To each his own. Certain types/situations of fishing do'nt allow extra false casts. Sometimes you only get one cast w/o any false casts to throw 70'. Those shots usually happen with the fish of a lifetime at the other end while battling adverse conditions (it just seems to happen that way). I just spent hundreds/thousands of dollars on a guide to give me that chance. I'll pay a little extra money and take better care for my gear...Originally Posted by YakFly
Every rod/blank sage has ever produced is covered by a no fault warranty. That includes all custom work.
Just for grins, I sent the link to this thread to sage last week. As of this moment - still no response either to my email account or here.
fyi
I agree with you 100% Dirty! But I think experience, casting skill, and technique are far more important to make that cast than whether your holding a $500 setup or $2000 setup.
Within the first year of TFO and Mr Kreh bolting from Sage to TFO, every flyfishing forum salt and fresh has regularly had the broken Loomis/Sage high end money grubbing bash vis a vis the eleemosynary TFO light speed repair/returns. How's it possible that they can do what Sage and Loomis cannot...what about St Croix, Scott, or Winston or Orvis how do they perform on return time. I've only broken one a Clouser strike on my 9wt TCR blank sent it in and blank tip section back in three weeks. I suspect that TFO is in the business to make a profit and therefore assume their margin on a 250-300 offshore rod is substantial. Typical retailer discount is 45-50 % off retail...if 50 then TFO sells the 250 to the retailer for 125...what's TFO's gross margin on the 125 rod...has to be sufficient to fund all their rod breakages that seem to populate the forums and is in substance a guaranty to replace for 25. At least TFO and Sage have one thing in common aside from fly rods that being retail price maintenance
From www.sageflyfish.com warranty section
The lifetime, original owner warranty applies to rods with a serial # beginning with the letter "M" and higher, including all double letters (i.e. AA, AB, AC). Rods with serial #'s beginning with the single letters "A - L" (generally manufactured prior to 1995); have an original owner lifetime guarantee against any defect in materials or workmanship. Any of these series of rods that fail due to misuse, negligence or normal wear-and-tear will be repaired or replaced at a reasonable cost. The serial # may be found on the rod directly opposite the Sage logo.
I had some trouble getting a "G" series RPL replaced even though I bought it in 1995 and it was sold to me by the flyshop as an unconditional warranty rod. Sage did eventually cover the repair. My biggest complaint with built "saltwater" rods from Sage and other high end manufacturers has been the poor choice of snake guides which quickly rust out in the salt. Since I end up rewrapping the rod with REC guides anyway after a year or two, I might as well just get the blank and build it myself!
Two things. I remember sending a rod to Sage and I also had the experience of getting a phone call a month and a half later saying that the rod was received by the repair shop from the shipping / receiving department and they wanted to know how I was going to pay. After giving them the credit card info I ,was informed it would be another 6 weeks. I stated that was Extremely Poor Customer Service .
Their answer was with the volume of returns from all over the world that was the normal repair time frame. They did not give any indication at all they were concerned about the customer's opinion at all all.
I do not buy Sage any more, sort of like watching TV and my "Vote with The Remote" decision. There are some shows and channels I don't watch anymore. MSNBC being number 1. I have another Sage rod that I thought I would send back but after reading the previous post I know they would say that it would fall under the normal wear and tear category and it would end up costing me. I'm in the process of remodeling my bathroom and when they delivered the dumpster, I deposited the rod in it, The sections fused together and I was unable to separate them and they spit when trying to get them apart.
TFO repair and turn around is about the best in the industry and sets the standard, on two occasions I had both rods back in less than two weeks.
Orvis customer service is excellent with regards to turn around time, they do charge a $35 fee to cover "Shipping and Handling" at the Orvis store, not sure what the cost would be if I mailed it back to them directly. I would not pay that until the rod came back, they usually charge before the rod is sent for repairs. When the rod came back i would have paid but because they could not get the charge to come up in their register and I had to wait a long time, the manager gave me the rod back without the charge. Another kudo for them.
Last edited by bonefishdick; 12-09-2012 at 07:57 AM. Reason: typo
This whole thread is pretty disturbing, start to finish. Where does this sense of entitlement come from?
I think that sense of entitlement is a result of some rod company, at some point in history, thinking they'd have a competitive marketing edge over their competitors by offering a lifetime warranty. As a result, an entire generation of anglers have now become accustomed to fly rods having this magical warranty that in many cases includes car door and ceiling fan breakage.
Nobody forced these companies to adopt this policy, but now that they have, woe be it to any manufacturer who is slow (Sage) or continually raises the cost of that warranty (Loomis).
I suspect the fly rod industry wishes it'd never gone down the "lifetime warranty" road. However, just like the airline industry with their frequent-flier programs, the barn door was opened and shutting it isn't nearly as easy.
Well, despite the snail-paced turnaround time with Sage, the fact remains that their waranty, from my limited experience, is rodk solid. They replaced a 25+ year old 12 wt tip, smashed by an anchor locker lid for me without question.
I tried out 5 or 6 different 7 wts a couple years ago and then tried a TCX. For me, it was such a sharp jump above every other rod I'd ever cast that I could not justify NOT buying it. I'd have been calling myself an idiot every time I cast any of those other rods if I'd bought one. I've since bought an 8 wt in that model. It's like they customized that particular taper just for me.
So it's a just a question of having backup rods during the wait, in the event of a mishap.
****, I've jammed my sections together so tight I couldn't get them apart either without frozen blackeyed peas on the male section, hot tap water on the female section, fish gloves on and pulling like hell behind my knees. Even with all that, I was worried there for a bit. But I'm sure Sage would have replaced yours for the standard fee.
Cheers,
Jim
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