Joshua van Wyk Posted November 27, 2018 Posted November 27, 2018 Hey guys, I was just at Cabelas to return a bag that had a broken zipper, and the guy at customer support informed that their life time guarantee was withdrawn by Bass Pro Shops. This means I will not be buying anymore of their store brand stuff. Just wanted to let you guys know so nobody gets an unpleasant surprise when trying to return items!
Russ E Posted November 27, 2018 Posted November 27, 2018 They went to a standard 90 day with receipt. Personally I don't recall taking anything back to Cabelas because of defects. Did not know until the merger, that they had a lifetime guarantee.
Super User WRB Posted November 27, 2018 Super User Posted November 27, 2018 Cabelas will fade into oblivion. Tom 1 1
LadiMopar Posted November 27, 2018 Posted November 27, 2018 1 hour ago, WRB said: Cabelas will fade into oblivion. Tom Unfortunately they seem to be about half way to oblivion already. I discovered their change in return policy over the summer when my "brother" had to replace a Cabelas brand fishing rod I bought him. The only good thing at my local "Bassela's" now are the folks who work there; many of whom I've gotten to know well, and who have kept me in the loop of upcoming changes. Otherwise it looks and feels more and more like BPS.
Russ E Posted November 27, 2018 Posted November 27, 2018 The Local Cabelas and Big cedar lodge is a popular tourist destination. Due in part to its proximity to the popular Legends outlet mall and Kansas speedway. I don't foresee the store closing, but I would not be surprised if it turned into a Bass Pro.
Dirtyeggroll Posted November 27, 2018 Posted November 27, 2018 Dammit. I bought several of the Tournament ZX Rods this spring/summer on the basis of the lifetime warranty.
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted November 27, 2018 Global Moderator Posted November 27, 2018 Unfortunately people abuse those lifetime warranties and that's often a major cause of why they get pulled. I saw some awful stuff returned when I worked at Cabela's, brand name stuff that was 10, 15 years old, or clearly abused, but it had a lifetime warranty so it was taken back. 7 1
Super User Fishing Rhino Posted November 27, 2018 Super User Posted November 27, 2018 I don't know how they can legally change the warranty. The buyer entered into an agreement with the seller when the purchase was completed. The buyer fulfilled his obligation when he paid for the product. Does anyone think that a car dealer could arbitrarily change the warranty terms after the vehicle is signed, sealed, and delivered? It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds if and when a buyer stands up to them. The problem is that the cost of a lawyer will likely be more the loss of a rod. Now, if the seller were required to pay the lawyer's fee, Cabelas would be singing a different tune. 2 1
Super User NHBull Posted November 27, 2018 Super User Posted November 27, 2018 4 hours ago, Fishing Rhino said: I don't know how they can legally change the warranty. The buyer entered into an agreement with the seller when the purchase was completed. The buyer fulfilled his obligation when he paid for the product. Does anyone think that a car dealer could arbitrarily change the warranty terms after the vehicle is signed, sealed, and delivered? It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds if and when a buyer stands up to them. The problem is that the cost of a lawyer will likely be more the loss of a rod. Now, if the seller were required to pay the lawyer's fee, Cabelas would be singing a different tune. Not unusual .. When companies merge or are acquired, many times the new owner does not have to jonor previous practices ....unless it was part of the deal. In this case I think not 2
Super User slonezp Posted November 27, 2018 Super User Posted November 27, 2018 5 hours ago, Fishing Rhino said: I don't know how they can legally change the warranty. The buyer entered into an agreement with the seller when the purchase was completed. The buyer fulfilled his obligation when he paid for the product. Does anyone think that a car dealer could arbitrarily change the warranty terms after the vehicle is signed, sealed, and delivered? It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds if and when a buyer stands up to them. The problem is that the cost of a lawyer will likely be more the loss of a rod. Now, if the seller were required to pay the lawyer's fee, Cabelas would be singing a different tune. Klein tools has done the same. Their lifetime warranty on hand tools is now at the discretion of the manufacturer rather than over the counter. Other items they sell have reduced warranty from lifetime to 5 years. OP. So you are boycotting Cabelas because they no longer have a lifetime warranty. Where are you going to shop? No other retailers that I know of offer a lifetime warranty on their in house brand, or any brands for that matter. 4
Derek1 Posted November 27, 2018 Posted November 27, 2018 Not to hijack the thread but my old boss used to do that. We would shovel out jobsites for a couple winters, and when they were wore down to nubs he would return them for new ones. It used to drive me crazy.
Super User the reel ess Posted November 27, 2018 Super User Posted November 27, 2018 11 hours ago, Joshua van Wyk said: Hey guys, I was just at Cabelas to return a bag that had a broken zipper, and the guy at customer support informed that their life time guarantee was withdrawn by Bass Pro Shops. This means I will not be buying anymore of their store brand stuff. Just wanted to let you guys know so nobody gets an unpleasant surprise when trying to return items! But did you buy it before the merger? If so, I would be insistent that they honor the warranty. If not, then I guess that's that. I hate it because Cabela's was, to me, an upscale BPS. BPS was like WalMart with more stuff.
Joshua van Wyk Posted November 27, 2018 Author Posted November 27, 2018 1 hour ago, slonezp said: Klein tools has done the same. Their lifetime warranty on hand tools is now at the discretion of the manufacturer rather than over the counter. Other items they sell have reduced warranty from lifetime to 5 years. OP. So you are boycotting Cabelas because they no longer have a lifetime warranty. Where are you going to shop? No other retailers that I know of offer a lifetime warranty on their in house brand, or any brands for that matter. No I'm not boycotting them. I just don't think I'll be buying their house brand stuff anymore.
fissure_man Posted November 27, 2018 Posted November 27, 2018 10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said: Unfortunately people abuse those lifetime warranties and that's often a major cause of why they get pulled. I saw some awful stuff returned when I worked at Cabela's, brand name stuff that was 10, 15 years old, or clearly abused, but it had a lifetime warranty so it was taken back. Somewhat off topic, but if a company offers a lifetime over-the-counter replacement program, I have a hard time seeing it as “abuse” when the customer participates in it. If I wear something out through no fault of the product, but the seller will still replace it under warranty, why not return it? It’s up to the company to decide on the parameters of their warranties, and how they are enforced. I don’t know Cabela’s policies, but with other now-defunct lifetime replacement programs it was often suggested or learned through experience (but probably never actually written) that scrutiny of returns would be essentially zilch. The downside for the company is that they will need to cover replacement costs, but on the other hand the generous warranty might keep customers around and is a selling point for their products, potentially with little else to differentiate them from alternatives. Walk in with a beat up and broken rod, walk out with a new one, no questions asked – that is/was worth $$ to the customer. The company offering a “no questions asked” warranty makes a bet that the warranty will bring in more $$ than it will cost them to fulfill it (the associated sales boost, price inflation, customer retention, etc. offset the liability of replacement costs). Some of these bets didn't work out, so a company retroactively cracks down on previously unenforced fine print to cut losses... try that in Vegas I get it, but I don't feel sorry. I bought numerous rods under that “over-the-counter, no questions asked” sales pitch, and even though they are 10+ years old I wouldn’t feel guilty asking for replacement, though I’d probably be rejected – it’s what I paid for, right? If not for those programs, I might have been buying from somebody else. Prices don’t go down when companies quietly roll back their warranties, so value from the customer’s perspective is lost. I can empathize with the OP that the attractiveness of Cabela’s house-brand gear takes a hit without its former warranty. 4
Super User scaleface Posted November 27, 2018 Super User Posted November 27, 2018 I bought a metal detector that had a lifetime warranty and had to send it in twice for repair. Now it appears that company is out of business . Maybe if they would have given a" best in the industry" five year warranty they may not have fallen on such a financial hardship . 2
GReb Posted November 27, 2018 Posted November 27, 2018 This country no longer operates on good faith anymore. Established companies offering long warranties will result in smaller black numbers and larger reds. In today’s market long warranties are often a marketing gimmick to help emerging companies increase sales. 1
volzfan59 Posted November 27, 2018 Posted November 27, 2018 When I was still at BPS during the buy out. I know that I read somewhere that "Lifetime" warranties were going away. Might have been something in-house, can't recall. Probably to sell more Gear Guard warranties! When Marcus Lemonis (sp?) bought Gander Mountain, now Gander Outdoors, one of the first things that they did was to cancel all warranties. It's done all the time, sucks but I guess it's just business.
Super User burrows Posted November 27, 2018 Super User Posted November 27, 2018 Screw this I just boycotted cabelas!!!! Oh wait, their are no cabelas around here, never mind. 2
LadiMopar Posted November 28, 2018 Posted November 28, 2018 13 hours ago, NHBull said: Not unusual .. When companies merge or are acquired, many times the new owner does not have to jonor previous practices ....unless it was part of the deal. In this case I think not Absolutely correct @NHBull, and this is obviously the case with the "Bassella" merger. Being of a legal background I attempted to locate an official copy of the " legendary lifetime" guarantee prior to the merger, the oldest version I could turn up without hours and hours of research went back to 2009. And while they were still using the term "lifetime" in their documentation/advertising the actual terms of that agreement were specified generally as 90 days for any reason on a Cabela's branded product; 1 year on Cabela's brand items with defects in workmanship/materials. The exception to the one year policy was strictly on Cabela's private label clothing/boots which specified for the lifetime of the product [exception to this is waders]. In reading the so called fine print, "lifetime" is/was based on internal company assessment, testing etc. which determines how long that "lifetime" is, as well as what constitutes "normal use. While I could not find any documentation that stated the usual disclaimer ' warranty subject to change without notice" blah, blah, blah... one should just assume that it is always implied. In non-legal terms, always assume that there are "weasel words" hiding in the shadows, and that everything is subject to change to the benefit of the company...no matter what company it is. Just my 2 cents. 2
Super User Ratherbfishing Posted November 28, 2018 Super User Posted November 28, 2018 20 hours ago, Fishing Rhino said: I don't know how they can legally change the warranty. The buyer entered into an agreement with the seller when the purchase was completed. The buyer fulfilled his obligation when he paid for the product. Does anyone think that a car dealer could arbitrarily change the warranty terms after the vehicle is signed, sealed, and delivered? It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds if and when a buyer stands up to them. The problem is that the cost of a lawyer will likely be more the loss of a rod. Now, if the seller were required to pay the lawyer's fee, Cabelas would be singing a different tune. Can we say "class-action suit"?
Ski213 Posted November 28, 2018 Posted November 28, 2018 It's unfortunate about the warranty being withdrawn. My personal experience with Cabela's branded stuff has been good, and thus far I have not needed the warranty, but it's good to know it's not being honored. It wasn't the selling point for me on gear, but it was a plus for sure. At my local Cabela'a it looks like the brand is being removed and replaced by the BPS stuff pretty quickly.
Super User flyfisher Posted November 28, 2018 Super User Posted November 28, 2018 Remember that lifetime warranty isn't always your life it is the reasonable lifetime of the product. I know this is semantics but as has already been mentioned, lifetime warranty isn't lifetime replacement no matter what happens. Zippers don't break on a bag because of a manufacturers defect years later but unfortunately people seem to believe that to be the case. I don't have an issue with changing this to a more realistic warranty. I have a shimano curado rod i bought less than a year ago and a guide broke off three from the top. Sure it is under warranty but i know it isn't a warranty issue at this point in its life. I will find a local place to replace the guide for a few bucks and call it good. If you have a busted zipper you can probably get it fixed for the price of gas driving to Cabelas. 2
Super User Fishing Rhino Posted November 28, 2018 Super User Posted November 28, 2018 9 hours ago, Ratherbfishing said: Can we say "class-action suit"? What lawyer will handle such a penny ante suit? There is a lot of work that goes into a class action suit. A spat over a warrantee for a fishing pole isn't very glamorous. It's not asbestos, or a pharmaceutical, or a Pinto gas tank, which can run into billions of dollars. They might have a suit, " A guy or gal who broke their fishing pole is not going to garner a lot of sympathy. Can you see a lawyer parading hundreds of "victims" before a judge. I can't. "Entity purchase agreements (also known as "stock purchase agreements"). In this arrangement, the buyer purchases the business entity by buying a majority (or more) of its stock. The new owner generally steps into the shoes of the previous owners, assuming all debts and obligations."
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