The South African marine market is a very strange place to say the least. I have had guys phoning and texting myself and my wife here at FishTec for months requesting help in choosing the right gear and quotes. You don't hear from them for ages then out of the blue I get a call from an often very familiar voice - "Can you please give me some help as my fishfinders are not working right?" When I eventually squeeze out of the individual who he actually is and that he saved a couple of hundred Rands by going to someone that offers absolutely no advice other than - "Oooo, I don't know, contact John Easton from Lowrance, he knows all about this stuff."
First of all, I am a dealer, I do not work for Lowrance, and the only free thing I have ever received from them is a cap.
Secondly, and more to the point in this thread - Who do you talk to when you run into problems with your 'Tackle Warehouse' purchase? Have you ever tried some of those US help lines? :eusa_wall:
Is it REALLY worth it?
Take this example - Lowrance Elite-9x CHIRP ...
TackleWarehouse - $1299 / R16 500 excl Shipping & Duty with 2 year warranty FishTec - R11 900 incl VAT, suncover, transducer and THREE year warranty.
Thanks for all the help guys. Just to clarify myself. Apart from a couple of hoodies, caps and shirts my friends brought me from Bass Pro Shops, I have never bought any tackle, electronics or anything else fishing related from either of these stores. Like I said earlier, I am a big advocate for local support, so that is where my money is going. I'll PM you Fishton. Hope you find that in order.
100%
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Before Geofencing, a mate of mine brought us an LMS series from the states as a gift for taking him fishing over the years. Lowarnce wouldn't touch it when repair time came and quite rightly so. The upgrade was purchased through Fishton.
They have us by the b****. :lol:
I can understand if you buy a overseas unit and have a problem and want to take it to local distrubutor for a warrenty claim. But what if you want a trawler motor serviced and its out of warrenty anyway ,the agent refuses, that in my opinion is where the problem is, how can a company show a paying customer the door, did the the customer not pay for the item from the main manufacturer in the first place, so i say its the agents responsibility to service such a customer, that is the return on the big discounts he gets from the manufacturer,making him a agent and in closing, he gets paid!
But getting money for work these days is a problem for some struggling company's.
:eusa_whistle: