What is your experience about getting a response from Hardys ?  I have e-mailed them twice now about there being no stops for the sections of a brand new £550 rod and apart from automated responses to say that my mails had been received, not another peep after 2 weeks.  Checking with friends I find that the same thing has happened three out of three times.  All say that they had no reply to very minor queries, and in the end had to make several phone calls to Hardys to get any response at all.  Hardly the best after-sales service one could hope for !!

UPDATE -  after another two weeks I have e-mailed Hardys twice more asking for a reply - but still nothing.

Hi Roy,

I’m afraid to say that I have to agree with your comments regards Hardy’s poor quality of customer care. Despite the business I have put their way over the years in purchasing rods, reels clothing etc, amounting to many thousands of pounds, they refused to replace a faulty fishing cap (value less than £20) which was purchased in the last few months.
The tone of their e-mails throughout our discussions was less than ‘customer friendly’.
Very odd policy to adopt!
Unless their attitude changes for the better in the near future, I will become an ex-customer.

I reckon that they have been concentrating their minds on the CLA gamefair,where they had a high profile this year,which may have made their already poor customer service even worse.If that is possible.

As I see things, Hardy are resting on their laurels. The daytime TV shows have a lot to answer for ! Everyone know the name now and everyone is an expert.In a bus queue the other day,holding an obviously old rod bag a man approached me and said ” I know what you’ve been buying….its an old fishing rod….it’ll be a Hardy,right ?”........he wasnt an angler himself,never had been,but knew all about it and how all the “old stuff,Hardy and that” was worth a fortune on e bay.So.Little incentive for the great company to excell in customer service when they are a household name.How many times have people encountered all the gear/no idea types with a full Hardy get up? I know I have seen plenty. They dont seem to be bothered about losing their name in the short term and in the process are not only losing their angling customer base but also some of the more interested,committed staff.For instance Sonik Tackle, which I just found out is the child of an ex Hardy product development staffer of long years that couldnt take the frustration any more. Apparently its not the head of product development at fault,there was nothing but praise for him, but higher up….thats where the problem is.

Even so,this doesnt do much for your customer care problem. It does seem that there are good, keen people at Hardys but they are stymied from above so the only way to get at the company is to hit them where it hurts and post up like this on as many forums as possible and then e mail all the posts to Hardy telling them that you were reluctant to take this route but since they wouldnt reply to you. There may be reasons for this lack of care but there is no excuse. That and write to the managing director/CEO or whatever,directly,explaining that you have tried to get help from the relevent dept but get no answer.

And the future ? Well, look elsewhere,sadly. Since most of what is sold is made in the same factories in china unless otherwise labeled then its a case of trying everything, since you can no longer rely on a company name and a price to ensure the level of quality and after sales care. Maybe try Sonik even !

.......sorry,not much joy from me,but good luck

shocks

I’ve had several hardy rods over the years and they’ve always responded well to a phone call - can only speak as I find.