Sage customer service

Finally some nice weather here in Michigan, and having a day off
work i headed north to fish a favorite stretch of the AuSable. Water
levels now down from the snow melt, temp rising, and it feels great
being on the water again.. until, one hour downstream my favorite
streamer rod (sage xp) for no apparent reason, breaks near the butt
section. More then likely it was nicked, or chipped somewhere last fall
and just gave way.

Upset (the fishing was great until then) i made the trek back to my
truck and drove home to call Sage and inquire as to getting the rod
replaced. The "official trout" opener is in just over a week here and i
don't want to be without my go-to rod. I'd never broken a rod before so
had no experience in dealing with an issue like this first hand,
however, i as upset as i was at the rod breaking (i understand this
happens, and will probably happen again) i was more upset at the 6 week
time Sage told me it would take to "fix or repair" the rod... 6 weeks???
thats a healthy portion of trout season. Actually, a fair percentage of
the entire year! IMHO. I'm sure this has been discused here before by
somebody, and i'm more or less just venting, but for a rod company that
promotes itself as a world leader (with world leading prices i may add)
6 weeks seems a bit unreasonalbe to me.. Are all rod companies as slow
in turning around on a repair or replacement? Sorry to carry on about
this. Just wanted others experience or thoughts.

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 20:24:46 -0400, wrote:


Finally some nice weather here in Michigan, and having a day off
work i headed north to fish a favorite stretch of the AuSable. Water
levels now down from the snow melt, temp rising, and it feels great
being on the water again.. until, one hour downstream my favorite
streamer rod (sage xp) for no apparent reason, breaks near the butt
section. More then likely it was nicked, or chipped somewhere last fall
and just gave way.

Upset (the fishing was great until then) i made the trek back to my
truck and drove home to call Sage and inquire as to getting the rod
replaced. The "official trout" opener is in just over a week here and i
don't want to be without my go-to rod. I'd never broken a rod before so
had no experience in dealing with an issue like this first hand,
however, i as upset as i was at the rod breaking (i understand this
happens, and will probably happen again) i was more upset at the 6 week
time Sage told me it would take to "fix or repair" the rod... 6 weeks???
thats a healthy portion of trout season. Actually, a fair percentage of
the entire year! IMHO. I'm sure this has been discused here before by
somebody, and i'm more or less just venting, but for a rod company that
promotes itself as a world leader (with world leading prices i may add)
6 weeks seems a bit unreasonalbe to me.. Are all rod companies as slow
in turning around on a repair or replacement? Sorry to carry on about
this. Just wanted others experience or thoughts.

Seems slow to me, but then I only have this to compare it to
http://makeashorterlink.com/?G3A114708

/daytripper (yeah, i own some sages as well. their time will come no doubt ;-)

I know that this doesn't help you, but I recently sent an older broken rod
back to Loomis. I got a new rod back in 5 days. I didn't know that UPS was
that fast!

thanks Loomis.


wrote in message
...

Finally some nice weather here in Michigan, and having a day off
work i headed north to fish a favorite stretch of the AuSable. Water
levels now down from the snow melt, temp rising, and it feels great
being on the water again.. until, one hour downstream my favorite
streamer rod (sage xp) for no apparent reason, breaks near the butt
section. More then likely it was nicked, or chipped somewhere last fall
and just gave way.

Upset (the fishing was great until then) i made the trek back to my
truck and drove home to call Sage and inquire as to getting the rod
replaced. The "official trout" opener is in just over a week here and i
don't want to be without my go-to rod. I'd never broken a rod before so
had no experience in dealing with an issue like this first hand,
however, i as upset as i was at the rod breaking (i understand this
happens, and will probably happen again) i was more upset at the 6 week
time Sage told me it would take to "fix or repair" the rod... 6 weeks???
thats a healthy portion of trout season. Actually, a fair percentage of
the entire year! IMHO. I'm sure this has been discused here before by
somebody, and i'm more or less just venting, but for a rod company that
promotes itself as a world leader (with world leading prices i may add)
6 weeks seems a bit unreasonalbe to me.. Are all rod companies as slow
in turning around on a repair or replacement? Sorry to carry on about
this. Just wanted others experience or thoughts.



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wrote in message
...
6 weeks seems a bit unreasonalbe to me.. Are all rod companies as slow
in turning around on a repair or replacement? Sorry to carry on about
this. Just wanted others experience or thoughts.


It seems about average. I fish pretty hard and I have broken more rods than
I care to admit to in public. Orvis runs a full six weeks turn-around in my
many experiences. So does St. Croix. The fastest turn-around ever for me
was on a Bass Pro brand that cost all of $120. Brought it into the store
and walked out with a new one. No questions, no delays.

I think they do this (long turn around) deliberately as a measure of
control. You're going to be a bit more careful if you're without the rod
for a couple months. Also, as in the case of Orvis with me, I ended up
purchasing a duplicate of my favorite 9' six weight so I always have a
back-up. I mean, what are the chances I'll break TWO rods of the same
weight on the same trip? (I did break three rods on one trip to Minnesota,
but a 36" channel cat and a very windy day in a boat had a lot to do with
that!)

"Cornmuse" wrote in
:


wrote in message
...
6 weeks seems a bit unreasonalbe to me.. Are all rod companies as
slow in turning around on a repair or replacement? Sorry to carry on
about this. Just wanted others experience or thoughts.


It seems about average. I fish pretty hard and I have broken more
rods than I care to admit to in public. Orvis runs a full six weeks
turn-around in my many experiences. So does St. Croix. The fastest
turn-around ever for me was on a Bass Pro brand that cost all of $120.
Brought it into the store and walked out with a new one. No
questions, no delays.

I think they do this (long turn around) deliberately as a measure of
control. You're going to be a bit more careful if you're without the
rod for a couple months. Also, as in the case of Orvis with me, I
ended up purchasing a duplicate of my favorite 9' six weight so I
always have a back-up. I mean, what are the chances I'll break TWO
rods of the same weight on the same trip? (I did break three rods on
one trip to Minnesota, but a 36" channel cat and a very windy day in a
boat had a lot to do with that!)




Loomis has a near-overnight replacement policy, but they charge for it (no
lifetime warrantee for those guys). A six week turnaround sounds a little
long, but not crazy long. That's about what my Orvis rod took to get
back--that was a workmanship issue.

Scott

Thanks to those who replied.. I fish pretty hard myself, and i have
other rods i can use at this time, but i guess my point of being upset
at things here was that when i laid down the money (my understanding has
always been you get what you pay for) i was not only getting a fine
casting rod, but world class customer service as well. I spoke with my
friend this morning who is a full time guide and outfitted his clients
with Sage last i knew. Come to find out, he had 2 rods break thus far
this steelhead season, and was left with out 2 rods for over a month,
and was forced to purchase 2 new rods (as you hinted at in your post).
So, then it comes down to why the high cost of the rod in the first
place? 2 seasons ago the dealer at the shop told me it was mostly to
cover the cost of replacing it if it ever broke.. "unconditionally".

The financial cost of a fly rod is one thing, but being stuck with
out one when the hendricksons are starting, feels like making snowmobile
payments in a winter with no snow. Maybe it would not seem so bad if the
lady from Sage i spoke to at least SEEMED sympathetic.. She apparently
had no care whatso ever that i really wanted (needed?) this rod in 10
days. Maybe you don't always get what you pay for ? LOL...

Congrats on the 36 " catfish!

--------

It seems about average. I fish pretty hard and I have broken more rods
than I care to admit to in public. Orvis runs a full six weeks
turn-around in my many experiences. So does St. Croix. The fastest
turn-around ever for me was on a Bass Pro brand that cost all of $120.
Brought it into the store and walked out with a new one. No questions,
no delays.
I think they do this (long turn around) deliberately as a measure of
control. You're going to be a bit more careful if you're without the rod
for a couple months. Also, as in the case of Orvis with me, I ended up
purchasing a duplicate of my favorite 9' six weight so I always have a
back-up. I mean, what are the chances I'll break TWO rods of the same
weight on the same trip? (I did break three rods on one trip to
Minnesota, but a 36" channel cat and a very windy day in a boat had a
lot to do with that!)

wrote:

....snip
The financial cost of a fly rod is one thing, but being stuck with
out one when the hendricksons are starting,

.... but as you said, you're not really stuck without a rod, are you?

feels like making snowmobile
payments in a winter with no snow.

another thing whining about wouldn't help......

Maybe it would not seem so bad if the
lady from Sage i spoke to at least SEEMED sympathetic.. She apparently
had no care whatso ever that i really wanted (needed?) this rod in 10
days. Maybe you don't always get what you pay for ? LOL...

I have broken the tip section of my RPL 5wt 4pc three times over the
years. Once entirely my own fault (drove off with it on the roof of my
rig, which I freely admitted to Sage), once kinda my fault (rod tip all
caught up in overhead branches in the heat of fighting a fish), and once
the fault of the fishing gods (just snapped during the fight). I don't
remember exactly the turn-around time in each case, but it seems to me
it varied between 2 and 6 weeks. The last time, Sage--without my asking
for it--refurbished the cork of the grip and replaced the second-to-top
section (which had a small chip in it) as well as the tip. Cost $20
bucks S&H each time.

At the time I bought the 5wt RPL it was the top of Sage's line. I have
a 7wt Sage for steelhead which is the model that was TOTL when I bought
it. I've got a less expensive 6wt back-up rod that can substitute well
enough for either of them while they're in the shop.

You're getting a lifetime of repairs, unconditionally. Six weeks is
nothing.

JR

JR wrote:

You're getting a lifetime of repairs, unconditionally. Six weeks is
nothing.

I'll bet that "six weeks" is just the standard answer. The trick is to
learn how to deal with customer service reps. If you are very polite,
and if you're are lucky enough to reach someone who is having a good day
(otherwise, call back later), and if you explain your situation clearly
and calmly, you will get better turnaround. Don't ask for a hard
deadline -- only ask for some priority consideration, because it's your
favorite rod and you don't want to fish with some second-best non-Sage
POS. :-)

It works for me.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

rw wrote:

........ The trick is to
learn how to deal with customer service reps. If you are very polite,
and if you're are lucky enough to reach someone who is having a good day
(otherwise, call back later), and if you explain your situation clearly
and calmly, you will get better turnaround. Don't ask for a hard
deadline -- only ask for some priority consideration, because it's your
favorite rod and you don't want to fish with some second-best non-Sage
POS. :-)

Good advice. Also, saying things like "I *thought* by paying such a
large amount for the rod, I was also paying for good customer
service.....", or anything else bordering on the sarcastic (not that
Tyler necessarily did, mind you), are guaranteed to make the service rep
a whole lot less likely to want to give that special consideration.

JR

"rw" wrote:

I'll bet that "six weeks" is just the standard answer. The trick is to
learn how to deal with customer service reps. If you are very polite,
and if you're are lucky enough to reach someone who is having a good day
(otherwise, call back later), and if you explain your situation clearly
and calmly, you will get better turnaround. Don't ask for a hard
deadline -- only ask for some priority consideration, because it's your
favorite rod and you don't want to fish with some second-best non-Sage
POS. :-)

It works for me.

What he said. I have always found that it works best if you don't make
demands, and just ask "can you fix it, I'll pay whatever it takes" instead
of "fix this piece of crap right now or else". I recently returned a pair of
badly mangled Action Optics sunglasses (my fault) with a polite request to
repair them at my expense, they quickly shipped back a brand new pair at no
cost to me.