I have heard on here how easy Academy is to deal with on exchanges with broken rod tips and such. My question is about 2 perfectly fine All Star rods that I got there in April for $49.99 each. I would really like to upgrade to some higher dollar rods they have. Do you think they will let me exchange without a receipt? They still have the barcode stickers on the handles. They are carrying Carrot Stix now and some nice Falcons.

I have never heard of a major retail store that will let you bring in a used item to upgrade it for another item.

If you still have the original price tags on them and they haven't been used, you may have a chance.

academy is great becuase you can return anything! My buddy slammed my hundred dollar falcon rod in his door. I took it up to academy and told them the truth with what had happen. They let me replace it for free, didnt have to sign anything, no questiosn asked. If you have your receipt it is possible to take them back. Just tellt hem the truth. "I dont like the way these rods fish and I wanna purchase one a little bit more expensive." hope that helps.

Cabelas is the only one that I know of that will let you return rods if you don't like them. They go to the bargain bin.

You can't loose out by asking anyway.

i took all of my all stars and told them i didnt like em any more, some rods were a couple years old. got some falcons instead

you can't upgrade, but you can get store credit to use towards a better rod

as an employee of academy i would say that yes they are very easy to work with and they most likley would exchange it for you:)

i would say yes and have always had a great experience but was going to take a rod back today (receipt and tags in hand) that just didn't 'feel' right.. they told me certain brands they carry won't let them exchange anymore and then proceeded to name all of the higher end brand names.. bunch of BS, not even used yet.. i guess ill wait and see if I can just go back tomorrow..

This is interesting as for I bought my wife a $100 allstar rod and she is not even using it. Did not like it at all. I tried it and it just does not cast worth a flip. I am not bashing them because I have other allstar rods that cast great heck i can cast almost all of my line off the real with them.


But it does not have the bar code on it and I do not have the reciept. It was used maybe twice. we bought it from Acadamy maybe I will try to return it and buy another or at least get store credit thats as good as cash to me.

still return it, they will go back and look up the barcode or sku number

I think it's unfair to Academy to allow you to return a used rod ("used" meaning more than a few trips with it) without defects...

I mean, what the heck are they supposed to do with a used rod? that puts them out the $ for the rod.

cabelas wouldn't replace my kistler that snapped below the 2nd eye while reeling in a 1-3 lb bass. Cause it said "promotional" won it at a Take A Soldier Fishing tournament.

Buddy of mine at academy said if they sold kistlers I wouldn't have that same problem. However they are starting to check for receipts

I've done it several times. Any time I've had a rod break I've returned it and paid the difference for a Falcon.

Wish they would carry a larger selection of better rods. Spent $500 on new rods last month, which didn't go to them.

I haven't heard of them doing this.

were getting some good rods in, carrot stix, kistler magnesium, berkely amp and hopefully the falcon bucoo rods