Strike King Vs. Rapala Customer Service.

[ww2farmer]

Well by stating last week I had no recent memory of every getting a bum average priced bait, I get two in row LMAO. First a SK RES that takes on water, and second an X-rap that sinks tail first like a rock. An e-mail to each company, and I get, in summery, this from each:

SK: Send it back, we will replace it free of charge and give you an extra one for your trouble.

Rapala: Send it back, using this idiotic form, with your orginal receipt, box it came in, DNA sample, passport, ss#, and photo copy of your birth cert., we will evaluate it, make sure it's not your fault, and maybe we will replace it, please be advised this process could take any where from 6 weeks to 4 years. Oh..and if you don't have the receipt/box/etcc..................tuff luck.

No more Rapala/Normark products for me.

[Ima Bass Ninja]

Makes me glad I was never a rapala fan to begin with. I wonder how many customers they have run off with that kind of customer service?

[outdoorsman110]

I've never had any problems with Rapala. They are good to me. Kopper's is better though.

[Kevinator1]

I've had trouble with Rapala too. The DT crankbait line has a problem with the lips breaking. I always bump the bottom or rocks and I have broken 4 DT 10's so I e-mailed Rapala and never got a response. Normans or Bombers can be run over by a truck and you still can't break the lips. I know that the thin lips on the DT's help them dive and go through the water easily but they are way too flimsy. Really disappointed with Rapalas customer service......If they have one.

[Marty]

Rapala has changed in recent years as far as I'm concerned. On a few occasions I sent back lures with various problems they promptly replaced them. A couple of years ago I bought a lure--forgot the name--but it was advertised to dive to one foot. I viewed it as a nice alternative to a Baby 1-Minus.

Well, I couldn't get it more than a few inches down, so I sent it to Rapala with the form mentioned above saying that it wouldn't perform as advertised and requested another lure as a replacement. Two weeks later I received a package. I opened it eagerly and found they returned the lure back to me. There was a letter telling me that if I had a problem I should've dealt with Bass Pro, who I bought it from.

It was obvious that they changed their tune and were now playing hardball and I still regret that I didn't return the lure back to them, reminding them that I didn't want it and to not send it back again. I don't know what they would've done.

[ChrisAW]

Hmm, thats weird. I just sent 8 DT's back about a month ago because of the broken bill issue, and they were all replaced no problem.

I'm kind of shocked I have broke so many since, like I mentioned in another thread, I haven't caught a dang thing on cranks in a couple years.

[MN Bassin' nOOb]

x2 on the Strike King. Had a faulty one, got the same type of response (and they sent me an additional one "for the trouble.") Probably cost them $5 total, but they have a customer for life.

Can't comment personally on Rapala, but I've heard similar stories in the past 2-3 years.

Strike King has my business for the foreseeable future, even though I'm not a huge customer, I still probably buy $100 worth of their lures/year.

[Nice_Bass]

I guess i am with you, i have never really had a faulty avg. crank problem. I mostly use Norman 22's and fat free shads. Break a lot of bills over a year but i am slamming rocks on most casts.

[Nitrofreak]

90% of what is in my tackle box is some type of strike king product, very rarely do I ever have a problem, but when I do, the company also is no problem, and quick to take care of you too.

All companies should take training sessions of how to truely take care of their customers from Strike king, but then again they should already know.

[lavbasser]

I have read other threads about Rapala Customer Service mentioning the same issues. Some people will take advantage of liberal return policies, so I give companies (like SK and others) a lot of credit for making returns and exchanges easy. Someone should send Rapala a link to this thread. Very often companies will exchange stuff without ever asking for a receipt.

[airborne_angler]

SK took care of me a few years ago. I emailed them about some RES Baits that had swelled up from the heat,and that a series 4 had split at the seam from the heat. I emailed them pics as well. They sent me a package with 4 series 6 and 4 RES in the sexy Shad color. I also got a hat and a catalog.2 months later I got a duplicate package from SK. Don't know why,but I wasn't arguing.

[ww2farmer]

I have no problem sending the bum lure back in for them to inspect, I am not trying to scam anyone. I just find it pretty rediculous that Rapala basicly makes it a process and semi hassel with the stipulations they put on it. Many MANY or my lures are bought weeks, months, heck even a year or more before they make it out of there packages and into the boat. I visually inspect each one as I open it, and if it looks good to go, which 99.99% of all of them have over the years, toss the box/packeage and put it a plano in the boat. The reciept......I don't even know or remember when/where I buy some of this stuff, let alone have an original store receipt. Were talking about a $8 fishing lure here, not a bill of sale on a car or truck How about all the DT's that I have busted bills off of over the last few years that I never asked for a replacement, oh well, like I said, I am done with them, there are too many other good baits out there from companys that don't make it a hassel to simply return a defective product that catch fish, for me to waste anymore of my time or money on Rapala stuff.

The bad Red Eye shad is all packed up in an envelope, with a copy of the e-mail directing me on what to do ready to be mailed in. The crap X-rap, I took the hooks off to put on another X-rap that needed new hooks,so I could sell it, along with the rest of the Rapala crap I have, and buy some more Spro, Strike King, Xcailiber, Jackall, Luck-e-strike, Bomber or Bandit stuff, and I tossed the defective bait in the garbage.