Servicing VS - thoughts?

[Goose]

I feel,,no, I know I'm getting ripped off. why does it have ta be so much money?49.95 + 12.50 + my shipping + insurance...W T F

You buy the reel because you'll be dunking it, then they bump up the price because your dunking it.
I guess they figure you don't have boat to fuel..so you got plenty of money to fuel theirs....BULL

[Sea Dangles]

It is my understanding they( VS) have been losing money for years on service. Hard to believe, but it comes from a reliable source. I sent in 0 reels for service this off season only because the reels performed as expected without any signifigant loss of fluids.

[1dozenraw]

Originally Posted by Goose

I feel,,no, I know I'm getting ripped off. why does it have ta be so much money?49.95 + 12.50 + my shipping + insurance...W T F

You buy the reel because you'll be dunking it, then they bump up the price because your dunking it.
I guess they figure you don't have boat to fuel..so you got plenty of money to fuel theirs....BULL

I guess I'm curious, but what does it cost to have other reels, say Shimano or Penn serviced at a shop like Bucko's or any other? Have not done it for a few years, but wonder if $49.95 is all that far out of line. It's my understanding that the VS charge includes most parts at no charge as needed.

Anyway, I look forward to that video and it will be good to have a local New England VS service location.

[big jay]

Originally Posted by 1dozenraw

I guess I'm curious, but what does it cost to have other reels, say Shimano or Penn serviced at a shop like Bucko's or any other? Have not done it for a few years, but wonder if $49.95 is all that far out of line. It's my understanding that the VS charge includes most parts at no charge as needed.

Anyway, I look forward to that video and it will be good to have a local New England VS service location.

Last season I dropped off 12 penn 113hsp's at Bucko's and they charged between $24 - $30 per reel depending on what parts they needed. Considering those are only $100 reels - that's pretty expensive. Normally we just do the work ourselves, but last year we were behind schedule and just payed up.

We send our lever drag reels down to J&B in Ct - they charge $30 per reel for service + whatever parts they have to replace -- that's pretty standard for Lever Drags.

The Lever Drags cost about the same as the big VS - so while their service is expensive, it doesn't seem unreasonable to me. If you look at upkeep cost compared to % of purchase price, it's alot better than the penns.

[Pete_G]

Originally Posted by Goose

I feel,,no, I know I'm getting ripped off. why does it have ta be so much money?49.95 + 12.50 + my shipping + insurance...W T F

You buy the reel because you'll be dunking it, then they bump up the price because your dunking it.
I guess they figure you don't have boat to fuel..so you got plenty of money to fuel theirs....BULL

They don't want your reel in for service in any shape or form. All it does is result in upset owners in online forums talking about how much it costs, how long it took, etc. Needless to say, not good. They aren't taking the time to set up service centers or develop a self-service kit because they want to keep that lucrative service market for themselves.

One of the issues is WC Bradley is a union company so it's not inexpensive hour or so of service. Plus parts if necessary. And then shipping costs sky rocketed which obviously isn't their fault. The problem is sending a reel back for yearly service was a flawed idea 15 years ago never mind now.

Dunking and constant submersion are very different. Most surfcasters wouldn't fall under the constant submersion category, even those who spend a lot of time deep wading. There's no bump in price, yearly service if not more often has always been in the manual and suggested if your reel spends more time below then above the water's surface. Not surprisingly guys who skish or otherwise use the reel underwater regularly are the most likely to know how to crack the reel open for service or at least to throw some more oil in. I think VS finally wants to change that and have more people know how to service the reels, severe service conditons or not.

[Mike P]

I bought my first VS 250 in 1998. It has never been back to any of the 3 factories VS has had since then. Anything that had to be done, I did. I figure if I sent it in every year, I would have spent between $250 and $350 on srvice alone (even without parts), just to keep a lifetime warranty in effect. Which is useless to me now because they probably don't have many of the parts for my first generation reel. The reel only cost me $439. Almost buying it again over 10 years by having it faithfully serviced, when it obviously doesn't need it? Not for me.

Reel still works fine. It has Penn fiber washers in the drag, which are better than the original ones. The drag can be serviced as easily as a Penn, too. Pop off the retaining spring--the washers even go back in the same order as a Penn. Inside, the reel is no more complex than a Luxor 300. Don't be afraid to service it yourself. Just go slow and careful when you're seating the gear in the crosswind or traverse block--that's the only land mine to watch out for. You're better off removing the main gear from the plate, seating it in the block, and then carefully threading the side plate on, rather than trying to seat the gear while it's still in the plate.