TFO Review
By Rod Petersen II
I am fortunate to live on a pond. I am able to walk out my back door and get in a little fishing in the evenings, if it is not sweltering hot, raining, or the mosquitos are not biblical plague level here in Southern Alabama. So, the other evening I was fishing just before sunset and tragedy struck. Mid cast I heard a loud crack and the top half of my rod flew out into the pond. Fortunately, I was able to retrieve it!
The rod is an 8’ 6” 4 piece 3wt Temple Fork Outfitters Lefty Professional Series 2 that I have had for over 10 years, and this is the rod that I use most of the time. As I looked at the rod it had shattered at the ferrules between the 3rd and 4 th sections. I have no idea why. I rarely take the rod apart. When it is not used it sits in a rod rack in the garage. So I collected up my broken toy and went home. When I got home I pulled up TFO’s website and called the customer service number. I explained what had happened. The customer service rep said that I could buy replacement sections, which surprisingly were not expensive, or I could mail them in. As we talked about what had happened he suggested that I mail it in and let them look at it and make sure that nothing else as wrong. The representative did say that if I mailed it in I needed to include a sixty-dollar check for them to mail it back. He said that the cost had gone up, as everything has, and apologized. I mailed it in and it was repaired and mailed back in a little over a week. That was a very pleasant surprise.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have had to reach out to TFO’s customer service. A few years back I had been out fishing on the pond and was walking up the steps on my back porch. My youngest son was yelling “DAD!” I thought it was because the ceiling fans on the porch were on. We all know that ceiling fans and fishing rods do not mix. I was wrong! Apparently, there was a red wasp nest under the steps and the wasps were very unhappy with me walking up the steps. It was an epic battle. I was swinging my fly rod like a medieval knight fighting a dragon. The wasp did not have any of it. Well, long story short, between the ceiling fans and the wasp my rod was lost. A ceiling fan took off about 5 inches of the tip of the rod.
When I called customer support that time the lady on the other end of the phone was rolling laughing. I got the same level of customer support that time as I did this time. I confess that it is really refreshing to find a company that has that level of customer support. I know that there are some who are not fans of TFO rods. That is why there are so many different rod manufactures. I will tell you that I am really pleased with the rod and with the customer support I have received with this rod, especially for the price point.
So if you are looking for a fly rod take a good look at the customer service that the manufacturer provides. It just might be worth spending a few extra dollars to get quality customer support. You never know when you are going to need it.
