How would you handle this situation?

[walleyeking19]

So this happened to a buddy of mine this last week, and I"m kinda curious how everyone else would react.

So my buddy, we'll call him Tim, took a friend of his fishing that doesnt get to go often, we'll call that guy Mike. While they were fishing Mike was talking about how he doesn't understand people who buy expensive rods. So Tim gave Mike one of his expensive rods to try out and see the difference. Well almost immediately Mike gets a bite and sets the hook and the rod snaps just below the tip. Mike feels terrible and writes him a check for the new rod before they leave.

Personally,I feel bad for Mike, because a rod shouldn't break like that unless it has a defect or chip in the blank already. So I think Mike just used the rod at the wrong time...if Tim were to try to set the hook I'm sure it would've broken in his hands instead.

What do you guys think about this? How would you have handled it? Just to clarify, Mike had rods with and Tim gave one to Mike to try, so it's not like he was borrowing everything.

[Wanderer]

I think Tim and Mike are more concerned about being a good friend than the cost of a rod. I can't say what's right or wrong for them, only they can.

That really stinks though when something like that happens. Hopefully it's a valid warranty claim and neither are out the dough.

[yoppdk]

IMO - Mike did the honorable thing, whether or not it was necessary. Good for him. But maybe Tim should have declined the check and offered to look into warranty. A lot of expensive rods have breakage warranties, so it would be worth an inquiry. After all, it appears that it was Tim's idea that Mike try the rod ...

[jmd1]

so i was invited to go sail fishing in Cabo san Lucas with friends of my in laws. They had a huge boat, ran two 3208 cat motors to power it. Being the person i am i gave the owner 100.00 for fuel. He handed it back to me saying that we had not use much fuel and that it would go further in town for food than fuel. He filled up when we got the marina 900 us dollars. So needless to say we ate a lot of fish and shrimp on the 100 i was given back. Moral to story is anyone of us would have offered to replace the rod but the fact the guy said it was ok, means that you are a reputable person who i would enjoy having as a friend.

[leech~~]

I think Tim needs to take Mike fishing more so he can get all his old rods replaced!

[JayDeHay]

Did Mike make sure to take down the name of that "expensive" rod? Good to know when you're shelling out cash if you're getting a Ferrari, or just a kit-car with a VW engine haha

[Walleyehooker]

Sounds like Mike will get invited back fishing again. Did he have to pay the full price for the rod? Probably not but as long as both people are OK with it who cares. Wish there were more people like Mike around.

[JSK76]

If this went down with me and my buddy's someone paying for the rod wouldn't even cross my mind. As long as someone didn't abuse the rod like shut it in the door it's just a flaw in the rod. If I tell my buddy feel how quick my snowmobile is compared to his and he rides it 10 yards and I blows up he's not going to offer to pay to repair it nor would I expect or except any type of payment. As long as no abuse is involved there's no responsibility as far as I'm concerned.

Now if someone asks to barrow something for a trip that I'm not on, and something brakes I would still look at as would it have happened if I was using it. I would probably feel a bit upset because I would look at it as buy your own rather then wreck mine.

Something like this happened to a buddy of mine a few years back. My buddy friend was bear hunting near my buddy's house and asked if he could leave his 4 wheeler at his house so he wouldn't have to trailer it back and forth. The buddy that owns the house took the 4 wheeler to check his trail cam pics on his property and the 4 wheeler blew up because it was out of oil. The owner of the 4 wheeler made my buddy pay 2500.00 for the repairs. Unless the owner checks the oil every time he rides it I don't feel my buddy should have gave him a cent. The 2 were friends but I'm not sure if my buddy had permission to ride the wheeler or not but with being friends things like that kinda go without saying it's not like he took it out trail riding for the day.

[gunner55]

Had a custom made rod that I had received as a gift get broken whilr a buddy was using it.Money was never brought up & as it turns out I had been using it for a while with braided line.So my thinking is that I weakened it by improperly using braided line and/or it had a defect.Either way not worth losing a buddy over & the rod could be replaced.

[Fowlmouth]

Mike did the right thing, but Tim should of declined to take them money.

[gonehunting]

Mike,

What did Tim find out about the warranty rod? Did he give you your money back? JK