Quote Originally Posted by bazakwardz View Post
It is a questionable practice for a manufacturer to try to artificially control the price of their product. There are several fly tackle companies that only sell through authorized dealers. Their products cost the same wherever you go. Winston is taking this a step further by refusing to honor their warranty unless you buy from an authorized vendor. I don't support manufacturers who don't stand behind their products, and I certainly don't support price fixing.
How do you artificially control the price of your product? If Winston says you, as an authorized dealer, will retail a 5W BIIX for $XXX.XX how is that artificially controlling the price? Sage, T&T, Scott and others say the rods will sell for a certain price, then the dealers will sell them for that price. When a dealer becomes a Winston dealer, I'm sure they sign a paper that says they'll sell for retail. Nothing wrong with that. Same goes for Sage, or T&T or Scott or others.
It's a Winston built rod, if they only want certain dealers to sell their product, it's up to them. Not you or anyone else. If you don't want a Winston, don't buy one. I do have a BIIX that I bought from a buddy. I've had it for 3 years now. I don't have a warranty, and like Bamboozle said, it's just an insurance policy. If you are in the habit of breaking rods, then by all means make sure you buy one with a great warranty. Myself, I don't look at the warranty when buying a rod. If I were to come across another Winston I wanted, used or sold by an unauthorized dealer and it wouldn't stop me from buying it. I don't abuse my equipment, and if I ever did break a rod, well I'll guess I'd cowboy up and pay to get it fixed. It ain't that big of a deal. I broke it, it's my fault.