Arsenal Stand Bag

[BioGolfNebraska]

Has anyone heard of Arsenal golf bags?  My wife bought me an arsenal stand bag (nice, 14 compartment one with several pockets, nice back-pack like straps, insulated water holster) for my birthday because it was a good price at our local golf store (Austad's, it is a local shop that extends throughout this area: Nebraska, Iowa, North/South Dakota,Minnesota; http://austadsgolf.com/ ).  I have owned the bag for a little over a month now and it is already starting to fall apart.  Several of the seams are ripping and it looks as if it only has a  couple more weeks of life left.  I took the bag into Austad's to say that they sold me some garbage and that we would appreciate a refund or at the very least store credit.  There are several large sporting goods stores in the area (Scheel's, Dick's), so I would think that Austad's would do everything necessary to focus on customer service (this is why I shop there in the first place- very knowledgeable and friendly staff, although they are a bit "commission-hungry").  Anyways, Austad's said they couldn't do anything about the bag but they would keep it overnight and call the next day to see if there was any warranty from the manufacturer that would cover this.  I am expecting a call today, so I will keep you updated.

In the meantime, however, I was trying to look up this Arsenal company on my own.  I am unable to find any such company online, although I admit that it is slightly complicated by search results from the Arsenal Football Club.  A friend of mine also purchased an arsenal golf bag as his first bag and it is falling apart in less than a year.  He thinks that the company is Austad's brand of golf bags that are cheaply made but with high profit margins, so they push them. My question is:  Have any of you heard of Arsenal golf bags?  Is this company just the bags made for Austad's?  Have any of you had bags that fell apart within a month or two, and if so, did you get any sort of refund?  Any experiences similar to this?

I guess I might have to bite the bullet and get a more expensive, high-quality bag, but I do not appreciate Austad's pushing the Arsenal brand if it is such garbage (and it is heavily pushed as a "quality, affordable bag").

[Jimdangles]

I bought a 2010 ogio ozone a in early may was ripping in one spot by the end of may. Got a brand new 2012 ozone xx from ogio. shipping paid and done within 4 days and I got to keep the bag til my new one arrived.

No I have never heard of them.

[Timothy Voyles]

When I google arsenal golf bag I get stuff for the soccer team in EPL... now I want one of those bags!

[BioGolfNebraska]

Originally Posted by Timothy Voyles

When I google arsenal golf bag I get stuff for the soccer team in EPL... now I want one of those bags!

Yah, I was having the same problem when trying to look up the company (if there even is one).

As an update, it is 1:30pm here and I have not heard back from the store who still has my bag.  I am very much hoping to get some sort of bag by the weekend (even if it is my ripped one returned to me).

[Timothy Voyles]

If it helps... this is a nice bag I just got and would recommend?

It's a Ping Pioneer, Under 200 most places....

sorry for stupid large image :/

[BioGolfNebraska]

As another update, the shop has my bag and said it will be another 2 to 3 weeks before they hear anything back from the "company" which I am pretty sure is Austad's themselves.  I cannot find any company information when I look at the tags on the Arsenal bags in the store, only Austad's tags.

I think this is just garbage.  I guess Ogio is a while known/respected company for a reason.  Any suggestions here?  I feel that at best I will get a new Arsenal bag replacement, which will only last a few months.

[BioGolfNebraska]

It took some searching, but I think I found that Arsenal (as well as several other brands that are pushed by Austads) are actually owned by the Austads company. Check these links out as evidence: http://www.findownersearch.com/category-golf%20clubs-brands-7.html?sort=o This shows all the trademarks owned by Austads: http://trade.mar.cx/austad's_golf,_inc. If they own the company, why won't they stand up for their crappy product, and why will it take 2 weeks to know whether they will refund the bag? If anybody lives in an Austads state, please take this as a warning.

[Volchok]

Without seeing a photo of the product, I can assure you it's a "supporters" golf bag. It doesn't seem like a official Arsenal product, because i can't find it in their online store. In my local store there's plenty of these, Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal, Real Madrid. Everything from golf bags and putter covers to towels.

One would think that a golf bag is made to last for over a month, so refund should not be an issue. But then again, it's most likely a chinese knock-off (as i can't find it in their official store), so I bet it's not easy to contact the company. With a little research, they're using the same model for a huge variety of football (soccer) clubs, just with different colors and prints.

Hope this helps

Edit. I doubt that Austads owns the Arsenal brand, as it's a company worth half a billion pounds Still, they could be making these crappy bags, but when they're spread to Finland, i doubt it. Chinese knock-off i would say.

[BioGolfNebraska]

I tried to make this clear, but apparently did not:  this Arsenal brand is not the same Arsenal brand for the football club.  I am pretty sure that this Arsenal brand is a subsidiary of Austad's.  My only reference to the Arsenal football club was that it took up all of the google search results, making it hard to find any information on these bags without picking up Arsenal Football Club bags.

Anyways, long story short, they had identical bags in the store and they replaced mine for free (after 3 days without a bag).  Kind of a hassle, but it was nice of them.  The bag will probably fall apart quickly, but at least I got a couple free months of use out of it.

[Volchok]

Originally Posted by BioGolfNebraska

I tried to make this clear, but apparently did not:  this Arsenal brand is not the same Arsenal brand for the football club.  I am pretty sure that this Arsenal brand is a subsidiary of Austad's.  My only reference to the Arsenal football club was that it took up all of the google search results, making it hard to find any information on these bags without picking up Arsenal Football Club bags.

Anyways, long story short, they had identical bags in the store and they replaced mine for free (after 3 days without a bag).  Kind of a hassle, but it was nice of them.  The bag will probably fall apart quickly, but at least I got a couple free months of use out of it.

Ah, should've read abit more into the thread, sorry. Well, nice that it worked out!