Duce Rods Shout Out

[specktator]

I would like to give Cade over at Duce Rods a shout out. I have the older generation Duce that broke on me a few weeks ago. Sent him an email and he gave me a call this morning. He told me they no longer have the older generation rods in the style I had but he would give me a new one in the same style. An hour later, he personally drove to my office in Lafayette and dropped me a brand new rod for my old broken one. That's some quality customer service. Looks like Duce is stepping their game up. Looking forward to trying out this new rod.

[BassYakR]

good stuff

[Hitinitdaily]

THATS AWESOME!!! Cade is very serious about making sure everyone is happy with DUCE! Glad you had such a good experience Seth

[bayouchub]

Great service. If hes going to provide this level of service y not come out with his own line and not be behind the eight ball with the duce name?

[southern151]

Originally Posted by bayouchub

Great service. If hes going to provide this level of service y not come out with his own line and not be behind the eight ball with the duce name?

Kinda my thoughts. He's got a lot of ground to cover to get back to the black, I'd think.

[mstulb]

nice, love there fishing rods. I will stick with them if customer service stays solid.

[Hitinitdaily]

Originally Posted by southern151

Kinda my thoughts. He's got a lot of ground to cover to get back to the black, I'd think.

I'm not an owner of the company but this is how I see it...

DUCE rods are great rods, always have been. Seems almost everyone on this website will agree to that. What they lacked was customer service. Costumer Service was so bad that it drove away many potential buyers along with current DUCE rod owners. In the forums the most reoccurring statement is "Man, Too bad their Customer Service is so bad because I Love the Rods!"

The rods are so prevalent that it has caused many lengthy forum topics with 1,000's of views.

So why buy DUCE rods you say? Because it was a quality product.

Now, its a far more quality product with a great warranty. Its hard to build a brand name from scratch and often can be easier to take a company with name recognition, whether good or bad. Now don't get me wrong it was a ton of cleanup for the new owners.

Instead of proving that a new product is worth it they can just improve the already known household name. Instead of everyone saying, "Who is Duce Rods" they will say "Thank God they got their act together because their rods are worth it now that they have a quality customer service department.


Like I said, this is just my thoughts on the subject. I don't speak on behalf of DUCE on this.

[southern151]

I totally understand building a name from scratch! It's not fun. Neither is a barrage of butt chewings from disgruntled customers, made mad by someone else. I wish them all the best, really.

Sounds like he's more interested in providing fishing gear than offshore racing boats. Best of luck to em!

[mr crab]

I'm pretty sure Duce rods was represented very well on the podium at the Galveston Redfish cup event last weekend. A couple local guys a sponsored by them and those dudes are straight beasts when it comes to tournament redfishing.

[Ducktrickster]

I will never recommend them and would discourage people from buying them. There are many like me. Scew me once... shame on you...screw me twice...shame on me

[daxt79]

I've never owned a duce rod nor have I even seen one in person, but for such a "quality" rod they sure do seem to have a lot of warranty claims. Regardless of how good or bad the customer service was, why are there so many request for warranty repair? Is it because of failures from normal use, poor craftsmanship, user error, etc...

I'm not bashing or praising them, just wondering from all the comments I've seen about warranty requests on this board.

[Goooh]

Originally Posted by daxt79

I've never owned a duce rod nor have I even seen one in person, but for such a "quality" rod they sure do seem to have a lot of warranty claims. Regardless of how good or bad the customer service was, why are there so many request for warranty repair? Is it because of failures from normal use, poor craftsmanship, user error, etc...

I'm not bashing or praising them, just wondering from all the comments I've seen about warranty requests on this board.

I've heard more about broken ones than I've heard about how far those twisted guides make you cast

[BassYakR]

I have put these rods in a serious bind multiple times.. never had one break. Its one of the most sensetive rods ive used at their price point.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

[H2OFwlKlr]

Originally Posted by Goooh

I've heard more about broken ones than I've heard about how far those twisted guides make you cast

The reason you heard so much about the broken ones is because their customer service was lacking, therefore customers were no getting their rods replaced and had to get on message boards and let everyone know about it. I'm sure other rod builders/mfg ... all have rods that break, they just make sure the customer gets a new one asap, therefore, no need to air it out over the interweb, thus, you do not hear as much about their broken rods. New owner seems to have this covered.

[Matt G]

Originally Posted by Goooh

I've heard more about broken ones than I've heard about how far those twisted guides make you cast

Folks with the old gen rods wanting the new one??? Now that customer service is there, just snap the old one and shoot an email to the new owner. I doubt that's really the reason, but it is plausible.

[fishinpox]

Originally Posted by Matt G

Folks with the old gen rods wanting the new one??? Now that customer service is there, just snap the old one and shoot an email to the new owner. I doubt that's really the reason, but it is plausible.

Yeah that would be the ethical thing to do ....... the reason shimano no longer does over the counter warranty is because of people like you who think this kind of behavior is acceptable

[Matt G]

Originally Posted by fishinpox

Yeah that would be the ethical thing to do ....... the reason shimano no longer does over the counter warranty is because of people like you who think this kind of behavior is acceptable

Didn't say I think it's acceptable. I just said its plausible. I also said I didn't think that was really the reason. I actually have an older generation Duce rod that I plan on keeping as long as it last, but thanks for your assumption.

[specknation]

The real reason they broke is they used Batson blank, a very average blank at best. A lot of custom rod builders will try to discourage you from using this blank unless you are trying to get a custom rod on a very tight budget.

[Skinnywater Skitterwalkin]

Certainly you know the real reason they ALL broke specknation..... Regardless of why the old generation rods broke, its a totally new company. New management, new products, new warranty. Give the local guys a chance and try out their NEW rods. The past is the past. I got a few of their new generation rods. For the past 4 months I've been using the **** out of them, and letting my friends use them as well. Being a huge supporter of Louisiana businesses, and a UL business major, I was curious to see what kind of rods they were. I fish 3 days a week and definetly put some fish in the box. Ive fought bull reds on M weight rods and fought them much more aggressively than I should have. Just to see what the rod was made of. I easily fought 15 bulls over 2 of those months and put excessive tension on the rods on each one. Until finally it happened!!!!! I broke a rod....... I sent the guy an email with a pic of my rod, 2 days later I went pick up a brand new rod. I dont know what to complain about

[CustomRod]

Originally Posted by specknation

The real reason they broke is they used Batson blank, a very average blank at best.

I don't agree. The RX6 and RX7 blanks may be average in terms of weight or sensitivity (however it is measured), but I've never had problems with durability.