Yakima Products

I purchased my Whispbar racks from Rack Attack a few years ago. I traded in my 2012 Kia Sorento for a newer model (2014). I had trouble getting my rack to fit and called the Yakima customer hotline for assistance. Just received the most excellent customer service experience in long time from John H. at Whisper/​Yakima. It was truly concierge-​level customer service. First class all the way! It’s one thing to produce a great product, but this after-​purchase experience is above and beyond. I can’t recommend this company highly enough. It’s so rare to receive this level of service. Bravo!

Broke some stuff in my bike rack. Called customer service. Replaced without issue. AWESOME again!

Good designs but their packaging does not protect them while in transit from damage. When a product arrived damaged it is exceedingly and excessively difficult to get anyone by phone or to get the people in customer service to return a phone call. They do not even have a person to answer the main corporate phone after 4 PM on weekdays. Much better operation when it was based in Arcata, CA.
Whether someone needs pre-​sale support to buy a Yakima product or has a problem with a product that was shipped and received with damaged parts they all go into the same consumer queue. No way to know if your wait is going to be 30 minutes or 3 hours or longer.
Much better customer support from Thule, which is not great in terms of customer support but a lot better than Yakima. At least with Thule one can get to speak to a live person.
A product without post sale customer support is worth very little and for the most part the aggravation drives me to buy any other company’s products in the future. Unfortunate that the people running Yakima are driving the brand into the ground.

Yakima came through in my recent purchase and accident with their front loader. They really back up their products!

Yakima racks are awesome and everyone that I have run into is super friendly there. Keep it up guys and ‘Take more Wingmen!’

I’ve used Yakima racks since 2001 and never had an issue until now. I purchased a 2013 F150 Supercrew last December. Bought the recommended Q122 clips to reuse my old rack on the new truck and it was a tricky attachment. Now their website tells me there is no fit kit (for 2009 – 2014 models. I contacted customer service and they told me not to use it. Nor can I return it, nor is there an alternative fit kit.
It just doesn’t work.
I tried to save a few dollars by re-​using several parts, but I bought over $ 300 in new parts that are now «not recalled, but unusable». And no date on when a fix will be.
A letter to their President went unanswered.

Recently i received a Yakima Raptor as a gift. it was missing most of the hardware parts inside the box. i was a little upset. i contacted Yakima and was helped by a very friendly kind sales rep by the name of Meko Thomson. Outstanding sales rep which has sent me the missing parts on the way to me and has helped with every question ive had. Thank you Yakima and Meko for everything.

Doh… Almost exactly one year later… I’m calling Yakima again to order the same part that I lost this time last year.
Same great service — though I had to pay for the strap this time around. Still a bargain (and the lady — Deb, I believe) offered me a slight discount just because.
Now if only she had an advice on how NOT to lose these straps every year.