All Star Rod service SUCKS!

[Redlinerobert]

I hope none of you guys are sponsored by All Star.  I can not believe how RUDE they are.  I called them to see what their warranty replacement service requires.  They need proof of purchase for the rod.  OK.  So I call Bass Pro to get a record of my rod purchase.  They unfortunately only go back one year with their records.  

I put in another call to All Star.  I finally get a lady on the phone, explain what happened to my rod, and she says the same thing, unless they have a receipt or warranty card, they can not do anything.  GREAT!  I did send in the the warranty card and ask her to research it.  She comes back and tells me that she could not find it.  I tell her I am confused, I know for a FACT that I sent it in.  

At this point, I am a little confused.  I mention to her that I know that I sent in the warranty card, and that I sent in two rods to G Loomis and in 3 days I had new rods back.   She obviously didn't like that and told me "We aren't G Loomis".  She then hung up on me!  

Great customer service All Star....... >

[Raul]

That 's what happens when a monster company absorbs the little company and put their hands in the management of the little company. Shakespeare took over All-Star a couple of years ago. Fortunately Shimano was a lot smarter when it took over GLoomis, they left GLoomis as it was.

[HomersTomaco]

Geez.  I have all star rods I hope they dont break.

How did you break three rods though.

[roadwarrior]

Well,  let's look at the bright side:

Now you have a good reason to buy a couple of new Loomis!

[Redlinerobert]

The rod broke when I set the hook on a 16 lb peacock.  You're right RW.  Off to the rod shop later

[Guest DavidGreen]

Happy Holidays!

Raul,

Fortunately Shimano was a lot smarter when it took over GLoomis, they left GLoomis as it was.

Not quite Raul, That was when the expeditor system was installed. All through the 90's when I was building on the actual G-Loomis blank, whenever you had a failure you sent it in and they would x ray it. Now you have a no questions asked warranty, believe me that wasn't Gary Loomis' idea.

Tight Lines!!!    

[justfishin]

I am a All Star fan and have been for a long time. Unforturnatly what Raul said is true. I would forget the phone contact and write a letter online to them and explain how you were treated and I would bet that you get some satisfaction. I always praised the service I got from them. I broke a rod about 5 years ago and the warr. was way over and they sent me a new one. I have not had to deal with them since the turnover but, after listening to your story, I am not looking forward to it. Beside all that, I would bet that those Peacocks that you were fishing for eat rods for breakfast, no matter what brand.

[justfishin]

RoadWarrior,

 I am here to admit I have never owned a G.L. I am starting to feel really inferior here, lol. Give me some good reasons to buy one or two and I will. Sell me. I see a lot of you use them in here so, there has to be some good reasons. I like All Star and Gator and certainly could not afford to replace all of my client rods with GL but, I am willing to get on board for personal use if you can convince me. I am attempting to go on a rod building journey soon to avoid off the rack rods because I am so particular. I want to build my ultimate smallie rod that fits my specs as I cannot find one.

                                                                                                                                                   

6'6"

60 million modulus

8-15 lb line

1/8-1/2 lure wt

Titanium line guides ( one leg style )

carbon wrapped butt section

Extra Fast

Tenn handle, spinning

[carySE406]

That "free" tackle bag with purchase of an All-Star Rod deal is a joke.  The coupon said 8-10 weeks and it has been 13 or 14 weeks and I have heard nothing.  It's too bad that I like their rods too much to start bashing them.

[Redlinerobert]

I like their rods too, don't get me wrong,  but when you can spend an EQUAL amount on a rod with a different manufacturer and get a new rod if it breaks, then THAT is where I will be spending my money from now on.  

[cart7t]

 I am here to admit I have never owned a G.L. I am starting to feel really inferior here, lol. Give me some good reasons to buy one or two and I will. Sell me.

Here's what you here alot from the Loomis owners:

"The rod broke setting the hook on a fish but I got a new one in less than a week when I got home."

...............and over and over.

Ultra sensitivity doens't mean much if the rod has no guts to put the metal to the mouth.  So, in this scenario, you buy a few Loomis rods with Chronarch's on them. (Would you put a 4 cylinder in a Mustang GT?)  You've got about 3 rigs total because that's all you can afford at over $500 per combo.  On day 1 of your 3 day fishing trip, you set the hook with your uber sensitive, Loomis, Med/Hvy worm rod and KAPOW!!  Your premium, ultra sensitive worm rod snaps and is now useless for the rest of the trip.  Likely, you'll reach for your 1/3 the cost backup and spend the rest of the trip catching fish like always. (unless of course you had to sell the backups to pay for the Loomis/Chronarch combos)

Then you'll come home, ship off uber rod, get a new one in less than a week and then come here and brag about how great Loomis's warranty is.  Everyone will then relate how their Loomis rods also broke when setting the hook on a fish but how fast and wonderfull the Loomis people are in exchanging them.   ;D  

[Rose_Jackets67]

Interesting. I've never dealt with All Stars customer service, and this makes me a little worried - all of my 'Nice' rods are either Falcon Caras (x3) or All Star Team All Star-series (x2).

I've never had to warranty a rod with either company, but I did break one of my Falcon Tackle Organizers. Called them up about it, and the fella that helped said "I'll send you a new one. Don't worry about the busted one, just trash it." Big plus for Falcon in my book.

Here's to hoping my 1-piece All Stars stay that way  

Adam

[Redlinerobert]

Don't count on it Adam.  

I wish I could say differently, but honestly the rudeness of the customer service lady from All Star was without merit.  She LITERALLY hung up on me after telling me and I quote "Sorry we aren't Loomis".

I will NEVER buy another All Star rod again.

[roadwarrior]

cart7,

I have never heard of ANYONE breaking a G.Loomis on a hookset, NEVER...Now maybe someone is going to say that happened to them, but I suspect there are some other circumstances or events that caused rod failure. At any rate, I suspect more than 99.999% of returns result from "accidents."

[flechero]

I have never heard of ANYONE breaking a G.Loomis on a hookset

Happens all the time to rods that are already damaged, nicked, etc. but it's all brands...  It's just that people think "not my rod, it's been babied since it was new, must be a defect"    Another reason I hate hook keepers, they promote this minor damage which ends up contributing to a failure.

A true defect would have most likely broken on the first hard hookset, or snag.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I won't take sides but I will say this... I've never heard of problems with All Star cust svc., and have had rods warranted in the past.  I also know that if I was the cust svc rep and you said loomis this and loomis that I would have probably hung up on you too.  ...lol  You should lead with kindness...  and your post leads me to think you got defensive or sarcastic pretty quick.  Seriously, you should take 5 minutes and write a letter stating the facts... All Star is normally a great group of people.  How do I know this?  I know several of them.

Which model was it & how old was the rod?

[senile1]

Don't count on it Adam.  

I wish I could say differently, but honestly the rudeness of the customer service lady from All Star was without merit.  She LITERALLY hung up on me after telling me and I quote "Sorry we aren't Loomis".

I will NEVER buy another All Star rod again.

I can understand your frustration, but I wouldn't allow one rude moron to ruin my view of a whole company.  Any rod company large enough to sell quite a few rods is going to have a jerk . . . or two . . . or three.  It's the human condition.  Go over her head.  Write a letter as others have suggested.  If you are still getting the brush-off treatment, then I would consider not doing business with All Star.  From my experience, and from what I have heard from others, this is not a common occurrence.  

[KU_Bassmaster.]

I had a similar experience last year. My issue was eventually resolved, it just took some time.

I had the insert of my tip top guide fall out of my TAS. I called the customer service number and explained that I wanted a tip top guide sent to me and I would replace it myself. The response I got from the idiot on the other line was send it in. Then I tried to explain to him that all I needed was the tip top guide and I didn't want to pay the $20+ to ship it plus the $30 bench fee (or whatever it is) for the part the can't cost more than a couple dollars. Still he insisted I send it in. I got sick of dealing with so I hung up and called again to try to get somebody else. Same guy. Hung up called back a few hours later .... still him. This time I disguised my voice and still got the send it in response. I posted my experience on here and somebody on here (don't remember who) gave me an email address of competent lady. She took care of it.

Sometimes it takes a little trying, but usually you can get a hold of the right person who will take care of you. I will try to find that old post and that email addy.

[dodgeguy]

that was me that gave you the address.

mailto:service@allstarrods.com

i'm going to post a link to this thread in an email and send it to them to see if they will help.i suggest you email them also.i forgot the woman's name.

[dodgeguy]

here's a copy of the email i just sent.

dear all star,

one of our forum members has had a bad experience with your warranty department over the phone.here is a link to the thread on our forum.as a reputable company who has always been fair with me i hope you can help him.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1166043239/0

                sincerely,

                      john c. bernardo

[KU_Bassmaster.]

There ya go. Thanks again. There was also something wierd with the email. Like it wasn't the one listed on the website or rod or something like that. The one you provided was the right one.

I was doing some digging and couldn't find it. :-?

[TournyFish001]

my dad has quite the collection of Loomis rods- bass fishes all the time and is a hook setting freak- he uses his bass Loomis rods for steelhead drift fishing- and sets the hooks on them like they are muskie- never broke a rod on a hookset-

[justfishin]

Redlinerobert,

My friend whom works for the FLW is  in N. Carolina fishing now but, he called me this morning to give a update and I explained to him your plight with All Star. He is going to call the regional rep. ( we live in Maryland ) and give him a run down. I have a feeling that your issue will be resolved. Not because of me stirring up a rep. but, because I don't think they will want this type of PR on the net. Good luck.

[Redlinerobert]

Jim,

Thanks very much.  It's individuals like yourself and others on this board that make me proud to be a member.  OK maybe even Avid.   ;D

If they take care of this issue for me, I would be very appreciative.  I jus think it's wrong to have to go through so much trouble to get a rod replaced DURING the warranty period!

The Loomis rods that broke on the trip were banged up on the boat.  I would not be surprised if they had some nicks on them and thus aided in their failure.  It is nice to know that in future situations I can USE the rods as they were intended to be used and not have to worry about if they get banged up or broken - Loomis will more than likely replace them.  I take very good care of my equipment, but come on guys - they are tools and tools get used.  

[Siebert Outdoors]

they are tools and tools get used.

Exactly!

With high performance comes high maitenance.

A single shot gun cost about 100 bucks and yeah it shoots

but a good simi costs about 1K and shoots 3 times fast and looks good.  Also will probably break before the 100 dollar gun.  Same with fishing rods, vehicles, etc.

Tools are ment to be used

[Guest DavidGreen]

Happy Holidays!

Redlinerobert,

While I hope the issues get cleared up in a timely manor.

At this point, I am a little confused.  I mention to her that I know that I sent in the warranty card, and that I sent in two rods to G Loomis and in 3 days I had new rods back.   She obviously didn't like that and told me "We aren't G Loomis".  She then hung up on me!

Dropping another companies name to a competition manufacturers CS Rep in a comparatively taunting way will never get you a positive response.

It is nice to know that in future situations I can USE the rods as they were intended to be used and not have to worry about if they get banged up or broken - Loomis will more than likely replace them.  I take very good care of my equipment, but come on guys - they are tools and tools get used.

Just gotta agree with that they are tools, but even tools get miss-used not just miss-treated.

Tight Lines All!!!