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The demise of Van Staal

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bassman

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I just got off the phone with Paul of Isolation Tech. Inc. that is Van Staal's name. I strongly suggest if you have a reel with them now, get it back quick & do not send them a reel if you were thinking of doing so.

 

I will explain my tale, my 300 seized up so I called VS and talked to Craig. He said to send it up to them and they will fix it. I didn't hear from them for 6 weeks, so I called again. I was informed that Craig was no longer with the company. I was transferred to Paul (the head of the service dept.)and I explained my situation. I need this reel for August in Montauk.

 

After repeated calls back & forth between us this is what I was told: "We can't fix your reel for less than a new one would cost." "We can't cut you a deal on a new one" "We don't have any 300's in stock and we won't be making anymore" "Probably all the reels I have here now for repair will be sent back untouched" "We are trying to sell the company" "There have been a few groups in here to look it over but no takers" "I won't have a job here in a few weeks because the company probably will be liquidated" "You can call and talk to the owner, Mike"

 

I am done with Van Staal, the company has been in serious trouble for a while with different people owning or running it. I was also told that they didn't have to honor any guarantees or warranties from the previous owners.

 

It looks like we will all become VS repairmen. Does anyone have any VS 300 parts they want to part with?

 

Please don't turn this thread into a Van Staal vs your favorite reel. It was posted as a warning to other owners.

 

If you would like the phone number and extension of Paul email me and use Van Staal in the subject line.

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Is this true. I have an old Van staal. I've had very few problems except for the drag. This past winter I had problems getting it serviced. They did'nt want to honor the warranty because they said they had no records of returns which was bull. I talked to Craig and after many calls I finally got through to Bill Gregorry. They serviced it and I received it in mid-May. Two weeks ago I noticed a yellow oil leeking from the inside of the spool. I took the spool off, cleaned it off and I have'nt seen it since. Either it stopped leaking because of excess lube or all the lube is gone. The Reel still turns but I was wondering if anyone else had this problem. I thought I read before that some guys had oil leeking from their Van Staal. A shop in Newport also said that Van Staal was shutting down for a month which at the time meant July, so don't send anything back they said. Is Van Staal done or what.

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Bassman, thanks for the first hand info...it's so much more refreshing than "I heard from so and so, blah, blah, blah". I'm sorry to hear that VS is likely to be liquidated...there's a lotta guys with a lotta $$ tied up in VS reels that aren't going to be happy frown.gif Hopefully someone will purchase the company and it won't be liquidated...but the person you spoke to certainly didn't sound that optimistic.

 

It breaks my heart after seeing how much effort both Rick and Craig put into re-establishing contact with their customers - they pulled off a miracle by turning around the customer confidence nightmare they were left with. It's a shame something somewhere along the line didn't work out frown.gif

 

TimS

Show someone how to catch striped bass and they'll be ready to fish anywhere.
Show someone where to go striped bass fishing and you'll have a desperate report chaser with loose lips.

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It breaks my heart after seeing how much effort both Rick and Craig put into re-establishing contact with their customers - they pulled off a miracle by turning around the customer confidence nightmare they were left with. It's a shame something somewhere along the line didn't work out frown.gif

 

TimS

 

Tim, it's becoming more obvious with each passing day that one or the other, or maybe both, of those guys have been dealing from the bottom of the deck for two months now, ever since the rumors that VS was in trouble surfaced here.

 

Rick used the webmaster of another site to post what can only, in retrospect, be categorized as mis-information, if not an outright lie. According to what he told that webmaster, VS was in no difficulty at all, in fact it was a "booming" company, which he "documented" by reading off profit margains, pending orders, future projections and all sorts of other rosy news. According to the company line then, it was only a brief interruprtion of production due to a service backlog. I had it on good authority then, from multiple sources whom I don't care to name here, that all of that was pure BS. But I didn't say much to anyone. Within a week, another e-mail indicated that they were in the process of being "acquired". Then, week after week, people who called were fed the same BS about "4-6 weeks and everything will be fine". I knew Craig was out back in May. But I figured that anything negative could affect the negotiations. It's apparent that there were never any acquisition negotiations, it looks like they hung out a "for sale" sign and held an open house, and all they attracted were lookers.

 

I'm pissed. I feel bad for even responding to some people's PM and taking an optimistic look at things mad.gifmad.gifmad.gifupck.gif

"…if catching fish is your only objective, you are either new to the game or too narrowly focused on measurable results.” - D. Stuver

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Maybe next winter, we could have the first annual "Van Staal Service Fling". Have a bunch of owners get together and walk each other thru the job.

 

Who's bringing the seals and O-rings? I know what I'll use for lube wink.gif

"…if catching fish is your only objective, you are either new to the game or too narrowly focused on measurable results.” - D. Stuver

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I just received a PM from RickH that states, among other things, the following:

Reel Ventures LLC is NOT in the process of being liquidated. We are well into the process of "selling' the VS brand and the product lines associated with our company--VS Series, C-Vex and titanium pliers. During this process we are taking every possible effort to honor all warranty claims and continue to service reels.Spare parts inventory for some of the earlier iterations of the VS Series have been depleted making it extremely difficult to repair some of the older style reels.

 

Thank you Rick for kicking in some "official" comments - that's how rumors are quelled smile.gif

 

I'd comment on Ditch's post...and probably will tomorrow...but I'm late for a tide wink.gif

 

TimS

Show someone how to catch striped bass and they'll be ready to fish anywhere.
Show someone where to go striped bass fishing and you'll have a desperate report chaser with loose lips.

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Copied and pasted at 10:08 PM.

 

Rick, why can't you dispel all these rumors yourself?

"…if catching fish is your only objective, you are either new to the game or too narrowly focused on measurable results.” - D. Stuver

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Umm..hello? redface.gif I just posted a quote from a PM Rick just sent me in which he dispells the rumor that Reel Ventures is being liquidated - that is, according to Rick, entirely untrue.

 

Rich opened his message to me stating he has numerous non-disclosure agreements to honor and is not at liberty to discuss many things - which is why, I imagine, he's not presently posting. I thanked him for clearing up what he could.

 

TimS

Show someone how to catch striped bass and they'll be ready to fish anywhere.
Show someone where to go striped bass fishing and you'll have a desperate report chaser with loose lips.

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