Angry Rant!!

I have just purchased some new line for tying hooklengths.
'Colmic Xilo' (Black box Asian text)which has a diameter of just over 0.1mm and supposed strength of just over 3lbs.
Used it for the first time last night, straight into a decent fish (I'd estimate 3-6lbs), no mean feet as no-one was catching due to spawning, and'SNAP'.
I quickly changed my rig back to the old faithful and no more problems (as the 7lb mirror would testify).
I have been testing this line on numerous scales I own and find that it breaks anywhere between 8ozs and 1lb 10ozs. THIS IS JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH OLD BOY!!
I payed 5 English Pounds for this crap and be sure its going back on Monday, keep tuned in to find out if I get my money back, (if not be sure I will keep all you good people informed).

After my inital anger I thought I'd test some other lines in my box and found a 1lb fluorocarbon snapping at a few ounces (binned), 2lb 6oz Hi tec snapping at just under 2lbs(keeping this one though) and a 0.06mm Hi-tec which I couldnt get a reading on (binned).
In fact the only line which seemed to do what it says on the spool was the Middy Lo-Viz, rated at just over 4lbs, snaps at just over 4lbs.
I will stress that all these lines were tested at different lengths.
Has anyone else had these problems? (I imagine so). Why don't we have a nice name and shame thread as these manufacturers are getting away with this and surely the more people who know which lines do what they say correctly, maybe if theres a big response will drive some of the crap out of the market.

By the way just so you know I have slated this middy stuff in the past( did'nt want you thinking I worked for them ) Generally on first impressions it seemed wirey, and slightly thicker than I imagined, but it has put me many fish on the bank so I realise all my earlier complaints to be unfounded. Sorry Middy, I was wrong.

I was tying rigs today, and did a couple with 20lb Korda IQ, As the stuff's so springy i streched them out at arms length, both snapped in the middle, not at a knot. I will be measuring the strength on a set of scales tomorrow, as I know it must have been under.

15lb mono is hard to break on a straightpull, isnt it?

Get yourself a proper flurocarbon...

http://www.fishtec.co.uk

Sightfree is my choice... right through the breaking strains...

normal nylons hard to break because it has stretch in it. doesn't excuse the flouro's for overstating though. look at the tackle box catalogue as it has a pretty thorough b/s and diameter comparason

Well took it back though did'nt do the 'According to the sale of goods act ....' bit (most shopkeepers crumble at that one).
I explained the problem with the line and explained full story ie. lost fish, testing with scales and the tirade of excuses given were pathetic, (although more bothered about serving other customers)
I heard a)because this line is the exact diameter unlike the others in the shop the breaking strain does'nt matter. - eh?
b) the breaking strain doesnt matter anyway (double eh!)
c) If I send it back they just say its tested on a real line testing machine so I lose out if I give you the money back (remember this one, surely 3lb 2oz is the same most places on earth, unless its tested somewhere in the upper atmosphere of course)
d) Oh you fish waggler don't you, well this is pole line the elastic takes the weight (eh? eh? eh? still it breaks under 2lb in normal conditions)
I will give him that he tried to prove me wrong by taking a set of flyweight scales off the shelf and gave the slowest most careful pull you could imagine (just like any hooked fish would) at which the line snapped at just over 2lb ("Thats 2 1/2" he exclaimed).
He then proceeded to talk about every other line in the shop and asked asked if I had a micrometer to which i replied yes ( that line of conversation ended sharpish) after five minutes I had to state that i was'nt interested in the qualities of other lines or line diameters, just that this line I had bought was either faulty or crap.
You must understand that by this time I am still polite though not swayed by the banter.
So I asked can I change it or get my money back.

- No, because theres nothing wrong with it
- But even you coulnt get it to break near 3lbs
- That was'nt a real test though
- So why did you do it?
- I'll send it back to the manufacturer and they'll use the proper machine
- But you said earlier they would'nt accept it (remember), thats just wasting my time.
- I am trying to sort this out for you (as others enter shop)
- So give me my money back or swap the line.
- If I did that for everybody i'd be bankrupt.

- but you know it doesnt work correctly
- How do I
- because you tested it
- wheres the box anyway
- In the bin, why do you need it
- Its no good to me without it
- so you're going to sell this spool of faulty line to some other mug?

etc. etc etc

This was just going round in circles.
It was quite obvious that for a fiver the man couldnt care less about customer satisfaction.
I even asked why he can't just give it to the rep and let him sort it out. that line of questioning also ended sharpish.
So all this proved to me (from what he was saying) is if you get faulty goods from his shop, he can't help you, the reps can't help you and the manufacturers wont help you. Good advert pal. No wonder more and more are going to mail order sites and online shops.
At the same time as this was going on someone came in with a broken pellet pump which again was going back to the manufacturer, wonder what happens?.

Please all do yourselves a favour, read the sale of goods act, its not down to the manufacturer, its down to the shop selling faulty goods, If you get flannelled off, write a letter stating the act, that usually works.
In this case I'm not bothering for a fiver. I left the shop exclaiming loudly that he'd lost a customer and I would'nt be going there again.
I'll just have to be happy with the fact
that money I will be spending for my fishing holiday and the rest of the summer will not be going to that establishment.

By the way if anyone is interested:

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/callist.cgi

Its an interesting read.

I would dearly love to name and shame the place on this site, but I thing that maybe letting me in for some legal wrangles so I won't.

Tim, I forgot to ask you, where did you buy that last lot of line from?,.
I was thinking of going there to buy some myself.

Nice try Les

I have emailed Colmic though to see if they do anything, of course stating that I assume this bad spool to be a one off.

Tim,

I assume this line is one of the hi tech, pre stretched ones, if so as the bloke in the shop says it is not sesigned for waggler fishing, or fishing with a rod of any sort. It is designed for pole use as the shock impact dusing the strike and as a fish runs will be absorbed by the elastic up untill the point where the force on the line is above its breaking strain. It is a well know fact the 90% of stated breaking strains and diamiter are bullshit. For example maxima of 4lbs breaking strain will break nearer 4.5lbs. I have used many line and I keep many different lines in my box to do many different jobs, although i still haven found satisfactory lines for some situations, one of which is stickfloat fishing? I can remember once learnig the lesson which you just have. I was fishing a large lake where a cast of some 30 metres to some trees on the far bank with a large waggler would catch you some very nice rudd, i started using a hookength of four pounds, hi tech, which i had every confidence in and i had landed using a pole, fish up to 7-8lbs with. But i was breaking my hooklength ever time on the strike, as soon as i swapped to a 2.5lb mono i started to land lots of big rudd. this was down to the stretch in the mono.

I'm not saying the tackle shopewas in the wrong and i think they should have given you the money back but fo what its worth that was how i saw the facts.

Cheers

Paul

Paul,
I agree with your comments.
Maybe line manufacturers should put a breaking range on the line, instead of a set weight.
For instance, the line I bought should read, From 8oz to 1lb 10 oz, instead of the 3lbs stated.
I have also used other Hi-tec line for waggler fishing for quite a while (that Preston stuff), with no problems.
My argument was actually that this particular spool was faulty, I woul'nt have minded if it consistently broke at around 2lb 10 ozs.

I guess I was just really pissed off at the time that I'd wasted a fiver, I'm past annoyed.

Maybe this could start a debate on a possible say rated range of lines, like pole elastic, and if it breaks outside that range, it's faulty.