Van Staal service charge is still $36.95

[tattoobob]

Originally Posted by gadabout

What I don't get is that why does a reel that is supposedly waterproof need to have parts changed every year? My Penn 704 is over 35 years old. I do the maintenance on it myself and I've never needed to change a part.

They change the drag washers, all the seals, Gear oil/grease I think they change 14 things? I do all my penns and it takes time and I do replace parts as I see wear, not to mention the ugly rash the new ones get.

I send my VS reels in once a year if I think it is needed or not, I think the extra 14 dollars is a little steep and I am glad the changed it back, because 3 reels times 14 is 42 bucks

[gadabout]

Originally Posted by tattoobob

They change the drag washers, all the seals, Gear oil/grease I think they change 14 things? .....

The point I was trying to make is - why does a reel that is properly lubricated and supposedly made from quality materials need to have parts replaced annually?

[piemma]

because us nitwits that have Van Staals fish 100+ nights a year usually underwater...

[zimmy]

I don't own a VS, but I thought I'd give my insight anyway My first thought on this was that if you need to get a guitar or a computer worked on it is a minimum 1 hour bench fee of around $65. Difference may be that you don't have to do that every year. Nothing is cheap these days, especially if you want American hands doing the work. I imagine that the profit margin isn't incredible even at the price of those things.