Bill:

I'm not so sure the economic times have as much to do with it as dishonesty.

For example: a guide told me that he went into his favorite local shop
shortly after Orvis introduced the new T3's - which he was admiring. The
guide asked the owner what he thought of them. The owner responded that
Orvis had the toughest rods, and toughest warranties in the business. The
guide challenged him on the "toughest rod" statement, so the owner told the
guide to get his rod - he would prove it. The shop owner took the rod,
pulled the tip back into a major horseshoe, then released it to smack the
corner of the counter, exclaiming that no other rod could take that abuse,
while the guide was hollering that the shop owner was going to break the
rod. Well, sure enough, when the guide reflexed the tip, the rod broke. The
shop owner laughed and said, wow, that really suprises me - go get yourself
a new rod off the rack.

Example 2: A guide told me that he worked at an Orvis shop in Jackson Hole
several years earlier. One day a man came in with the tip section only of a
broken rod - but the damage looked rather strange. The man said it had
broken on a fish, but he had lost the butt section. After significant
questioning, the shop decided that Orvis would have to make the decision,
not the shop, since the entire (or major portion) of the rod was not
present. The following day a different man brought in the butt section of
the same model rod, claiming that it had broken on a fish. The grip showed
obvious signs of being run over by a car. Upon questioning, the man admitted
that he had laid the rod on the car roof, forgotten it, and driven away. He
remembered it some distance down the road, went back, and could only find
the butt. Actually, the Orvis warranty would replace the rod under those
circumstances (and did so to the apparent owner), but it once again
illustrates the burden imposed on all of us by the ethically challenged.

I think it more likely that the rod companies are seeing warranty returns
far higher than they ever imagined as fisherman decide that a broken rod may
net them a new model upgrade. I'm sure it isn't pervasive, but happens
enough to be a factor.

Jim Ray

--
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"Bill Kiene" wrote in message
. com...
Hi Mike,

All these service charges have been going up lately in these tough econmic
times.

We have to see where every manufacturer is for 2004.

--
Bill Kiene

Kiene's Fly Shop
Sacramento, CA
www.kiene.com

"Mike" wrote in message
...

Cortland only charges 10 bucks


Handyman Mike
Standing in a river waving a stick