PXG fitting safety fee

Buddy of mine bought a set of PXG irons last year. He is a very good player and is playing to a 2 handicap this year. His iron play is usually his strong suit. After about a dozen rounds this year he felt like his irons needed some tweaking and wanted to bring them back in to the pxg fitter that he originally went to. The fitter is outdoors and does everything via trackman. He set the appt more than 3 months ago and it was cancelled for the virus, however they rescheduled it for him recently now that things are opening back up slowly (MN). Today he got a text from PXG that he would have to pay a $50 safety fee for his adjustment. He called and they refused several times, but finally relented. They couldn't say what the money went toward and insisted it was to keep their staff safe, but no mention of how that was going to be accomplished.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is this normal?

It’s probably their way to try to deter a bunch of tire kickers during the current sale

Extra investment in PPE? Maybe paying their fitters hazard pay/bonuses for doing fittings during a pandemic?

Its $50. He spent $2-3k+ for his set probably and he is going during a pandemic. Typical loft/lie adjustments are $5-10 a club. I understand that some companies offer free adjustments if you buy, but things have changed since last year when he purchased and $50 isn't something to complain about and bother people who are already on edge worrying about 100 other things.

Agree with above. $50 seems reasonable with all that's going on.

OP - can you clarify? Was the $50 fee intended to cover both the time with the fitter to get new specs AND the physical adjustments to the irons? And was this something that was previously done free of charge?

OR

Is this something new that's universal and applies to ALL people who want to get fitted for PXG clubs? As in......any PXG fitting of any kind (be it for new clubs or adjustments) automatically requires an additional $50 fee?

If it's the former, then yeah.....kinda sucks but given that you're working with a fitter again and having some work done, then it's somewhat understandable. If it's the latter, well that's a separate discussion.......

There's all kinds of costs generally not associated with businesses that they need to be able to pass on at least partially. Down time, PPE, cleaners, inventory cleaning, COVID testing for employees, healthcare, implementing different procedures, more space between fittings/fitters to not overlap, renting more of the range, lower volume of fittings, you name it. $50 is very reasonable.

Is the fitter actually PXG or an independent PXG dealer?

If his appointment was originally scheduled prior to changes due to COVID, which it appears is the case, then I think it would go along way on PXG's side to not charge the fee in this case. I can certainly understand the price of doing business has changed for customers since.

When I had my fitting last month, I was told to bring the irons back in to the fitter, and he would make any adjustments needed for free. No mention of a $50 safety fee.

You mentioned he bought them last year and has played about a dozen rounds this year. That doesn't sound like a post fitting adjustment to me. I would agree that for the first month or so after a fitting a gratis adjustment is appropriate but it shouldn't go on forever. Forged clubs particularly need their loft/lie checked and adjusted periodically and this should not be free IMO.

I missed the first part of the OP and probably just read it wrong. Some places like Club Champion offer “lifetime” adjustments but if that’s not the case with PXG then I agree that it would be normal to be charged a year later. I was under the impression this was an after purchase tune-up that was part of the original transaction and just got delayed due to COVID. Would need some clarification.