Callaway....Callaway....Callaway RANT

[Golf 'N Gator]

Most know I played the brand for years but fell out of love after they sort of hosed their small dealers as well as moving assembly to Mexico, so I gave up on them, but the wife loves the brand.

Four years ago, I ordered a new set of Big Bertha womens irons thru my home course and when they didn't arrive after two weeks, our pro called Callaway only to find out they did not have a full set of the irons and said it would be a month before they would have them ready to ship. Our pro more less gave em a hard time, and they found a set at a nearby pro shop and had them transferred to our course. It took a month to get them from the day we ordered them, but we got them none the less.

Fast forward to June 2, 2011. I went to a nearby course as our home course no longer sells Callaway products, to order my wife a new set of Soliare womens clubs, full 14 club set with black bag/headcovers. Pro called Callaway who said no problem, they would ship the next day.

I stopped by on the 17th of June after not hearing anything, and the pro there said he had called Callaway the day before and was told there was a problem. They told him they were just getting the set together and they would ship the 28th or 29th and we would have them on or before July 5th.

Well, July 5th was yesterday, and of course no clubs. Pro calls Callaway and now they say there is none of those clubs anywhere within the company and they won't receive the heads from China until the end of the month. They say they will not ship until August 3rd at the earliest.

Needless to say, my wife is all over me. We know there are three sets of these at a golf store in Ft. Wayne 40 miles away as well as several sets in Indy at Golfsmith & Golf Galaxy as we were down there two weeks ago.

I like to by local at the course pro shops, and at my home course if at all possible to support these little guys. Just makes me wonder why Callaway could not simply pull a set out of Golfsmith or Golf Galaxy's warehouse or something? They even show these clubs today on their selling site as "ship in 1 to 3 days". And they wonder why they are hurting for sales.

Time for my wife to change brands. END of RANT!

 

[TRyan]

Most know I played the brand for years but fell out of love after they sort of hosed their small dealers as well as moving assembly to Mexico, so I gave up on them, but the wife loves the brand.

Four years ago, I ordered a new set of Big Bertha womens irons thru my home course and when they didn't arrive after two weeks, our pro called Callaway on to find out they did not have a full set of the irons and said it would be a month before they would have them ready to ship. Our pro more less gave em a hard time, and they found a set at a nearby pro shop and had them transferred to our course. It took a month to get them from the day we ordered them, but we got them none the less.

Fast forward to June 2, 2011. I went to a nearby course as our home course no longer sells Callaway products, to order my wife a new set of Soliare womens clubs, full 14 club set with black bag/headcovers. Pro called Callaway who said no problem, they would ship the next day.

I stopped by on the 17th of June after not hearing anything, and the pro there said he had called Callaway the day before and was told there was a problem. They told him they were just getting the set together and they would ship the 28th or 29th and we would have them on or before July 5th.

Well, July 5th was yesterday, and of course no clubs. Pro calls Callaway and now they say there is none of those clubs anywhere within the company and they won't receive the heads from China until the end of the month. They say they will not ship until August 3rd at the earliest.

Needless to say, my wife is all over me. We know there are three sets of these at a golf store in Ft. Wayne 40 miles away as well as several sets in Indy at Golfsmith & Golf Galaxy as we were down there two weeks ago.

I like to by local at the course pro shops, and at my home course if at all possible to support these little guys. Just makes me wonder why Callaway could not simply pull a set out of Golfsmith or Golf Galaxy's warehouse or something? They even show these clubs today on their selling site as "ship in 1 to 3 days". And they wonder why they are hurting for sales.

Time for my wife to change brands. END of RANT!

That seems very unprofessional. Great customer service is hard to find these days, and it doesn't seem like, at least with your experience, Callaway is offering that. I also have to say that Callaway cant be all that bad because they are helping to sponsor the Morgan Cup, and they have helped a lot with custom clubs and the like for all of these guys.

 

[Tmex]

Well I definitely understand your frustration, but if you needed the clubs now why not just go to a big chain store and get them? Can you cancel the order with their proshop?

 

[Hanks]

Callaway has great customer service so I'm sure this is more than a manufacturing delay more than anything. If there was a timeframe that was trying to be met maybe it would've been faster to just go to a brick and mortar store and buy them off the rack, assuming your just wanted stock set up?

 

[Hawk]

I think the issue was that they've told HG a few different dates. Definitely understandable that he'd be frustrated.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

Well I definitely understand your frustration, but if you needed the clubs now why not just go to a big chain store and get them? Can you cancel the order with their proshop?

Yes, we can go back to Indy and just buy them off the shelf, but I'm all about helping the little dealers. It just seems that in 4 weeks, Callaway could have pulled a set from somewhere and met the deadlines they stated a couple of times.

I think the issue was that they've told HG a few different dates. Definitely understandable that he'd be frustrated.

Yep! That is what sucks. The guy the pro talked to yesterday more less said that they never had those clubs in stock in the first place and he should have been told that back on June 2nd.

And to still have them listed on their site.....

 

[Tmex]

No doubt I'd be upset too, I just don't know if they're able to just pull stock. It reminds of some of the guys waiting on their TM MB's when stores had them sitting on shelves.

Yes, we can go back to Indy and just buy them off the shelf, but I'm all about helping the little dealers. It just seems that in 4 weeks, Callaway could have pulled a set from somewhere and met the deadlines they stated a couple of times.




Yep! That is what sucks. The guy the pro talked to yesterday more less said that they never had those clubs in stock in the first place and he should have been told that back on June 2nd.

And to still have them listed on their site.....

 

[kildaire]

I understand you like to support the local guys buy the big guys have the volume so they get plenty of units. Solaire is a very nice women's set. My wife looked at it at Golf Galaxy and they had several in stock. I am a big Callaway fan and I can say from experience that anytime I have dealt with them I have always gotten quick answers and great service. I have also ordered my FT Fusion hybrids new from them directly and not only was the price good but i received the clubs within 48 hours. Callaway has always been very good to me. Sorry you're getting the run around with them.

 

[BeanieTX]

Understandably frustrated. And I definitely like how you support the little guys!! If it were up to me, I would cancel the order with Callaway. Customer service is definitely the name of the game here. The Ping Faith series is the one that my wife has her eye on.

Lemme ask you a question, if you didn't call them to find out status of your order, now that it has been pushed back 3x...would they have called you?

 

[TC]

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experiences with Callaway Golf. I have no such issues with them and wish you the best of luck with your endeavour. Just to play devil's advocate here, is it at all possible that perhaps the folks doing your ordering are not doing what they say they're doing for you? When more than two parties are involved it's always easier for one party to place blame on the other for lack of service.

 

[Trout Bum]

Cancel the order and go with another brand, poor customer service should not be rewarded with a purchase. Fire them!

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

Understandably frustrated. And I definitely like how you support the little guys!! If it were up to me, I would cancel the order with Callaway. Customer service is definitely the name of the game here. The Ping Faith series is the one that my wife has her eye on.

Lemme ask you a question, if you didn't call them to find out status of your order, now that it has been pushed back 3x...would they have called you?

It was all done through the pro at a local course, who is a certified Callaway dealer. He said he has never heard anything from them, he had to call them each time.

Another reason to go the local route was in that we were offered a much better price to trade in her current Callaway clubs over the big box stores mentioned.

The wife is just disappointed as she has waited a month already and was told the last time that they would be here for sure on or before the 5th of July.

 

[Puttin4Bird]

Sounds like a bad deal, I'm sure your wife is excited to get her new irons and I can understand her frustration. I understand your wanting to support the local guys, but perhaps the deal is that Callaway makes and sends out all these clubs to retailers and they honestly don't keep much else around until they hear from retailers that supply is getting lower to they fire some back up and replenish that supply. When smaller dealers come into play they likely don't have the means to fulfill orders in single order type fashion. One option would be to have your local guys go through Golf Galaxy or a similar big box store nearby and order them that way. Again I get your frustration, but I don't see how it's all on Callaway myself.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experiences with Callaway Golf. I have no such issues with them and wish you the best of luck with your endeavour. Just to play devil's advocate here, is it at all possible that perhaps the folks doing your ordering are not doing what they say they're doing for you? When more than two parties are involved it's always easier for one party to place blame on the other for lack of service.

No. I have no reason to doubt the pro at this course. I've known the guy for 25 years. Great course and a standup guy. He said when he called Callaway on the 16th of June, the rep apologized several times and told him because he had been good to them in the past, they would make it a priority to get him these clubs quickly.

Cancel the order and go with another brand, poor customer service should not be rewarded with a purchase. Fire them!

I pretty much fired them already from my bag but the wife loves em. This may have broke that bond. Lots of other choices out there for the higher handicap ladies.

 

[TC]

Fair enough buddy, just trying to ask all sides of the story. That would suck.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

Sounds like a bad deal, I'm sure your wife is excited to get her new irons and I can understand her frustration. I understand your wanting to support the local guys, but perhaps the deal is that Callaway makes and sends out all these clubs to retailers and they honestly don't keep much else around until they hear from retailers that supply is getting lower to they fire some back up and replenish that supply. When smaller dealers come into play they likely don't have the means to fulfill orders in single order type fashion. One option would be to have your local guys go through Golf Galaxy or a similar big box store nearby and order them that way. Again I get your frustration, but I don't see how it's all on Callaway myself.

Seriously? Twice in 30 days they said they would ship them on a certain date but didn't follow through. Thats not the pro talking, that is Callaway talking.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

I praise them for doing what they are doing for the site and the Morgan Cup, and in my nearly twenty years of playing their clubs, I received great customer service, but this happened more or less once before when ordering these ladies clubs. Just ranting a bit today....

 

[Puttin4Bird]

I see what you're saying, I really do. And yeah the part about them promising they'd be there then not having them show up is really frustrating. I'm just saying, if that's not how they typically handle their orders then they might be a little off on the whole deal. I'm sure you're not the only person to order them that way however.

 

[Hawk]

Even good companies can have a hiccup now and then. From working in CS I learned that the true measure of a company isn't necessarily what they do wrong, but what they do to make it right. Maybe it's worth shooting them an email? It sounds like they've been great to many THP members that have contacted them.

 

[TRyan]

Even good companies can have a hiccup now and then. From working in CS I learned that the true measure of a company isn't necessarily what they do wrong, but what they do to make it right. Maybe it's worth shooting them an email? It sounds like they've been great to many THP members that have contacted them.

Yes. I will be interested to see what they do to try and resolve these issues.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

I see what you're saying, I really do. And yeah the part about them promising they'd be there then not having them show up is really frustrating. I'm just saying, if that's not how they typically handle their orders then they might be a little off on the whole deal. I'm sure you're not the only person to order them that way however.

The pro at this course said he has ordered two dozen sets of irons this year as well as several drivers, woods etc. and had zero issues. We live in a pretty rural area and you either order yourself online, throught the OEM site, one of the box stores, or you drive a hour and a half and buy off the rack.

In this case we went this route to get a good price on trade in, and for the little guy to make a buck.

Even good companies can have a hiccup now and then. From working in CS I learned that the true measure of a company isn't necessarily what they do wrong, but what they do to make it right. Maybe it's worth shooting them an email? It sounds like they've been great to many THP members that have contacted them.

I agree. Everyone has a off day. In this case though, they have had just over a month. They could have (and should have) stated right up front that they didn't have the clubs in stock, but they set these deadlines for the pro having them in hand and didn't follow through.

I sent them a gentle but unhappy email this morning. I'll report what they have to say.

 

[Griff]

Has the shop offered you any alternative? I understand you have a personal relationship with them, but sometimes business is business. If all they have done is made calls to Callaway...heck, you could do that. As an authorized dealer I would think they have connections to other dealers and reps that may be able to get the item. For Callaway to pull stock from another retailer would be a little unusual. If it was me running the shop I would contact other sources to find a resolution. Callaway is definitely in the wrong from what you have said, so time for the shop to make it right.

I applaud you for giving the local guys a shot at your business. I am not trying to be argumentative, but it sounds like neither party is stepping up to the plate. Maybe I am off base and the shop has exhausted every possible resource. Just hope your wife gets her sticks soon!

 

[JB]

This is terrible for HG, but one thing I am confused on is why the club is not dealing with their personal rep that is local. Why are they making the call to a customer service rep? You could make that call yourself and get to the bottom of this in most situations. Im not excusing the actions of the company, because they gave two deadlines and did not honor either one. That is not good service. I do wonder why the person at your course is handing it this way though. They have a local rep they deal with. Even in rural areas, they have someone regionally. That person should have been on the phone and and gotten to the bottom of what is going on. This could have been avoided and fixed rather quickly. Ordering from the company to give this man your business is honorable, but at the same time, it seems that somewhere there is a lost link to proper communication.

 

[HuskAir]

Man, that's gotta be frustrating. Sorry to hear about you experiences with Callaway.

 

[Nathan Johnson]

ive always bought my clubs through Golf Galaxy or Austads. hopefully i never go through this! but when word gets out, maybe Callaway will start doing something about it. and its a shame Callaway has not stepped up to the plate for you. Sorry for your loss so far. :nono: