Club Champion Customer Service

Status
Not open for further replies.
I had a somewhat similar experience with my Cobra irons. I have had 3 heads shear off at the hosel. Cobra never told me to deal with KBS directly, they simply gave me a FedEx label to ship them the broken clubs and they replaced all the shafts with another model. I assume they will deal with KBS directly as they are the one who purchased from KBS and use their products in a lot of their equipment. Now this may be a little different because of where the clubs broke and Cobra knowing there is a quality issue on this front, but in the end they were complete champs in how they dealt with it.

I can see both sides, but CC purchased through Fuji, then marked up the price tremendously for their value added services of providing the build with puring, etc. and, IMO, should at least try to do something to make the customer feel better. I know I would if I were them. A discounted replacement shaft at their cost at the least.
 
@e1iterate sorry to hear about the crazy situation. I would feel very similar after paying a hefty price tag on said product. Especially when it was a gift from your wife on V day. That makes it doubly hard to deal with. Hope everything gets resolved for you! I have a couple shafts you can have that fit in the RAD SPEED but they probably launch too high and are not stiff enough!
 
I had a somewhat similar experience with my Cobra irons. I have had 3 heads shear off at the hosel. Cobra never told me to deal with KBS directly, they simply gave me a FedEx label to ship them the broken clubs and they replaced all the shafts with another model. I assume they will deal with KBS directly as they are the one who purchased from KBS and use their products in a lot of their equipment. Now this may be a little different because of where the clubs broke and Cobra knowing there is a quality issue on this front, but in the end they were complete champs in how they dealt with it.

I can see both sides, but CC purchased through Fuji, then marked up the price tremendously for their value added services of providing the build with puring, etc. and, IMO, should at least try to do something to make the customer feel better. I know I would if I were them. A discounted replacement shaft at their cost at the least.
Cobra CS is awesome. I had 4 heads snap at the hosel as well. They said to send them back and shipped new ones back asap. They are so good.
 
This is definitely correct.
If you were the fitter, what would you do if Fuji denied the warranty?

This is the difficult part. I would be applying a lot of pressure to the OEM and if they didn't budge it would be a reference point going forward and I would be hesitant to put others in their shafts. In this specific case, I would offer him a new shaft under the cost which CC gets it for and pure it for free. My reasoning being is that CC's business model is building a client base which believes in their fitting service and will tell others to bring them more business. The average golfer isn't going to easily hand over $1k for a driver. They just aren't. So you are killing any repeat business with @e1iterate by not making this right. And you are now poisoning the water because he will tell this story to other golfers he knows. I get it, they need to be profitable and have margins but you have to take care of your client base.
 
I agree that there's some grey area here since it's a component - but @McLovin makes a good point - who's to say something didn't go wrong in the build where the structure got weakened?

Honestly, I've had better CS from big box stores than I have from one of the Club Champion locations I've used, though I thought the fitting experience was at least decent. After hearing this - I'm not sure I'd go with them ever again. I've had better support from OEMS after running into issues with clubs they built, including a broken shaft.

The markup on shafts is enormous - somewhere between Fuji and Club Champion, they should be able to come to some sort of an agreement here.
 
I am seriously upset reading this whole post from @e1iterate. It's a shame what has occurred and I have added @Club Champion and @FujikuraGolf to the do no buy list until they can show they will make things right here and in other issues that arise in the future. Us golfers spend their hard earned disposable money on what most people would consider high priced items. To have an item fail in less then 2 months and be out a $350 shaft is a shame.
You are going to write off 2 brands because of one persons experience? I have played with @e1iterate and I know he does NOT abuse his clubs but most shaft failures come at the tip or butt not in the middle. As a company are you going to take everyone’s word that they did not cause the shaft to break?
Again I know Mike does not abuse clubs but how do companies know this?
Are you saying that the companies should eat the money on all situations like this?
 
Another hard part of course, it that from the OEM or CC perspective, its pretty easy odds that the lots of peopl lean too hard on thier
You are going to write off 2 brands because of one persons experience? I have played with @e1iterate and I know he does NOT abuse his clubs but most shaft failures come at the tip or butt not in the middle. As a company are you going to take everyone’s word that they did not cause the shaft to break?
Again I know Mike does not abuse clubs but how do companies know this?
Are you saying that the companies should eat the money on all situations like this?

Yeah that's the tough part. I handle my stuff careful, but I can't guarantee to you that I've never leaned too hard on a shaft that may contribute to something down the line. The OEM or CC has literally no idea how the thing was handled. That is why the OEM will often request the goods be returned for inspection to determine mode of failure.

Lots of golfer out there that toss clubs and abuse their equipment. Not saying that happened here... just that its something the OEM's have to choose how to parse through.
 
If you buy a Samsung from Best Buy, have them hang it on your wall and a month later it suddenly falls off the wall and breaks. Who is responsible for replacing the TV?
Manufacturing defects will show themselves well before two months have passed. Graphite basically fails for two reasons, load or impact; impact being the most common, especially in golf shafts. Any shaft damage during the build will show itself within the first handful of swings, unless it starts to delam, which is a different issue entirely. If it broke in the middle, it's pretty likely the shaft had been impacted at some point. Doesn't take much. Car doors, trunks, even bumping it on the cart, can change the structural integrity. It usually leads to a nearly perfect clean break. If it was from overloading the shaft, either by flex and/or too much weight, it's more likely to splinter. Either way, not saying the shaft manufacturer shouldn't stand behind their products, but in this instance it's likely not their issue.
 
I really think Club Champion has absolutely nothing to do with this. They offered what they could offer..... a discount and a bigger discount. When you say "stand behind their product" its not actually Club Champion's product

They stand behind their build and fit, but the product is not theirs. And where it broke is not any fault of CC's either. Shaft company should be contacted..... however I would agree CC should at least help you get in contact with someone instead of wiping their hands clean from it

Im actually getting ready to cancel my order from CC. its been 7 weeks since my fitting and order of Accra iSteel's and Z-cord align grips. I'll admit that I could reach out to see whats going on but my fitter has not updated or called me one time to let me know if something is back ordered. If its a grip thing I would happily change grips to get the process going.
 
Last edited:
This is 6 pages long so maybe this was mentioned, but club champion is the one that pured the shaft right? I mean they actually altered the material composition of the shaft to some degree, what's to say that process didn't create an issue?
 
I would expect CC to make good on it and then deal with the product manufacturer. If that means refusing to sell or recommend their products then both CC and manufacturer might come to an agreement on how to split the "loss" so that they both assume the responsibility of keeping their customers happy and not having threads like this, which will likely cost both much more.

I am sure this is not an isolated instance so I know the financial burden is bigger than 1 shaft but I also know good customer service pays off financially in the long run.

I see an assumption that this is golfer neglect and saying that's the only way a shaft breaks there but what if the builder made a mistake while clamping and caused structural damage unseen. What if the builder got angry when the grip got stuck and wouldn't go on? Just saying "what ifs" can work both ways.
 
Last edited:
I agree that there's some grey area here since it's a component - but @McLovin makes a good point - who's to say something didn't go wrong in the build where the structure got weakened?

Honestly, I've had better CS from big box stores than I have from one of the Club Champion locations I've used, though I thought the fitting experience was at least decent. After hearing this - I'm not sure I'd go with them ever again. I've had better support from OEMS after running into issues with clubs they built, including a broken shaft.

The markup on shafts is enormous - somewhere between Fuji and Club Champion, they should be able to come to some sort of an agreement here.

i guess the counterargument against what i wrote is when would fuji ever have a warranty claim? as far as i know, fuji doesn't cut, tip or grip shafts before mailing. so if fuji's mo is to just say "welp, someone else touched it after we mailed the raw shaft, so now it's their problem" that says they'd never have a warranty issue. hell, under that logic the delivery service would be on the hook for any issue, right, since they're the next in the chain of custody after fuji fulfills the order?
 
This always seems to be a muddy process in the golf industry.
I think this speaks for just about anywhere nowadays. Too many people lie to get free crap replaced that was their fault and eventually it screws those that are being honest about it.
 
I think this speaks for just about anywhere nowadays. Too many people lie to get free crap replaced that was their fault and eventually it screws those that are being honest about it.
Correct
 
I really think Club Champion has absolutely nothing to do with this. They offered what they could offer..... a discount and a bigger discount. When you say "stand behind their product" its not actually Club Champion's product

They stand behind their build and fit, but the product is not theirs. Shaft company should be contacted
It’s already been said in this thread multiple times that the shaft company refuses to deal directly with customers
 
This is 6 pages long so maybe this was mentioned, but club champion is the one that pured the shaft right? I mean they actually altered the material composition of the shaft to some degree, what's to say that process didn't create an issue?

puring doesn't alter the material composition at all. puring analyzes a multitude of orientations to find the most consistent bend point, and the build is finished using that specific orientation in the hope that it will perform at its most consistent.
 
It’s already been said in this thread multiple times that the shaft company refuses to deal directly with customers
Then Club Champion should seriously reconsider partnering with them. But I see a 1-800 number on their site, they clearly have a warranty process, so I'm kind of confused by this. I mean that's an absurd position in my opinion if it's true.

If there's one thing I've learned from this thread...it's I won't be buying a Fujikura shaft if that is true.
 
I'm definitely more in the camp of Club Champion should replace the shaft and deal with Fujikura. There the ones that can threaten to stop selling the shaft etc. They have far more leverage. To me this is no different then buying a car. Technically, Ford or whoever, is building the car from a variety of manufactured parts, some theres and some not. If something breaks in the bumper to bumper warranty you take it back to ford. You don't deal with the manufacture that made the specific part that broke.
 
I have never had a shaft break in this spot. It was near the hosel when it happened to me. Is it the perception of a user induced breakage where it is?

I broke a couple in the middle on my shoulders/back on my follow through in long drive. It’s been so long ago I don’t remember if they were replaced or not. Probably not?

I’ve sheared probably 10 at the hosel as well over the years. A couple years ago my R15 430 head actually made the FW. My ball did not.

Most of those were replaced no problem, no questions asked if they were fairly new.

Sorry you are having these problems @e1iterate I would not have expected that this would be a problem from them. Hugh end boutique type place operating on high margins, you’d expect better service.
 
It’s already been said in this thread multiple times that the shaft company refuses to deal directly with customers

And the customer has privity with the retailer. Retailer was paid. Retailer profited (not sold at wholesale price). Retailer should work with customer on the defective product IT sold, and then deal with the manufacturer.
 
And the customer has privity with the retailer. Retailer was paid. Retailer profited (not sold at wholesale price). Retailer should work with customer on the defective product IT sold AT A PREMIUM PRICE, and then deal with the manufacturer.
FIFY
 
Reading many of these replies I must ask this question again, should CC eat every shaft that is broken in a place where it’s normally not a fault of the shaft??????
 
Reading many of these replies I must ask this question again, should CC eat every shaft that is broken in a place where it’s normally not a fault of the shaft??????
I don't think that is what anyone is saying. But they should at least appear like they give a snot about their customer.
 
I don't think that is what anyone is saying. But they should at least appear like they give a snot about their customer.
They offered a discount I believe
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top