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Rapala


lhousesoccer

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lures break when you bounce them off rocks and other hard stuff, i have broken raps, storm,heddon matzuo and other lures banging off rocks docks ect, i just buy new ones.

As for being blown off rapala isn't under any obligation to replace a lure that you broke, and as for customer care, ifr rapala gave lures away to everyone who broke it and complained that just opens the door to rusty hooks snags lost lures ect how long would they be in business?

Suck it up and buy a new lure

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You get upset easier than I do :D

 

Its your lure, why should they keep it.

At least they paid the postage instead of making you pay the return shipping

 

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

They deemed it neglect...and rightfully so...and refused to pay for it and returned your lure. I don't see that Rapala has done anything wrong here. Just my 2 cents.

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I think Rapala lures are very high quality lures!

 

As far as them sending the lure back to you, they did good!... you probably didn't state in your note to them to dispose of it if it couldn't be replaced... and they saved you from contacting them if you did want it back, you can reuse the hooks and split rings on that lure... or try gluing it back together yourself!

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If the package did not say "Rock crashing Rapala" or "able to withstand any kind of abuse" then you really have no case. My guess is they test it to make sure it will last long when being dragged through water, and as long as that criteria is met, they are good to go.

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They spent $3.00 to send this broken lure back to me. Why not just mail a letter for a few cents? The broken Rapala is no good to me. So, if they're going to spend the coin to mail a lure, why not send a new one, that probably costs them less to manufacture than the postage they spent to mail me back the broken one. To me, this would prove they value their customers.

 

To me, that was a slap in the face. Time to look for a new favorite crankbait company .....

 

They sent it back because it is your property.........you paid for it and they arent just going to chuck it in the garbage can.... for fear of some sort of trivial lawsuit. They have to send it back to you. Iff they dont send back broken merchandise to the owner, im sure there would be a fuss along the lines of......"HEY , wheres my lure then that i sent you if you arent going to give me a new one. I could have at least glued the one i broke."

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How did they "blow you off"? Getting a letter from them explaining the same thing wouldn't have been any different, except that you'd be short one lure you can potentially repair yourself. Sure, if they were going to send a lure, why not a new one...but I doubt that the place you sent your lure to even has new ones lying around. Easier for them to give you your lure back....besides...damaged lures like that that get fixed up with your own creativity and ingenuity (ie. crazy glue) often make amazing comebacks with big fish.

But, your story illustrates how we are all different. I would've sent an email asking them if it'd be worth sending in for a replacement..got my answer, and busted out the crazy glue. You sent the whole lure in...and now you're bustin' out the crazy :lol: Just kidding...sorry for your loss.

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IMO you have a right to be bitter....lures are not meant to last forever....but it should take that type of abuse for more than a few hours....it is a little ridiculous how they treated you, sending it back, $5 to keep a customer happy and they chose not to....

 

I know that other companies have sent out freebies, packages of lures with more than just what the guy complained about....so yes, you received some crappy service

 

but when it comes down to it, is customer service worth that much to you? or is having a lure that's proven to catch fish worth sucking it up?

 

keep the broken lure...if you break more complain again....might get luckier second time around...

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keep the broken lure...if you break more complain again....might get luckier second time around...

 

I think this is a good way to look at it, one broken rapala shouldnt get this much attention. If it happens twiice, then i think you go back with an e-mail...........sayin what gives.

 

I also agree that these things should be able to take some abuse aside from just swimming them suspended through the water column.

 

Im on the fence with this one i guess.......i think rapala handled it as i would expect. If it happened again and they werent willing to listen and compromise a bit.......then id be a little disappointed. , but i can almost gaurantee you cant go the rest of your days without picking up another rapala LOL :D

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Rapala makes a fine product and they have been in business for over 70 years. I think they can tell when a lure has been "damaged in use" and "not defective".

 

I see guys on the water smack their lures against the water surface when they have weeds on them. Doing stuff like that may weaken a lure. I'm not saying you did that, but lures do get weakened from hitting rocks, etc. Stuff happens so quickly on the water, you may have done something to it and not realised it.

 

They are expensive but mailing them a lure back doesn't entitle you to a new one. If everyone sent them back lures that broke during use, they might be bankrupt.

 

Dirk

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I had a similar dissatisfied experience with their Blue Fox division.

 

I had been pissed off that I was continually bending the lure wire on their Blue Fox Vibrax spinners (#'s 4-6), often after only one fish or even from just casting.

 

So after a few years of this I finally decided to send them one back with a detailed letter explaining what was happening and requesting an informed response from them. It cost me around $7 to send it to them. I explained that it was my goto spinner for Pike and Bass and that I had probably bent around ten over the last few years or so and that this seemed to be a new experience that I don't remember happening a few years ago.

 

My response from them was a replacement spinner with an in-house shippers receipt detailing the one lure exchanged. No written acknowledgement, no explanation, not even a form letter.

 

I could have bought close to two of them for what it cost me to ship it to them.

 

That is going to be the last Blue Fox Vibrax spinner I own until they upgrade their lure wire.

 

Silver Lining: I rediscovered my other Goto Pike/Bass spinner, Mepps Black Fury. Over 20 fish on one lure and still straight.

 

Cheers,

Mark

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I think Rapala lures are very high quality lures!

 

No, they USED to make high quality mass produced lures. Now they just produce the same Chinese injected plastic crap as everybody else. Actually the longevity on new Rapala's I've used has been worse than almost every other lure I have. Find an old Rapala box, if they're MADE in Finland or Ireland they're the good, hand assembled tank test lures that Rapala built their reputation on. Find a new plastic Rapala, they're ASSEMBLED in Estonia.....but built by the boxcar somewhere in SE Asia. That little bit of semantics is the differance between garbage & gold.

 

I've got half a dozen XRaps that have holes in them and are junk. No bouncing off rocks, pike have just punched holes in the soft crappy plastic they use, with one it only took ONE 25" pike to ruin a lure. I got the same letter saying "damaged in use". They're junk that is selling for a premium price on their reputation alone. I'm more impressed with Bass Pro's XPS minnows, which have pretty much supplanted Rapala's as my everyday crank baits, hell even the hooks are half decent and don't need to be replaced. Unlike Rapala's.

 

 

For bouncing off rocks try to find an old Storm metal lipped Hot'N'Tot, great little lure. That is until Normark bought them, replaced the metal lip with plastic and turned it into junk that separates the same way as the OP's DT. Storm received so many irate letters and broken lures they went back to the old moulds & metal lips. So writing in may get Rapala to improve their crap in a few years.

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What did you expect if your bashing the lure of a rock? My wally divers get scuffed up from hitting sand bottoms or branches, not to mention rocks. Sounds like you wont be fishing at all with any crankbaits, if this frustrates you that much. All the other companies would do the same thing, its not their fault at all.

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From a business point of view they have to be careful about returning the defective item. If they kept it you would have been within your rights to complain that they had taken away your evidence of a problem.

 

They could have sent you a new replacement for about the same cost to them as returning yours but then they'd be setting a precedent for every return they ever get. You'd have been on here telling everyone what a great company they are and everyone who reads it would be packing up all their old scratched raps to send in for shiny new replacements.

 

JF

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