Online fishing

I have had a little trouble with online fishing or should I say ordering fishing rods online so I thought I would share the info. I ordered five abu rod and reel combos from amazon only to send all five back broken upon delivery. One thing I can say is amazon has great customer service. They can take a beating with a smile and refund or replace my products no questions asked. Make me wonder why they even sell fishing rods. Only problem was I still had to product. Then I got to thinking maybe I should order from some one that knows fishing rods and how to ship them. I promptly ordered two Berkley lightning rods from Berkley fishing and walaaa two new lightning rods showed up on the front porch in a long solid round cardboard container you could knock a Grizzly bear out with, rods wrapped in plastic and in perfect shape. The next time I order abu products I'm ordering straight from abu I bet they do the same thing with shipping. I would love to walk in a store and get to feel and touch it before I buy it but have found that to be an extreme challenge and quite expensive driving to four different stores just to drive back home empty handed. Thanks Berkley for a job well done and a happy angler.

the times i have ordered rods online i went through basspro. they ALWAYS sent the rods in a heavy duty tube. they were worthy enough that i kept them for when i moved or the truck was packed and worried about knocking eyes off.

I have the same problem when ordering rods on-line. USPS always breaks the rods when in cardboard. UPS is better. I sell a few rods on e-bay and always pack the rods in PVC pipe and have never had a -problem yet. Yes, shipping cost is expensive, supplies around $13. plus shipping cost but worthn it.

Amazon is TERRIBLE with rods. I've ordered numerous rods through them and only about half made it. I've even tried calling customer service prior to the rods being shipped and asking for extra packing material. Doesn't matter, still arrive broken and no extra packaging. I've had instances of it taking three times before I got the rod undamaged. And don't even think about buying rods off of the Amazon Warehouse Deals! They are practically always broken or not even the rod you ordered! I've ordered a few that were sent to me already broken from the warehouse. People returned them broken and no one checked them before posting and reselling through the warehouse deals. Two of them still had the return packing slip inside from the last person! Most recently I ordered an Abu Revo Rocket as a Warehouse deal and what I received was a Shakespeare Alpha one!! The sad part is this was far from being the first time it's happened to me. What's really annoying is that Amazon won't do anything about it since Amazon Warehouse Deals are "Third-party sellers." Such a joke!

What also worries me is that the rod may arrive still in one piece, but you don't know the hell it went through getting to your door, especially when the boxes are bent or creased. It may have not been stressed badly enough to break it, but will the stress it did receive shorten the lifespan of the rod?

Let's just say that Amazon SUCKS when it comes to fishing gear and I'm over buying stuff from them. There are plenty of other retailers out there offering as good or better deals.
/rant

I've ordered from Tacklewarehouse.com without an issue in the past, I believe I've gotten two or three rods from them. Same with basspro shops.

Started building my own this year using parts from Mudhole.com & the orders I've placed for blanks were all very securely packaged.

I have an amazon story for y'all.

I was replacing the tires on my trailer (2 of them), so I ordered the new ones from Amazon. First shipment arrives, one tire. Called Amazon and they told me the two tires shipped loose, but only one had any delivery info on it (duh). Said they'd send a new shipment right away, and it would be two tires. I told them I had one, only needed one more. Nope, they can't partially replace an order, must resend the whole amount and include a return shipping label for me to send the other back. OK. Couple days later another tire shows up, just one. I call them back and inform them I'm good to go, and will return either of the other tires if they arrived. Never saw them. I'm prime with Amazon, love them, and they aren't greedy.

I've been lucky with rods, blanks actually. Mudhole, a rod building supplier, will ship them in cheap triangular boxes, it is simply amazing that they make it in tact, but they do. If I only order blanks they ship them in PVC pipe.

lovedr79 said:

the times i have ordered rods online i went through basspro. they ALWAYS sent the rods in a heavy duty tube. they were worthy enough that i kept them for when i moved or the truck was packed and worried about knocking eyes off.

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Same here, haven't received a broken rod from them yet.