My buddy, my dad, and myself all have the same rod (we target sturgeon.... like a lot...). The only difference is that we all have the 12' version. Based on your description, I don't think any of us have the issue you're dealing with. Our ferrules seat as you would expect. My only guess is that maybe you got a 13' base and a 12' tip. The ferrules would have to be a different diameter. But I could see how that would be an easy error to make during shipping. The first picture is the rod put together. In the second picture, the sharpie is pointing to how deep the tip seated on the base. Hope this helps.
Tight lines,
Kyle