Last week I decided to build a 9 ft. 4-piece 4 wt. graphite fly rod for use in some of the smaller trout streams. Instead of ordering the components individually, I checked around and decided on a rod kit from J Stockard. They’re having a sale on their rod building kits, and the entire order cost $90 including shipping.
I ordered it on Saturday and they let me know on Monday that it went out. They also provided a UPS tracking number. By Tuesday afternoon I had the kit in hand.
There was one problem. Instead of a 4-piece blank, they had shipped a 2-piece blank. I call them around 3:30 in the afternoon and they said that they would ship the correct 4-piece rod blank.
I expected it to take a couple of days, but the next day (Wednesday) the new blank arrived, along with a prepaid shipping label to return the 2-piece blank. It will go in the mail on Friday.
On Tuesday I also received an email from J Stockard announcing 10% off on orders placed this week. I responded to the email and asked the customer service rep if my order would receive the 10%, since technically I had placed it on Saturday. She responded with a nice email and credited my account with the 10%.
I can’t tell you how amazed and pleased I am with the customer service received from J Stockard. I told 3 of my rod building friends, and I will definitely purchase from them again.
In contrast, over a week ago I wrote emails to Bass Pro, Cabelas, Orvis and Gander Mountain asking if they had any special events for the blogging community. To date I’ve had absolutely no response from any of them. Crickets.
A post on my rod building project is forthcoming. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
