Don't buy rackets with known grommet sinking issues from e78.

[xZhongCheng]

I very much considered the risk before buying. I’ve heard from here and elsewhere that Victor (and Yonex for that matter) tries their best to weasel out of racket warranty claims so I really don’t care about contacting them, especially when I didn’t go through the “proper channel” which is buying from authorized dealers in the US (who all want around $200 USD or more for a racket). My point wasn’t about looking for a solution for this racket, as I considered it a done deal, just tossing it in the trash. I just want sellers to have a better attitude about doing business and taking care of customers a bit better. Apparently some of the people here just want to roll over and accept it, or even be the business’s apologist,

Warranty claims are almost non existent in America when it comes to racket problems. First, I had 2/4 of my 3U JS10 Original Color have sinking grommet problems. Ironically I had 4x 4U JS10s before and never had the problem. Victor at the time was nice enough to replace the rackets with the sinking grommets. After, I switched to JS12M for a more flexible shaft. I had one JS12M break within 15 mins of play when the string broke near the tie off. Strung at 27 pounds. They sent it back to Taiwan to get it inspected and told me there was nothing wrong with it. So there was $$$ down the drain.

After that I switched to using Li Ning since it was more affordable. Havent had any problems with their products so far. Its a shame that the Jetspeeds had that sinking grommet problem, the JS10 was one of the best rackets I've ever used.

Before my sponsorship I did buy my stuff through mybadmintonstore, but knew the drawbacks of no warranty if they have problems. The chances of getting rackets warrantied in America is almost 0% anyways. The process for warrantying rackets is not great for the local branches of the company because they have to send it back to where it was made, where it is inspected.

 

[what07]

I suggest you do a better job at suspecting:
I am perfectly fine. I'm not even really upset about this. You think I'd lose sleep over a $100 racket? Sorry buddy but common courtesy means a whole lot more to me than $100. I don't need comforting either. I just want them to do their job well. This post isn't even supposed to be an effort to crap on e78. I will continue to buy stuff from them. I just think commerce and customer services have come far too long for us to not voice about issues like these.

If the racket costed you $100 vs $200 so you save almost 50% but maybe you won't get the same level of customer service you expect from a retailer that is at your doorstep with the higher price tag. Whenever I buy things abroad especially off aliexpress and some ebay sellers I would also expect to either get dupe or something that I'm not satisfied with. Granted there are some really good sellers with extremely productive.

In regards to e78 I was looking at them to purchase a few things but maybe its where I live, after the conversion + shipping cost / time I'm maybe saving at most $20 per racket unless I buy like 4+ rackets to offset the shipping cost to make it worth while. So for the little amount I'm saving I didn't go with e78 but with someone else. But if I saved like 50%+ like you did then I would definitely consider buying from them and if anything bad happens then meh, gotta deal with it.

 

[Martynas]

you can clearly see that e78 comms are very disregarding when it comes to international customers, do not know how about the local ones, but yes you definitely must except that they will not give a slightest **** if you will face some warranty problem :/

 

[s6edge]

I had the JS10 for a few years. They and the JS12s have been known to have the sinking grommet problem.

Are your JS10, JS12 3U or 4U?

 

[xZhongCheng]

Are your JS10, JS12 3U or 4U?

JS10 I had Both 3 and 4U. JS12M only 3U

JS12M never had the sinking grommet issue, just the one problem where the racket cracked after the string broke. My buddy had broken over 5 JS12s 3U from when the strings break. Never seen this issue on Li Ning or Yonex Rackets.

JS10 4U never had the sinking grommet problem. I got this racket when it first came out. JS10 3U I had 2/4 of them have the sinking grommet problem.

 

[puttguy]

JS10 I had Both 3 and 4U. JS12M only 3U

JS12M never had the sinking grommet issue, just the one problem where the racket cracked after the string broke. My buddy had broken over 5 JS12s 3U from when the strings break. Never seen this issue on Li Ning or Yonex Rackets.

JS10 4U never had the sinking grommet problem. I got this racket when it first came out. JS10 3U I had 2/4 of them have the sinking grommet problem.

Think it's just of the draw, mate. What do you expect when racquets are getting lighter and lighter = thinner materials. Racquets have a lift span, their shafts get weaker with every swing and frames weaker every time there's a clash or restring. Nothing lasts forever. Lol

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[xZhongCheng]

Think it's just of the draw, mate. What do you expect when racquets are getting lighter and lighter = thinner materials. Racquets have a lift span, their shafts get weaker with every swing and frames weaker every time there's a clash or restring. Nothing lasts forever. Lol

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No doubt about that. Should have mentioned the JS12M that broke for me last about 15 minutes of total play time haha. I find it funny the 3U rackets had more problems than the 4U ones I had.

 

[MarketWizard]

While I do agree in principle with OP on how a simple "sorry, send the racket back at your own expense to us and we'll get Victor to look at it, but no guarantees" could go a long way in customer service, I do also have to say, you should know they are less than the Walmart equivalent of badminton with a low margin high volume business model. There's lots of little independent owned dingy stores in every country that have this type of business model, and it's anything but rare to find them excel in customer service. There's a saying. Pick 2 out of the 3. You can't have all 3 when it comes to: Customer service, Quality, Price... well maybe Amazon is changing this though, haha.

 

[R20190]

I can sympathise with the OP. I am a big fan of E78, I have bought a lot of racquets from them and they have been superb but I have not had any sinking grommet issues with the racquets I have bought from them so cannot comment on how their aftersales customer service is like. However it doesn't take much effort to acknowledge a customer's concern and usually, it is these smaller family-run businesses that offer a more personal customer service as they need the custom and good feedback so I am surprised they have not ignored you. I suspect the language barrier may be a factor though which I did note when I initially approached them many years ago and their Email response in English was not particularly clear.

I think the sad truth is that generally, successful manufacturer warranty claims on badminton racquets are a bit of a fantasy. There are indeed some good retailers who will absorb the cost or be willing to take it up with their supplier after they have settled it with you but more times than not you're not going to get anywhere with it through the manufacturer. They'll just claim it was mistreated, over tensioned, incorrectly strung etc and you cannot prove otherwise.

But on a technical note, sinking grommets at 27lb is pretty poor. I think the only times I've experienced sinking grommets are at well over 30lb which I cannot fully blame the racquet for as its a risk that I chose to take, but at 27lb any medium to high-end racquet should be able to comfortably take that tension without breaking a sweat, even if its a 4U. It's one of the areas that Victor seriously needs to address, they design and make fantastic racquets only to be let down by poor quality control.

 

[Thang Nghiem]

I can sympathise with the OP. I am a big fan of E78, I have bought a lot of racquets from them and they have been superb but I have not had any sinking grommet issues with the racquets I have bought from them so cannot comment on how their aftersales customer service is like. However it doesn't take much effort to acknowledge a customer's concern and usually, it is these smaller family-run businesses that offer a more personal customer service as they need the custom and good feedback so I am surprised they have not ignored you. I suspect the language barrier may be a factor though which I did note when I initially approached them many years ago and their Email response in English was not particularly clear.

I think the sad truth is that generally, successful manufacturer warranty claims on badminton racquets are a bit of a fantasy. There are indeed some good retailers who will absorb the cost or be willing to take it up with their supplier after they have settled it with you but more times than not you're not going to get anywhere with it through the manufacturer. They'll just claim it was mistreated, over tensioned, incorrectly strung etc and you cannot prove otherwise.

But on a technical note, sinking grommets at 27lb is pretty poor. I think the only times I've experienced sinking grommets are at well over 30lb which I cannot fully blame the racquet for as its a risk that I chose to take, but at 27lb any medium to high-end racquet should be able to comfortably take that tension without breaking a sweat, even if its a 4U. It's one of the areas that Victor seriously needs to address, they design and make fantastic racquets only to be let down by poor quality control.

Ya man. On that note, as I said I'm my club's stringer and I have strung hundreds of rackets. The JS10 is the ONLY racket that sunk. I've taken other rackets also with known sinking issues like Arc11 and Z-Slash to 30 lbs with no problem. I've even strung a $5 free shipping (yes, five dollars, full carbon lol) cheap racket to 27 lbs just fine...As I stated, it was a calculated risk and I came out on the wrong end, so no grievance to Victor in this instance, already knowing their poor track records of taking care of customers. The racket has been performing well, and I'm just waiting for the frame to cave all the way through.

 

[Budi]

as I said I'm my club's stringer and I have strung hundreds of rackets.

Wow... If only you are my friend, i wont had headache finding good stringer.

1 place i ask 4 knot & they give me 2 knot. Ok fine. Next time i restate 4 knot & i get 6 knot... What the hell is 6 knot

 

[Thang Nghiem]

Wow... If only you are my friend, i wont had headache finding good stringer.

1 place i ask 4 knot & they give me 2 knot. Ok fine. Next time i restate 4 knot & i get 6 knot... What the hell is 6 knot

Lol, 6 knots are basically unheard of. I'll bet that stringer was inexperienced and didn't measure out the appropriate amount of strings needed so he had to make up for the short string with another piece of string. 6 knots divided by 2 = 3 pieces of strings.

 

[MarketWizard]

Wow... If only you are my friend, i wont had headache finding good stringer.

1 place i ask 4 knot & they give me 2 knot. Ok fine. Next time i restate 4 knot & i get 6 knot... What the hell is 6 knot

They gave your 2 for free.

If you ordered 4 beers and I gave you 2, the next time you ordered 4, I'd give you 6 to make up for it.

 

[puttguy]

How many of you have actually been to e78? I have many times & I go there because they're cheap.
The old chap who runs the place is nice & knowledgeable but doesn't speak a lick of English. His wife greets customers with a smile but is mostly quiet and busy stringing racquets. Their in person customer service is more like overseas, come in greet the customer, give them time and space to browse & let them ask if they need help. This is a big difference to most Hong Kong stores where the sales person will hard sell you and be buzzing around you like a Bee to honey. Lol.
I'm sure the website is run by his son or some young employees that regularly come and go.

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[Thang Nghiem]

How many of you have actually been to e78? I have many times & I go there because they're cheap.
The old chap who runs the place is nice & knowledgeable but doesn't speak a lick of English. His wife greets customers with a smile but is mostly quiet and busy stringing racquets. Their in person customer service is more like overseas, come in greet the customer, give them time and space to browse & let them ask if they need help. This is a big difference to most Hong Kong stores where the sales person will hard sell you and be buzzing around you like a Bee to honey. Lol.
I'm sure the website is run by his son or some young employees that regularly come and go.

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Knowing this from you, I shouldn't feel as bummed for not getting a good customer service. If his son or some young employees only run the messages half-heartedly, then the messages probably never even got to the person who matters, and it's harder to blame them. I will delete this post.

 

[Thang Nghiem]

Knowing this from you, I shouldn't feel as bummed for not getting a good customer service. If his son or some young employees only run the messages half-heartedly, then the messages probably never even got to the person who matters, and it's harder to blame them.

Uh why can't I delete a mistake reply?

 

[puttguy]

Knowing this from you, I shouldn't feel as bummed for not getting a good customer service. If his son or some young employees only run the messages half-heartedly, then the messages probably never even got to the person who matters, and it's harder to blame them. I will delete this post.

Let me put it this way, customer service in Hong Kong isn't the same as what you would expect from US/UK/AU. After sales care in Hong Kong is near non existent, you don't get your "30 or 60 day no questions asked return for a full refund policy", even at the equivalent Big Box stores.

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[alana07]

Knowing this from you, I shouldn't feel as bummed for not getting a good customer service. If his son or some young employees only run the messages half-heartedly, then the messages probably never even got to the person who matters, and it's harder to blame them. I will delete this post.

Indeed, e78 is a small family biz. Store front experience and online experience are a day and night difference. The online operations is managed by the owner's son, and English is maybe their 3rd language after Cantonese and Mandarin. So you kind of have to manage your expectations a bit here.