The Written Word
for September 12, 2001

To brothers of the angle – especially flyfishers – the sad story out of England is the steady demise of the ancient tackle company, Hardys. With its factory and museum at Alnwick in Northumbria and its store on Pall Mall, right across from St. James’s Place in London, Hardy’s was considered to be the standard by which all else in flyfishing was judged. I have been to Alnwick several times and had a bamboo rod made for me there. On my frequent trips to London, one of the first calls always was at the Pall Mall establishment.

A few years ago Hardy’s took over Farlow’s, further up Pall Mall towards Trafalgar Square and with these two stores looked to monopolize the business.

But something happened. First the large American firm Orvis moved in, first on Sackville Street just off Regents Street now moved to Dover Street a few blocks away. Then another American outfit, Sportsfish, moved onto Pall Mall, about half way between Hardys and Farlows and now has bought out both the outlets.

How did this happen, especially since American equipment is so dear? (An example of this is a Sage rod like my favourite that sells for Cdn$550 sells for 550 Pounds in England!)

It’s called merchandising and service. Orvis and Sportsfish have large bright stores with everything laid out professionally. They have fishing videos playing at all times and there are always interesting -–and interested – staff to talk with. But I think, if my experience is any example, it has mostly to do with service. Here’s what happened to me.

About four years ago I bought a self inflating fishing vest from Hardys and paid nearly $500 for it. This vest is equipped with a canister which, upon coming into contact with water, explodes air into bladders inside the vest thus ensuring that you will float – even if you are unconscious. These canisters cost about $20 each.

I took the vest to New Zealand. On our first night there, while sipping a drink in our hotel room with some friends, there was suddenly a very loud hissing sound from inside my fishing bag which turned out to be the fishing vest which has somehow been activated.

I replaced the canister and a couple of days later, while the vest was hung up and thoroughly free of dampness, the same thing happened. When I got back to Vancouver, I faxed the Hardy plant in Alnwick and told them what had happened. No reply. Not a word. It happened that I was in London a few weeks later so I went into the store at Pall Mall and told my story. "Isn’t that interesting?" was the response. I asked if Hardys was going to do anything about it – such as give me a couple of canisters on the house.

"You’ll have to take that up with the factory, sir" was the response.

I tried the factory again and received no reply.

Orvis guarantees their rods even against accidental breakage. Catch it in the trunk of the car – you get a new one. Have the handle chewed off by your Labrador puppy (as in their most seductive ad) and a new rod is yours.

About two years ago I was fishing for sea run cutthroat trout at a beach near Vancouver. We could see the ferry in the distance so it was time to strip the rods and head for the car. Unfortunately, I put the line back on the reel and as I was shouting to my buddy to get a wiggle on, the rod tip fell off into the water. It was dark, the tide was running so it was a goner.

The following day I took the remaining sections to my tackle shop and asked if they could ask Orvis to make me a new tip. Kathy, the proprietor, opined that they would probably just give me a new rod. I said "no way! I didn’t break it, I lost the tip". Kathy said "I’ll bet they do." And they did. Not broken, just a tip lost due to my stupidity but Orvis paid no attention to the fine print and gave me a brand, spanking new $500 dollar rod.

The former owner of Orvis, and still its chairman, Leigh Perkins, says that "the customer is always right – even when you know goddamn well he isn’t." Orvis lives that motto.

This is not an unpaid endorsement for Orvis. I’m a Sage man. I have but one Orvis rod and half a dozen Sages which is also a superior rod with a fine backup guarantee. No, this is simply a tale of how one company thought it knew everything there was about fishing and equipment – but, it turns out, had forgotten all it knew about something even more important - the customer.