Another customer badly let down by a reel manufacturer’s own “workshop”; this time it is a $1500 reel written off, and the care factor of the service centre is zero!
I receive a reel for service from a local tackle shop: customer says reel hard to wind, bail arm tight, the list goes on… Start work on it, the handle turns but the oscillation seems to only be going through about the centre 30% of it’s motion. Spool comes off, AR clutch etc. out, remove the sideplate and this:
If you are familiar with these reels you will see that as well as the saltwater damage, the oscillation slider destroyed, worm drive scarred….. etc. There appeared to be something missing. Investigation revealed that one model of this particular reel actually did not have this part fitted, so it required extensive perusal of the schematics and confirmation of the particular model in the series. To save you having to go through about eight different schems, the missing parts are the rubber body seals! So, the tags indicate that it was indeed sent to the manufacturer’s shop, and their records concur that it was early 2021. I emailed these photos to customer service and followed up with a phone call. I spoke to someone and confirmed that they had in fact serviced the reel, and pointed out the missing seals. I asked what could be done about this, given the fact that this reel is pretty much written off.
Them: “Yeah, well it has water damage: we don’t warrant water damage. And it was way back in 2021”.
Me: errrr… yes, but the reason it has water damage internally is BECAUSE YOUR TECH LEFT OUT THE BODY SEALS!
Around and around we went for a few minutes, getting nowhere. I asked to talk to the guy who serviced it. “He doesn’t work here anymore” REALLY??, that’s surprising…. “You would probably have to send it back to us to look at…. I would need to refer it to the manager…” Why? The photos clearly show the salt buildup where the body seal should be, agreed? More doublespeak and mumbling, then I put it to him that it would probably be a waste of time and money sending it back because it was fairly clear to me that the claim would be knocked back. He did not disagree. I ended the call by pointing out that if I had Effed Up that badly I would have to stump up and make it right; there was pretty much silence after that, so I gave up before I stroked out. I guess the poor(er) customer is going to have to shell out another $1500 for a replacement reel!
