Trouble with Fetha Styx - Customer Service

[natewatters]

BUYER BEWARE

I was trying to avoid posting this, hoping I could resolve my customer service issues with Fetha Styx. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been possible, so I’d like to warn anyone else considering future purchases/dealings with them. It sounds like the company is undergoing a lot of big changes and may not be doing so well, which is unfortunate for a local, high quality (I’ll get that in a moment) rod manufacturer that I really wanted more than anything to support and love.

Here is my experience:

I bought a Chrome 7’ 6” 8-20lb ¼-1oz one-piece twitching rod from Outdoor Emporium back in October. Used the rod a handful of times with the following setup for Coho: 4000 Shimano Stradic Ci4+ reel, 20lb braid, 3/8 oz jig sizes. Nothing more, nothing less. Hooked a few fish, landed one or two.

Took it out a few weeks ago to fish the jetty at Westport. Same setup, twitching 1 oz jigs for bass, etc. Landed a few fish through the day, did great. Loved the rod. At the end of the day, the rod snapped as soon as my jig was hit by a 7lb. Cabezon. Two other guys saw the whole thing. I managed to land the fish (biggest cabby I've every caught!) and hardly gave any thought to the broken rod because of Fetha Styx’ reputation and lifetime warranty. I knew I’d be taken care of, (or so I thought) just like with Okuma and Lamiglas, whom I have both witnessed and experienced to replace rods NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

Took the rod in to OE, paid $10 shipping out and $20 return shipping from Fetha Styx and was told I should be taken care of, no problem….as one might expect from a $250 rod with a lifetime warranty that broke on a 7 pound fish.

This is from the Fetha Styx warranty page on their site
:
"So, what you really want from a Fishing Rod Company is a “Lifetime Warranty” right? Well here is how we can honor that.
If you have a failure of the rod or it’s components, you must send us the entire rod for evaluation."

"If we decide that the failure is due to a manufacturing defect, we will gladly make the repair and send it back to you at no charge other than the normal shipping charges."

"If we decide that the failure was due to misuse, neglect, or abuse, we will take care of you in one of the following ways:
$75.00 - Repairing or replacing broken tip sections (2 piece rods)
$100.00 - Repairing or replacing broken lower sections (2 piece rods)
$125.00 - Repairing or replacing 1 piece rods
$150.00 - $175.00 – Upgrading your old broken rod to a brand new model"

I get a call a week later from Fetha Styx (I’ll leave names out of this). The guy wants to “figure out something that works for both of us”. I tell him what happened and he goes in to how the rods are very expensive and they can’t afford to just send out free rods whenever one breaks. I remind him of their warranty policy and ask what qualifies for the warranty. He avoids the question and starts talking about how expensive and delicate these high end rods are. I tell him I realize that they’re expensive and I can’t afford to buy a new one anytime one breaks – that’s why I paid for a high-end rod. He says their rods are like a car – once they go out of the store, they depreciate--they don’t know how people treat their rods once they take them out, etc. We go back and forth for quite awhile like this. He says Okuma and Lamiglas can afford to send free replacements because they’re cheap and Chinese. That’s fine – but they’re priced like it, too. If I pay $250 for a locally made rod with a lifetime warranty, that warranty should be honored.

Bottom line, he didn’t believe my story and tells me he’ll just charge me $75 plus shipping to replace the rod. I ask what criteria he’s using to determine the rod damage was my fault. He can’t give me a straight answer, but tells me how he’s been fishing for 50 years (he doesn’t sound a day over 40, but who knows) and has seen guys do all sorts of stuff to their gear, how they wrench on snags with braided line, etc. I remind him that this is absolutely not the case in this situation and remind him that this rod is meant to handle Coho and the occasional King, which is why I bought it. I’m no pro, but I’ve been at it long enough to know that you pay for good quality gear that’s backed by a good warranty with good customer service.

I also remind him that the shipping was paid at OE when the rod was sent in, but he claims I only paid $10, to which I offer to send a scan of my receipt (he doesn’t accept my offer).

We go back and forth for a few minutes and he never fully grasps the concept of a lifetime warranty, but offers to replace the rod for $50 “which he shouldn’t even be doing, but really wants to help me out, and I’ll tell ya what, we can just forget about the shipping cost”. But I can’t forget about the shipping because I already paid for it….

I begrudgingly take the offer, as I’m in a hurry and they send me a new rod…Fine.

Today, I went in to OE to see if I could recover my $20 shipping fee that FS said they wouldn’t charge me. Hats off to Dan at OE who listened to my story and immediately called FS to talk with them about the entire situation – he couldn’t believe it. He reported back to me, and said that it sounds like FS will now be charging for all warranty repairs (unconfirmed, but sounds likely). He let me know that FS let a bunch of staff go, as well as their sales rep who OE primarily dealt with. As a result, OE is no longer going to carry Fetha Styx (all FS rods are 20% off there right now).

Finally, Dan at OE lets me know they already sent Fetha Styx the $20 shipping fee I paid, so I need to talk to them. Call FS and they say they never got the money, so I ask them to figure it out between them and OE, but he refuses and puts it on me. So apparently, my $20 is out there somewhere, but no one claims to have it.

I have plenty of faith that OE will straighten out the issue with the $20 shipping fee. I’m a long time customer and they’ve always been nothing but helpful and a great store. I wish I could say the same for Fetha Styx – it sounds like the company is struggling, which is a bummer and I wish I could say something positive about them. I can’t help but think that this type of customer service is a contributing factor in their current apparent troubles. Hopefully they can get things straightened out and become a better company, but until then….Anyone wanna buy a brand new rod? I’m switching companies!

[Larry3215]

Thats too bad. Ive seen companies start down that same road when things start to go wrong. They blame and charge the customers and then the staff and its a fast end from there.

[hawkoath]

I have heard from someone last week in the fishing rod industry that Fetha Styx has gone out of business.

[rusty]

Thats too bad, I bought a fethastyx figuring they had a good warranty. I sent a lamiglas in almost 2 months ago and have yet to see it nor will they answer the phone or respond to my email.

[DavidA]

Nate: Thanks for taking the time to report this situation, providing the detail and limiting the frustration voiced. Your summary is informative and very useful. In this case it sounds like the company is beyond recovery, but for those simply providing substandard service, a report like this goes directly to their bottom line, though their immediate goal is just the opposite. A rational, well thought out report of poor service reverberates for a long time to come and I know I make my purchases with these things in mind. All the best.