I personally had one of the worst customer service experiences ever with Werner. I broke a blade on a Sho Gun, and was told the same thing as you, to send it in for an assessment. A full 8 days after the UPS tracking info stated the paddle had been delivered, I had still not heard anything from Werner. I called to check the status of the paddle, and it still had not been addressed. They could have been backed up at the time, so I just gave them the benefit of the doubt. The represenatitive I spoke with was supposed to call me back that same day with an update, but did not. Waited until the afternoon the next day, and called back. I was told it looked like it was used a lot, and was denied any warranty claims. I was also told the other blade had a long crack in it. I inspected it before I shipped it off, and the second blade didn't have any cracks after leaving my hands. I'm not putting blame for the second crack on Werner, because it could have been UPS. I didn't know for sure, so I didn't even speculate. I do know a paddler who had a blade break on the same model paddle, and in the same location, was given a new paddle as a warranty. I mentioned it to the representative, but it was a fruitless effort. The representative asked for a credit card number to be charged to send the paddle back, and after I simply asked her if Werner would cover the shipping charges to send it back since they wouldn't warranty the paddle. The representative became upset, given the tone of their voice, and in a disgusted tone, agreed to send it back then hung up on me as I was asking if they needed a address verification. Apparently they didn't need a address verification, because it did come in the mail, but it was some very poor customer service. The representative could have been having a bad day, or something like that, but I don't see it any reason to treat someone who has been loyal to their company. I've heard a lot of good words about their customer service, but unfortunally Ican't add anything positive to their reputation. Hope your experience is better than mine.