Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Shimano Rod Warranty - Rant

In 2013 I bought my wife a Shimano Clarus 6'6" 2 piece rod. She doesn't fish much, so it spends a lot of time in the rod locker probably used a half a dozen times each year. This spring she was bringing in a 3 lb pike when the rod snapped about 6" above the 2 piece joint. When it happened I thought no big deal. It has a limited lifetime warranty and this is obviously a defect.

I took it in to the local store where I bought it where I was told that Shimano changed their warranty program so Over the Counter was no longer available. I would have to ship it back to Shimano for assessment. I was also told that they no longer did limited lifetime warranty. Now it was just one year and any replacement rod would only have one year. They gave me a tube to send the rod back which I did to the tune of $27 dollars. Today I got a call back from Shimano saying I would need to pay $55 dollars to get the rod replaced (they are about $90 new here in stores). When I asked why it wasn't covered they told me that it appeared to be heavily used so it was considered worn out. 2 years of sitting in a rod locker wears out a Shimano rod now? I told them what they could do with the rod and that I would be switching brands as a result of their unwillingness to warranty an issue with their product.

I have always owned Shimano rods. Started out with an FX rod when I was a kid and eventually got into the Cumara/Crucial/GLX/IMX rods in past years. All the rods I own are Shimano due mostly to the great reputation the warranty had. It appears as though that support is now gone so my business will be going elsewhere.

Anyone have experience with another brand that has lifetime warranty? St Croix? TFO? Okuma? Some other brand?


SS

Lifetime warrenty doesn't mean $hit anymore.

Go Loomis if you want quality in both a rod and the warranty. I know guys who smash them by the boat full during the height of the salmon run. A quick phone call and Loomis overnights the replacement up to keep them in the action. The guys have to pay shipping but the rod is covered.

I've had good luck and service from Lamiglas too but you have to be sure to buy the US made rods. The Mexican made models only have a one year warranty.

G.Loomis

I had bad luck with 2 Shimano rods and broken tips.
Love their reels but won't waste my time on their rods.
Almost exclusively use St Croix "Made in USA" Premiers and Avids now. Those coupled with Shimano Sahara reels and I've been very pleased.

Wouldn't the Loomis warranty be the same as Shimano since Shimano owns them? I have two GL2's and an IMX. They are good rods so far, I just wonder about the warranty now.

I wouldn't be as upset if I didn't feel like I paid more for the rods because of the warranty. If they are going to shorten the warranty and be tougher on what they cover they shouldn't charge the premium that they got based on the "over the counter" and "limited lifetime warranty" policies.

SS

I broke two last summer that were bought last summer. Neither got replaced. Both came apart fighting stripers.

Life time warranty means when it breaks it's life time is over and you are SOL.

Sam I broke a 6'6" Loomis IMX bait casting worm/jig rod last summer. The rod was at least 10 years old....been around so long honestly I don't remember. I still have its twin. Both were/are "used" and look it.

I shipped it to Loomis and received a brand new IMX (same model) 2-3 weeks later. Year before the reel seat slipped loose on an NRX I had owned for about 3 years. I returned it...same story. Brand new rod shipped to me.

Near as I can tell Loomis is still being run as Loomis, even though owned by Shimano.

Interesting Bob,

They must like you better.

My son broke a 9000 GLX recently and it cost him $100 plus shipping to get it replaced. Like the OP, he was told it had been used hard thus not covered even though when he bought it it had a lifetime free replacement guarantee, thus the reason for him purchasing it.

I broke the tip off a 9000 GLX last Saturday in a multi-species tournament and rather than send it in for a new one and have to pay the $100, I put the tip back on it and will use it until it breaks again. The action didn't change a bit either. For that song and dance I just as well try to get a bit more use out of it before having to cough up their ransom money after also purchasing it with their lifetime free replacement guarantee.

I have quite a few of their GLX rods and can hardly wait for reel seats to go or sticks to break.......

That sucks azz.

The over the counter warranty was my favorite part about the Clarus rods. The rod it self does great, but the warranty was better than any other mail in deal.

Oh well. Likely won't buy any more of them.

Mike: I think it might have something to do with "how" I did it....I did not send the rods directly myself. I sent them through a Loomis dealer who does a lot of business with Loomis at the retail level.

I did get hit about $18 bucks for shipping in each case, as I recall.

Apparently they carry more clout than little old you and I do....I doubt they like me all that much

I have heard about the $100 charge business and friends have run into that as well.

Hopefully that will be the case here as well with future problems. I certainly will give it a try!!

Evidently warrantees can be changed whenever Loomis or Shimano deems it necessary to fit their business desires?

That I don't know. I never really tried rod warranty with any other makers,despite having broken a few others.

BTW you jogged my memory.....it's post spawn and those females have pulled back suspended. They are fussy.

Time to try your technique

Have fun!!

A couple years back I took my wife's cousin's husband out fishing. Not sure exactly what happened but I think he high sticked the clarus and hit the cabin of the boat which turned my 2 pc clarus into a 4 pc. I took it to the shop where I bought it and they swapped it out but charged me $20 for shipping it back. Beats the heck out of $125 for a new one. The shop said they've outfitted many salmon guides with the clarus rods and my rod is the only one they've replaced.

I like the clarus rods and will probably be buying more in the future. Maybe not the best warranty out there, but a good rod for the money.

This is one of the reasons over the counter warranties are a thing of the past. The dealer replaced a rod under warranty that really shouldn't have been replaced. This was done so much that the companies finally did away with it.

If a blank is defective it will break the first time it's stressed, not after a couple years.

okuma has great customer as does st.croix

I had a 3 year old Cumara break into on a hook set last week. Sent it back to Shimano and got a call from them this evening. They no longer make the model I had but let me choose another and said they were shipping it in the morning. No cost for anything except shipping the broke rod to them. Seems like a good warranty to me.

G Loomis has replaced 3 IMX/GLX for me; cost me shipping one way

G Loomis and Shimano are handled by the same people at the same warranty center here in Canada so I am not convinced that the G Loomis experience would be any better. That concerns me as I have a few IMX/GLX/GL2 rods in my locker as well.

I asked for my old rod back when I originally talked to them last month. I still hadn't seen anything last week so I inquired. Found out that they tossed it instead of shipping it back to me. Maybe it's just the Canadian warranty center, but they sure aren't impressing.

SS