Orvis Lifetime Warranty

larkmark

larkmark

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Jun 11, 2019
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Been using Orvis stuff since the 1970s. For the most part have had good results. Returned my broken 7 wt today. They charge $60.00 for shipping and handling. Not much of a warranty. So basically you are buying a new rod at their cost. I can't imagine they are paying more than that (likely much less) to manufacture that tip section.
Rod and wader warranties are a thing of the past.
 
I would imagine that consumers are as much to blame for that as anybody, due to blatant abuse.

When Cabela's had their "lifetime warranty", you'd see guys that would wear a pair of boots for ten years, then bring them back and exchange them for free.

Yes, that is what the warranty offered at the time, and is also a good bit of the reason that those warranties no longer exist.
 
I've been saying it for years but a lifetime warranty on something you really like and want replaced with the SAME thing is worthless unless you are one of the a-holes that abuses warranties to get something new every few years.

First off, with rods or reels, LIFETIME means a manufacturer needs to keep inventory on all parts forever, which in the case of a REAL manufacturer means they would have to roll NEW blank sections or machine new parts if they ran out of stuff for an old rod or reel…

…not likely!!

So what you end up with a replacement rod or reel that comes closest to what you had which means you may like the replacement…or not. I can tell you flat out that I don’t expect that any of my graphite & glass rods, which ALL have lifetime warrantees will be replaced with the same thing or even something I’d like.

If I was offered a chance of paying less and having NO warranty when I bought them, I would have jumped at NO WARRANTY because the one time I needed an out of warranty repair, it wasn’t that much $$$.

In regards to Orvis, if you have even a slight interest in a bamboo rod, the best thing you can buy is a used Orvis bamboo rod.

They can be purchased for less than the cost of their new top end graphite rods, the bamboo shop can repair or restore anything at an incredibly reasonable cost, they give you discount on return shipping which in my experience has always been WAY less than $70 and used rods appreciate in value if repaired or restored by the factory.
 
I just went through a bad experience with Orvis warranty on a pair of waders. I bought a pair of ultralight waders directly from Orvis online. You get a 60 day money back guarantee with no questions asked, which, in my opinion is a bit lacking for a pair of waders.

The waders failed in 67 days and Orvis initially didn't want to honor the 60 day guarantee. I get that 60 days is 60 days, but to me, a sign of good customer service is bending the rules a little bit. Especially with it being so close to the expiration. I left a bad review on their website and they contacted me and sent me a replacement pair, but made it clear that if they failed at all I had to pay to have them repaired! As in, even if they were defective upon arrival, I would have to pay to have them fixed. That's unacceptable to me.

Those replacement waders failed in another 90 days (they were brand new) and I just repaired them myself.

Granted, not a rod, but Orvis CS anyway.

Alternatively, I bought a new pair of Dryft waders and the first day out the gravel guard loop failed. They priority mailed me a new pair that day while I returned the original ones.

That $60 handling fee is stupid for the rod repair. Just call it rod repair and don't lie about the lifetime warranty. It's not.
 
larkmark wrote:
They charge $60.00 for shipping and handling. Not much of a warranty. So basically you are buying a new rod at their cost.

Which $60 rod is as good as any of Orvis's rods? The only thing that should really matter is the cost to you, the consumer. You can potentially have a $800+ rod repaired/replaced to like new condition for $60 via their warranty program.

I can't imagine they are paying more than that (likely much less) to manufacture that tip section.
Rod and wader warranties are a thing of the past.

No, but what if fall on the grip section and destroy the cork and break the blank? Way more than $60 and labor go into such a repair/replacement on Orvis's end of the deal.

Coincidentally, I know for a fact that certain manufacturers got fed up with people destroying rods in their entirety in order to get a completely new rod. Too many rods were coming back with every section broken.

 
Yeah...I don't blame companies like Orvis, Bean, Cabelas, etc at all for where we've ended up. If you've ever abused a warranty, look in the mirror.

Warranties are there for legitimate failures under normal, regular, reasonable use that lead to dissatisfied customers. Essentially to ensure the customer feels they got their money's worth.

Fly rods are a little different, in that for all practical purposes, they don't really wear out. But wearing out a pair of waders, boots, whatever, and getting the full reasonable life out of the product and likely enjoying it all the while, should lead a consumer to be satisfied with their purchase, and be willing to purchase that product again. Not turn it in for a brand new one under a "satisfaction guarantee." This is like eating 7/8 of a steak and then complaining for a refund because it wasn't cooked to your liking.

The downside to warranty abuse is a situation like silverfox had. 67 days of use from a pair of waders is not reasonable, and a company should warranty a free replacement under those circumstances, without much fuss. But a 60 day warranty has been instituted to protect against all the yahoos.



 
Well fellows. I didn't abuse the warranty but just wanted what I thought I paid for when I bought the rod a few years back because it came with a warranty which did not mention a $60.00 charge. Sorry I brought it up.

 
Am surprised to read about the trouble with the Orvis warranty. When I bought an Orvis rod way back when with a 25-year guarantee, I had its tip section replaced twice --both times due to my bad handling. It's out of warranty now.

Cabela's always was honest with my waders, but I did not abuse the system when leaks were my fault.

The only real trouble I had was with Simms. I sent back a pair of leaking Simms waders with the impression that Simms would replace or repair them. No such luck. I was offered a Simms hat or a Simms T-shirt as compensation for the waders. No more Simms products for me.

I do believe that abuse of the warranties offered by various manufacturers is a major reason that companies do not offer such warranties today. Just my opinion.

(The 60-dollar shipping and handling fee, however, is ridiculous and would have upset me, too. That was a rip-off.)
 
rrt wrote:
(The 60-dollar shipping and handling fee, however, is ridiculous and would have upset me, too. That was a rip-off.)

Orvis, and other companies with similar programs are essentially treating that as a deductible.

It's really not a bad thing, especially if the break is the result of the owner's own negligence - Which I would suspect most rod breaks are, at least in part. Covers their cost to where they're not losing money on replacing it, and allows the owner to get a replacement at far less than the full cost of replacing the rod. Win for everyone.

The bummer is in the event of the failure being caused by a legitimate flaw with the product, and not the fault of the rod owner. Then yeah, the $60 sucks.
 
larkmark wrote:
it came with a warranty which did not mention a $60.00 charge.

^This is likely inaccurate. Check the full warranty paperwork, including the fine-print. It likely outlines the handling fee. If it does, lesson learned, and factor that potential cost in next time when deciding on a rod purchase...$60 fee on a $1000 rod is a better deal than a $60 fee on a $100 rod, etc.

If the warranty paperwork truly didn't mention a $60 fee (again, unlikely I think), then it's time to go up the customer service complaint chain at Orvis.

If the rod broke, there's nothing wrong with replacing in under the warranty. Just understand why the $60 fee exists - Because people often break rods due to their own fault, often not even fishing related, and ask for a replacement under the warranty.

Again, the fee really isn't a horrible thing most of the time. Think of any other major warranties you have, a car for instance. There's a gray area of owner negligence at a certain point where the warranty stops applying. (You put gas fuel in a diesel car for instance.) Fly rod warranties don't take owner negligence into account, they just honor the warranty, regardless of cause of the break - Likely at least in part because it would be nearly impossible and not cost effective to confirm what caused the break most of the time...Why they honor all reasons, but have instituted a charge.
 
I have broken the Orvis Rod tip on a couple of my flyrods....One of which was a 2 piece which they replaced with a 4 piece. Another one they replaced with the upgrade. If I went and bought either rod today, it would cost me $198.00 to $249.00. So I would say - $60.00 is a good deal.
 
$60 not too bad I shipped one back and it cost me upwards of $30 10 years ago with shipping and insurance.
 
silverfox wrote:
I just went through a bad experience with Orvis warranty on a pair of waders. I bought a pair of ultralight waders directly from Orvis online. You get a 60 day money back guarantee with no questions asked, which, in my opinion is a bit lacking for a pair of waders.

If you can't tear up a pair of waders in 60 days, either you don't fish often enough or you don't fish where there's a lot of multi-flora rose.
 
I've had to send both my Far & Fines back to Manchester for new tip sections twice each.

The older one was purchased quite a while before they started their 25 Year Guarantee and the newer one was purchased a couple years after the 25 Year program began.

I've never paid a dime in actual rod repair costs and (while I am not certain..) I don't think I ever paid anything for S/H either.

What I normally did was write them a nice letter telling how much I like my Far & Fines (all of which was true..) and adding a few humorous self-deprecating lines as to how I was clumsy enough to break the rod and thanking them for their indulgence and understanding.

3 out of the 4 times I've done this, there was no current warranty in place on the rod being returned.

All 4 times, I've got the rod back with a brand new tip and no invoice. Now, the last time I sent a rod back was probably 2005 or before and things may have changed since then. But they've always been pretty good to me.
 
Not sure 60 bucks is orvis' cost. There is some labor involved in the us. 60 bucks in labor doesnt go very far.
 
If you read the warranty info for most of the companies, they offer warranty against product defect or bad workmanship. In addition, most understand that accidents do happen and will repair/replace the damaged rod for a reduced fee.

With TFO or Echo, you might pay the cost of shipping and a $35 fee. They typically return a new rod to you. So...fall on the $245 rod and break it....you put $55 out of pocket and end up with a new rod in 2-4 days. Seems pretty fair.

Sage, Scott and others charge a much steeper fee. I've spent a ton to ship 2 pc rods to Bainbridge island and it took months to get them back.

I know a buddy that had 2 Orvis T3 rods break through operator error. Sent one in for repairs and received a hydros replacement. The second one was replaced by a Helios 2. Even if he paid $40-$60 per "repair", seems fair and he loves the new rods.
 
My Orvis Warranty Experience
I broke the tip on my 5 weight Silver Label rod. The. Tip broke when I sharply tugged the line after releasing a fish. The strike putty was lodged in the guide which caused the tip to snap. Lesson learned. The rod was purchased when the lifetime warranties were the norm. I sent the rod back for repair. I received an email from Orvis stating the package arrived, but the rod was missing. Thankfully, I had insured the rod for more than it’s value. It was late in the season, so I decided to wait for the new models to select a replacement. About a month later, I received a message stating my shipment from Orvis would arrive soon. They decided to replace the missing rod with a Trident model at no charge. Silver label rods were no longer manufactured. In the end, I had $300.00 in cash and a brand new rod.
 
JMP wrote:

Thankfully, I had insured the rod for more than it’s value.

They decided to replace the missing rod with a Trident model at no charge.

In the end, I had $300.00 in cash and a brand new rod.

You do know that's insurance fraud, likely on a couple different levels, along with warranty fraud as well, right?
 
When guys complain about warranty service and insurance costs, look at guys like the above, and you have your answers.
 
Could be someone is trolling us!
 
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