# Sage Warranty Repairs



## ifsteve (Jul 1, 2010)

Not sure how long its been since Sage changed its repair approach but I just heard about this last night so thought some of you might be interested. 

Rather than the previous $75 repair fee they now have a three tiered approach.

1. For rods in current production the repair fee is $25.
2. For rods no longer in production but less than 10 years since they were last in production the repair fee is $75.
3. For older models the repair fee is $125.

This actually makes sense to me for both consumers and the company. Encourages guys to replace really old rods, still allows a reasonable fee to repair not to old rods, but a little security for those who want the latest and greatest but are worried about breaking it. After all somebody told me once that fly fishing was like skiing. In skiing if you aren't falling you aren't skiing hard enough. And if you never break a fly rod you aren't fishing enough.


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## sevenweight (Sep 3, 2015)

Sounds fine to me. I would assume length of turnaround would increase with the out-of-production models. What’s Sage’s turnaround with a currently-produced rod? I’ve had experience with TFO, Hardy and Scott. TFO and Hardy were outstandingly fast. Scott took two months to turn around a current, presumably popular model (Meridian 8-weight), then flipped my home address street number so it was left on someone else’s porch.


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## Plantation (Nov 24, 2015)

So will they upgrade an old broken rod to a new rod, or do they just charge more to repair an older rod?


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## TheAdamsProject (Oct 29, 2007)

sevenweight said:


> Sounds fine to me. I would assume length of turnaround would increase with the out-of-production models. What’s Sage’s turnaround with a currently-produced rod? I’ve had experience with TFO, Hardy and Scott. TFO and Hardy were outstandingly fast. Scott took two months to turn around a current, presumably popular model (Meridian 8-weight), then flipped my home address street number so it was left on someone else’s porch.


Havent sent one to Sage in a while but remember it was about 3 weeks. Considering TFO and Hardy are asian(China and Korea, I believe) made products they probably just grab another off the rack and send it to you. There is no "repair" as with Sage or Scott. They can actually build a new section from a past rod since they make the blank. Not saying that TFO or Hardy is bad because they are made overseas, both make excellent products, but the logistics are quite different.


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## Cliff (Oct 13, 2016)

I sent in a Sage One rod for repair in mid December and received the rod back one month later.


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## FlyBy (Jul 12, 2013)

Don't know about Sage but Loomis' warranty has changed. Used to be send $50 and they sent a new rod with pre-paid packaging for the old rod, regardless of the reason for failure. I returned an NRX Pro-1 on 2-12, UPS said it would arrive on 2-19. Shimano (Loomis) called on 2-23 and said the failure didn't meet warranty guidelines. I broke the tip by accident and checked "accident" on the warranty form. They are replacing the rod for $120 plus tax. Will be here 3-6.


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## Ruddy Duck LA (Jun 23, 2017)

I was looking at the Edge rods website and read their warranty statement:

"We will repair or replace, at no cost, any product damaged due to faulty workmanship or manufacturing defects. The Limited Lifetime Warranty does not cover normal wear and tear, theft, accidents, or abuse; however, for a fee we will swiftly provide product repairs.

You can purchase a no fault ONE time replacement extended warranty at the time of purchase for $125.

Tip section rebuilds (or mid/third sections if Fly Rods) are $75, Butt Section Rebuilds are $125, (including fly rods) One piece rod replacement if you did not purchase an extended warranty is $180 for Black Widow Models, and $150 for First Strike Models."

I guess some of the rod companies are getting a little fed up with the old warranty concepts.

The concept of buying a fly rod for $895 and then having to pay for a "ONE time replacement extended warranty" was a little too much for me. In fairness, the repair costs are not out of line, but reading the policy was enough to get me looking elsewhere. Determining fault can be a subjective exercise, depending on the circumstances.

Say what you will about the evil empire in the industry, but they have been nothing but a pleasure to deal with when I've had problems.


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## FlyBy (Jul 12, 2013)

Agree, most are easy to work with. While I broke the tip of the NRX Pro-1 by accident, it snapped pretty easily so it's possible it was defective where it broke.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2018)

ifsteve said:


> Not sure how long its been since Sage changed its repair approach but I just heard about this last night so thought some of you might be interested.
> 
> Rather than the previous $75 repair fee they now have a three tiered approach.
> 
> ...


It seems like a bit of a rip off when it comes to the older rods. Many of these rods were purchased when the repairs were free. I just paid for shipping and handling and sometimes "cleaning and inspecting", the total cost usually around $25. the manufacturers are going back on the original agreements by which these older rods were purchased. Just my 2 cents.


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## mcmsly2 (Apr 8, 2010)

Cliff said:


> I sent in a Sage One rod for repair in mid December and received the rod back one month later.


Hey cliff, did they offer you an ungrade? If so, how much and what rod? I just sent in my sage one. Snapped twice on a huge black drum. Pm me if you'd rather talk about it that way.


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## Cliff (Oct 13, 2016)

They did not offer an upgrade but they did send me an entire new rod and did not just replace the broken section. $70.00 including shipping.


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## mcmsly2 (Apr 8, 2010)

Ok cool. It took a whole month though huh?


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## sevenweight (Sep 3, 2015)

nativejax said:


> Havent sent one to Sage in a while but remember it was about 3 weeks. Considering TFO and Hardy are asian(China and Korea, I believe) made products they probably just grab another off the rack and send it to you. There is no "repair" as with Sage or Scott. They can actually build a new section from a past rod since they make the blank. Not saying that TFO or Hardy is bad because they are made overseas, both make excellent products, but the logistics are quite different.


I get that, however I would have assumed Scott had some tips lying around, or would have expected to be ready to replace some tips for what is likely one of their better-selling, current models. Aside from the other issues, there was no acknowledgement e-mail when they received the rod. It was a very different experience from the other manufacturers. I was not shocked; Scott’s CEO is on record as saying that the fly rod industry has gone too far in warranty coverage policies.


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## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

Orvis hasn't changed their no fault policy. I sent them a 15 year old silver label and they replaced it with a brand new rod in their current line up. $60 bucks no questions asked. Still took a month though.


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## 7WT (Feb 12, 2016)

I don't know. My older sage rods at the time were pretty expensive top industry prices. The stated warranty was repair or replace for shipping cost originally $25 then $50. I was ok paying top dollar with that warranty policy and repaired a number of rods with success. I would be alright with any warranty change as long as original agreements were grandfathered and honored. But this I do not feel is appropriate and frankly sours me on Sage.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

nativejax said:


> Considering TFO and Hardy are asian (China and Korea, I believe) made products they probably just grab another off the rack and send it to you.


Hardy (US owned company now) are made in England, not china.


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## TheAdamsProject (Oct 29, 2007)

Backwater said:


> Hardy (US owned company now) are made in England, not china.


US owed by Rubbermaid (pure fishing) yes but the Zephrus and Wraith are made in Korea as stated before, not china. “Designed in England” is very different than made in England. Some reels are made in England but unless you know a rod made in England, I havent seen it. Typically if made in england it is explicitly said so on the website as with some reels. If made in Korea, no mention of origin is stated... Again, they make a fine rod but facts are facts.


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## mcmsly2 (Apr 8, 2010)

I'll be honest about Hardy. I absolutely love my zenith, but the warranty department and customer service I dealt with was horrible. It took them forever, they never even called to let me know they received the rod. I called them after atleast a month with no word from them for them to finally tell me they were waiting on me to pay...... they never even called or emailed to say they were ready for payment. They did overnight my rod back to me though. 
True story, not trying to ruff any feathers.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

nativejax said:


> US owed by Rubbermaid (pure fishing) yes but the Zephrus and Wraith are made in Korea as stated before, not china. “Designed in England” is very different than made in England. Some reels are made in England but unless you know a rod made in England, I havent seen it. Typically if made in england it is explicitly said so on the website as with some reels. If made in Korea, no mention of origin is stated... Again, they make a fine rod but facts are facts.


I'll have to check that out because I've seen nothing that mentioned that.


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## LowHydrogen (Dec 31, 2015)

Too bad Simms doesn't make fly rods, their warranty and service is second to none, NONE. 

I think they understand even if you take a small loss here and there you gain lifetime devotees to your products. People that will then get on the internet (like me), and tell other people how awesome a company they are. It's like honoring your warranty and having a guerrilla marketing campaign at the same time.


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## TheAdamsProject (Oct 29, 2007)

LowHydrogen said:


> Too bad Simms doesn't make fly rods, their warranty and service is second to none, NONE.


+1 and I would add powerpole in that mix as well.


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## sevenweight (Sep 3, 2015)

nativejax said:


> US owed by Rubbermaid (pure fishing) yes but the Zephrus and Wraith are made in Korea as stated before, not china. “Designed in England” is very different than made in England. Some reels are made in England but unless you know a rod made in England, I havent seen it. Typically if made in england it is explicitly said so on the website as with some reels. If made in Korea, no mention of origin is stated... Again, they make a fine rod but facts are facts.


The rod I had repaired is a Zenith. Great rod. Regarding Scott’s US-based manufacturing, it was a point in their favor when I chose the rod. I would think that having US-based manufacturing, plus having rods sent to the same address as their manufacturing facility, would give them an advantage in prompt warranty service over a competitor like TFO, which has its rods produced over seas.


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## TheAdamsProject (Oct 29, 2007)

@sevenweight yes, that Zenith was the predecessor to the Zephrus, both very nice. I agree Scott gets a bonus for the US made and you would like being under one roof would speed up the return on the repair but I don't think other than Loomis' Xpeditor system, which you pay for, none other are as fast as TFO.


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## 7WT (Feb 12, 2016)

I just received a direct reply from Sage clarifying the warranty. Here is what Mark said:
Sorry to hear about your rod.
"Our warranty is unchanged since your Sage XP was made. If we find a defect in the rod, we will fix it for free. Period. We even pay for shipping in these instances.
Repair costs have gone up but that obviously is different from warranty work. We also would not charge that much for just replacing a guide, however we do tend to replace the entire section rather than just a guide if there appears to be any extra damage.
Our website does not charge at checkout. We do not charge until we have received a rod and inspected it to determine if we are working with a warranty claim or a repair, so you are fine to send the rod in using the provided pre-paid FedEx shipping label. If we find a defect, it will be fixed and the rod returned to you, all at no charge. If a guide needs to be replaced due to an accident, we'd charge a small repair fee. If an entire section needs to be replaced (or more, up to and including building a complete, brand new rod) due to accidental breakage, then the full repair fee of $125.00 would be charged. This figure includes shipping both from you to us and from us back to you.
We can't know what we're dealing with until we inspect the rod, of course. We have always done things this way, but the repair costs have indeed risen over the years, as has the price of just about everything I'm afraid. :-( Warranty is still no charge.
Please let us know if you have more questions. I hope this helps. Thanks!
Mark
Sage Fly Fishing"

Sounds like the "Old Sage" to me


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## CurtisWright (May 9, 2012)

I sure hope this isn't true.

I use to be a big Sage fan. All my rods are Sage. I bought them when warranty repair was $25/section for the life of the original owner. To me that is what the price tag was for. Its hard to believe their costs have gone up %500 in the past 10 years when the price of a premium rod has only gone up ~50% .

IMO they are killing the golden goose.

If this is true, I will be going to Temple Fork as I break rods. 25$, no questions asked, and super fast turnaround. Plus they are half the cost.


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## ifsteve (Jul 1, 2010)

CurtisWright said:


> I sure hope this isn't true.
> 
> I use to be a big Sage fan. All my rods are Sage. I bought them when warranty repair was $25/section for the life of the original owner. To me that is what the price tag was for. Its hard to believe their costs have gone up %500 in the past 10 years when the price of a premium rod has only gone up ~50% .
> 
> ...


Yeah and they are still TFO rods......


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## ol' superskiff (Oct 22, 2015)

sevenweight said:


> Sounds fine to me. I would assume length of turnaround would increase with the out-of-production models. What’s Sage’s turnaround with a currently-produced rod? I’ve had experience with TFO, Hardy and Scott. TFO and Hardy were outstandingly fast. Scott took two months to turn around a current, presumably popular model (Meridian 8-weight), then flipped my home address street number so it was left on someone else’s porch.


That's funny, I sent my Scott back some years ago through a local shop in Orlando and it took forever. After finally getting them on the phone to find out what the hold up was, turns out they sent it to wrong shop in Tampa.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Some of my Sage rods have been back to the factory more than once - in the same year.... A few years back I made a change to TFO while still keeping my old Sage rods in service as well as a few I built myself on Thomas and Thomas blanks. 

With this new change from Sage I'll be using someone else when it comes to rods with warranties.... That's even with the tremendous discount a guide gets... I can well understand why Sage has made these changes - bitten by their own success - they're liable for rods that are every bit of 30 years old, some of them. That doesn't change my decision, though...


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## ifsteve (Jul 1, 2010)

Here's a thought. I highly doubt there is a single rod of any brand that is more than 10 years old than when it breaks its due to a manufacturers defect. The real question comes down to how a manufacturer deals with a broken rod and what they consider a defect.

I have broken too many rods over the years to remember. Every one of them was repaired or replaced by the maker for a reasonable charge. Of all the rods I have broken three of them were what I believed were really defective rods (all from the same maker). All the rest were broken in use (mostly by ticking the blank with lead eyes). Yet they all got covered.

I actually think Sage's approach now is a good one. If I have a rod for over 10 years then I have more than gotten my money out of it and its hard to fault the maker for going a different direction with their warranty. I think when rods started getting really pricey the makers came up with these crazy warranty approaches to get buyers. 

Now should they have grandfathered older rods? Yeah probably(and frankly I don't know that they aren't since I haven't talked to anyone) but I think at the end of the day this approach is one that everybody could live with for a long time.


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## TheAdamsProject (Oct 29, 2007)

I dont see an issue with Sage or another other top tier rod companies warranty price or procedure. I think this is the typical Microskiff "the sky is falling". So, what some of you are saying is that you will pay $900 for a rod but not pay 1/7th of the price to have it fixed or get a new one? Keep in mind the costs of these warranty programs going up are OUR fault. If rods have a manufacture defect it will most likely fail on one of the first few days if fished, period. If not, its the anglers fault, like it is 99% of the time with breakages. So you break it, then complain they charge a reasonable fee to fix or replace it at no fault of their own?!? Must be 2018... So now you move to a rod made in china that costs that company less than $30 to have made and shipped to the US and a $25 replacement fee. Know why they can just grab another off the rack and send it to you? It is because that warranty fee is more than what they paid to have the rod made. As with everything, you get what you pay for.


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## 7WT (Feb 12, 2016)

I guess the question/concern I have is in understanding what the original Sage warranty policy was say 15 years ago. Was it similar to the Orvis warranty that warrantied anything (rod broken due to screen door run over with car or defect- did not matter for 25 yrs) or has it always been warranty only for defect. I certainly sent back rods that were broken probably due to a clouser hit or whatever and not a rod defect Sage repaired or replaced without question. I absolutely appreciate that policy misuse and expense requires just like LL Bean a change in policy. Again the importance is to grandfather and honor rods covered as warranty stated when bought. And I have a feeling based on what Mark from Sage wrote I quoted in my earlier post that they do. I am fine with that. It was understood that the high cost of rods was in part due to the warranty coverage (we assumed we were paying for two rods). The proof will be in the pudding- let's see what the response is- I am sending in 3 rods all different failures-


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## bananabob (Jun 3, 2015)

Go buy an automobile and have mfg. defects they fix it these days. Crash it do to your own fault...guess what? Your insurance pays for it but it now goes up to cover your lousy driving. Why should rod companies pay for our carelessness?
Yes, guides today are making their clients use cheaper Asian made rods for that very reason if they aren't bringing their own rods.
Seems to make sense to me.


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