My rant on Ping and Golf Town Screw Up

[The Saint]

I brought in a set of Ping irons to get bent Aug 27th. They took them and shipped them off to Ping Friday Aug 28th. I called two weeks later Sept 11 only to find out that GT shipped them to the wrong location so Ping sent them back to Golf Town. GT then shipped them back to Ping again. GT told me they put priority on it and I should get them Sept 13th or today Sept 15th. I called today to find that Ping has not even started on them. Now I'm waiting probably another 2 more weeks.

ARGH!!

[LobWedge]

May I ask why you went through GT to get to Ping instead of going direct?

[Chieflongtee]

Don't you have a bending machine Chris?

[The Saint]

I don't know.

[LobWedge]

I don't know.

I just thought there was some financial/customs advantage by having GT send them out instead of you. Either way, I would be asking for some type of compensation (gift card, balls, discount, etc.) for the aggravation. People are human, and mistakes happen, but to compound it by giving you some BS delivery date after they got it figured out is unacceptable. They should compensate you for that.

[The Saint]

Don't you have a bending machine Chris?

I'm hesitant to bend something that has a history of snapping... unless things have changed with Ping my understanding was that they had to bend them.

[Big Johnny69]

For warranty purposes, if you ever plan on using Ping's warranty service, all work HAS to be done by them. I enquired about an item, current line, and they made it very clear that if I got someone else to do the work and something happened to the club they wouldn't even look at it.

[Chieflongtee]

For warranty purposes, if you ever plan on using Ping's warranty service, all work HAS to be done by them. I enquired about an item, current line, and they made it very clear that if I got someone else to do the work and something happened to the club they wouldn't even look at it.

I understand. I bent some pings this summer and they were very easy to bend but they were old and the customer gave me clearance. Even though 2 degrees up or down or what have you they may still require some final tweaking. Nuff said.

[The Saint]

It's been three weeks today and now they can't find my work order. I called GT yesterday and the person who answered said he'd look into it personally and call me back....no call or msg left
I called again today and got a different guy and he said that he can't find any paper work on it.

This is getting too crazy....So I called Ping myself and they said that they can't do anything because it went through GT and GT are the only one's authorized to call in to inquire as it went through their account.

[jeffc]

chris..I would call and ask to speak to the manager. this is ridiculous....

[3Jack]

I had my own issues this summer with GT and Ping getting wires crossed. My clubs were sent back to Ping via GT at my request to be reshafted. Was told it would take one week, ended up being close to three. When they came back they're weren't any Cushin inserts as there were in the original shafts. Also, an additional wedge wasn't added to the set as requested, and some loft customization wasn't performed on another wedge.

Bottom line, based on the length of time it takes Ping to service clubs, and the mistakes they made with the changes, I'll never be sending my clubs back to Ping again. The benefit of preserving your warranty does not compensate for their lack of attention to detail and general lack of customer care.

[The Saint]

chris..I would call and ask to speak to the manager. this is ridiculous....

I took your advice Jeff. Thanks..

They are looking into it. Why do I get this feeling I'm going to be getting bad news?

[leftylucas]

Yikes, I need to send my putter back ot them due to flaking, perhaps I will go through Nevada Bob's instead as PING told me I cannot send it back directly.

[CBrown]

Wow. That's frightening. Just out of curiosity, was this the Kanata location or the Eastend location? My personal experience with the Kanata ProShop hasn't been great since Jamie disappeared a while back. Good Luck!!!

[maximus]

Yikes, I need to send my putter back ot them due to flaking, perhaps I will go through Nevada Bob's instead as PING told me I cannot send it back directly.

Big fan of Nevada Bobs...

I was talking to a guy there about club fitting my G10s and shipping back to Ping. I was surprised to hear that the only cost involved is the shipping. No fitting charge at all, even though I didn't buy the clubs there. Does GT charge for fitting? Since I didn't end up going that route this season, I can't comment on the turn around time.

As a side note... what they did do for me was send a request to Ogio for a replacement bag cover for my Edge bag, that I didn't even buy from them. They called me in a week saying that one had been delivered, free of charge.

Solid service from what I can tell.

Good luck!

[3Jack]

My bad experience was more Ping related than GT related. LeftLucas is right though, Ping will only deal with retailers - when I called Ping customer service directly they wouldn't give me the status on my own clubs - they insisted that they had to communicate to me via the retailer. I'm sure there is some sort of logistical reason for this, but c'mon. Brutal.

[The Saint]

I just received a call from GT east. The latest news is that Ping is back-logged with alterations and to expect a delay. ( why did Ping tell GT they would put a priority on it then?)

Normal turn around is 7-10 days however Ping is really busy.. Be patient.............They will call .....zzzz......zzzz....zzzz...when they arrive...zzzz

[leftylucas]

Yes, they are busy, every one knows that September is the busiest golf month?????????????????

[Weazl]

Does thatmean they found the club and the work order or are they just passing the buck andmaking excuses while they look? Sorry.

[The Saint]

...Good question.. Come to think about it they never mentioned anything about finding the work order.

Does thatmean they found the club and the work order or are they just passing the buck andmaking excuses while they look? Sorry.

[Weazl]

Oops sorry.

[1972Apex]

...Good question.. Come to think about it they never mentioned anything about finding the work order.

Methinks you are just being stalled

[The Saint]

To GT's credit I did call Ping Canada and asked what the turn around would be for a set of clubs. They told me 10 days. I asked if they were busy and they replied "yes, really busy".

[3Jack]

As an aside, I find it curious that the repair / tweak center is so busy, considering the apparent sophistication of Ping's fitting system. I know I wasn't happy with the on-course performance of my customized irons, both from a shaft and a lie angle perspective. Now that I have made adjustments based on on-course results, things are better, but I honestly expected a better result based on the original fitting I received from the Ping rep.

[Marcos]

Chris,our club is a Ping Dealer and wondering if Ouataouais is?I know that the pro at Buckingham sends them back on a reg. basis with no hassles.I just bought a used set and no prob. to send them back to be bent.All I have to pay is shipping.A little to late now for you but something for the other forum members to think about the next time they have to deal with a company.

[psniddy]

In the many sets i sent back to Ping I never had that kind of experience. I think maybe your clubs were sitting at GT and never got shipped. It is a pretty common mistake made by all retailers and then it is easy to pass the buck to the OEM since they don't really speak to customers. I am sure the local Ping rep who is very customer serive oriented guy would love to hear this story. If you want I can get his name and number to you Chris.

[hoolio]

Am I the only one sitting here thinking that GT Executives ordered this to be done intentionally because Chris has been biting into their sales over the past few years?

Maybe I'm just paranoid...

[buykrux]

thats ok
ping sent me the wrong handed driver

[buykrux]

took 5 weeks ping ping sent me a shirt, glove, hat, ball marker, keychain, bracelet etc

[The Saint]

Basts. you may be onto something.. I never thought that "the company" may be behind this... hmmmmm... What would Jack Bower do in a situation like this?...