Cabelas Products And Customer Service Are The Best!

[tcbass]

I recently made my last big fishing purchases for awhile. I purchased 4 Cabelas Tournament ZX rods (2 casting, 2 spinning) which are $100 for sale for $69 each. They won the Outdoor Life's Editors Choice award this year. I've gone by OL's awards a few times and never been disappointed and I've bought Leupold Rangefinders, Cabelas Clothing, Petzal headlamps, and other products. They also gave the Abu Garcia Revo Rocket the Editor's Choice award. So I bought 2 of the Rockets for my baitcasting reels. I love the Rockets. Great reels. Not cheap though. Then the other day I bought Shimano Stradic and Shimano Stradic Ci4 during Cabelas discount days for military/law enforcement. I should be set for years to come and don't expect to need to buy any more big purchases, only small tackle ones from now on.

My favorite baitcasting rod was my St. Croix Mojo Bass rod until I got my Cabelas Tournament ZX. Both rods are heavy, but the Cabelas feels like a MH. All of the Cabelas rods feel like they are a weight lighter than they actually are. It also has amazing Winn grips and a great hook holder. I love the Tournament ZX rods. I don't know if they are the best rods at their price point but they have to be one of the best rods for $69-$100 price range. And I know they will go on sale again.

 

Well, I was fishing with my brother and he was using one of my new spinning rods. He'd just caught a decent bass on my swim jig and was getting the rod ready again when he was pulling line out and the rod just blew up, and I mean blew up. It broke into 3 pieces. 1 long piece, and about two 2"-3" pieces all toward the tip. I wanted to be so mad at him for breaking my new rod but I knew it wasn't really his fault. Even though he had a history of breaking my stuff.

 

So I've had these rods for about 4 months, but only fishing for about a month. So I ended up making a pit-stop to Cabelas and when I wasn't planning on going there and I went into fishing and found an employee for something else and ended up talking to him about my rod situation. He said the way it broke at the wraps was probably the wraps being made too tight during manufacturing. He said bring it in and it'll he'll make sure it gets exchanged. I also told him I had another Tournament ZX that I didn't like the length and wanted to exchange it for the same rod but longer. He said, bring that in too. This employee was an older gentleman and he was really passionate about fishing and knowledgeable while not being negative to other products.

 

Well, I brought the rods in on another day and found him. He walked with me to get customer service desk and made sure I got my exchanges without a hitch. Awesome customer service! This is one of the reasons I'm a lifelong Cabelas customer. They exchanged the broken rod with no problem under manufacturing defect when they could have just made me buy another and they allowed me to exchange my rod for another when they didn't need to.

 

 

This employee is also the one who got me onto the *** rods and said that the line is coming to Cabelas soon and that they already have their base model rods at Cabelas. I looked at the rod but it felt much heavier than the Cabelas Tournament ZX. He said the ***'s are great rods for $100 though. He's a fan of the Omens.

 

 

Well, this is just one of the reasons I am a lifelong Cabelas customer. I'm happy I didn't have to buy a new rod or be stuck with the rod that was too short. They really went out of their way to make things work out for me.

[TNBassin']

I have similar experiences at BPS. Stuff like this goes a long way with me and builds customer loyalty. Something a lot of companies don't care about.

[Jeff H]

Rogers or Woodbury?  I'm lucky, haven't had to return anything I've bought from them yet.  I love that place!

 

We don't have a BPS here in MN.  But they sicken me with their backorders and shipping so even if one does ever pop up here, to Cabela's I will go....always.  The one thing I always buy from BPS is their low profile casting reel covers.  These I like, but I made my final order on them this spring and got screwed by their ridiculous shipping again one final time.

[TNBassin']

Cabelas is more expensive than BPS lol. And good luck getting your order shipped quickly from Cabelas. They are by far the slowest when it comes to processing orders and getting them out. And shipping. I ordered 6 Xcalibur XR50s and got charged $8.95 for shipping lol. That's ridiculous.

[jignfule]

My experience,Cabela's had a few hick-ups some years ago,but other than that they have been EXCEPTIONAL in the customer service dept. above and beyond the call of duty in many cases. Hope they don't change that.

[Code54]

I buy a lot at Cabelas also - have always had great Customer service and a friendly staff.    As for shipping, mostly if I order an in stock item I have it in 48-72 hours sitting on my door step.  I have always been happy with the shipping and normally they have some reduced cost shipping offer so it is not bad.  Think it was $5.95 for any order the other day and I figure that is cheaper than diesel to get here....

[Jeff H]

Cabelas is more expensive than BPS lol. And good luck getting your order shipped quickly from Cabelas. They are by far the slowest when it comes to processing orders and getting them out. And shipping. I ordered 6 Xcalibur XR50s and got charged $8.95 for shipping lol. That's ridiculous.

BPS nailed me for $10.95 shipping on a box that weighed less than 1lb (bought a dozen reel covers), billed as 2 lb and then....drum roll.....shipped Smart Post.  Had any experience with Smart Post?  The reel covers in that box likely weighed less than your 6-Xcalibur XR50's.  It's ok though, I am stocked on reel covers now, didn't mind making that final payment to BPS.  Took 4 or 5 days to arrive I think, which is not bad considering Smart Post.  Could have it in 2 days if it had come USPS First Class/Priority or UPS ground.  Didn't care though, wasn't in dire need of them.  

 

Have not had a lot of orders shipped from Cabela's.  A few, but they all got here much quicker than I expected.  I usually have the stuff I need to order "sent to store" for no charge as I drive within 300 yds of them every day.  Kinda nice! 

 

Here's what I think.....lots of companies are taking advantage of consumers where shipping charges are concerned.  I have been burnt FAR worse by some on very small items I needed and couldn't find anywhere else.  Thing is, we always KNOW what our charges are BEFORE we click "send order" and therefore have agreed to it.  Doesn't really make it right but in the end we own it.  I know these companies pay for these services and that charge + is going to get rolled into our laps and I can accept that, but we could do without the serious gouging some hit us with.

[tcbass]

Rogers or Woodbury? I'm lucky, haven't had to return anything I've bought from them yet. I love that place!

We don't have a BPS here in MN. But they sicken me with their backorders and shipping so even if one does ever pop up here, to Cabela's I will go....always. The one thing I always buy from BPS is their low profile casting reel covers. These I like, but I made my final order on them this spring and got screwed by their ridiculous shipping again one final time.

Woodbury Cabelas.

BPS's shipping has caused me not to order too.

Cabelas maybe a little more expensive on some stuff but I usually order expensive stuff when it's on sale. And now I can have stuff shipped to the store for free, forcing me to go to cabelas. Hmmmm......that could be a bad thing. lol.

I also get my orders extremely quickly. I've never had to wait more than 4-5 days to receive something. Usually get it in 3-4 days.

[smalljaw67]

I'm lucky in that I have a Cabelas 20 minutes from my house and a BPS about 40 minutes away and I choose Cabelas most of the time because they have better customer service. BPS normally has a better selection of stuff but if you have a problem Cabelas will solve it while BPS takes their time to determine what to do. I bought a zoom tube kit from BPS in March, this was a few years back, I needed this for a tournament and they didn't arrives, after 2 weeks I called and was told it was on back order, well I cancelled it and it was weird, the charge never came off my card. I called every month to tell them they didn't take the charge off, they would assure me it would get taken care of and apologize for the inconvenience, well this went on until one day in August when my tube kit I cancelled finally arrived, they never took it off my card and I was done with them after that and have only made in store purchases since.

[new2BC4bass]

I'm another who thought Cabela's shipping fees were too high.  Now that I have one about a 35 minute drive away, I spend the money on gas and pick my items up in person.

[Tywithay]

I raid the bargain cave at cabela's about once a month. I've found some super good deals in there. I haven't been impressed by their customer service and do agree that shipping prices suck, for the most part. I especially hate having to pay tax on everything as well. I'll only buy things that are marked down a lot, and I always do ship-to-store now.

[Hogsticker]

The Cabelas in Post Falls Idaho has some of the worst customer service I've ever seen. I could walk around the fishing department for an hour before anyone would even acknowledge I'm around. Also never been very impressed with the house brand merchandise either. Don't even bother anymore. I order everything on line. They never bring in anything new. The place us under staffed, and it seems like everyone hates there job.

[Jeff H]

I'm lucky in that I have a Cabelas 20 minutes from my house and a BPS about 40 minutes away and I choose Cabelas most of the time because they have better customer service. BPS normally has a better selection of stuff but if you have a problem Cabelas will solve it while BPS takes their time to determine what to do. I bought a zoom tube kit from BPS in March, this was a few years back, I needed this for a tournament and they didn't arrives, after 2 weeks I called and was told it was on back order, well I cancelled it and it was weird, the charge never came off my card. I called every month to tell them they didn't take the charge off, they would assure me it would get taken care of and apologize for the inconvenience, well this went on until one day in August when my tube kit I cancelled finally arrived, they never took it off my card and I was done with them after that and have only made in store purchases since.

I've been on that same bus.  Hence my mention of backorders in my first post.  In my case it was for some lead bullet weights years ago.  

[Jeff H]

Woodbury Cabelas.

 

 

That's a new one!  Just opened up didn't it?

[tcbass]

That's a new one!  Just opened up didn't it?

Yep. Brand new. Smaller then the destination stores.