Dear Master Stringers, I ran into an issue recently. As you know, many people buy and have it strung by someone else due to distance or price issue or some other BS reason. My question is, if you sold a new racquet to a player locally stung by you without any problem. A couple month later, the racquet came back and ask for warranty replacement. Upon inspection, you notice the racquet has been restrung several time already and not by you. Also, you notice the racquet is strung from 1 side to another on mains. Even the tension is within tolerance (~24lb). Should you help and claim the warranty? I did it but I am not happy due to 2 reasons. 1) The player is so cheap @$$ and do not want to bring it back for me to service it even I charge average rate (yes, i did not raise price after I bought the new machine). 2) It was not done wight and I have to cover up for you. I am thinking to have a policy that for local player, I only warranty the racquet I sold and service only. Do you agree with the new policy? Please comment.
Wow.. warranty replacement. Master silentheart, is this a legitimate business (you claim this in your taxes) you are running? Not too many stores or home businesses provide warranty replacement regardless of who services it. The service you provide seems to go above and beyond the norm. Most of them direct to customers that any warranty replacement should be dealt directly with the manufacturer. I'd advise to go with a similar policy. More importantly, moving forward you should disclose to all customers whatever policy you wish to implement. As long as both parties know, situations like this will only be history. Hope this helps.
No, it is a side job and has and always be a side job. I work undercover... In US, if I buy from SD badminton supply or Badminton Alley, they will do so if it is a legit warrenty claim even if I buy them off the internet and stung by me.
I think you should set a policy that reflects what you are comfortable with and what you want customers to perceive about you and your services. I always believe that great service goes a long way but you will have to deal with the occasional deadbeats that take advantage. In situations like this its really a judgement call. If I sold a racquet to Badminton Alley or SD Badminton and they sell to their customers I expect the customers will go to the place of purchase for any warranty issues. SD or BA then comes back to me for warranty claims regardless of where the racquet is serviced. Now if the racquet was damaged due to being strung improperly then somewhere along the line someone has the right to refuse the warranty service. I personally think its great that you decided to help out the customer. Believe me I understand the pain quite well. Just make sure to remind the customer that he should have his racquet strung by someone more qualified than the person he is using now.
I work in a shop and we have plenty of returns that have clearly been re-strung by others that have caused damage to the racquets. We do send them away, but I always comment to the customer if I can tell it's a naff stringing job. You could send it away and if the company says it is due to the strings, provide a copy of that information to the customer to take to the stringer so they can be held accountable.
