Ok, been with the hobby a whole year.

In the past six months, I've started doing rod repair for beer and the price of hardware. Mostly, to get better at the hobby and something to do at night when my wife puts my son down (I'm not allowed around him at that time -riles him up to much ).

Anyone found out that they get a whole bunch of rods, fixes them, then the owners never show up???

I recon I have $2,000 worth of rods now sitting in the corner of my shop and the owners have no ambition to pick them up. Avids, Elites, Shikaris, Premiers, Loomis, Lamiglass - you name it, I probably got one.

Same w/ reel-repair. I offer to clean/lube/repair Shimano Spin reels (since I know them pretty well) and have enough reels laying around to equip the rods.

Maybe if I charged, the customer would pick up his stuff quicker.

I'd say if they leave beer and rods, and don't come back for either, you've got a good thing going and you shouldn't mess with it.

Hahaha my thoughts exactly Steve!!
Noel

The obvious answer is to tell the guys that you will sell their rods 30 days after notifying them that there rods are ready, and then actually follow through on it.

Or, you can tell them that you have to charge up front for the cost of the parts.

Either option may seem a bit harsh and could even ruin some friendships. Then again, good friends wouldn't take advantage of you by leaving rods in your care until they actually need them again. And you'd better believe that that's exactly many fishermen will do to you. Don't be surprised if some of them are left with you until next spring.

.............

Hey when I was in business I always wrote on their repair slip that they had 30 days to pick up their merchandize after being contacted or I sold it. Gues what when I retired 4yrs ago I found stuff in my back room that was at least 10 yrs. old. Gues what I sold it. After the word got out I closed my business here came some of those old guys wanting their stuff.
Good Wraps Bob

I think the worst ones are the guys that I try talking out of fixing an old inexpensive rod. They can't be talked out of it for any reason and there it sits, 3 years later.

Putter

Having just gone thru the same mess. I contacted the consumer protection agency here in Wisconsin, stated my problem. Their answer was clear and simple. "Try to give them one more call and tell them that this is the last chance to pick up the rod." Then sell it.
I have the same trouble with customers ordering new ones and taking forever to pick them up. I have talked to many business owners that I deal with, they suggest that I get front money.. but I still feel that this would insult the customer. I know that I would feel that I wasn't trusted if I was asked for money up front. But , I am starting to tell my customers that I expect them here after I call them and I "show and tell" them why, (all the rods I have here, most of which are repairs) The other thing I do now is keep a list of the "musky hunters", walleye fishermen, salmon fisherman, etc, and when I get a rod that I am going to sell,, I offer it to the person that could use that type of rod.

I wish there was a clear cut answer to the problem.

Art
mrparramoure@yahoo.com

I say Drink the BEER & TRASH the Rods!!!!!
Just Kidding

$50.00 up front or we're just talking about what could be!

Art and I are in the same boat; we're not good business men and probably look at the world through rose glasses. I love it; am seldom disappointed and wouldn't want it any other way. It's nice to be happy!!

Putter

Doug, you might want to approach this problem in a professional, business-like manner up-front, i.e., eliminate this sort of problem at the beginning:

A clear, written receipt of acceptance of the rod for "service", and an explaination of what will happen to the rod is not reclaimed after a certain date, signed by the customer and a file copy kept.

Stan

Drink the beer...have a 'lawn sale' about a month before fishing season...

George,
I feel differently than most of the above and basically agree with Randy. You started this as a hobby not a business and enjoyed it and presumably are still enjoying it. A little storage space is not costing you anything, you do not have any stock holders to answer to. Why @#$%& off a bunch of people and get hard nosed about it. You will just lose a bunch of friends or potential friends by selling their rods after 30 days and start something that you will enjoy a lot less. Give them some slack, what the heck do you really care if someone does not pick up a rod for six months or until the next fishing season.

They are not friends if they take advantage of you. Call them and let them know! Give them some time 1-2 weeks to get them. Then drink the beer and have that yard sale

Stan, I do. I have forms and reciepts that are filled out and copied for every customers rod I build. I even fill out a spec sheet on each one. It's just that I take a $50.00 deposit before I order even the first guide. No deposit. No orders.

I have two rods (that I now own) that were built for friends of friends, that I took on good faith, purchased the blank and components, built the rod, but for what ever the reason, I was never paid. I even offered to sell the rods if they just covered my cost.

That's my reason for taking something up front. I figure if they are serious about the rod, then $50.00 up front is no problem.

And yes, I too build for the enjoyment. If I were to never sell another rod, I would still continue building even if I had to give them away.

Regards

I also am no longer in the business but back when I was, I experieced the same kind of problems. As a solution I finally started charging the price of the blank and all components up front prior to building the rod. That worked pretty good, but even doing that I still had people who did not pick up their rods. But at least all I had involved was my labor and every body knows my labor is not worth much. LOL.

Later,
Gerald Mc

Art,

I always got paid in full, up front, on any custom rods I made. Any customer that is insulted or feels that you don't trust him due to such a policy, is usually a customer that had no intention of picking up his rod in a timely fashion to begin with.

Custom rod building is a little different animal than rod repair. With repair, you have the person's property with you and can sell it to recoup your investment. With a custom rod, all you have is 100% expense and nothing of the customer's on hand.

Because you're making a "build to order" product that is made for an individual, it can be viewed as something along the lines of a "commission" and there should be no problem in a customer paying up front for his rod. Of course on your end, delivery dates have to be firm and you cannot fail to make delivery by any promised date lest you begin to build a bad reputation for that sort of thing.

I always had enough customers that my policy of having them pay up front allowed me to weed out the serious customers from the guys who were just going to be a problem anyway. In 15 years of selling rods I did not get stuck a single time. My good friend Buddy Owens, a builder not far from me, has been stuck on rods about a dozen times or more in about the same time period. He gets nothing up front and thus some fishermen who find themselves with other financial obligations or just cool off on the idea of having a custom rod, feel almost no obligation to pick up the rod when it's ready.

At the minimum, I'd ask for 1/2 as a deposit. Tell them this covers you on the parts and that way you're both equally at risk, 50/50.

.............

Wow, good advice guys.

I would add: when I was in the business, I finally just told the guys with the cheap, crappy broken stuff, "I don't work on those." That was after getting stuck with a few who conveniently forgot to come back once they had bought another cheap, crappy rod at Walmart.

I guess if all I had invested was time, I could be inclined to forgive the "friends" who store their rods in my shop, but if I had to invest in parts, I am no longer just storing them. Warn them once, then sell. I only had to do this once, and believe me, word got around. The old boys all seemed to remember where their rods/reels were pretty quickly. Problem solved.

Now I just build for myself and a few select friends and relatives. I get the cost of the materials up front, so my time is the only investment. Much of the time it is like the commercial says: priceless (meaning I don't get paid for my time), but as I said, I am no longer in the business.

Russ

Put all the beer in a cooler, load up the rods and reels and go fishin'. If you meet a new friend while you're fishin' give them a free rod. Have fun at all costs!