Do Not Buy Spro Products!

[Stoneroller]

are you portraying yourself as an offiicial spokesperson for a marine tech company? if so it would make sense that you would immediately know the company's position and be well versed in dealing with the public when it comes to questions of this nature, otherwise the intelligent thing to do is to refer said question to someone who can answer it in a professional and complete manner.

It wasn't a 'war' or an 'issue' until I was told that I couldn't state facts concerning c & r and was told that although everyone else can post their opinions, I was not allowed to and was threatened with legal action for asking for clarification.

All I've ever done in my entire life is work a direct customer service position, doesn't matter if it was IT support, serving tables, or pulling wrenches on cars. The customer always deserves to be treated like they are king, they deserve a prompt and professional reply to their inquiries and if one has any kind of issue, the issue is resolved FIRST.

As you can see, his first response to me was to tell me to basically piss off and it only got less professional after that. Irrespective of what my tone might have been, a professional puts themselves above that and does not instantly become confrontational and dismissive towards a consumer.

I didn't leave out any emails in that chain. And of course I was confrontational, they censored me for exercising my freedom of speech and stating facts! A fishing company that doesn't readily state that it supports Responsible Fishing is a problem and doesn't deserve the support of anglers who do believe in responsible harvest.

I don't care if they do or don't. The point is, his first email to me should have read. "Spro supports sustainable fisheries including c & r and responsible harvesting" the entire thing would have ended right there.

Threatened legal action against a consumer because they asked for clarification on an official company view or stance.... <<< biggest issue

The lesson here is, as a representative of a company YOUR opinion doesn't matter, YOUR job is to represent the company that pays your bills in a manner which is professional and furthers said company in the eyes of the sportsmen who support it. Not readly saying you support C & R as a tackle manufacturer is like saying you don't support plants as an air breather. hello nose, let me cut you off my face.

and ness, how many names do you have? most people have 3. I'm sure you can look me up online and find out all the information you want.

[Feathers and Fins]

Stone, it sounds like you are on a personal crusade against (Catch and Keep) and re-reading the e-mails I too am left wondering if there was not a few left out.

Why should you care what a company’s stance is or is not in regards to (Catch and release or Catch and Keep) It would be counterproductive for any company to come out either way was as it could alienate themselves from potential customers. Where as Supporting the laws does not affect their profit.

Many anglers I know catch and release and catch and keep! Should I decide to not be one persons friend simply based off what their wants are so long as they are ethical and legal? A tackle manufactures business is to make a profit off selling lures designed to catch fish! What an angler does after that is not the Business’s bossiness. It is the choice of the individual angler.

[Stoneroller]

this isn't about being friends. I'll spell this out one last time for people who are missing the point.

me: Nice fish, too bad you didn't release it. catch and release is important to a sustainable fishery, that fish was probably close to 20 years old.

spro: this is not a forum for discussion of catch and release. do not post on here again about your opinions or you will be removed from this group (which is supposed to be a public page if it's a real company, not a group, please see facebook's terms of service for clarification)

that's when I asked for clarification as to what their stance was. ALL tournaments are C & R btw... and as a supporter of tournament fishing, I figured spro would send a nice little professional email stating that they supported both, but that they understood that responsible harvesting and C & R are both important to a healthy fisheries.

Instead I got booted and threatened with legal action.

if you want to think I left emails out, go ahead. I have no reason to alter or adjust any part of this situation. I don't hate people who don't catch and release but don't post a picture of you in your back yard with a trophy smallie on a page full of catch and release anglers and think someone isn't going to comment on it or think everyone is going to throw you a cookie. Nobody got booted for commenting on how many fish they keep. why should I get booted for commenting on C & R. Two different rules are being applied, and that's fine, that's Spro's perogative. just as mine is to let everyone know how spro deals with consumers who have questions or state facts.

[ness]

I'm not claiming you left any e-mails out. I asked because, to me, the initial response from the guy didn't warrant the response you gave. Of course, you've got more context than we do because you were involved with the stuff on FB stuff.

I do think it's unusual that you send and reply to e-mails using two different names, but hey, do what you think is right.

Sorry -- I really was just trying to understand all this. Peace out.

[Feathers and Fins]

Stone; this is threatening and as a bussiness man had I recieved this I would have booted you as well and your threats could and would provoke me into possibly contacting our legal department for possible liable and or slander.

Syd,

Completely unprofessional, please don't make me escalate this up the chain. This sounds like a threat toward Syd

You failed to answer any of my questions. Please feel free to do so. I'm not getting a very positive customer service experience from Spro What customer service do you feel you needed from them as this was not a product related issue and I'm the kind of person who will tell everyone about it About what that you were not being given satisfaction to catch and release or catch and keep. Try again Sourcasum never gets nice replies . This time professionally answer my questions YOUR demands to say it politiely would have gotten no replie from me or forward my email to someone who is responsible enough and cares enough about the image of your company to do so. here again its your attitude causing a problem. I would have booted you of FB as well

I asked some very simple questions. I didn't ask you to pass judgement on a my posting of a topic.

Again I will ask:

What is Spro's official position on Catch and Release?

Does Rick Douwsma work for your company and are the things he is saying on facebook actual company positions or simply his opinion.

I would think very long on these questions and come up with some answers that help put your company back in a better light. As it is now my experience with SPRO is very, very bad due to the way this rick guy has represented your company. Bad press goes a really long way and I have a really big mouth and tons of time on my hands.

BTW, Catch and Release isn't a 'political' issue it's a biological one and extremely important to the health of a sustainable fishery. Clearly you don't get that and I'm of the impression that SPRO not only doesn't support it, but their representatives aren't educated about it.

I dare you to change my opinion of your company and give you a chance to correct the damage that this idiot on facebook has and is doing to your company. BTW he has the page set up completely wrong, it should be an open page if it's really associated with you, not a closed group. That's Shady! You also aren't considering how many people on that page, who are actual anglers (not hack meat fishermen) and support catch and release, got to read rick's childish, immature, and completely unprofessional rant AGAINST the free flow of ideas and opinions and a proven scientific fact when it comes to fisheries. He proved his ignorance and intolerance in one fell swoop and apparently you guys are ok with that being the public image of Spro.

I could go on with the red, but honestly from that E-Mail to him you come off as a hot head. I have had people do this to me as well and simply remove them from my life be it internet or real life. This is NOT imo a customer service issue as there was not mechandise involved.

[Gavin]

I understand your passion...but the fellow was pretty clear that he didnt want a debate on his company website...You kept going at him, and he booted you..I would have done the same thing.

[Stoneroller]

it's only 'liable and slander' if 1. it's untrue, which none of this is and 2. it can be proven that it hurt your business. I am fully in my rights to state my opinion on their fb page. If they wanted to boot me, fine. I'm also fully in my rights to relay my experience and to call for whatever boycott I wish. I have provided nothing but factual evidence in this situation.

[Stoneroller]

Gavin, the funny thing is it's not a 'company' website. it's a facebook page, on top of that this rick guy doesn't even work for spro, but is portraying himself as a spokesperson. All I wanted was clarification. I don't really care about their little group now that I'm positive it's not a real company thing. sure spro usa knows about it, but there is no facebook link anywhere on spro's official website.

I guess my big issue really isn't with spro, persay, as spro usa isn't really spro, which is a european company. And although Syd could really learn a bit about being a professional in customer service, it's the fact that this rick guy, who doesn't even work for spro is portraying himself as their spokesperson. So it's just a stream of disconnected, underinformed individuals who I've allowed to taint my experience with spro as a whole.

[Stoneroller]

so this post should correctly be titled, "My bad experience with a fake posing as someone from spro and my less than professional response from spro usa" buy spro products at your own disgression.

[fishinwrench]

Look at it this way; A satisfied customer (who did nothing wrong, illegal, or unethical) came to their forum to show off a pig he caught using one of their products.... and you made him feel uncomfortable afterwards.