I had to go round and round with Cabela's a couple years ago over a broken fly rod. I bought it on close-out, but it still had their "life time replacement" guarantee. It was their top-line rod at the time but when it broke the model was different, so they couldn't replace it with the same model, and they just wanted to give me back what I paid for it, which was considerably less than replacement value. I argued that they should replace it with the current comparable model, but they wouldn't go for it. I wrote a number of letters which I copied to the CEO, et al; never got anywhere. Then I finally wrote one to Jim and Dick. I said, among other things, that I was sure that if they still owned the company I wouldn't have to write such a letter. Not long after that I got a call from some high-up in customer service who said that they had "misunderstood the situation" and that certainly they would be replacing the rod with the most current comparable model. Jim and Dick's names still show up as being on the board, but I figured that was just in name only; I don't know who read that letter, but whoever it was, it worked.
