How's this for an answer

[keithdog]

Sunday night I called BPS to order a Garcia Vendetta casting rod, model VTC73-7, a 7'3"Heavy Power with Extra Fast action. Everyone who sells rods has this rod listed with these specs. Cabellas, Gander, Tackle Warehouse, everyone. So I'm talking to the sales lady from BPS and tell her what I want. She says they indeed have some in stock. And then she tells me that she has a note attached to the description which says a mistake was made in the description and that the rod I want is actually a Medium Heavy power, not Heavy. And that Garcia is in the process of fixing the mistake. So I told her never mind. Then I checked Garcias website to check on the descripton of the rod and they have it shown as being a Heavy action, just like everyone else does. So now I don't know what to think. So I sent an email to Garcia asking them, is it a heavy power rod with extra fast action or a medium heavy power rod with extra fast action? Here is the response they sent me.

"Keith, they have a heavy action with the lure power of medium." And I read this response and sit here with this expresion. That was all they had to say. That was the total reply. Heavy action and something about lure power. And I'm like, what the??? What does that cr*p mean? So now I guess I'll call them in person. Just had to share this in disbelief.

[BigBassin144]

Keith, that's ridiculous.

I guess that's a side effect of dealing with a huge company rather than a smaller, more personal company.

BB

[Cavs1123]

Idk but whoever replied to your email doesn't fish much.

[bassboogieman]

That would be enough for me to pass and look elsewhere. Corporations with lousy customer service, don't get my business - hear that LOWRANCE?

[keithdog]

I replied to their email telling them it was not acceptable and didn't make any sense, and I also explained why. Can't wait to see if I get another reply.

[islandbass]

That would definitely be a show stopper for me, but I would also respond and let the person know he doesn't know jack squat and request a response from someone knowledgeable.

[BigBassin144]

Originally Posted by bassboogieman

That would be enough for me to pass and look elsewhere. Corporations with lousy customer service, don't get my business - hear that LOWRANCE?

Originally Posted by islandbass

That would definitely be a show stopper for me, but I would also respond and let the person know he doesn't know jack squat and request a response from someone knowledgeable.

I didn't want to say this at first, but now I see others share my thoughts. The whole thing about changing the power rating or whatever would have discouraged me, but that response would have made me change my mind about buying the rod.

Possibly a little more than what you wanted to spend, I'd take a look at the Powell Max Frog Rod or a Dobyns Savvy SS735C. You won't be able to beat the customer service from either of the small, personal companies. In fact, most people I've talked to who have called Dobyns talked to Gary Dobyns himself, or his son Richard. To me, that says a lot about their business. I've also heard similar good things about Powell.

BB

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by BigBassin144

I didn't want to say this at first, but now I see others share my thoughts. The whole thing about changing the power rating or whatever would have discouraged me, but that response would have made me change my mind about buying the rod.

Possibly a little more than what you wanted to spend, I'd take a look at the Powell Max Frog Rod or a Dobyns Savvy SS735C. You won't be able to beat the customer service from either of the small, personal companies. In fact, most people I've talked to who have called Dobyns talked to Gary Dobyns himself, or his son Richard. To me, that says a lot about their business. I've also heard similar good things about Powell.

BB

I'll check them out but my budget is limited. Thanks for the suggestions pal.

[keithdog]

I will add this to be fair. In the past, I havn't really had any trouble with Garcias customer service. So thats why I'm waitting to see their reply. Like with any large organization, your always going to get a bad apple in the basket from time to time. The gal who answered my email obviously didn't know what she was talking about. But I won't pass judgment on a whole company because of one instance with one employee. But if it repeats, they'll hear from me again, and it won't be as forgiving.

[Tavery5]

Originally Posted by keithdog

I will add this to be fair. In the past, I havn't really had any trouble with Garcias customer service. So thats why I'm waitting to see their reply. Like with any large organization, your always going to get a bad apple in the basket from time to time. The gal who answered my email obviously didn't know what she was talking about. But I won't pass judgment on a whole company because of one instance with one employee. But if it repeats, they'll hear from me again, and it won't be as forgiving.

Keith, I think that you are taking the right approach, the person who you spoke with at ABU was obviously not an experienced angler. While the answer you got is totally unacceptable, I think several of you are overreacting to the situation. ABU Garcia has been and is one of the most respected names in the fishing industry since the 1950's. Keep in mind that this is 60 years of business as ABU Garcia, and the ABU names dates back to the 1920's if my memory is correct. I challenge you to find one company in existence that has not had this type of situation occur. While I think Dobyns, Kistler and Powell are all fine companies, lets put them to the same test, lets see if any of these companies are even around for the next 10 years. Don't be so quick to pass judgment on a company that has been supporting our recreational activity for longer than most of us have been alive.

[bassboogieman]

You must really WANT that rod. AND, I can understand "want" - it drives most of my purchases. Good luck, I hope you get your answer.

[BigBassin144]

Originally Posted by Tavery5

Keith, I think that you are taking the right approach, the person who you spoke with at ABU was obviously not an experienced angler. While the answer you got is totally unacceptable, I think several of you are overreacting to the situation. ABU Garcia has been and is one of the most respected names in the fishing industry since the 1950's. Keep in mind that this is 60 years of business as ABU Garcia, and the ABU names dates back to the 1920's if my memory is correct. I challenge you to find one company in existence that has not had this type of situation occur. While I think Dobyns, Kistler and Powell are all fine companies, lets put them to the same test, lets see if any of these companies are even around for the next 10 years. Don't be so quick to pass judgment on a company that has been supporting our recreational activity for longer than most of us have been alive.

While I do agree with most of what you said, Powell has been around since 1910. Those purple Endurance rods they have out now are like their 100th anniversary rods.

I would just thing one of the biggest names in fishing would be hiring people, especially ones whose job it is is to answer questions about their products, that at least know about fishing.

Perhaps, it is an overreaction as Abu does build good products, and I guess that's what really counts.

BB

[bassinbob]

"Lure power of medium." A new rating system?

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by bassinbob

"Lure power of medium." A new rating system?

hahaha, thats what I thought. Oh well. And your right bassboogieman, I do "want" the rod if it's what I think it is, haha. Everything I read about the Vedettas and every testimonial from users of those rods is very possitive, most saying it performs as well as rods twice the price.

[Tavery5]

Never underestimate the advantage of a good rod with Medium Lure power

[Tavery5]

Originally Posted by BigBassin144

I would just thing one of the biggest names in fishing would be hiring people, especially ones whose job it is is to answer questions about their products, that at least know about fishing.
BB

Come on man every company has a least one crazy uncle or cousin of the boss working for them.

[cassidyta]

Before we judge the entire company by the response of a call center. (E-mail is almost always answered from the call center) Let me offer this.
I have run several customer call centers, (some for fortune 100 companies) you need to understand that these are usually the lowest paid folks in a company. In fact, customer facing call centers are often the folks trying to get their foot in the door. In many cases, that person is getting their info 2nd hand. Sometimes they have very limited knowledge of the product they are representing.
I know that this does not always make the customer happy, but even the good service agents have a very high attrition rate. There are not too many of us who would want to answer the phone or emails every day to hear complaints. In the call center industry, we often have what we call, the $1, $10, and $100 solution. The tier one agent is the $1 solution and it makes the best business since to have 80% of your issues addressed there.

The other side of this, is that one would hope that the company has provided a script for each agent to follow. If that is in fact the Abu party line, then I am worried that answering your question is not high on their priorites.

[keithdog]

Well I called Garcia on the phone today and had a much better experience. The gal told me the rod was indeed a Heavy power, but I could here her paging through her papers for the answer, haha. But thats ok, she was friendly and gave me an answer that made sense. She was so friendly I didn't bring up the issue as I really didn't have much time to get into it anyways since I was on a short lunch break. But this one person made me feel better about the whole thing. Too bad not all call center reps realize that.