Callaway custom order complaint...ridiculous (UPDATE: Harry stepped up and resolved!!)

I want to start by saying I have played callaway and odyssey for a long time.....10 + years, almost exclusively, since the x tour iron and ft3 days, and even prior to that. In the mid 2000s, I ordered 3 drivers and a set of irons (over about a four year span), with speeder 757 x in the drivers, and satin rp project x 6.5s....each time,the order was spot on.

Over the course of the last year, I have ordered and received the following through two different clubs:

12/12 - ordered callaway x utility 24 with KBS C taper S+, 125 gram shaft

12/12 - received said x utility...l/l/l and grip correct, but had KBS C taper S 120 gram shaft

12/13 - ordered callaway 2013 x forged with KBS C taper S+, 125 gram shafts

1/14 - received said x forged...l/l/l and grip correct, but had KBS C taper X 130 gram shafts

1/14 - ordered BBA 9 degree with 70 gram X fubuki ZT and mid sized GP DDMC grip

2/13/2014 - received said BBA with stock grip + 3 wraps and stock 60 gram X flex fubuki ZT

To be fair, I posted something here on the utilty, and Harry Arnett personally PM'd me and offered to swap....I actually said if they could just send me a .370 KBS S + I can install, and they did quickly....and it was great Customer support.

On the irons, I have a good friend at cool clubs in Scottsdale that rebuilt them for me with the correct shafts, and even freq matched them, so I got even better than what I ordered.....nonetheless.....the placed order was not correct...

On the driver.....I'm simply pissed....I drove to the club to get it, told them befor I paid for it I wanted to check it to make sure it was right, and it wasn't. I also know all three orders were correct, because the respective club pros simply forwarded my email to the rep.

I'm sorry, but I'm aggravated....in the last 15 months or so, I have ordered almost $1500 in callaway stuff, and every order has been wrong....I love callaway and their stuff, and I'm not changing or anything. How should I feel about this though? It's not doing a lot for my confidence in ordering stuff from them, and it's not helping my committment to them in their war waged for resurgence... I'd like to hear honest opinions on this and how other customers would feel about this.

Thanks and if there are typos...sorry, typed on iPad

UPDATE: yesterday at the advice of others I PMd Harry with link to my topic....he was furious, and not with me, but rather that every order I have place has been wrong...Harry asked for my email, and we exchanged several emails about the situation....I want to tell you that up front I told Harry I wante no special treatment, no upgrades,etc, just what I ordered......I don't want to go into what Harry did...I don't think that is fair to him and callaway to open some flood gate, but I'll tell you that Harry and Callaway went above and beyond what they needed to do, in a very expedited way...I just want to say that while it's unfortunate I had to reach out to Harry twice on orders, Both times, the matters were made whole very quickly, and they should be commended for that...more importantly, I think Harry realized by my emails that I was not digging for something special ....I was informing him of an issue that of I were in his position, I would want to be made aware of. Thanks everyone!.

I would be extremely frustrated having had the same experiences as you. At the very least, they should send you the correct club and cover shipping both ways.

I would reach out to Harry and the guys at Callaway again and inform them of the issues. These are valuable training experiences for companies on how to learn from past mistakes and put steps in place to improve in the future. That being said, this is why I never buy direct from the OEM's and I always go through my club fitter. This way I know I am getting exactly what I want every time. I had a similar experience as you with TM a few years ago. I had my pro custom order a Superfast TP with Xcon 6 in X flex at 44.75", Multi-Decade Grip, at D3 SW. All they did was take current stock grip off, butt cut it down to my length, slap on the new grip, and shipped it out. It was as light as a noodle (C5 or something) with a flex of XX. Brought it to my club builder and he took it apart, added hot melt, and it was night and day a different club. Had I not won the driver in a raffle at the club then I would never have ordered it direct in the first place. It is a shame these huge companies don't have better "Custom" Departments that can handle these basic club building principles. Good luck and hope they make it right for you somehow.

[quote name='pearls24' timestamp='1392392481' post='8667035']
I would reach out to Harry and the guys at Callaway again and inform them of the issues. These are valuable training experiences for companies on how to learn from past mistakes and put steps in place to improve in the future. That being said, this is why I never buy direct from the OEM's and I always go through my club fitter. This way I know I am getting exactly what I want every time. I had a similar experience as you with TM a few years ago. I had my pro custom order a Superfast TP with Xcon 6 in X flex at 44.75", Multi-Decade Grip, at D3 SW. All they did was take current stock grip off, butt cut it down to my length, slap on the new grip, and shipped it out. It was as light as a noodle (C5 or something) with a flex of XX. Brought it to my club builder and he took it apart, added hot melt, and it was night and day a different club. Had I not won the driver in a raffle at the club then I would never have ordered it direct in the first place. It is a shame these huge companies don't have better "Custom" Departments that can handle these basic club building principles. Good luck and hope they make it right for you somehow.
[/quote]

I think this is my way of reaching out to them.....hopefully callaway sees this and if nothing less, sees this is a weakness right now....I'm not looking for a handout or something, I just want things to be made right,,,also I agree with you pearls about the ordering from a fitter and I have a great contact for that...but I had $680 to burn at one club, and $400 to burn at another so I really didn't have a choice...unless I wanted shoes and dozens of balls instead.

I would shoot Harry a PM and I'd bet he would take care of it. He seems like a stand-up guy.

But I can totally understand your frustration. It sucks to order something and have to wait and then when it shows up for it not to be right.

[i][color=#282828]I also know all three orders were correct, because the respective club pros simply forwarded my email to the rep.[/color][/i]

Being in the golf industry for 30 years, I know one indisputable fact: giving orders to a rep is almost useless. The information may have been conveyed to the rep correctly, but you have no idea what he conveyed to the factory. Even if he did get it to the factory properly, there might have been material shortages or delays and the rep would have been asked if they can substitute this for that to fulfill the order in time. I've seen too many reps over the years think that it's no problem to sub stuff if it is close to what was ordered. That is where I would start asking questions.

[quote name='ebbowron' timestamp='1392392828' post='8667089']
[quote name='pearls24' timestamp='1392392481' post='8667035']
I would reach out to Harry and the guys at Callaway again and inform them of the issues. These are valuable training experiences for companies on how to learn from past mistakes and put steps in place to improve in the future. That being said, this is why I never buy direct from the OEM's and I always go through my club fitter. This way I know I am getting exactly what I want every time. I had a similar experience as you with TM a few years ago. I had my pro custom order a Superfast TP with Xcon 6 in X flex at 44.75", Multi-Decade Grip, at D3 SW. All they did was take current stock grip off, butt cut it down to my length, slap on the new grip, and shipped it out. It was as light as a noodle (C5 or something) with a flex of XX. Brought it to my club builder and he took it apart, added hot melt, and it was night and day a different club. Had I not won the driver in a raffle at the club then I would never have ordered it direct in the first place. It is a shame these huge companies don't have better "Custom" Departments that can handle these basic club building principles. Good luck and hope they make it right for you somehow.
[/quote]

I think this is my way of reaching out to them.....hopefully callaway sees this and if nothing less, sees this is a weakness right now....I'm not looking for a handout or something, I just want things to be made right,,,also I agree with you pearls about the ordering from a fitter and I have a great contact for that...but I had $680 to burn at one club, and $400 to burn at another so I really didn't have a choice...unless I wanted shoes and dozens of balls instead.
[/quote]

I hear ya. Where do you play in Phoenix? I am heading out that way in early April with the wife. We love it there and have thought about moving one day. These winters in the Northeast are just brutal to me now.

Threads like this make me very nervous about the irons I just received. My philosophy has always been cut out the middle man and order direct when you can (outside of golf clubs, this generally reduces mistakes for me). Just this week I received my order: 4-PW Apex, AW Apex Pro, all clubs KBS Tour V S, std loft/lie, +1/2" length, +1 wrap, new decade std.

You've made me paranoid that they botched my order! I've already measured them against my old clubs which were 1/2" longer, and measured the true length too. The grips appear correct. I get nervous about the shafts though as they had to build tapered shafts into parallel heads. All appears ok though - unless they just put a KBS Tour V S sticker on a parallel shaft (joking, all seems good).

Sorry to hear of your experiences. I hope (and believe they will) put it right for you.

That's a lot of orders with a lot of screw ups. Seriously, they need to wake up.

[quote name='Socrates' timestamp='1392393367' post='8667183']
[i][color=#282828]I also know all three orders were correct, because the respective club pros simply forwarded my email to the rep.[/color][/i]

Being in the golf industry for 30 years, I know one indisputable fact: giving orders to a rep is almost useless. The information may have been conveyed to the rep correctly, but you have no idea what he conveyed to the factory. Even if he did get it to the factory properly, there might have been material shortages or delays and the rep would have been asked if they can substitute this for that to fulfill the order in time. I've seen too many reps over the years think that it's no problem to sub stuff if it is close to what was ordered. That is where I would start asking questions.
[/quote]

This. If you're not getting an order confirmation back from Callaway stating verbatim what you have ordered, then I would be inclined to think your rep is useless.

Callaway is a stand up OEM. That being said the last two sets of irons I have bought were from my club fitter. My specs are not complicated, but I want they done right the first time. I'm sure Callaway will make this right for you. Yes, I'm going with a new set of Spex Pros.

I appreciate everyone's responses. I know that originally, when I ordered the irons, my pro said that the Callaway rep said something about how I said S+/125 G C-Tapers, that the X's actually play 125, not 130, etc. Well, I kind of called BS on that....I specifically asked for S+/125, because that is how they are labeled by KBS.....

I just heard from the pro at my other club where I ordered the BBA. He said that when I asked for the 70 gram X version of the Fubuki, they gave me the 60 X because it is 66 grams, which is closer to 70 grams then the 70 X version, which is 78 grams. Again, I think that is trying to cover the mistake. I understand that when I say 60 g version or 70 g version, it is not 60 or 70 grams. I didnt think I needed to say 70 X flex, that actually weights 78 g. That is silly. I also said specificially "the 70 X version, not the lighter, retail 60 X". I would think that would clear up the confusion.

I think I may just PM harry with the link to this thread, and just say "Hey, not mad really, but, you should read this, so you are aware, etc."....again, I am not looking for anything from Callaway (other than an WRX trip lol just kidding!), other than to get my order right. I dont think it is my pros either. they are both not club geeks so they dont know all the profiles, weights, etc, but, they know that A) I am a club geek, and because of that B), I am going to be picky about my order, and C) I will lay out to them exactly what I want, and they will look at me funny because they have no idea what I just gave them lol. Point is, I lay out what I want pretty darn clearly, so I just dont understand why this is so hard, and why I am having to go through the aggravation of dealing with it.

Again, love Callaway, love their stuff. I play a RFE right now, a 3 deep, a xhot pro 5 wood, a x utility, 2013 x forged irons, MD2 wedges, and I have about 6 odyssey #9s, a PT-82 retail, and # 81 of 83 of the Phil Masters PT-82 replica, so Im loyal, and I will continue to be, simply because I like their product (and BTW, I love the new SR3 ball.....its the first ball in a long time by any manufactuer that will likely kick the PV1X out of the bag). That said though, this is inexusable to go 0 for 3 on orders, and it is just bad business to loyal customers.

I play all over. I play in a lot of skins games, etc, and the Phoenix City and Mesa City amateur events. I live near Legacy Golf Resort, and while I dont play a ton there, the course is always in great shape, and their practice facility is one of the top in the valley (other than some private courses, and frankly, better than most of those).

Im from DC.....I played baseball in college there...I was a Pitcher/DH in HS, and went to sole pitcher in college, and that is when my golf obsession really got going. When I had a chance to move to PHX where I could play all year, I jumped on it, and Ive never looked back. I love to go visit back there, but that is it.

When you are heading out, let me know, and Ill give you some good places to play if you are gonna play and want some recommendations. Just PM me.

I reached out to Harry.... I will be modifying my topic to say "and great resolution!!" I won't go into all specifics, but I'll say Harry responded immediately, ans went above and beyond what he needed to do to rectify the situation... As he in last year with the utility... Kudos to him and callaway, ans I'm glad I could let them know about the shortcoming, if for no other reason than to help them know what goes on out there sometimes.... Thanks again to Harry and Callaway!!

Typical

[quote name='ebbowron' timestamp='1392405015' post='8668623']
I reached out to Harry.... I will be modifying my topic to say "and great resolution!!" I won't go into all specifics, but I'll say Harry responded immediately, ans went above and beyond what he needed to do to rectify the situation... As he in last year with the utility... Kudos to him and callaway, ans I'm glad I could let them know about the shortcoming, if for no other reason than to help them know what goes on out there sometimes.... Thanks again to Harry and Callaway!!
[/quote]

That is great it all worked out. I hear ya about the weather and moving out. My wife would do it tomorrow but I have stronger ties to family here (Boston) then she does. That being said, I have a friend who is a member at Desert Mtn so I will play there a couple of rounds and still undecided on the rest. I would like to play Wekopa since I haven't done that yet. I am recovering from a sports hernia operation last week and should be good to go with golf by mid March the latest (I hope).

Say usually the middle man more than manufacturer...though mizuno has messed a few up....l/l/l or sw usually...

interpretation is culprit most times

They sent me a BB rather than a BB Alpha which arrived today. Talk about disappointing! Just had 8 inches of snow and freezing cold weather in Maine though, so no harm done. If this was during the season, boy would that have been frustrating.

[quote name='kendall.boudreau' timestamp='1392427217' post='8670809']
They sent me a BB rather than a BB Alpha which arrived today. Talk about disappointing! Just had 8 inches of snow and freezing cold weather in Maine though, so no harm done. If this was during the season, boy would that have been frustrating.
[/quote]

Time for you to PM Harry as well.

They sent me an e-mail before it even arrived realizing their mistake. Not a huge deal for me, mistakes get made. I work in retail, I get it.

[quote name='kendall.boudreau' timestamp='1392427901' post='8670897']
They sent me an e-mail before it even arrived realizing their mistake. Not a huge deal for me, mistakes get made. I work in retail, I get it.
[/quote]

Good, at least they were proactive in getting it handled for you.

If I were to use a middleman I would send them an email with EXACTLY what I wanted this way they could simply forward it on. Or like when I ordered my g25 irons last year I wanted to see the form before they entered the order into the system.

Heck even the other day I had 2 shafts pulled, 2 adapters glued in and 2 clubs assembled by a local fitter. I typed it all out how I wanted it, explained it all to him and handed him the sheet. He loved it and said man you are as anal as me. I said that us the auditor coming out in me. Lol
Needless to say everything was perfect when I picked it up.

I'm sorry but people are just too busy, too distracted, absent minded, lazy, or plain don't care these days. Don't leave anything up to chance. Buyer beware

Callaway customer service has definitely declined over the past few years... it used to be absolutely top notch, today I give them about a B- at best. From my own recent experience they are tending to look for reasons not to fix a problem or up charge for it rather than take care of the customer. Prime example... don't ever buy Callaway clubs from a PGA Pro who does not have a fully store logo'd receipt. Callaway will not honor it period which to me is total BS.

Glad everything worked out, but, as stated by a majority of members here, I would be extremely frustrated. It's awesome that they took care of you after the fact though.

Wow talk about a loyal customer. I am sorry to hear, and almost could not believe you could have 3 orders right in a row come out with something amiss. I am glad to hear of your patience with the situation and it was definitely wise to seek Harry's input about the whole fiasco. Harry seems like a totally stand up guy. I am also pretty sure part of his being accessible around here and on social media is to take care of situations like the ones you described (although we would hope that they don't happen to the same person). Enjoy all your new stuff finished out to their original specs, while I stare out the window at about 2 1/2 feet- 5 feet of snow covering the yard.

[quote name='erock9174' timestamp='1392428285' post='8670931']
If I were to use a middleman I would send them an email with EXACTLY what I wanted this way they could simply forward it on. Or like when I ordered my g25 irons last year I wanted to see the form before they entered the order into the system.

Heck even the other day I had 2 shafts pulled, 2 adapters glued in and 2 clubs assembled by a local fitter. I typed it all out how I wanted it, explained it all to him and handed him the sheet. He loved it and said man you are as anal as me. I said that us the auditor coming out in me. Lol
Needless to say everything was perfect when I picked it up.

I'm sorry but people are just too busy, too distracted, absent minded, lazy, or plain don't care these days. Don't leave anything up to chance. Buyer beware
[/quote]

I agree here, but also don't want to offend the pro saying I want to see what you send the rep...almost questioning his competency......that said, the email I sent to my pro stated the following:

"Callaway big Bertha alpha, 9 degree model, standard length, fubuki ZT 70 x shaft (the heavier model, not the stock 60 x), GP DDMC mid sized grip, plus two wraps"

That to me, is pretty clear, but again, the rep go me the shaft closest to 70 grams....do I see the rationale, yeah through the fog, but I still think I made it clear after I said 70 x that I wanted one model heavier than the stock shaft.

It was the same with my utility and irons....I specifically said S+, 125 gram c tapers.....frankly I don't know how you mess that up...it's water under the bridge now...Harry stepped up and went above and beyond, and it was appreciated....just glad I could bring it to his attention so that these things don't continue to happen and hinder callaways resurgence....

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read and respond.

Glad you got it straightened out as accuracy when spending that much money is uber important. Harry is on his game and doesn't play around.

I'm a loyal customer simply because I like the equipment..... I just started playing it with the X tours and the ft3 and it just kinda stuck.... It didn't get worked out thankfully... I know I was fortunate here, but hope in the end, this just helps callaway be a better company and ccloses that gap so as not to deter others

I'm glad to hear Harry got things straightened out. I think he really loves the GolfWRX community and enjoys our feedback on Callaway products.

[quote name='ebbowron' timestamp='1392605399' post='8683507']
I'm a loyal customer simply because I like the equipment..... I just started playing it with the X tours and the ft3 and it just kinda stuck.... It didn't get worked out thankfully... I know I was fortunate here, but hope in the end, this just helps callaway be a better company and ccloses that gap so as not to deter others
[/quote]

The main disconnect was between your pro and the rep...and the rep needs to know what is available better. Callaway doesn't carry S+ ctapers thru the retail side..maybe thru the Callaway Performance Centers, but I don't think so. So it sounds like either the Rep didn't know or the Pro and the Rep decided on what was closest to what they thought you wanted. I can understand the frustration for sure and it is cool that Callaway fixed it, but I am sure your Pro has the same options available that I do thru GG when I special order. I would confer with the Pro and the Rep at the same time to make sure what you are getting. Don't get me wrong, it should be done right the first time, but it needs to be available to be right.