It's a long shot, but it just might work...

[Angly]

Well, rod troubles seem to be popular just now on the forum, so not wanting to be left out I trod on my float rod and smashed the middle section on saturday. Shimano have informed me that no spare sections will be in the EU (let alone the UK) until July end at the earliest! So, before I shell out on a new rod, does anyone have a 13' Shimano Catana BX lying around (perhaps with a broken butt or tip section) that they'd like to part with for sensible money?

[Angly]

Well, rod troubles seem to be popular just now on the forum, so not wanting to be left out I trod on my float rod and smashed the middle section on saturday. Shimano have informed me that no spare sections will be in the EU (let alone the UK) until July end at the earliest! So, before I shell out on a new rod, does anyone have a 13' Shimano Catana BX lying around (perhaps with a broken butt or tip section) that they'd like to part with for sensible money?

 

Are Shimano always this bad?

 

Firstly I couldn't buy any spare spools for any of my brand new Shimano reels earlier this year as there was no stock in the UK apparently, and now I'm being told late October for the new rod section! 4 months wait to get a rod section?

 

Surely if Shimano really cared about customer relations they'd break a rod package down and supply the sections individually?

 

Grrrr.

 

If I could afford to, I'd ditch all my Shimano gear and take my business elsewhere to be honest.

 

Rant over, how is everyone anyway? Not been here for a while, and sadly not been fishing since I broke my float rod!

Edited September 30, 2008 by Angly

[Andy Macfarlane]

Hmmm....that's quite ridiculous. I was reading the new Shimano catalogue the other day and I couldn't believe the prices of some of their seemingly bizarre range of equipment. As an example, they have ringless telescopic whip things for trout fishing, the point of which I failed to grasp. Anyway, you'd think with a range as vast as theirs and with a following as huge as theirs, they'd have more time devoted to their after-sales dept.

Anyway, the forum is as always. Quite informative, sometimes argumentative but mostly humorous and last of all friendly. Welcome back to the fold.

Edited September 30, 2008 by Andy Macfarlane

[Anderoo]

That is very frustrating. My new top section arrived yesterday, so I can say thank you to Fox. It's one of the last ones in existance though, so I'd better not break that one...

[Angly]

Thank you Andy.

 

Yes I certainly don't intend to tread on any more rods Anderoo. In fact, I'm no longer going to lend my rods to people who can't put them somewhere obvious out of harms way when they ask for help netting! Grrrrrrr.

 

Anyway, a happy ending! (tissues ready, cue violins)

 

I happened to notice the Catana BX rod has now been replaced by Shimano with a new CX model, which got me thinking, what are the chances that when I ring Shimano October end, they’ll tell me my rod has been discontinued and they can’t get spares anymore? Right then, new plan of action!

 

A quick check on eBay and I found some 13’ Catana BX rods for sale, both new and used, but I didn’t know how much to bid. So, I searched the web for shops showing the BX in stock and rang around for prices including delivery. It would seem that the majority of angling shops in the UK with a web outlet don’t seem to care about their image. Most of the shops I spoke do didn’t even have the rod in stock, indeed they hadn’t for some while, yet they continued to show stock on their web presence. They don’t seem to grasp how annoying that is to a potential customer, and how unlikely they’ll then get any more business as a result!

 

MadAboutFishing (www.madaboutfishing.co.uk) came to the rescue with a pleasant, chatty, and helpful chap answering the phone who managed to wangle out of me the fact that I was just after one rod section as a replacement. The shop had a brand new bottom and middle section in stock (the tip was sold as a replacement to another customer) they’d part with for £20 inc. shipping. Compared to £16 plus shipping for one section only, not in stock (and possibly might never be) for Shimano UK, I thought that was an opportunity too good to miss, and the deal was sealed.

 

Rod sections arrived this morning!

 

Moral of the story for others searching for rod sections: Ring around the shops, you never know!