LOL Blaque... I look at it this way. "I" broke it... it's my problem. Rod will be just fine a tad shorter with a new tip... why go without it and why spend the money to send it in. (wait 'till you break it in the middle! LOL)
I did the "Bill Dance" with a car door to my 6'6" Berkley lightning rod in 1983... and I still fish with it 26 years later @ 3" shorter.
Then there's the Spiel special Musky rod....that thanks to a low steel bridge, or a high boat, is 1.5" shorter.
Neither anybodies fault but my own...even though I could have returned one to LeBarons in '83 and received a new Lightning Rod and last year Spiel could have got me a new Loomis blank.