I broke one of my real favorite rods, a Winston BIIx 7wt this fall and sent it in for repair. It had been a gift so I expected to pay for it... and know Winston has a rep for being very fussy about original owners and all...

What I got from them was a very cryptic email with "repair" as the title and nothing recognizable as a source. It took them more than a couple weeks to send it so I had forgotten it and even deleted it before reading because it did not click that it was my rod the repair referred to...

Anyway the email listed three parts: "tip, 1 mid section, butt"

I assumed they were going to replace three sections. There is a pretty good ding on the butt...

They also wanted $132 for the repairs and $50 for shipping. I was not happy but I had been assured Winston would send me back a rod looking better than new...

What I got was a rod where the butt section had not even been cleaned up a bit, a big ding is still obvious down near the base and only the broken tip was replaced.

So I sent an email to give them a chance to explain what happened and if this was standard for Winston CS... They have not bothered to answer my email.

Frankly, Winston just took a monster step down in my mind.They have eliminated any resale value on their rods... I will never buy another, new or used, because there will be no honest resale value. Only an idiot would buy a used Winston with their CS and I could not in good conscience sell one.

The fact they did not even bother to answer my email is plenty for me to shun them...

It is a shame because the rods are very well made and a pleasure to fish.