Quote:
Originally Posted by Walleyedude
I was pleasantly surprised to see Shimano jumped back into the ice fishing market for the first time in a long time. There was a bunch of their stuff at Cabelas. They've got their Convergence and Sienna rod lines in all the common lengths/powers and just as important, or maybe more important, they brought back Sahara 500 as a premium ice fishing reel and the Sienna 500 as well. The Sienna rod/reel lines were available as combos.
Might be worth checking out if you're a Shimano guy like me.
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I was a Shimano guy, until my Lifetime warrantied Clarus claim ordeal. I was told I could send it in at the tune of $40 and they might honor it, or blame me and then I’d need to pay $60 for a replacement. Or use their ‘worm out’ plan and just pay $60 and get a replacement right away with a return postage label to toss my broken rod in and mail it.
$20 wasn’t worth the risk or the extra month wait, so I just paid the $60 for the ‘Express’ plan. Took them almost 3 months to get me the rod, that I had to go to the city and pick it up at a budget freight company’s location. I’m certain it would have taken forever if I didn’t follow up and learn that they had essentially forgotten about me.
After all that waiting, when a couple weeks after I paid, Cabela’s put the same rods on sale for $60, SMH. I wrote Shimano explaining the whole ordeal, and got nothing in response.
I went with a Fenwick which is a better rod in the same price range. And TFH deals with warranty in store, just like my Clarus was supposed to be.
While they didn’t really screw me, I can’t whiz on their name, and I do like their rods. Yet when a company sells you a product with a lifetime warranty, then backs out of it essentially, they’ll lose my business. Not like I’m a big spender really, but there’s lots of sour stories about their warranty claims. In a lifetime of rods, only twice have I had them break without being stepped on or something. A Sage fly rod, replaced no questions in 2 weeks. And a Shimano for 3/4’s full price and 3 months.
Win some, lose some I suppose.