Need help, I think I am screwed...

**cemeb4dk** · December 19, 2007

Ok, here is my scenario. I bought a proto VS shaft on ebay from a reputable seller on ebay he has many thousands of positive feedback. I took the club to my local golfsmith to have a driver re shafted. Supposeably as he was re shafting the tip splintered and broke off. ( it was the correct size tip for the club). The club maker at golfsmith said he has only ever seen this with counterfeit shafts, or some pull outs, and he tells me this is a fake shaft. So I email the seller kindly and tell him basically the same as above, and ask if they are fake or real and what the story is. He assured me they are real and gets delivered from his aldila rep and so on. So now I am stuck in the he said she said part of the story.

Does anyone know for sure if there is a way I can confim if its legit or not? Or am I just out the money....

Thanks

**AnalogAG** · December 19, 2007

What is the policy of Golfsmith when they install a shaft?
Are they responsible for what they are doing?

I mean, he damages your shaft and tells you it was because of a fake shaft.
I wouldn't trust the Golfsmith guy that much unless you know him!

**Ruckus** · December 19, 2007

Definitely agree. The Golfsmith guy is responsible for his work and should do everything in his power to make it right.

Unfortunately, since you already broke the shaft, there is little you can do in terms of holding the seller liable. You might just want to chalk this one up...

**cemeb4dk** · December 19, 2007

What is the policy of Golfsmith when they install a shaft?

Thats what I was thinking, I need to grab the shaft and see if there is a serial number and see if I can get a hold of aldilia. Unfortunately Iam not a shaft expert so I cannot tell, I can just go by what people tell me.

**cemeb4dk** · December 19, 2007

You may want to stay tuned to this one, it may get interesting....LOL

I just talked to aldila. He said to look for a sticker on the tip that would have a part number. So I will have to look when I get home. I kinda remember a sticker onit, but will have to call back and verify part number. The customer service rep, said he had heard of the ebay seller name, but is not on their auth list but may buy under a different name.

Secondly I talked to golfsmith, and here is where it gets fishy. I think I am dealing witha yahoo ( to use a nicer term) he told me they can't replace it under warranty due to it being a fake but they will replace it and asked what shaft I wanted. So I am not clear as if they will give me a VS proto or what. I wanted to get home and see if I can find the part number. My thought now is that he may have removed the sticker to put the head on.

**AnalogAG** · December 19, 2007

he told me they can't replace it under warranty due to it being a fake but they will replace it and asked what shaft I wanted. So I am not clear as if they will give me a VS proto or what

I don't understand that part!

Will they give you a shaft for free or what is it about?

**cemeb4dk** · December 19, 2007

I was a bit confused also, so called back and said they would give me a 60-80 dollar shaft, because they can do that without raising any flags, where as the 170 proto would require managerial approval or something. Going to wait til I get home and see if there is a part number on shaft. If there is they will be replacing it with a proto. but if there isnnt and we are back to he said she said I will cut my losses and at least get an NV shaft out of it.

**Golf Yokel** · December 19, 2007

How about you go tell the "gentleman" at Golfsmith to, politely, go suck off a donkey...

You WANT a manager to know about this... and the fact he wants to keep this quiet and do it "without raising any flags" is waaaaaaaay too suspicious. Politely tell the man to get you a CSM to speak with. If he says no... walk to the front and find one yourself.

Golfsmith is a multi-million dollar corporation... they aren't worried about your $100 shaft...

Where-as the guy who is, literally, trying to shaft you is worried about his job. You never know why he doesn't want to get you a manager. Maybe this is the fourth shaft he has broken this week. Maybe he wants to write-off a new VS shaft but wants to give you a different one from the Need to Destroy bin, and keep the VS for himself.

Unless they told you about a No-Fakes policy before installing your shaft, they are responsible for what they broke (unless you signed a waiver... which you should never-ever-ever do).

It sounds like it's time to buck-up, stop talking to the guy who broke your shaft (which he did), and go over his head. If you don't talk to a manager, nothing good will come of this, believe me.

**FortAsel** · December 19, 2007

I would only reshaft a club if it is in a place where they have experience. Golfsmith guys don't have that in terms of reshafting. I would go to a place where they only sell ping clubs and reshaft there (since you have a ping driver)

**cemeb4dk** · December 19, 2007

Well the shaft now doesn't have a sticker on it, so no part number to confim with Aldila. So no luck there. The ebay seller has been very helpful as much as he can be in this case. Golfsmith will not replace it with another proto. They are or are willing to replace with a lesser expensive, as what they tell me equivalnt worth. They will not give me a proto because they are saying mine is not a real proto. So I am back to square one. They did show me a proto shaft there and the inner wall thickness was thicker on the golfsmith one verses mine. But since golfsmith took off the sticker or there never was one we can't confirm if it is a fake or possibly a manufacturing flaw. Every else on the two shafts matched perfectly except the thickness.

So we are back to he said she said again....LOL

Thanks for all the comments, and suggestions. BTW this was not for my Ping driver, it was for a Hibore Xl, that was going to try and be resurrected with a new shaft.

I just should of gone to my usual local club fitter but he is between store locations so it was either Dicks or Golfsmith, so I chose GS.

**Bluenoser67** · December 19, 2007

Misery loves company so here goes. Last year with the persistance of friends I ventured on to Ebay to by a Driver.

After two months of cruising and learning the do's and don'ts I finally bought a Bridgestone J33R 460 Driver for $180 all in with the shipping.

I checked buddies rating - 100% no issues in the past blah blah blah. The first sign there was a problem was when the driver arrived and it was a J33R 425 Driver and not the 460. I let the seller know and he made some lame excuse that he didn't know. I didn't really care that much about the difference in the head size so I left well enough alone.
This was in January and since I live in the great north I didn't get around to hitting it until April. I did happen to notice, before I hit it, a small paint chip at the base of the hosel where it met the crown of the driver but I didn't think anything of it.

I was telling some of my buddies about the paint chip and they wondered if it could be a sign of a small crack and they told me to water test the club. I did and sure enough the bubbles coming from the paint chip indicated a crack.

This is where it becomes a comedy of errors. Sort of like the Titantic I did everything wrong. I contacted the seller but he said I must have damaged the club since I had for 3 months. I then realized I wasn't going to get my money back from him (without a fight with paypal that would see me lose the driver be credited with only the cost of the driver and have to pay for the shipping= nothing).

So I took it upon myself to try and fix the problem. I removed the paint from the driver found the crack - about 5mm long and drilled two small holes at each end to stop the migration. I then epoxy coated the crack and let it dry.

Meanwhile I recieved an email from Bridgestone in reply to inquiry if cracks were common in this area of there driver. The response was yes sometimes with higher swingspeeds. It went on further to say that I should take the driver to the closest dealer for a replacement.

This email came in as the epoxy was drying. Obviously I could not take the driver in now that I had screwed with it so much.

So I laughed chalked it up to fate and went and bought a taylormade r7460 never to darken the ebay store door again.

**Shindig** · December 19, 2007

Well the shaft now doesn't have a sticker on it, so no part number to confim with Aldila. So no luck there. The ebay seller has been very helpful as much as he can be in this case. Golfsmith will not replace it with another proto. They are or are willing to replace with a lesser expensive, as what they tell me equivalnt worth. They will not give me a proto because they are saying mine is not a real proto. So I am back to square one. They did show me a proto shaft there and the inner wall thickness was thicker on the golfsmith one verses mine. But since golfsmith took off the sticker or there never was one we can't confirm if it is a fake or possibly a manufacturing flaw. Every else on the two shafts matched perfectly except the thickness.

Did the GolfSmith manager say they won't replace it, or the guy who did the shaft changing? The sticker he removed could be evidence in your favor. Are you sure you spoke with management?

So I laughed chalked it up to fate and went and bought a taylormade r7460 never to darken the ebay store door again.

I've had good experience buying golf balls on eBay, but I've never tried a club. I figure there isn't too much that can go wrong with golf balls.

**Golf Yokel** · December 20, 2007

Did the GolfSmith manager say they won't replace it, or the guy who did the shaft changing? The sticker he removed could be evidence in your favor. Are you sure you spoke with management?

That is what I was trying to get across... don't stop asking for someone's supervisor until you get told they run the location. You don't want to be dealing with the person that may have (or probably have) damaged

your item in the first place. Again, this shaft wasn't broken when you took it in, and if they didn't say anything to you about the shaft before taking it off your hands for replacement they are liable for everything done to it. And by "it" I mean the item you gave them, not an "equivalent replacement". Here's an idea. Tell them to order you another shaft from the exact same eBay seller. Tell them you don't want one of their replacements, that you want what you brought in to be installed. This will stop their fraud argument, and get you back exactly what you took in. If they don't agree to this, ask for the number of their district manager and their legal department because you are taking them to small claims court, and you are reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. First thing is first though, make sure you are talking to the actual store manager... not someone trying to cover their buttocks.

I figure there isn't too much that can go wrong with golf balls.

You've never seen my swing, apparently

**Shindig** · December 20, 2007

You've never seen my swing, apparently

Yes, as your icon says, it does take quite a fair number of balls to play the way you do.

I don't mean there isn't much that can go wrong with a golf ball. And it stays on topic too. I mean that every time I've bought golf balls on eBay - four times (twice for Strata when I played that, once for Titleist, once for Bridgestone) - I got just what I asked for. Sometimes there were previous player markings and sometimes logos, but that's what the listing said also. And I end up with three dozen balls that are as close to new as I need them to be for about $35. Kind of hard to complain about that! Or are there bad stories from people who bought golf balls on eBay and got ripped off?

**wolverine318** · December 20, 2007

Like others said you need to speak with a manager or whoever necessary to get you a new shaft.

**LBlack14** · December 20, 2007

Who gives a SH*T wether or not it is fake!!! It was your shaft. He broke the F-ing thing!!! He's responsible!!! Don't take NO for an answer!!! Sorry for the expletives, but it's SH*T like this that really gets me all worked up!!!

**Linkster** · December 20, 2007

Did the GolfSmith manager say they won't replace it, or the guy who did the shaft changing? The sticker he removed could be evidence in your favor. Are you sure you spoke with management?

hate to break it to ya, but I've heard of cheaper Nike balls getting restamped with the "one" logo on them, unless you can dig your fingernail into it is hard to check.

**Shindig** · December 20, 2007

hate to break it to ya, but I've heard of cheaper Nike balls getting restamped with the "one" logo on them, unless you can dig your fingernail into it is hard to check.

Hmm... good point. I guess I figure that no one would do that to Stratas or Titleist DT So/Los or Bridgestone e6s. But if I were play Nike Ones, yeah, I can see that happening.

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Need help, I think I am screwed...

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