I don't want to demean the well-run businesses that support this site (a distinct minority) but I can't believe how many rodbuilding suppliers don't adhere to normal business practices and how poor the service is. Things like order confirmations, replying to email inqueries, up-to-date catalogs, inventory control, shipping orders on a timely basis, functional websites with current contact info, etc. seem foreign to these amateurs that want to be professionals but don't act like it.

I could single out at least 8 different suppliers that simply don't have a clue. I understand that they are small businesses but that is no excuse for a lack of communication, spotty hours, and attention to detail. These things don't cost anything and are the price of entry for all businesses that expect us to send them our hard-earned money.

Service is the most important consideration in selling to the public. With out it there is never a chance of building a loyal following.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

Hi Jeff,

I think the secret is not to order via the internet. I have a policy, if I can't talk to someone to place an order I go elsewhere. I havn't done business with all the sponsers listed but what I've have I've had very little problems. About the only complaint I have is out of stock items but if you talk to them you can avoid this problem as a suprise anyway.

You have to also remember that a lot of these companies are mom and pop type stores. They are not Bass Pro, Cabells or Sears and can not afford internet delivery confirmation and such.

Like I said before call your orders in don't use the internet to place orders and that will save you a lot of aggravation.

Hank
On The Rocks Fishing
Wells, ME.

Hank,
I agree with your policy as a mitigating measure for attaining good service but if vendors advertise internet sales they should be prepared to handle them with good communication. Most folks trading their dollars for your goods could care less about your personal situation. They are seeking service.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

I won't shop on-line either, I call. I have found a good close distributor who has worked out well, I've placed special orders and recieved them in a timely matter considering the extra trouble involved. So I stick with them. To my way of thinking it just takes good sound planning, being in a hurry is not what you want to be. I always call 1st to check inventories and where practical I have an alternative item ready, I also try to buy only items I have held in my hand before, so I know what it is, entails, and is correct size I like, well in advance, Most of the troubles incountered are from being impaticient or not doing your home work..You can't gripe about finding a cherry pit in a cherry pie, its indigenious and going to happen, I've ran a fishing dept before, this department has more items to order, unpackage, straighten, and stay on top of, than any other dept, it is not wholey unreasonable to think that there will be times when your going to be out of something, and most times it a supplier side problem, regarding meeting a restocking due date. Then factor inthe seasonality of fishing and fishing products. I had G-loomis tell me once that the BOAT SANK that my dual rod/reel fly tube was on after 3rd attempt, enquiring every 10 days after the due date lapsed. Most all places I have delt with phoned or emailed me back in a reasonable amount of time and this may be key, it all hinges on what I think is reasonable and in my instance takes into consideration knowing the trades shortcomings. Business do chage over time , but slowly, what can change very fast is on your end, and a thickening skin goes a long way towards adapting to that end.

Chris,
Jeff singled out poor communication as his main concern by my interpetation and there is no excuse for that if you wish to be a successful vendor. You have listed sound ways for you as a buyer to avoid that problem but it still does not relieve the vendors reponsibility to provide the advertised service.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

I get 99.9% of all parts via online ordering. I have not had any problems.

Do not do business with those companies that perform poorly. Give them some feedback before you stop using them. They need to get the message. Poor customer service is unforgiveable.

I don't mind if I do not get tracking info, confirmations, etc., as long as I am receiving a shipment within the week from date of ordering.

Two companies that are very responsive are Merrick Tackle and Mudhole. I always fax my orders in to Merrick, rarely speak to anyone there in person, and I always get my orders in a matter of 2-3 days. Yes, that quick. Yet I never get a confirmation, tracking, etc. from them. Mudhole has been really good too, with online email responses and confirmations. I cannot remember the last time I ordered something from Mudhole that they did not have in stock - they seem to have everything all of the time!

Lou

For the most part I try to stick to internet orders. Most of the messed up orders I get are when I actually talk to a human on the phone. I also stick to companies that I have confidence in and/or those that give good confirmation and correspondence.

I give only the highest praise to Mudhole and Andy Dear. Both fast, effective, and there if you have a question.

Jay

Lou and Jay illustrate well what service will do regardless of contact method. They both have positive things to say about vendors that supply good service without requiring a special relationship or method of communication. Many of the vendors that support this site provide that service and they are the ones I return to fill my needs.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

Personally I haven't had much trouble myself. I use the internet to place many of my orders these days. Mostly I'm dealing with outfits that I've dealt with for a decade or two before the internet. With all the choices that are out there, I would drop anyone that didn't give me good service.

Here are few specific things that have happened to me over the last year:

- Orders placed via website, items not in stock, no call or notification of such
- Email inquiries never returned
- Email link obsolete or non-functional
- Catalog 2 years obsolete
- Partial order shipped, no estimate available for rest of order arrival
- Order placed, told it was "special order", could not estimate time of arrival
- Business moving, no emails or phone calls returned for 2 weeks
- Owner out of office fishing, not available for orders for 10 days
- Popular blank lines discontinued suddenly
- Websites with out of focus product photos
- Websites with no online ordering capabiltiy
- Poor or imcomplete product descriptions in catalogs and websites
- Answering services picking up phone during weekday business hours
- Bankruptcy
- Vendor loses my contact info- twice

I could go on and on but my point is that if you are going into business you can't treat it as a hobby, even though many of us are hobbyists. I'm at the point that I may stick with the company with the best customer service that I have ever experienced- Cabela's- despite their higher prices.

Jeff,
I have ordered from Mudhole, Hook & Hackle, Neal's Fishing Supply, Custom Tackle, Inserts by Les, Jann's Netcraft, and Andy Dear by e-mail, online ordering, telephone and fax. I have received prompt, polite, and quick responses for my orders and for questions. I have also contacted Pac Bay, Batson Enterprises, American tackle, Angler's Resource, Angler's Workshop, Merrick Tackle, Dan Craft, Black Dog Tackle, Classic Custom Wood, and Trondak for information and have received my information promptly and helpfully. Several of these firms went out of their way to help me far above what anyone has a right to expect. In one case I was put in contact with a custom rod builder who invited me to his shop to show me how to apply epoxy.

I agree that bad service should not be tolerated, but the sponsors I've done business with have far exceeded my expectations. However, sometimes these small businesses have the same problems we have. I know that I contacted one of our sponsors and they did not get back to me for a while, but later I found that they were having some serious problems and it took some time to get it settled. Overall, I am quite pleased with our sponsors.

Mike Blomme

Jeff,
I have ordered from Mudhole, Hook & Hackle, Neal's Fishing Supply, Custom Tackle, Inserts by Les, Jann's Netcraft, and Andy Dear by e-mail, online ordering, telephone and fax. I have received prompt, polite, and quick responses for my orders and for questions. I have also contacted Pac Bay, Batson Enterprises, American tackle, Angler's Resource, Angler's Workshop, Merrick Tackle, Dan Craft, Black Dog Tackle, Classic Custom Wood, and Trondak for information and have received my information promptly and helpfully. Several of these firms went out of their way to help me far above what anyone has a right to expect. In one case I was put in contact with a custom rod builder who invited me to his shop to show me how to apply epoxy.

I agree that bad service should not be tolerated, but the sponsors I've done business with have far exceeded my expectations. However, sometimes these small businesses have the same problems we have. I know that I contacted one of our sponsors and they did not get back to me for a while, but later I found that they were having some serious problems and it took some time to get it settled. Overall, I am quite pleased with our sponsors.

Mike Blomme

Sorry about the double posting. I received an error message after the first posting, so I sent a second post.

Mike Blomme

I've had good luck with about 50% of the sponsors I've contacted from this board. For what that's worth. Best in my mind have been Andy Dear and Decal Connection. Dan Craft's pretty good too.

There are a few that are no longer sponsors that I wouldn't recommend even to an arch enemy. But that's probably why they aren't sponsors anymore.

Scott Kinney
The Longest Cast Fly Rods
[www.thelongestcast.com]

Scott got an important one that I left out!!!!!! DECAL CONNECTION........some of the best service around!

Jay

Maybe I've just been lucky. The sponsors that I've dealt with have been top notch. I've even had a vendor call me on the phone after an Internet order, because I ordered several spinning guides in the midst of a bunch of casting guides. He just wanted to check (ever so politely) if I really did want those guides, or if I had gotten some letters mixed up when typing in my request. He knew that I generally ordered one rod and it's components at a time, and I wouldn't likely be able to complete my rod with the guides I asked for. Turns out he was right; I typed in the wrong letter. The spining guides cost about the same as the casting guides, and my overall order total was rather paltry, so he had to be calling me out of the goodness of his heart (or pity). Probably spent a fair bit of money making the long-distance call, too. Regardless though, I've used him ever since, and the great service has continued.

I agree--poor service deserves a loss in sales. But, if anything, I think those folks to the left (on the sponsor board) do a better than average job at customer service.

Angler's Workshop has been super with me. I always get an email confirmation when it leaves. I receive phone calls or messages whenever something is amiss or if something new , or special is available. Just the other day $ 30 SHX Shikari blanks. There was also a batch of SH III blanks.

This is the internet age, and, properly used, this can help all of us. A company that does a good job with their e-commerce business can lower their costs, and that benefits them and us, as competiton will force ultimate prices down.
But, many rod component suppliers, and many other type companies, really don't have a clue. It takes a certain level of investment to set up proper e-commerce. You can't do it on a shoestring, although it has gotten much less expensive.
It appears to me that many have the web storefronts up just so they can say they have it - it really is not a strategic part of their business. They would be better off just having a general info site (brochure ware) and solicit all orders by phone or fax.
I have has some bad experiences with a couple of companies, and I am trying to get away from doing business with them. I have also had some excellent results using the Internet. Two suppliers that do offer excellent web service are Mudhole and Jann's.
Steve Broadwell

You know, I've refrained form posting my experiences but I'll have to agree. It's been most frustrating.

From one vendor, I ordered some blanks and grips. I think it took over 4 months to arrive. Should have learned but I ended up reordering a large order of primarily blanks and a few guides totalling over $1K. Called 1 month into it and was told that the parts had just all arrived and will ship very soon. Another month passed and nothing. Called again on a Monday and was told that it was being shipped that very Monday. A week later, no products and recalled. Claimed to have shipped Tuesday, but to the wrong address.

At that point, over 2 months later, I just cancelled the order. I was polite through the entire process but during the cancellation, mentioned that "I hope you understand that I don't want my credit card funds tied up with no products to show...' The owner had some choice words to say to me that was completely unwarranted.

Anyways, haven't ordered anything from anyone since then since my 'free time' for building was eaten up waiting and I'm in my busy seasion. The kicker is that I'm still owned some credit by that company but I don't have the 'guts' to call back and ask for the credit to be put towards some blanks that I'd like.

Anyways, thanks for reading. I won't repost on this issue again but am sorry to see that my experience is not unusual.

Mo