateringly expensive though.

markcw · Oct 30, 2018

ieh said:
Interesting comparison between coarse and fly rods here. Many of the latter come with lifetime warranties with fixed (reasonable) prices for new sections. The rods themselves can be eye wateringly expensive though.

So can 16 or 17 metres of carbon be eye wateringley expensive..... £3000 and with that you get a 1 or 2 year warranty and no guarantee of new sections being available after a few years depending on the brand and there is a seatbox on the market at £2000,
Fishing rods at around £300+ and same for reels, I would say it is more expensive to take up coarse fishing and I include specimen fishing in this, than it is to take up fly/game fishing.

Post Warranty Support...

terry m

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chrissh

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markcw

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sam vimes

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Mark Wintle

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steve2

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Ray Roberts

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barbelboi

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thecrow

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iain t

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Keith M

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binka

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thecrow

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markcw

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mikench

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ieh

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markcw

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