Fly Fishing

A warning about Albright fishing products

Over the past 4 months I have recommended that anyone searching for quality fly fishing look up Albright Fishing Products. I regret doing so now, as I have found that while it seems like you are getting a good deal, you are actually getting what you pay for: a mid-level product and poor customer service.

I got into fly fishing about 4 months ago, and ordered the GP 9' 5-6 wt. 2-piece, GP 5-6 reel, and set of Trinity waders. It took forever for them to ship, and when I called to inquire about it the CEO was very condenscending and promised I would recieve a shipping notification right away viaemail. I recieved it three days later, the day before the shipment arrived. I shook this off and found that I was satisfied with the equipment that I had purchased, although the reel has developed some wobble after only moderate use.

In early May I placed an order for a GP 9'6" 7-8 wt. 2-piece, and a week later I recieved the rod. The next weekend I finally got out on the water with it to chase stripers. I hooked up within a few minutes and landed a nice 9 lb. female, no problems. Until an hour later, when I made a roll cast and the rod snapped in half just above the third snake guide above the ferrule. This was the first time I had used the rod! Well, I figured no big deal. Albright has a "10 day, no hassle return policy", and being that this is the 7th day that the rod had been in my possession(let alone the first time I had used it) surely it would be covered under this policy and they would send me a new tip section. I was saddly mistaken. After a few emails and phone calls, during all of which I was given the run around and plenty of excuses, I was told by the CEO that I would have to send in a digital pic of the broken rod in order for them to sell me a new one at a discounted price of $44.99. This was the best that they could do. Discounted price???? If I had wanted to pay that much I would have just ordered another one off of the website! Not only that, but he informed me that I needed to order a different 8-9 wt. to handle the stripers, that the 7-8 wt. wouldn't handle them. I know for a fact that my fishing partner has been catching stripers for 4 years on a 7 wt. TFO with no problems, so this tells me that Albright products are of lesser quality and construction. I will not be purchasing any more products from them, and will be telling everyone I know not to buy from Albright unless they want inferior equipment and non-existant customer service. I have no respect for a company that won't back their products, and treats their customers like disposable napkins! They have just lost four customers from my group. DO NOT BUY FROM ALBRIGHT!