Clam Repair Frustration

At the end of last winter, I was out on a very windy day and a couple of extension poles on my Legend XL got bent, and as a result, it was a bit of a struggle getting the house up and down but was close to end of year so lived with it – and kind of forgot about it. As starting to prepare for this year, I went to clam’s websight and ordered some new poles – a produce available on its web sight. As I went to check out, had error message so just called clam – well, they do not stock replacement poles / have not ability to get any. They were accommodating enough to take a look around warehouse to see if could find one or two laying around but nothing. So, I have been fiddle f-ing around trying to straighten poles out but have not been able to get them ‘just right’ and do not want to screw around with the house not going up and down smoothly.

Any suggestions — I cannot fathom that Clam can not have their buddies in china ship me a set of poles at my expense (who knows, maybe that would be more than new house) but is very disappointing that Clam cannot hunt down a couple of spare poles. I am at point of buying a new (likely non-Clam) house as I get out quite a bit and do not want to mess with the poles that still have some bend in them.

Any suggestions on who might be able to get me spare poles would be appreciated.

I’d call back, ask them nicely and directly to cannibalize some NIP product to get you the necessary new poles. Ask for a manager or customer relations specialist, escalate it. It’s not like they won’t get another fella looking for a replacement tarp, or a sled, or missing hardware. They need to be reasonable here and take your money.

I’m ok with hubs being disposable, Clam taught me that, but this shouldn’t apply to a trap using the Legend moniker.

Go to the clam website, pull up the page for the legend, and scroll down to the manual. Select your year, and there’s a parts list in the manual. you might have better luck with Clam if you give them a specific part number rather. They told me one day they didn’t have seat brackets in stock for the nanook until I gave them the part number.

Not familiar with clam products but is this a current or discontinued model? If current, that’s horrible CS if they don’t sell replacement poles.

When I bought my hub, I bought 6 replacement poles right off the bat ( actually they were free, just had to pay shipping) as this was a new product and people had concerns/issues with them.

I’m glad I did cause the product is no longer supported and on a happy note, after 10 years or so, I have 5 left!

I would second tornadochaser’s idea. My experience with Clam has been good but models can sometime change parts every year and it is hard to track down exactly what part you are talking about. Another option would be to ask them to buy the pole material and put your old ends on if it is truly discontinued.

Depending on your location and if you decide to sell, I may be interested.

I agree with everyone, I’d try calling Clam again with specific part #’s.

Even if they do have the product, there’s no guarantee they will even ship you the correct part. There’s also no guarantee the part will be in good shape. Had a replacement canvas from a Nanook come to me with holes in it. They insisted I buy another one…I also had both seat bases missing from another house when I bought it…they sent me TWO replacement sleds…I wondered why a semi needed to deliver two seat bases…

Eskimo’s Customer Service is top notch. That might be the best answer to these questions and issues that you are having.

That has to be frustrating.

If it comes down to it you should be able to buy some new aluminum or galvanized conduit and have any experienced electrician buddy bend it for you. Just a thought.

It’s not rocket surgery, but it does take a little practice. Practice costs money lol

Thanks to all that have replied. I did start with Clam’s website — the part was available on the site, only issue is that they do not sell that part so web is not up to date. I called Clam and even went to the warehouse — nice guys but they really did no more than look around the office for a spare part — no real effort to try to find solution. It is a bit more than just bending conduit as have a square notch in pole that catches to the other half the operation when house extended.

To me, Clam is a marketing company — really not a manufacutrer of anything or would seem could get hands on some spare parts

May try to call back one more time and try to go up the ladder – more than just the warehouse crew.

Please either call customer service at 1-800-ICE-FISH or email Customer Service at [email protected] put Attention : Manager in the email or ask for him when you call. Please be aware Clam has seen this thread and is reaching out to you here to take care of any issues you may have.

I recently had a small issue with a order I placed directly with clam outdoors. I have to say that their customer service did a more than excellent job of correcting the issue in a timely manner. Sorry to hear that your experience getting your issue resolved was not as successful. Hopefully now that the correct people at clam are aware of your issue they can do something to help you. Sadly customer service at a lot of companies is not near as good as it once was. A person should not need to take to a online forum to get the attention they need – But sometimes these days that is what is needed. Please keep us posted on what you outcome is with this issue.

To clam’s credit, it did reach out – and as mentioned, did not blow my off the first go around but also did not put any extra effort into resolving (at least from my point of view which is of course bias).

I will post if this was able to get resolved. I do fully realize that they have much bigger fish to fry (no pun intended) than me, but I do hope this is able to get resolved. Not Clam’s fault that the poles bent- that is not the issue – but should be able to resolve (at my cost).

Anyway, for those interested, stay tuned.

monticatgeek wrote:

Please either call customer service at 1-800-ICE-FISH or email Customer Service at [email protected] put Attention : Manager in the email or ask for him when you call. Please be aware Clam has seen this thread and is reaching out to you here to take care of any issues you may have.

^^^^^This is awesome

Spent a lot of money on a drill plate with gearbox, and it took ten months to get a replacement after it broke. No apology from Clam, just me following up every month to hear back until they realized I wasn’t going away. I spent a lot of money with them over the years, but will be spending it elsewhere from now on. Heck, a good chunk of IDO forum members found out that Otter sells replacement tents and parts that fit older models–now that’s service!

monticatgeek wrote:

Please either call customer service at 1-800-ICE-FISH or email Customer Service at [email protected] put Attention : Manager in the email or ask for him when you call. Please be aware Clam has seen this thread and is reaching out to you here to take care of any issues you may have.

I’m not sure how many others sent them a link to this thread, but if they contacted you, one of us got their attention.

HRG

Hot Runr Guy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>monticatgeek wrote:</div>
Please either call customer service at 1-800-ICE-FISH or email Customer Service at [email protected] put Attention : Manager in the email or ask for him when you call. Please be aware Clam has seen this thread and is reaching out to you here to take care of any issues you may have.

I’m not sure how many others sent them a link to this thread, but if they contacted you, one of us got their attention.

HRG

It caught the customer service managers attention and he was the one that asked me to reply to the thread and post what I did since he didn’t have the time to do it himself as Clam is starting to get into the busy time of the year with the upcoming ice season.

I have the same house. It will be the last Clam portable I buy. From here on out it will be Otter. The two do not even seem comparable…

Bluegill89 wrote:

I have the same house. It will be the last Clam portable I buy. From here on out it will be Otter. The two do not even seem comparable…

Comparing a otter to a clam is like comparing a Sherman tank to a smart car weight wise. If you have the strength to handle and space to haul the otters they are a great house. I have owned both and when I owned my otter I found myself leaving it at home most of the time due to the hassle of loading, pulling, and reloading it. It was near impossible for 1 person to load into a pickup himself. There is a reason why most of the pictures and videos you see of otter houses are with 2 big guys or a snowmobile or ATV pulling them as well as being loaded into a trailer with ramps. Often the smaller size and lower weight of some clam fish houses comes at a durability issue. To me both brands have their place depending on your style of fishing.

I’m not a huge Clam fan however I have the Legend XL I really like it. With that said I have a Otter cabin pop up best Pop up ever built in my opinion. I would like a Otter House but as said by fish thumper my Clam weighs about 55# I can barely handle that. For some reason Otter thinks everyone owns a huge truck and ATV/snowmobile hence there 90-130# fish houses no thanks I don’t need a hernia.
Otter has a smaller house I liked it but then it did not have the removable windows which is the only reason I don’t like the Clam. Anyway I have used Clams customer service and I must say I always thought they were good but this is disheartening if I bend a pole? A 5 year old house and i can’t get a pole? They still make the same model as of yet? Anyway I truly hope when companies see these threads they take them to heart. Good customer service equals repeat business and a phone number to call to me is gold an email is like sending a message to the politicians

I am happy to report that Clam did step up and reach out to me. On one hand, I do want to give them a bit of a break as I could have continued to go ‘up the chain’ to get this resolved before posting this rant – but on the other, that should not be needed and Clam could have done then what they are doing now or told me to give them a couple of weeks to track down some parts.

I am going there tonight to get the 4 parts I think I need. I may need another pole or two after and they have those available as needed.

Glad to hear that it sounds like you’ve found a resolution. Good on them for stepping up but as you say it shouldn’t have taken what it did. I think you’re being fair and not necessarily dragging their name through the mud

monticatgeek wrote:

Clam is starting to get into the busy time of the year with the upcoming ice season.

Clam is pretty awesome IMO. They stepped up, AND they keep a lot of pretty good sticks ocupodo, allowing folks to get out and prefish before the ice season actually begins.

moustachesteve wrote:

Glad to hear that it sounds like you’ve found a resolution. Good on them for stepping up but as you say it shouldn’t have taken what it did. I think you’re being fair and not necessarily dragging their name through the mud

Agreed. I’m less inclined to give Clam a ton of credit, here. I don’t think it should take relentless hassling, getting a run around, working up the chain, searching forums, weeks of effort on lunch breaks, etc. to get somewhere with customer service. It doesn’t sound like the individual ever would’ve gotten helped if he didn’t initiate a little bad PR on a forum a bigwig happened to run across.

Customer Service shouldn’t be a reactionary effort driven by fear of bad publicity driving other customers away. It should be driven out of a desire to make the one customer who spent his hard earned money on your product happy. Often, the right thing and good business go hand in hand.

Nothing drives people out the door faster than customer service. It’s the difference between getting someone’s business once and getting their unwavering brand loyalty for life. Being a busy time of year isn’t really an excuse I’d love to hear. All that means to me is you’re choosing your targeted margin over adequate staffing and training in that department. Doesn’t exactly give blue collar joe blow making $15/hr and saving for two years to buy a $1,000 shack the warm-fuzzies.

SW Eyes I don’t think I could say it any better.
Quote:
Doesn’t exactly give blue collar joe blow making $15/hr and saving for two years to buy a $1,000 shack the warm-fuzzies.

This is true and rang a bell for me.
I remember when the Ice fishing revolution started how they said it was so easy and cheap to get into.
Not any more you can hardly get a shack under $300 that will last long.

Anyway like many others we work hard for our money we want something that lasts

David Shanvunhueisn wrote:

I am happy to report that Clam did step up and reach out to me. On one hand, I do want to give them a bit of a break as I could have continued to go ‘up the chain’ to get this resolved before posting this rant – but on the other, that should not be needed and Clam could have done then what they are doing now or told me to give them a couple of weeks to track down some parts.

I am going there tonight to get the 4 parts I think I need. I may need another pole or two after and they have those available as needed.

David Shanvunhueisn wrote:

I am happy to report that Clam did step up and reach out to me. On one hand, I do want to give them a bit of a break as I could have continued to go ‘up the chain’ to get this resolved before posting this rant – but on the other, that should not be needed and Clam could have done then what they are doing now or told me to give them a couple of weeks to track down some parts.

I am going there tonight to get the 4 parts I think I need. I may need another pole or two after and they have those available as needed.

I have always had a great experience with Clam, when I first bought my Voyager TCX, the interior fabric started to de-laminate my 3rd time out, they sent me an entire canvas for free! Which I just put on last year! Also, I did some work for an employee of theirs and he gave me a 1 man ice house they demo last year for no charge, just a bottom of the line house but it’s still great. I like the new OTTER side door design more, however I buy Clam strictly for the great customer service I have experienced! When I visited their place in Rogers all the guys I found to be extremely helpful!!

I’ll take adding a hyfax kit, and a little more weight over having half the lifespan. There are people on this forum literally replacing tents on 10+ year old shelters on this forum. I am buying a hitch carrier just so I can get a new one. Plus, they’re made right here–not in China.

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bluegill89 wrote:</div>
I have the same house. It will be the last Clam portable I buy. From here on out it will be Otter. The two do not even seem comparable…

Comparing a otter to a clam is like comparing a Sherman tank to a smart car weight wise. If you have the strength to handle and space to haul the otters they are a great house. I have owned both and when I owned my otter I found myself leaving it at home most of the time due to the hassle of loading, pulling, and reloading it. It was near impossible for 1 person to load into a pickup himself. There is a reason why most of the pictures and videos you see of otter houses are with 2 big guys or a snowmobile or ATV pulling them as well as being loaded into a trailer with ramps. Often the smaller size and lower weight of some clam fish houses comes at a durability issue. To me both brands have their place depending on your style of fishing.