This past weekend, the jaw adjustment screw on my eight year old Renzetti Traveler broke. Well, after tying enough flies on it to fish 130-135 days a year for eight years, can’t say that I was surprised, disappointed, or discouraged.
Checked the Renzetti website, which is easy to get around, on Sunday, made one phone call Monday to place an order for a repair kit ( talked to Lilly ) and five days, $10.90 ( $7.95 for the kit plus $2.95 for mailing ), and five minutes replacing the jaw set spring and screw later, I’m back in business.
Just wanted to say how helpful and pleasant Lilly was, and how quickly Renzetti got me back to tying flies on my own vise. Now I got to run - to return the Regal Medallion that the Grizzly Hackle in Missoula loaned to me so I could tie flies for fishing this past week.
Thanks again, to both Renzetti and the Grizzly Hackle.
I just repaired a traveler with the same problem, new hardened (black allen head) screw $.33 , o’ring $.20 , spring from a dead jell pin free. Having an Ace hardware store on the way home from work, priceless.
Maybe you could do a Sound Off thread of appreciation to the folks at your local Ace hardware store for their good customer service ??
John
P.S. I thought about going that route, but decided I would support Renzetti. Just happens that Andy Renzetti and I have a good mutual friend. Probably wouldn’t be the case at Ace.
Well I happen to be a fan of Renzetti and was a dealer and still am a tool and tackle repair man. If I can fix a Renzetti vise in a day for a customer at no charge, by purchasing parts from a customer who owns the hardware store. Its a win win win to me. Vise repaired customer happy with choice to go Renzetti, with me for prompt attention and quick turn around and my customer glad I shop Ace for all sort of supplies. And now you know the rest of the story.
A few years ago, I replaced the jaws on my traveler with a cam set. The new ones broke within a couple of weeks of installing them, so I contacted Renzetti, got a call from Lilly, and got a very gracious, no hassle , replacement set.
The replacement set lasted about a year before breaking. I probably could have called again for a replacement, but I just didn’t have it in my heart to do that. I just put the original jaws back on and have been tying with them ever since with no problems.
If they had hassled me about the first broken jaws, I probably would have hassled them about a second replacement. As it is, I feel they treated me fairly and well and we’re even on the deal. I’ll reco Renzetti to anybody. A great vise backed by nice people. I just won’t reco the cam jaws.
Funny, I haven’t had a problem at all with my cam jaw replacement for my Renzetti Traveler. Gotta be 10 years old, too. Maybe I was just lucky? Or the production line that passed your two cam jaws through wasn’t doing their job. Sorry to hear but I think if Renzetti were informed about two sets of jaws breaking, they would have appreciated your getting back to them because then they could go after whoever was responsible for making them in that batch.
Ron, on the first call Lilly said that they outsource their tempering. Far as I know, the jaws don’t come with a serial number to identify the batch as regards tempering, so I don’t think reporting the second break would have helped them. My post was intended to be positive about Renzetti and their customer service. I did not intend to slander their cam jaws. I was simply reporting my experience. It led me to decide to stay with the original jaws, which have performed flawlessly for me. I liked the convenience of the cam jaws, but not enough to risk another break.
