What exactly is going on with St. Croix?

[Ohioguy25]

Their warranty and customer service used to be the best in the business. Since Covid, it seems to have taken a nosedive.  Every time I have tried to warranty a Legend Tournament they have been on “back order” for months.  They obviously have rods, they just prioritize these big distributors over loyal customers it seems.

 

They also seem to be extremely prone to breakage, which fragility is somewhat expected in ultralight sensitive rods, but they just seem a wee bit too fragile.  I have now broken 3-4 with little to no effort, one while fighting a 1-2 lb smallmouth! I have also had problems with faulty components, the twist lock reel seat has come unglued before even using.  I expect more from $300 rods.

 

I have heard and read countless similar experiences with both quality control and warranty service, have they recently changed ownership or just experiencing a severe staffing shortage?

[gim]

Interesting.  That's a shame if its in fact true.  Your experience may not represent everyone else's as a whole.

 

I've had to warranty two St Croix rods and I was more than satisfied with their customer service.  This was about 8-10 years ago though.

[NoFroFishing]

Small company, small town, understaffed, covid, blah blah blah. To me none of those excuses can work anymore. Ive had rods from other companies replaced completely free of charge in 2 weeks. You will be lucky to hear back from St Croix in that time frame. Good luck calling them as well. 

 

They offer these long warranties but never have rods in stock but if you want to pay extra money you can upgrade! Of course you can.. 

 

That being said I will still buy a Trigon rod and hope for the best. Maybe I'm part of the problem

[ironbjorn]

Many reasons Dobyns makes up most of my rods.

[Hulkster]

its such a shame. Facebook and Reddit are a graveyard of SC posts lately with broken rods and reel seats coming apart across multiple lines. 

 

People are saying all brands have broken rods but I have argued not like this. 

 

I am on Loomis fan groups on Facebook and its nothing like the St. Croix one. Loomis rods seem way way more durable. St. Croix pages are nothing but a sea of broken rod and reel seat posts lately one after another. its brutal. 

 

its not just this stuff either. People are disappointed that they 'upgraded' the Avid line only to basically do nothing but downgrade the guides. No lengths over 7 feet etc. so what was the point of upgrading then??

 

I don't get it. 

 

I'm a Loomis and SC guy but I am down to one SC rod (a premier Musky rod that was purchased prepandemic and its awesome) 

[Lendiesel22]

I bought my Dad a Victory and it had a great feel. Just hope he doesn't have any issues bc I have heard of the ongoing issues.

[KP Duty]

You never know how widespread or isolated the problem is.  I read a while back that NRX casting reel seats were coming unglued (gen 1), but all 6 of mine and all 8 of my uncle's were unaffected.  

[Ohioguy25]

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

Interesting.  That's a shame if its in fact true.  Your experience may not represent everyone else's as a whole.

 

I've had to warranty two St Croix rods and I was more than satisfied with their customer service.  This was about 8-10 years ago though.

8-10 years ago, yes.  Unfortunately I believe my experience does represent a growing majority as evidenced by the sea of identical complaints.  It’s a shame as I really do love their rods and want to stay on team SC, but it’s almost to the point where you simply can’t count on them.

[dodgeguy]

DOBYNS FOR ME !!!!

[thunderblack]

Oh no. Just bought like 6 St. Croix rods recently. I'll put them through the paces and see what happens. Always had great luck with their sticks. St. Croix it still top notch in my book. All companies had to make some changes the last few years and deal with some different struggles. I'm sure they are working on it the best they can.

[Ohioguy25]

Like I said I am not jumping ship just yet, but I have literally had to buy two of each rod for this reason which is absolutely ridiculous.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Its not just you.  SC has put out some real sketchy products on the past couple years that have overwhelmed their customer service with warranty claims.  There are guys who are on their 3rd and 4th Mojo Inshore because they want to believe SCs claims of the first batch of blanks being defective.  It seems like they're innovating themselves into some real problems.  I haven't completely given up hope for them, but you wont see me preordering anything new from them.  Hopefully they can get it together before they do serious permanent damage to their fan base.

[Randy Price]

Sad to hear the problems people are having.  I've owned 40-50 SC rods over the last twenty years and have only had one break.  I do agree since COVID their CS is hard to deal with.  I do hope they are able to turn things around.  I like buying American made rods and enjoy visiting their factory annually.

 

[FishTank]

I called them two years ago for a question about either repairing or doing a warranty claim and all went well. They did say they were short staffed but the rod in question was an Avid. The replacement would have been a Victory which I would have had to wait for. I ended up repairing it myself.  

 

I have heard rumors though that they had a high turnover rate during Covid and the new staff is not the same as the old. Good company though. 

[Bluebasser86]

I've got 3 or 4 SC rods that are less than 5 years old. Had an issue with 1 Legeng Tournament that broke one of my first cast. Had a replacement back in my hands in less than 2 weeks. I spoke with someone on the phone in CS the day it happened and they took care of everything I needed to get it replaced. No issues with the replacement. I have heard of issues with reel seats coming unglued but haven't experienced it. I think you have to keep in mind that it isn't often you read about the people with good experiences, it's only the unhappy people who take the time to post reviews in a lot of cases so it makes the problem seem worse than it is.

[Jweller]

I loved St. Croix, my old Avids are my favorite rods.  Bought a whole pile of Victory's and had problems with the foam in the reel seat.  Friend had a Bass-X reel seat come unglued. 

I feel like they're spreading themselves too thin with development of reels/new rods/blank materials etc and aren't focusing on what they used to excel at; building extremely durable rods.

 

I broke a Premier and the warranty process for me at least was 10/10, however I assume it went smoother than most because of the particular model I had.

[ironbjorn]

People complain about broken Dobyns rods a lot too. But I've never broken one. However, I know if I do, whether it's a defect or my fault, the warranty is the best in the world. I can even go 2 hours south to ALF to get it taken care of. One of many reasons most of my rods are Dobyns. 

[JackstrawIII]

I’ve been very happy with my older Premier and BassX rods that I bought used off FB maketplace. 
 

Recently been trying out some Dobyns and am very happy there too. I won’t be ditching my older SC’s anytime soon, but I’m very skeptical about buying any new ones after reading all this. 

[Ohioguy25]

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I've got 3 or 4 SC rods that are less than 5 years old. Had an issue with 1 Legeng Tournament that broke one of my first cast. Had a replacement back in my hands in less than 2 weeks. I spoke with someone on the phone in CS the day it happened and they took care of everything I needed to get it replaced. No issues with the replacement. I have heard of issues with reel seats coming unglued but haven't experienced it. I think you have to keep in mind that it isn't often you read about the people with good experiences, it's only the unhappy people who take the time to post reviews in a lot of cases so it makes the problem seem worse than it is.

When was your warranty filled, and what rod specifically? This goes beyond bias and selectivity, it’s a pretty widespread issue. Try calling them tomorrow, leave your number for callback, and wait.

[Bluebasser86]

59 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

When was your warranty filled, and what rod specifically? This goes beyond bias and selectivity, it’s a pretty widespread issue. Try calling them tomorrow, leave your number for callback, and wait.

It was late last summer/early fall on a 7' 2" M/M LTB cranking rod. 

[MiceNReets]

2 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

When was your warranty filled, and what rod specifically? This goes beyond bias and selectivity, it’s a pretty widespread issue. Try calling them tomorrow, leave your number for callback, and wait.

I just called them last week to get a replacement for a rod that broke.  Was my fault.  No issues at all with reaching st croix.   They answered right away and I got my issue sorted out and rod shipped out right away.   Last year I had no issues either when I needed to replace a rod that broke.  Again my fault.    Very smooth transaction.   They actually went above and beyond with that instance.  I snapped the tip of my panfish rod which was the 1st Gen so it was well over the warranty limit.   They had the panfish rods on back order so they suggested a premier as the replacement.   I went with the premier and was told it’s due in the warehouse the following week and will ship asap.    In the meantime I checked out one in the store and felt it wasn’t what I wanted in comparison to my panfish rod.  Called them up and got ahold of someone right away.   Asked to change my premier to a panfish Rod and that I’ll wait the 3 months for a new one.   Guy apologized that I settled for something I wasn’t content with and unfortunately they can’t update my order and I’ll get the premier.   He then asked me to hold on a second and put me on hold.   Came back 2 mins later and said they just got some panfish rods in stock and they’re sending me one free of charge to make up for the hassle.   Offered to pay for it because it’s not their fault and they just sent it it free.   Top notch service and they’ve won my business for sure.   I have confidence in the future should I need to contact them again that my issues will be dealt with fast and professionally.    I’m surprised to hear that so many are having any issues with their customer service or their rods.    I have a few 2nd Gen Bass X and Victory rods and not a single issue with the reel seats and I beat on those rods when I take them out.  Don’t baby them like my Megabass rods.  LoL.   But that’s also because Megabass has a terrible warranty.  I don’t even know why I buy them.   ??‍♂️ 

[osummerer23]

They seem very fragile lately, I had a st croix break below the reel seat cork. How does a rod break 7" from the butt? when casting no less? 

[Jweller]

17 hours ago, JackstrawIII said:

I’ve been very happy with my older Premier and BassX rods that I bought used off FB maketplace. 
 

Recently been trying out some Dobyns and am very happy there too. I won’t be ditching my older SC’s anytime soon, but I’m very skeptical about buying any new ones after reading all this. 

I love my Premiers and the blue BassX rods are great as well, the issues came with the generation that had the lime green "BassX" on the blank.

[Hulkster]

56 minutes ago, osummerer23 said:

They seem very fragile lately, I had a st croix break below the reel seat cork. How does a rod break 7" from the butt? when casting no less? 

 

ya based on the reports on Facebook and Reddit rods are breaking at an alarming rate compared to other manufacturers like Loomis etc. 

 

they have to make them more durable their reputation is dropping like a rock. 

[Ohioguy25]

13 minutes ago, Hulkster said:

 

ya based on the reports on Facebook and Reddit rods are breaking at an alarming rate compared to other manufacturers like Loomis etc. 

 

they have to make them more durable their reputation is dropping like a rock. 

Their service is the real problem