I wasn't sure if I would share this story or not. But with so much bad press companies get nowadays for bad customer service, I feel like they deserve to be recognized as well.

 

So I ordered 2 of The Body Glove mesh rod sleeves from TW in XL size. I already have about 35 of these but needed a few more for a few new rods I got. 

 

When I received them, I opened them up and put them on some rods. I noticed one sleeve seemed a little shorter than the other. Then I compared it to all my other ones that I've had for a while now. Yup, the one sleeve was a little shorter. About 2.5" shorter. 

 

Now, this wasn't a huge deal since it still covered the guides on the rods, but I was curious why the change. I did notice the packaging had changed a little on the one. (one has Brandon Palaniuk and Gerald Swindle on it, the other just Swindle)

 

So, I email The Rod Glove asking them about it. Almost right away I got a reply from Jim, the owner. He apologized and offered to send me 2 more sleeves for free. I said that wasn't necessary at all, but he insisted. He just asked that I let him know how these new ones worked out. In a few days I received the sleeves. Again, the sleeves I got had the 2 different packaging. And the one sleeve was 2.5" short.

 

I email Jim again to give him the update with pics, etc. This was his response.

 

Quote

Thanks for the work you put into this, it really helped me out. It is as I suspected. The red one was produced by us in house and the black one was produced in China.

 

We used to produced everything in house and buy our sleeving in North America. The covid hit and my American supplier could no longer provide me with enough sleeving due to his factories output be cut by 40% due to social distancing.

 

So, we had to go to China to secure product for some big contracts we have. Hated to have to do it but it was our only choice. It appears that the last shipment we got from out Chinese supplier had some manufacturing tolerance issues which I will need to address.

 

You have helped me tremendously by helping to identify this.

 

I am not sure if you have seen our new Tournament Series Neoprene Rod Gloves, but I would love to send you some as a thank you.

 

Again, I said it it wasn't necessary. I totally understood how Covid messed everything up, etc...but that I'd accept if he did send me the new neoprene sleeve to check out. 

 

In a few days, I received a package from him. It had 4 of the new Tournament Series Neoprene sleeves (XL) in it (VERY nice sleeves!) and 5 bags of XZone baits (which I've been a big fan of for a while now). Turns out him and his son own/run both companies. I had no idea they were sister companies. Between this package and the first 2 sleeves he sent, that's an $80 value. 

 

I expressed my gratitude to him, telling him he has a customer for life. Talk about TOP NOTCH customer service. 

 

 

(Only 3 sleeves in this pic because I had opened one already)

 

 

 

 

 

Very nice. Great to see how transparent the owner was! 

7 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

Very nice. Great to see how transparent the owner was! 

I agree. We had emailed quite a few times. I couldn't have been more impressed with him and his service. Seems like a really good guy to boot.

 

Jim, if you ever happen to see this, thank you....again.

@NorthernBasser - thank you for sharing this story.

 

So much negativity around now a days it's easy to get caught up in it -- awesome to hear a positive story. It seems both you and the company owner approached the problem/challenge with a positive/growth mindset -- which led to a positive outcome.

 

My favorite part of the story is when you said -- "I already have about 35 of these"........ :))

I don't even have one sleeve for my entire collection of 2 rods! 

 

But when I do, this sounds Luke a worthy place to buy from.

Very nice to hear. I have been switching my sleeves to neoprene as the mesh ones died. Future purchases will be made with this company.

Great thread.  Thank you @NorthernBasser.  

 

I like the neoprene better most of the time.  Rainy days are the exception.   They take forever to dry out 

Great stuff. I too love the Rod Glove covers, however not a fan of the neoprene one’s. Just seem to be to heavy for me, but a quality product nonetheless.

 

Good to see a “responsible “ company owner. Makes me confident in their products.

11 minutes ago, Motoboss said:

Great stuff. I too love the Rod Glove covers, however not a fan of the neoprene one’s. Just seem to be to heavy for me, but a quality product nonetheless.

 

Good to see a “responsible “ company owner. Makes me confident in their products.

I agree. These neoprene covers are extremely nice quality. But like you, a little heavy for my taste. I'll stick with the webbed mesh ones. Not AS much protection as the neoprene, but gets the job done. For me at least.