Fishing Rods

First ....i would like to commend Trey for replying and for leaving the post up. Most forums don't do that and the ones that frequent forums know that. Good job Trey.
Second... i have dealt with Ryan probably more than he would like and i can say without a doubt that he does a great job. Sure it might take a while for him to get back to you but do you honestly think he was just sitting there waiting for you to call? I would bet my next tournament check that as soon as he hangs up with you someone else is calling him. The guy works hard and I don't think it's right to single him out. just consider how many people try to pull a fast one to get a new rod out of a warranty. How many excuses do you think Kistler hears for a broken rod when it comes to a warranty? Kistler is in business to do business not give it away. As for the quick turnaround on rod shipment for tournament anglers....well all i did was call Ryan and tell him when i needed them by...and i got them. pretty easy all it takes is them knowing and they will do everything possible to get you your rods when you need them.
Third.....I work in the quality field so let me give you some facts. There is no perfect company when it comes to quality. the closest to perfection is Toyota but they still have some issues that slip through. All companies have that problem. there will be bad batches and i'm sure they do the best they can but the law of averages says one slips through every now and then. Your right Kistler is not perfect...but niether is any other rod manufacturer. I'll take a kistler rod any day over the others for this simple fact:
you wrote in with a complaint..it was addressed by the OWNER. try that with one of the other rod manufacturers...and see who answers you. More than likely won't be the owner. Kistler gets my vote.
Jeremy Johnson

I'm going to try to clarify a couple of things here and then I'll be done. You can take this entire thread however you want.

jeremy2442
I did not write in with a complaint and have it addressed by the owner. I wrote in with the results of how my complaint was mishandled and the owner posted a reply. Simple as that. I have had no other contact with the man. My complaint, which I phoned and sent in, was two broken rods. They then sat at Kistler for 10 days not addressed by anyone. Already out of the guidelines of the very warranty they used to justify replacing only one rod.
I have no doubt that Ryan is a good guy and a hard worker but the truth of the matter is that, intentional or not, he lied to me. No, I do not think he was just sitting there waiting for me to call - he was supposed to call me. Is his time more valuable than mine or should I have just sat and waited for his call? No, on both counts. He could have said "I'll call you tomorrow" or "I'll have to get back with you" but he didn't. "I'll call you right back" does not mean six hours and still no call. Can you say, with any degree of honesty, that wouldn't upset you? I doubt it seriously.
I worked in the quality arena of a Fortune 500 company for many years. I know a little bit about loss functions, standard deviations, control limits, anomalies, etc. The law of averages you speak of also says that someone who breaks only one rod in the last fifteen years (me) will not break the tips off two identical rods (He66mhc) throwing the same bait (red eyed shad) in a matter of two hours unless there is something inherently wrong with the combination. I have thrown the same bait many times since on other brands of rods with no issues. So you can draw your own conclusions. My single experience with this company has been one miss after another. A single out of spec data point, I admit. But if you truly know anything about quality and statistics you know there are plenty of others out there.

Just a quick note to Shawn,
The "Take a Soldier Fishing" program is a great thing. Companies such as Kistler are always getting hounded for product and I'm glad to hear they chose this one to get behind. I don't want to down play their involvement in this, it's a great cause. But, rest assured, every dime of every dollar will be accounted for come tax time.

I'll just say that If you are currently a satisfied Kistler customer, GREAT! I hope it stays that way for you.
If you are just thinking about trying Kistler, better read the warranty real good and then look at your past history with broken rods. They may end up being more expensive than you planned.

I am a very happy Kistler customer, Trey did great by me and I will tell others, and I will purchase more Kistler rods this winter, I have no complaints.

Last fall I purchased my first Kistler. I'm not a rich man, so the rod I bought was used by a friend, and another friend before him. But from the first time I cast it I was in love with this rod. The feel, the ballance, and above all the sensitivity were the best I had ever felt. There is no doubt in my mind that I caught more fish this year because I could easily feel the subtle "pick-ups" I had been missing with other rods.

About a month ago I hooked up and the fish made a run for some ugly looking wood. I tried to haul her back away from it and "pow", my Kistler snaped in half while making the sound of a farily large caliber handgun next to my ear. Up until then I had hooked some very nice fish and tried my best to rip thier lips off, and never had a problem with the rod. I simply took it a little too far this time. Nobody's fault but mine.

I was so upset over breaking that rod that I pretty much gave up fishing the rest of that day. I tried, for awhile, using one of my older rods, but it just wasn't anywhere close to the same. I know about Kistler's warranty policy, but I never contacted them. After all, I didn't buy the rod new from them, and I would never expect even a discount on a new rod.

I've broken many brands of rods over the years. Fact is, under the right conditions, they'll all break. IMHO the fact that Kistler offers the warranty that they do is great. You can't expect someone to cover everything forever, just like you can' expect your rod to be "unbreakable". Any type of manufacturing can produce flaws, and Kistler promptly stands up and admits when a defect occurs, and makes the situation right. You can't ask a company for more than that. Then they modify and extend the offer to cover breakage that is probably not thier fault. To me, that's just great customer service and an added bonus.

As for me, I found myself another used Kistler I could afford. I'm definately sold on the product. Maybe a couple more tourney wins and I'll be able to afford a brand new one.....