I've submitted warranty claims for years now (probably 8 years for tenkara rods and 2 years for spinning/baitcasting) and the manufacturer has never refused to honor the warranty. I am sure they know that warranty claims are almost always operator error (including the error of thinking rods "ought to be" able to do things they weren't designed to do). They get honored anyway. However, the manufacturer's financial exposure is limited because the warranty is one-year rather than lifetime, and can be used only once.