Sage customer service question

Fly-Swatter

Fly-Swatter

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
1,234
I've had a run of bad luck (read "clumsiness"). I broke my Sage LL in early January. It took Far Bank, over 4 months to return my repaired rod to me. The reason: Supply chain problems.

OK

Oh, and what was a lifetime warrantee morphed into a $200 repair bill. They now scale the repair cost based on the generation of rod you own. Scroll down to Services here.

Last week I broke my Sage Payload. I asked them a question on their Contact us page on Sunday, 6/19. No reply. I asked again on Tuesday and Thursday, thinking the first time or two did not go through. Still no reply.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with Far Bank?

FYI: Far Bank is the registration and warrantee company for Sage, Redington, and Rio.

I am unhappy.
 
I've had a similar experience.

My 1090 Igniter broke at the butt on the first tarpon I hooked this season. It was only a 65lb fish and the first time I fished the rod.

I called Sage twice. The phone rang and rang both times. Finally it rang long enough to get to a voicemail. I left a message on 5/31, it's now 6/24 and I've not received a call back.

I did however receive an email on 5/31 asking "how was your customer service experience?" How they got my email from a phone call I don't know. I did send the email back saying "You didn't do a da[ng] thing. There was no customer service".

Back to my 10wt. After a few days with no call back, I threw all the pieces into the rod tube and shipped it back to them with a note. We'll see if I get it back, but it's junk as it is.

As for the $200 charge on classic rods. I think that's bullshit. Those rods came with an unconditional lifetime warranty. I remember buying my first Sage rod and the warranty was touted by the salesman at Cold Spring Anglers. Well that rod is still going, as should the warranty I paid for. I think it's a breach of contract.

I've been a Sage customer for over 20 years. All my rods are Sage. This all has me looking at Hardy or, most likely, Scott for my next rod(s). I've fished Scott rods and really liked them.

I'm glad I didn't buy that 790 R8 now.

The way I understand it is Far Bank is the conglomerate that owns Sage, Redington and Rio. I think they are the problem and reason for the warranty changes.
 
Just the opposite. I bought and broke a used Sage XP -- dumbness on my part. I contacted them and was able to mail in just the ferrule and a modest check with the serial number of the rod. It was only a couple of weeks later that I had the replacement tip section for the rod. When the weather cools down in late August or September (I hope), I am anxious to try the rod. I was very pleased with the service I received.
 
BC: What phone # did you call. I didn't find one to call. I like the Payload, but it's a one trick pony.

I completely agree about the breach of contract. I'd suggest a class action lawsuit is warranted (pun intended) but that would only help the lawyers.

RRT: You give me a bit of hope.

Considering the lack of communication, I conclude they are short on staffing. I don't care. I want my rod fixed in a reasonable timeframe. To compare, my buddy bought a used Loomis NRX off ebay a few years ago. It was a great rod and motivated me to buy my first new fly rod in 25 years because the tech had advanced far enough that it made a huge difference for me. I say "was" because he broke it 6 weeks ago. The warrantee is for original owner. However, Loomis sent him a new IMX pro a few weeks later. They really didn't have to do that, IMO.

So, Sage is failing in customer service.
 
I broke the butt section of my Z-Ax years ago when I took a hard fall and Sage promptly repaired it. I just purchased an X on sale and when I registered it I landed on the Far Bank website. I’m a little disappointed and concerned that Sage doesn’t have their own site anymore. Hope not to need any repairs on either of my rods.
 
Sadly pretty typical of companies that sell out/get bought out by holding companies like Sage did. My recent Orvis and T&T rod repairs have been turned around in less than a month and within the terms of the original warranty. May be time to go try some other sticks!
 
FS, 1-800-533-3004

I agree Sage is failing in customer service.
I have a similar story of an acquaintance with a Scott rod. He broke it in early May of this year (on a tarpon too) and had a new rod back in two weeks. He got a person on the phone when he called initially and a phone call back by the same person when the rod was received by Scott.

I've had two other rods repaired by Sage over the years, and while somewhat lengthy, they at least communicated and got them back to me. Now it's just a joke.

Here's another Sage customer service story. I bought a hooded sun shirt from them online for a trip. It never shipped. Two weeks went past so I called them. They didn't know what happened. Then called me back two days later saying "your order got lost, we didn't see it, and now we're sold out of that shirt". I demanded a refund and made sure I wouldn't be charged for their screw-up.
Fast forward 4 months and I get a text alert of a random charge from Sage. Now long forgetting the shirt I think my card was hacked. I call and have it shut off. Only to later check my email and see Sage has charged me for the shirt I ordered 4 months ago.
 
There was a huge discussion on another FF website about this issue. A lot of people unhappy with Sage/far bank. Also, I would not buy a used Sage cause if it breaks your gonna have a big repair bill if they will even fix it.
Personally I don't intend to buy a Sage rod anymore - the 6 or 7 old ones that I have are either no longer being repaired or the "unconditional warranty" that came with the rod/blank now has a big repair charge. There are newer rods that are likely better than the old Sages and the hundreds of dollars for Sage repair can get put toward a new rod like Stickman or Taylor, from what I hear/read these rival Sages best and are more reasonable (but still expensive) in price.
 
This is very sad to me. I've had a handful of Sage rods and loved them all.
 
I understand that times change, and not always for the better. I’m not sure, however, that when a company like Far Bank bought Sage that they are legally obligated to honor the previous company’s warranty policy, although you’d think they would want to do so, if practical, to continue the goodwill and reputation that the previous company had built over the years.

While I’ve not had any recent experiences with returning rods to Sage, I’ve had many occasions in the past to send the broken rods for repair, and I was never unhappy with the time it took them to do so, or the quality of the repair itself.

My last repair experience with Sage was just over a year ago when I broke the tip section on an XP. I forget exactly how long the repair took, but as I recall they completed it within the timeframe they told me to expect when I sent it in, which was several months as I recall due to Covid.

Four years ago, I had a number of Sage rods burn in a fire. I was only able to retrieve the burned pieces of one of those rods that I’d had in the back if my truck, which was also burned. The rod was barely identifiable as a fishing rod; beyond that it could have been a Walmart special from all anyone could tell.

I called Sage customer service, told them what had happened, and they told me to send it in and they’d see what they could do, but no promises on the repair.
In short order, they sent me an entirely new rod, and never charged me a cent!

We may never see customer service like that again, but wouldn’t it be nice if if got back to something closer to what it had been?
 
TFO’s warranty is send in the broken section with 35 bucks and you will get you a new section. No confusing language, no interpretations, just send it in.
 
Regarding the lifetime warranties, I fully understand that sometimes a company will change the rods or retire a specific model, meaning that they won't have blanks available to fix one (or the ability to quickly make a new matching blank). For that reason, I'm OK with a 20 or 25-year warranty, but if the rod companies wish to change the terms of their warranties from full lifetime warranties to a 20 or 25-year warranty, then they damn sure ought to honor the warranty when/if the customer needs to use it. Likewise, I'm OK with a warranty that will not cover stupidity on the part of the user, but that should be spelled out completely and the rod should cost slightly less if the terms of the warranty aren't as beneficial to the owner.

I used a Sage warranty once. The tip section of my rod broke in normal use and while they DID replace the tip section, I seem to remember it costing me $60 and at that time the rod was still almost new. Can't say that I was overly excited or angry about how I was treated then, but I can see why you'd be upset.
 
I have no disagreement or issues with any of the above thoughts and experiences. All I ask from companies I support is reasonable communication. I have had email acknowledgements of my questions, but zero responses/answers...in over A WEEK! I know, we live in strange times, but this is unacceptable.

In the past, Sage has done a good job, IMO, of honoring and turning around warrantee repairs. Clearly, those days are in the rearview mirror. I get the sense that they don't care. They are banking on fly fishers being such total suckers for the latest, greatest rods that we'll roll the dice on bad customer service. There is a lot of competition for our business out there.

Think about it.
 
I bought 10 Sage rods over the years.

I doubt I'll buy another rod from them.
 
For comparison to some of the repair fees I just bought an American-made graphite rod blank and components to build it up for $128. The Blank is brand-name, the components are good quality. this rod should equal the top of the line rod from the 90s/2000s.

Also to be fair I just checked the sage/FB site and it does state that all warranty repairs are free of charge to the original owner - I don't know how I could prove I'm the original owner of blanks that I built up in the 90s and 2000s - I no longer have the receipts for these.
 
I like some Sage rods but, I can't bring myself to buy any simply based on the fact that their customer service is just astoundingly bad.

It's gotta be about 7 years ago now. Watched a guy who I was fishing with on the little J blow up his Circa and ESN in the same pool doing the same thing... casting. It took him over a year to get the rods replaced and that was years ago!
 
Facemelted said:
I like some Sage rods but, I can't bring myself to buy any simply based on the fact that their customer service is just astoundingly bad.

It's gotta be about 7 years ago now. Watched a guy who I was fishing with on the little J blow up his Circa and ESN in the same pool doing the same thing... casting. It took him over a year to get the rods replaced and that was years ago!
Click to expand...
2 rods in 1 day? I think I’d be questioning my casting mechanics at that point
 
BrookieChaser said:
The way I understand it is Far Bank is the conglomerate that owns Sage, Redington and Rio. I think they are the problem and reason for the warranty changes.
Click to expand...
Venture capital and umbrella holding corporations have destroyed the quality of so many companies. (Remington anyone?) Private monopolies are bad, bad entities.
 
I know the Remington story well.

I hate to see it happen to Sage but it sure seems like they're following the same path.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top