Zo, Glad to hear you got out of this with nothing more than a dunking and a good scare. You have already had tons of suggestions, I'll add mine: I would make it clear to the manufacturer that you expect full compensation for the equipment, to include the tackle. I would be clear to add something like "I sure hope we can settle this to both of our satisfaction without having to go to court". I would NOT fabricate a bunch of lies about injury...last time I checked that is a punishable offense under the law known as perjury. I took a dunkin' in a fast river one day years ago-with the old vulcanized rubber chest waders on- and it scared the crap out of me. I'm sure your ordeal was much worse. Glad you made it to the bank alive!