I have a close fly fishing friend who sent in a Hardy Rod to be repaired August 2 (broken rod tip). Hardy required $85.00 for “shipping cost” in addition to the $15.00 shipping to send the rod to Cortland, who is the USA representative for Hardy. He has not received a rod yet. Cortland claims they have called Hardy about it, with promises it will be shipped soon, but with no real response. How long does it take to get a tip section out of a warehouse, and wrap/epoxy it? Maybe a total of 6-8 hours to wait for the wraps to dry! Hardy, based on this experience appears to have no “service” for their products! My friends experience has taught me to avoid anything Hardy! What would you advise my friend do since Cortland is not really helping, and Hardy is not responding?
Steve
?The wild fish were as the wild air, no mans possession but the free gift of God." Arthur Ransome
What seems to be the problem my good man?
I own several Hardy products, including a rod and reel, and am more than satisfied with their wares…quite satisfied indeed…quite satisfied. I can explain exactly what has happened.
Hardy stuff just doesn’t break or wear out, thus they have probably never had need of a repair service. I’m sure the misfortune that has befallen your friend has probably left them all quite stunned and speechless…quite. I am sure that after they get over their initial shock, fired a few mid-level managers, their CEO has resigned and they have composed themselves, you will promptly be taken care of…quite promptly, in fact…quite.
Later, RW
“We fish for pleasure; I for mine, you for yours.” -James Leisenring on fishing the wet fly-
[This message has been edited by Royal Wulff (edited 22 October 2005).]
Boy, what a coincidence something similar happened to me not too long ago. Broke the tip of my rod in by a fool accident after about 10 years of hard use. Took the broken section and the unbroken section and threw it in the garbage can. Went out and bought a new rod and was astream in about 4 hours. Now THAT’s service.
I have only broken one rod. A graphite 8 weight and I still blame the 35 pound king salmon on the other end of the line for breaking it. Darn rod marker still hasn’t repaired it even with a full warranty and it happened about 10 years ago. Might have something to do with the fact it hangs on the wall of my tying room along with a picture of the last fish it caught; that 35 pound king that broke it.
I have contacted our friends at Hardy in England - please contact me with the name and phone number of your close friend. publisher@flyanglersonline.com
LadyFisher:
Thanks so much for working on this problem. I e-mailed you the information. The rod is a graphite model, Ultralite model. Your willingness to work on this is going far beyond what I would have wanted from anyone here. Thanks again.
I’m not a particular fan of Hardy products, or for that matter the quality of most of the British made products I presently own or have owned in the past.
A couple years ago, however, I stopped in Cortland, NY on my way fishing farther north, and asked them to do a minor repair on a Hardy reel I owned. I must say that I was very pleased with the service I got there. Not only did they fix it on the spot for free, but they also gave me a couple extra repair parts in case I needed them down the road.
Of course, regardless of one’s opinion regarding the quality of Hardy products, the time and cost involved with having to get a repair done abroad on a foreign made rod is just another reason why one might prefer to own US made products.
I would like to reply to some of the posts here. The person I was posting this for is a young college student. He lives off student loans and some summer work at close to minimum wage. The rod was about 9 months old when he broke it, and purchasing it was likely a sacrifice in finances. He cannot- like many of us, simply throw it away and buy another, or simply dismiss the warranty due to the breakage and purchase another. People have loaned him rods to fish waiting for the return of this rod. Although I am not in any way implying Hardy rods or reels are inferior, they can break (RW), and if service has to be delayed for some reason, a notification of such would be in order rather than promises not kept. I have no idea of the exact process of how Hardy rods are repaired, but Sage has returned mine when sent in for service within several weeks, and let me know when I could expect the rod within days of recipt of it. The rod (graphite- Ultralite) was sent to Hardy USA- who verified recipt of the rod and stated the rod was sent to England. My friend has been in contact with Hardy USA (Cortland) regularly as to the status, with several promises it would be here in a week (4 weeks ago). I would have hoped that Hardy USA would have served as the appropriate intermediate agent for my friend (and they probably have attempted to do so, as I have had very excellent service out of Cortland on a broken Diamondback rod), rather than the expense of him contacting Hardy directly in England.
Again I thank Ladyfisher for her intervention in this matter!
Brookiefly;
It seems you misunderstood my post. I was trying to demonstrate the simplicity of dealing with a breakage situation in the “quality” of rods that I usually purchase.
I’m sure you’ll admit that MY solution is somewhat less hectic.
I did NOT mean to suggest that your friend throw away a $500 ( cold day in hell for me) rod if it breaks and is covered by guarantee.
Mark
PS= Almost forgot. I did lose a tip section of a 15yr old Eagle Claw ($39.95) rod last year and contacted them to purchase a new section. I was told to send the butt section in for a match . They couldn’t find the match so they sent me a NEW rod FREE.
I’d rather be in Wyoming!
[This message has been edited by Marco (edited 23 October 2005).]