Don't H2O rods have a warranty?

Seems like I read somewhere these rods had a lifetime warranty. My dad had one break the tip off of a few weeks ago trying to land a fish. He called the local academy and they told him they had never heard of that. Maybe I'm thinking about another brand.

It's Academy. You walk in, tell them hey I bought this here and it broke I need to replace it. And go replace it.


Nothing to do with the rod, they just have a VERY relaxed return system because they are huge and don't care that much. It's easier to return a rod bought at Basspro/Cabelas to an Academy than to return it back to where you bought it from... literally.

Not suggesting you do anything unethical or anything, but if it just broke to no fault of your own and it's fairly new, say whatever to get them to do the right thing. Otherwise, replace it *shrug* They're always more than willing to help within reason in my experiences, best big box store to deal with in regards to customer service per returns and replacement/exchange of damaged good.

The wife broke hers on hookset. Walked into academy and exchanged it for an allstar and no questions asked.

I have replaced a broken rod at Academy before. It was not an H2O brand, they replaced it with no problem at all.

Yup academy has a great return policy, I've never had a issue returning any of their products to the store!

Not anymore, I went to three diff academys to try to return a H2O rod that was broke 6 inches from the end and they all told me I have to call the manufacture, I told them they have replaced h2o rods for me before. They are cracking down more on returns in my area.

Have yall returned any older H2O rods?

H2O is the Academy house brand, how would you know what manufacturer to contact?

this is what I thought too, H2O is academy brand.

Broke an H2O in October. They had a very slim selection of rods so they gave me a store credit. I had kept the receipt from last January. I'll wait and see if they get a better supply this Spring. It is a good rod.

They are real good rods for the money I have 2 and haven't had any issues with them.

No disrespect meant to h20 supporters but i probably went through 8 or nine in a six month period. Three of which broke more than halfway down the rod all on hooksets. One cost me a lot of money last summer in a tournament because when it broke all i had in my hand was 1ft above the reel and i tried to handline him in and broke him off. They are the biggest pieces of junk there are. Spend 20 or 30 more and get a duckett. Allstar is a tough rod too.

Im a Dobyns guy but have 2 H20 my buddy swears by them and all he uses I haven't had any failures yet. I guess they all break I broke a Dobyns 704C last year on the hookset they replaced it so I guess they all have there issues.

hmmm I wonder now because I bought a abu verita last year and the tip broke. wonder if they will still take it.

Great company to accept returns but there is one problem... if Academy has discontinued a rod and marked it down to clearance price, its been my experience that they will refund the last sales price unless you show the receipt. They offered me $ .01 for an older $40 broken H2O rod

All companies do this. Difference is Academy will still give you something without the receipt. Example; I've gone in with a broken rod without my receipt and they no longer carry said rod, so they give me credit towards whatever rod I want without hassling me. It is literally easier to replace a rod with no receipt at Academy than with a receipt at basspro or cabelas. I have proven this many, many times over with personal experience.

If you buy everything on your card, they will also look up transactions at Academy and be very helpful. Have had them go out of their way many times to help me out. On the other hand I literally told Cabelas that I had my original receipt including extended warranty and that whether they wanted to honor it or not I was walking to the back of the store and walking out the front door with the replacement, after they hassled me and had 3 managers involved in what should have been a very simple affair. I shouldn't have to deal with that [censored] when I pay above and beyond for EXTRA customer service beyond the manufacturer warranty just because I know elsewise I will get grief if something happens and I want to return it.

Academy on the other hand will look up book value on a rod as part of a combo, let you keep the reel, and put the value towards a new rod. That's proper service. Anything I buy at a box store that Academy carries, they get my money over anyone else.

Mulholland, where might a man find this book of values for rod/reel combos?

I bought a SK spinner bait from Acadamy that was missing the hook. On my next visit I took it back for exchange. When asked why I was returning it I told the young lady that it did not catch any fish. She said fine go get another one.

Academy has values on their computer for doing such partial replacements. Literally took it in, he pulled it up, printed me a little paper slip for it, and put value towards a replacement Vendetta.

You'd think you'd just get the value of the combo less the cost of the reel, but actually got considerably more than expected for it... if memory serves he actually just swapped it outright for me for the vendetta, which was generous given that I paid as much for that cheap combo as the reel would've cost alone.... which is how I ended up with that rod in the first place, and how I ended up trying out the Vendetta line (and loving it) since previously I'd only had Veritas.

I assume your response was sarcasm though... sorry for the detailed answer if you were just trying to ridicule me.

http://www.returnguru.com/ReturnPolicyDetails.aspx?storekey=AcademySportsOutdoors


Pretty straight forward.

You have a receipt, they refund you what you paid or do a straight up trade for the same product.

No receipt = Store credit for the lowest price that said product has been offered at.

So, you pay $100 for a rod and at any point it goes on sale before or after you bought it, you will get that lower price (with no receipt)in the form of a store credit.

There are surely people that may abuse this but this is their approach to higher customer retention.


And based on their parking lot on any given day compared to competitors, I'd say they have a good business model in place.

Academy has values on their computer for doing such partial replacements. Literally took it in, he pulled it up, printed me a little paper slip for it, and put value towards a replacement Vendetta.

You'd think you'd just get the value of the combo less the cost of the reel, but actually got considerably more than expected for it... if memory serves he actually just swapped it outright for me for the vendetta, which was generous given that I paid as much for that cheap combo as the reel would've cost alone.... which is how I ended up with that rod in the first place, and how I ended up trying out the Vendetta line (and loving it) since previously I'd only had Veritas.

I assume your response was sarcasm though... sorry for the detailed answer if you were just trying to ridicule me. [/quote

Your assumption was correct. And boy did u put my sarcastic butt in its place! Well done, sir. I'll just crawl in this hole over here, now...

They will also do exchanges with no receipt as well. They simply enter in your drivers license number when you return, to avoid people abusing the system. Really nice not having to worry about anything from there.

Correct- Straight up exchange for same product with or without receipt.

They don't anymore and not even a refund on the last sales price changed protocol due to covid. They make these rods for pennies on the dollar make sure you buy one that backs up their quality with a decent warranty. I know people rag on ducketts but cut the rod logo section out of the blank and send it to them and they send you a new rod, this has been my experience with them.

I got the same baloney, employee didn't even know h2o express is their own brand

Horrible experience with Academy's H2O Express rods. This is their house brand. Wife gave me a rod for Christmas. She didn’t keep her receipt. Remember, it’s their house brand so was told warranties are great and that’s one reason I bought it. 7 months later the rod broke 6” from tip. Took it in and instead of replacing it with another 7’ Medium action rod, they said they would give me $2.97 towards a new rod. Wife paid $99.00 for the rod. What a joke. Academy just lost business from me. I’ll never buy another rod from Academy.

They can only refund the rods lowest purchase price for which it has sold without a receipt. They have no way to know what price was paid by your wife. They also give a receipt with each sale as well as offer an emailed copy of the receipt. Sounds like a lack on your end. It’s not Academy’s fault. They didn’t lose the receipt OR break the rod.

Without a receipt, I’d have told you to go pick out a rod of your choice charge you regular price. Haha.

in the end it is always worth paying the extra money to get a good brand rod that the company stands behind and will warranty no matter what.

All the thief’s out there have done away with “easy/“no questions asked” return policies. It’s like the people who proudly post on here that they return their still working Walmart deep cycle batteries right before the warrantee expires. They say it proudly thinking we all agree that they are not a thief and a POS. “Rant over“! Seems more than fair to offer exact product replacement OR lowest sales price to someone who does not have a receipt. My opinion.

Holy Thread Resurrection Batman!

In 40+ years of fishing, I have returned one (1) rod which broke on a hookset. It was two weeks old and had been thrown on two trips, it just so happened that the rep was attending the tournament I was fishing so I took him the broken rod and he replaced it on the spot. I have since broken two more of these rods and won't be buying anymore. Not certain that it was a rod defect on the other two due to where they broke but, I'm out on them now.

90% of the time, the rods break due to no fault of the manufacture. I refuse to carry a rod in when there are good odds that it broke due to circumstance that the manufacture had nothing to do with. This includes ceiling fans, car doors, truck tailgates, lids slammed on them, stepping on them, boat flipping 5#ers, grabbing them close to the tip and picking them up, etc, etc.... but, that's just me.

So in other words, stray away from Dobyns

Got two of the h20 med crank rods no complaints .

Acadmey still has the best return policy of any big box store especially on fishing rods. If you keep your receipt is a guaranteed replacement of any fishing rod or reel if its broken.

So I can swap my broken Shimano reel there without having to go through Shimano?

No they don't, I broke an H2O and still had the receipt, manager informed me they changed their warranty to 60 days from date of purchase due to covid protocol, they make a good rod for the money but with that warranty compared to other brands I won't buy H2O ever again

Academy in Weatherford told me they aren't honoring exchanges if the purchase was made 60+ days prior, anymore. I tried to exchange a game cam.

They offered me $15 toward the purchase of an identical H2O rod when I took one in for warranty 4 or 5 months ago.
I passed on the deal (Longview store).

well this is sad to hear I used to buy the academy rods so if they broke I could have a seamless return but I guess people abused it just like everything else in life lol