Brian, in reference to your Highwater post; I live in North Vancouver and have been going to highwater since I was a kid, and Dave is one of the most helpful and genuinely awesome guys in the fishing community. He sold me my first salmon setup and explained how to use it, showed me knots, etc.
However, just because he is an awesome guy doesn't mean that there aren't staff under him who can make mistakes, and I'm sure once in a while he has too much on his plate. I've had 3 friends who have brought rods/reels in for repair/return, and they've sat there for weeks without being sent out. Just this past year my buddy had to borrow my setup for a trip to the Stamp because Highwater hadn't returned his Rod after almost a month!
Highwater is an awesome tackle shop, but they are slow at times. And there is one employee there who is not very fun to deal with, and causes myself and my friends to head to a different retailer on ocassion. He basically mocked my buddy for using braid on his baitcaster (which I see TONS of guys doing), and chastised him until my friend was embarassed and purchased some 15# Ultragreen that he didn't want.