Abu Garcia

Scrappy · Post by **Scrappy** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:55 am

Well, my long standing loyalty with Abu/Berkley is now over. Even though Ambassadors can not hold up to the riggors of musky fishing, even the Morrums, what was great is you sent them in for repair and they came back 3 days later fixed or replaced at no charge. I have been sending all of mine back, and I have a lot of em, at least once a year if not twice for the last 5 to 6 years running. I have NEVER been chargedn a penny, even for repairing reels that are 10 years old. I just sent my 5600C3 and Morrum 6600CL back for repairs. After a month at the shop in Spirit Lake I got a letter saying I owed then $60+ for the repairs before they would send them back. When I questioned why I was getting charged when I never had before they claimed that both reels were out of their one year warranty period. I said that's funny so are the other 10 reels I've been sending back on a yearly or bi-yearly basis for the last 5 or 6 years and I've never been charged. I also told them the only reason I keep buying Abu reels, considering they do not hold up for s%$& to musky fishing is because their repair service has been so outstanding. Her response to me, and I quote, "well times change I guess." Well I guess she's right, times do change...time for me to stop buying Abu Garcia products. It's a shame Berkley has killed what used to be such a great product.

John E. Sox · Post by **John E. Sox** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:45 am

I hear ya... I just got a $70+ bill myself for a couple parts and repair on two reels. The price of parts is going through the roof for Abu's. I think the reel companys are catching on to us musky fisherman that have reel breakdowns every year. It's seems they are expecting us to replace all of our old reels every year.

Slimeball · Post by **Slimeball** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:24 pm

Thats not good news for sure, I still use ABU's for the most part. On a good note I had a Plueger Trion 66 go bad on me two days into a trip on the French a couple years ago and just let it sit around at home till' a month ago I sent it to Pflueger service in South Carolina with $13 return shipping and recieved a brand new reel in two weeks.

Post by **Will Schultz** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:37 pm

Slimeball wrote:Thats not good news for sure, I still use ABU's for the most part. On a good note I had a Plueger Trion 66 go bad on me two days into a trip on the French a couple years ago and just let it sit around at home till' a month ago I sent it to Pflueger service in South Carolina with $13 return shipping and recieved a brand new reel in two weeks.

You should have been able to get that exchanged over the counter at any Pflueger dealer.

Slimeball · Post by **Slimeball** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:07 pm

Will Schultz wrote:
Slimeball wrote:Thats not good news for sure, I still use ABU's for the most part. On a good note I had a Plueger Trion 66 go bad on me two days into a trip on the French a couple years ago and just let it sit around at home till' a month ago I sent it to Pflueger service in South Carolina with $13 return shipping and recieved a brand new reel in two weeks.
You should have been able to get that exchanged over the counter at any Pflueger dealer.

That I did not know. Even though the 1 year warranty time had passed and having no proof of purchase?

Post by **Will Schultz** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:19 pm

Slimeball wrote:
Will Schultz wrote:
Slimeball wrote:Thats not good news for sure, I still use ABU's for the most part. On a good note I had a Plueger Trion 66 go bad on me two days into a trip on the French a couple years ago and just let it sit around at home till' a month ago I sent it to Pflueger service in South Carolina with $13 return shipping and recieved a brand new reel in two weeks.
You should have been able to get that exchanged over the counter at any Pflueger dealer.
That I did not know. Even though the 1 year warranty time had passed and having no proof of purchase?

That's what I heard from their rep., the retailer will get credit (new reel) from Pflueger.

Post by **Cyberlunge** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 5:42 pm

Scrappy-

Im not sure that what they are saying is really that un-reasonable based on what you said. How long should they fix stuff for free? I have a fleet of Morrums and have never broken one yet. They do need new wear parts from time to time but that is the nature of the beast with all hard use items. That said of you are looking to get rid of any Morrums I am interested, they have been by far the best reel for me.
Kevin

Chasin50 · Post by **Chasin50** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 6:09 pm

I got a steep bill from Abu last year after having had several free repairs in previous years. I was surprised, called and got some story that they never repair rells for fre??? I like the Abus, and I will probably continue to use some of their stuff for pike fishing, but I have done away wiht most of my Abu reels for Muskie fishing...

I don't think they should repair for free necessarily, but an average of 40-45 bucks to repair a reel that is a season old??? You can get them on sale for 70-80 bucks new...

I have sent back a couple reels to them this winter that they fixed last season, and complained that their fix didn't last. They did sent me a new C5 and a 7001.

Another MMA member just last week got a bill for $165 from them. I think he is done too...

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:31 am

Well, right now I'm involved in an a semi-heated exchange with some customer service and manager-type folks at Abu. They are saying the same thing - "...we've never fixed any reel for free that we know of..." I mentioned that their reel repair skills must be beyond phenomenal to have fixed about 30 of my reels alone without ever even realizing that they were doing it.

Anyway, if you are disgruntled with Abu's change in policy could you shoot me an email describing why you feel that way? Need more ammo...

finlander · Post by **finlander** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:34 am

Abu is all i have, 65's and a 55 on my bass rod. I dont fish that much and have yet to have a problem with them. Sounds like the new ownership is playing dumb to past repairs or they have replaced employees.

Kingfisher · Post by **Kingfisher** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:05 pm

Well I got two free Records in January after sending in two with blown antireverse. They were still under warranty. I guess we need to blow them in 11 months every year. This way they will fix the friggin problems. Kingfisher