The earlier questions about repairs and opinions expressed reminded me of a story I heard about 2 yrs ago.

My Dad accepted a repair job where the client asked for a few guides replaced. The rod was in well used condition to say the least. A price was agreed upon and the client left the rod and went on his way. Later, Dad decided that the other guides were in bad shape so he stripped them off too. After that he decided that since all the guides were off he would clean up & refinish the blank. Not paint or anything like that just a fresh varnish or poly coat. He even cleaned & polished up the grips & seat and as the rod didn't have the correct number of guides to begin with he add what was needed. Dad loves to do rebuilds/restorations and also this client was a local in the small town where Dad lives. He wanted to really do this guy good and hopefully he would talk all over town and bring more work in. All the extra work was grattus of course.

Well, the guy comes in to pick up his rod is @#$%& when he see's it! He accuses Dad of making a switch and where is HIS rod! That can't be my rod he says.
Dad finally is able to calm the guy down and prove to him that the rod in fact was his and all the extra work to bring it back to glory was a pleasure and no extra charge.The client leaves apparently happy but teases Dad every so often when they run into each other by saying he still thinks he got a different rod. At least Dad says it's teasing but I often wonder.

Do you see any lessons here? I did!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

No good deed goes unpunished?

Indeed Richard!!!!

Bill in WV

Slight communication breakdown??? Always good to have a happy customer in the end, and the gentle ribbing can be handled, but....... more than the work originally agreed on was done. Maybe should have let him know that a bit of extra restoration would do the rod some good, advise him of what's happening and what to expect.

Such is the business world. For many years I offered rod repair to my customers. Often I'd inspect the rod for additional repairs that might be needed at the time the customer brought it in. That way, we could decide then and there if that work would proceed as well. Once in a while, however, I'd miss something and only discover it later when I was performing the original repair. In every case I'd call the customer and inform him of the problem and get an okay before starting anything he didn't agree to at the outset.

It's also a good idea to keep the damaged parts - broken guide, cracked tiptop, etc., and twist tie it to the rod. This provides proof that anything you did replace actually needed replacing.

..........

Communication is indeed one of the lessons here. Customers HATE surprises of any type except maybe paying a lower price than originally quoted. In this case, price had a lot to do with why the customer was reluctant to beleive he was not getting his rod but a different one. He couldn't understand not being charged more for all the work that had been done and for what ever reason in his mind he thought some hokey pokey was going on at first. If my dad would have tried to get more than the quoted price, dude wouldn't have concidered any hokey pokey I'm sure of it.

Rods can be heirlooms and hold lots of memories too. Doing the wrong thing to one without consent even with good intentions can cause one to loose more than just a customer.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..