Issue with Darkmatter rod and J&H

[shark lobster]

Obviously there were issues with this rod thats why they discontinued it all the more reason to honor the warrenty ! 
but im done discussing it . Like i said it was a cheap rod but 3 outings on a rod is BS ! But i will eat it as i dont like whats being offered as replacement !

[DerrickT]

On 5/23/2023 at 4:15 PM, EricL said:

Yup.

 

I'm part of the team that doesn't take advantages of warranty.  If I know it's user error and I break it.  I don't mind paying for a replacement or service.

 

If I know for sure it's a defect and it's an extremely visible defect, happens first trip out. A guide eye pops out, a whipping cracks and the guide falls off, a reel seat cracks in half. A ferrule or spigot splits down the middle. the blank starts to delaminate in layers. Then I'll ask for the warranty.

 

Most rods don't break all the sudden.

Nope and I'm not saying this happened or that happened or saying it didn't break on hook set.

 

I've seen alot of rods snap in 2, including ugly stiks for various reasons.

 

Problem is so much goes into proving why exactly it broke.

 

And again I'm not saying this is what happened or what caused it in his case but we keep loading rods with braid that is way over the ratings thus maxing the rod out as soon as you catch something or get snagged.

 

[shark lobster]

On 5/23/2023 at 4:29 PM, DerrickT said:

Nope and I'm not saying this happened or that happened or saying it didn't break on hook set.

 

I've seen alot of rods snap in 2, including ugly stiks for various reasons.

 

Problem is so much goes into proving why exactly it broke.

 

And again I'm not saying this is what happened or what caused it in his case but we keep loading rods with braid that is way over the ratings thus maxing the rod out as soon as you catch something or get snagged.

 

Agreed 

[Fergal]

I'm not sure I would expect a warranty on a discontinued item to be all that great. The rod is discontinued, if it's a warranty issue you're not likely to get the same rod that you purchased as a replacement. At best you're going to get a credit towards another item.

[Tman1]

You should have gotten a lami I made a two piece surf king into a 5 piece rod on a cast lol.   

[FallenKell]

On 5/22/2023 at 3:37 PM, FallenKell said:

Its hard to say in this situation. Looking at the warranty, replacements still cost you $100 (and the replacement rod has no warranty). I agree that possibly some changes can be made in this situation like allowing you to have some credit towards a different other than the Skinner that you are not interested in. Other than that, I don't know much else that will help. If you are really pissed about it, you can always contact the Consumer Affairs division of either your AG, or New York State where J&H is located, or check with your credit card company as in many cases they also provide some warranty coverage protection.

And this is why I phrased the above like I did. The $100 is the replacement cost (as listed in the warranty, it is $100 replacement fee, not because when you bought the rod it was on sale at $99.99), the $50 is the difference between the original rod and the one being offered.

[z-man]

On 5/23/2023 at 6:27 AM, shark lobster said:

Im not downing Josh or his shop just sucks to buy a rod use it 3 times have it break then there is no direct replacement for it ! I dont want the skinner rod it does not have the rating i want and its 150$ more . 

That’s pretty terrible customer service. If it’s a house brand product they should at minimum give you store credit for the original price of the rod. You can’t have a warranty and then not honor it. 

Edited May 23 by z-man

[z-man]

On 5/23/2023 at 4:07 PM, DerrickT said:

So he's just suppose to eat $150 because a customer comes in and says my rod broke?

If you offer a warranty then yes. That’s the entire point of a warranty. If you don’t want to replace a product then don’t put a warranty on it. 

[squidder 329]

On 5/23/2023 at 6:39 PM, z-man said:

That’s pretty terrible customer service. If it’s a house brand product they should at minimum give you store credit for the original price of the rod. You can’t have a warranty and then not honor it. 

Store credit for $100 I think would be fair to both parties.

[Rhett]

@2:44 in this video Josh talks about the reels coming from J&H will have the smaller foot so people can use them on small seats. Well I bought this reel from J&H and the foot that came on it didn’t fit my reel seat (the foot was too small). So I called to ask about the regular foot that was supposed to come on it from Accurate and all I got was the run around. I even called Accurate and didn’t get any answers from them either other than I could buy a different foot they made for the Valliant reels that might be larger (nobody knows any measurements of their parts). Needless to say I can’t use the reel on that rod and I ended up buying a different brand reel for it. That was my last purchase from J&H. Not a rod story but I am seeing a trend.

[shark lobster]

On 5/23/2023 at 7:16 PM, squidder 329 said:

Store credit for $100 I think would be fair to both parties.

Agreed

[z-man]

On 5/23/2023 at 8:14 PM, shark lobster said:

Agreed

Giving you back $100 would have been a smart move as they have now lost much more than that from those of us in this thread that won’t do business with them after reading these stories. 

[squidder 329]

Agree, between shark and others who have had a negative experience it's become a very expensive rod for J&H. The internet certainly cuts both ways and has a long life.

[slim_velvet]

Yeah, I totally avoid J&H these days for similar reasons as mentioned here.  The last straw for me was ordering a rod and reel on their website for a 1-week fishing trip 1 month in advance.  Both items were marked in-stock, they took my payment and marked the order as shipped, and 3 weeks later when I emailed them, they told me they were "still waiting on one of the items to come in."  

 

The dark matter line is junk too--the dude who runs that place doesn't even fish and you can really tell.  All of there marketing is just him saying "wow, this green psychedelic rod pairs perfectly with this green conventional reel, it's the perfect setup for anything because of how cool it looks!"  

[RWP]

I don't purchase from J&H. Never have, never will, because when you call and ask if they have something in stock to ship that day, you can never get a straight answer. Might take extra processing time if it comes from a vendor. Blah blah blah.

 

Outside of that.... Just reading dark matters warranty. They only cover manufacturing defects. Hate to be the one to say it. A blank snapping in the middle is almost never a manufacturing defect.

 

I'm not saying it's always user error, but it's usually minor damage from handling, shipping, storage etc. That invisible damage goes kaboom when the rod is loaded up.

 

First thing you should do when you open up a rod is put on your safety glasses and load it up.

 

Next is the clearance price/discontinued rod. Most companies don't offer any warranty on clearance rods.

 

J&H offered you a warranty despite both of these points. $100 is the standard warranty charge and they wanted you to pay the difference for the rod they they had. You agreed to the $100 fee when you bought the rod and the $50 upgrade fee is pretty fair.

 

If you don't want the replacement rod for $150, you can probably sell it for $200 considering it's a $300 rod.

 

Personally, I would have said no warranties on clearance rods if it were my store, but if it got to this point, I'd probably just offer $100 off any rod that you wanted just so you'd go away.

 

Just my 2 cents.