Hey all,
Sort of an interesting situation here but I sold a new unused fishing rod/reel combo yesterday on Facebook marketplace. The buyer messaged me today saying his wife caught a fish on it and the rod tip snapped. He doesn't appear to be demanding money back or anything at least outright - it is a "just to let you know" kind of thing and he's saying it's either defective or damaged goods. He didn't give any further context about what he/she was doing when it broke but there are circumstances and situations where the rod will break if you don't handle it correctly - one is if you "high stick" and put way to much pressure on by lifting the stick high on a bigger fishing (also caused by bouncing/lifting the fish out the water when you shouldn't - particularly if it's a heavy fish).... another is if you attempt to grab the end of the rod near the tip and hold the rod at that point (whether handling a fish on the line or not) - the rod will be very prone to snapping at that point. He said the fish she caught was a 3lb bass, which is a pretty good sized bass around here... I definitely wouldn't want to try bouncing something like that and I'm wondering if that's what happened here.
I checked the condition of the rod beforehand and it was fine, although I didn't stress test it. It's possible that there could have been micro-fractures but these rods typically can take a beating (it's not a super expensive setup though) but the micro-fractures could have also come from someone stepping on or mishandling the rod. There are a lot of variables that go into it beyond the rod just being "defective" or "damaged"
That said, I'm not quite sure how, if at all, I should respond to this guy. There is a warranty on the rod of 1 year and I got it back in January so in theory, I could get warranty on it. But that's extra effort and time that I now have to put into this, and at no guarantee that the company will actually come to the conclusion that this was a defect in the rod (they very likely may say that it was damaged by the user).
On one hand, I see FB marketplace as a place to buy stuff "at your own risk" but at the same time I do feel bad in this situation and am wondering if I should try to "make it right".
Any suggestions?
Sort of an interesting situation here but I sold a new unused fishing rod/reel combo yesterday on Facebook marketplace. The buyer messaged me today saying his wife caught a fish on it and the rod tip snapped. He doesn't appear to be demanding money back or anything at least outright - it is a "just to let you know" kind of thing and he's saying it's either defective or damaged goods. He didn't give any further context about what he/she was doing when it broke but there are circumstances and situations where the rod will break if you don't handle it correctly - one is if you "high stick" and put way to much pressure on by lifting the stick high on a bigger fishing (also caused by bouncing/lifting the fish out the water when you shouldn't - particularly if it's a heavy fish).... another is if you attempt to grab the end of the rod near the tip and hold the rod at that point (whether handling a fish on the line or not) - the rod will be very prone to snapping at that point. He said the fish she caught was a 3lb bass, which is a pretty good sized bass around here... I definitely wouldn't want to try bouncing something like that and I'm wondering if that's what happened here.
I checked the condition of the rod beforehand and it was fine, although I didn't stress test it. It's possible that there could have been micro-fractures but these rods typically can take a beating (it's not a super expensive setup though) but the micro-fractures could have also come from someone stepping on or mishandling the rod. There are a lot of variables that go into it beyond the rod just being "defective" or "damaged"
That said, I'm not quite sure how, if at all, I should respond to this guy. There is a warranty on the rod of 1 year and I got it back in January so in theory, I could get warranty on it. But that's extra effort and time that I now have to put into this, and at no guarantee that the company will actually come to the conclusion that this was a defect in the rod (they very likely may say that it was damaged by the user).
On one hand, I see FB marketplace as a place to buy stuff "at your own risk" but at the same time I do feel bad in this situation and am wondering if I should try to "make it right".
Any suggestions?
Statistics: Posted by jplee3 — Tue Aug 13, 2024 8:24 pm — Replies 9 — Views 459