What has been your worst internet golf purchase and why?

[roughhater]

After a long break from golf my wife and I have jumped back in...hard! New clubs, trying different balls, different courses and even new push carts so we can walk instead of riding. I have had a few issues with websites and what they sold me versus what I bought. Do you have some stories to share that may save us some heartache? Thanks for sharing!

[Sean2]

I have had great success with Callaway Pre-owned. Their service is second to none, and the clubs are always in better condition than advertised.

[roughhater]

Yep, Callaway pre-owned is awesome for sure. I have never been disappointed with them. Rock Bottom Golf is a solid site with fast shipping. I did have an issue with GolfEtail that has caused me to never visit that site again.

[Sean2]

With the Internet, caveat emptor certainly applies, lol.

[Hawkeye77]

Homer Kelley’s “The Golfing Machine” - hardback, not cheap.

Unintelligible gobbledygook. Had trouble giving it away, finally gave it away to a young pro on this forum a few years ago. For him it was very useful.

[DannyK]

I'll third Callaway pre-owned. Some of the best customer service I have ever received. Also, the clubs are accurately described.

[roughhater]

Yep, a Latin term put in good ole' boy terms = Beware of buying a pig in a poke! The problem I had with GolfEtail was a great deal on golf balls. They shipped them loose in a box, no biggie except the box burst before I got it. Several balls were missing. When I notified them, sent pictures and asked they ship the balance, they just gave me a prorated refund. It is a principle thing for me. Don't sale an item you won't stand behind. I have also had great luck ordering from eBay. I only deal with 99% seller rating though.

[Red4282]

Im an ebayer for the most part and i have a few sellers that i trust. Globalgolf, while they do not post pictures of the actual product, every time i have ordered from them i have not been disappointed. Recently i ordered a “mint” mizuno st190 driver for $150 bucks. Listing said headvover included but no tool. Received a brand new driver, in plastic with headvover and tool. Another good one is proclubs, especially for shafts. Last, this year i found a new seller for balls. I buy most of my balls mintly used, as they can be had for 1/2 price and you cant even tell. The seller is Cogolfballs. Like i said they are new and dont have a ton of inventory right now, but they have some real steals. I bought 50 mint prov1s (previous gen) for 30 shipped. Thats nearly 50 cent a ball!

that being said i have actually had my worse experiences from individual sellers. Be sure to ask questions and get all the details. A recent example is i bought a set of irons and the description said project x 6.5. No pictures of the shafts. Didnt think twice about it but when I received them they were actually project x LZ 6.5. I ended up being fine with it but it wasnt what i was expecting.

[caeye0710]

Good ole' GlobalGolf. I actually worked there in college. The only "issue" is the guys who do the receiving/trade-in processing hawk all the clubs that come in with premium/exotic shafts, buy them at cost, and then sell them on their own or use them. But I agree, I always have had a good experience with them. Even ordered a set of 716CB's that were in their worst condition rating and I was surprised when they came in to find that they were in great condition.

[Sean2]

Stupid on their part. Competition is fierce, so great customer service is a must. It wouldn't have taken much of an effort to fulfill your order.

[Murphy76]

 

I have bought a ton of things from GlobalGolf and never had a bad experience. Clubs are almost always better than described.

 

I wish they would bring back the reward program where you can get free merch. I have so many points that would love to get more than free shipping/gift cards......

[roughhater]

The year prior to me taking a break, a friend of mine recommended me trying Giga Golf's irons. I think they were V11s if I correctly remember. Now don't get too snobbish on me for gaming clones. Heck, I liked them so much with steel shafts, I ordered a set for my Dad with graphite. He still plays them a few rounds a month. I turned around and ordered a driver, hybrid and fairway wood. The driver arrived and its box looked like an accordion. Opened it to find destruction. I called and Giga said, "We'll send another one tomorrow. Sorry about that." They allowed me to keep the one with a shattered shaft too.

As Sean2 pointed out, websites, sellers, golf courses and retail stores just need to do the basics to keep earning our business. Heck, the average golfer spends a small fortune each year, respect that!

[BB28403]

i dislike when sellers go cheap on packing materials. Which I wonder is from that they have no money.

The last one was a head cover wrapped in old shopping bags from a department store. He cut these up, covered the head cover with them. Then wrapped it all in tape and a label. Yes it got here ok and after I did careful surgery on the package to extract the second skin he attached, the headcover looked good. Maybe a bit banged up from lack of protection.

in contrast another headcover seller had a great system for selling. He puts all items in the perfect box size from uline, labels the box with small pen script and shelves it. When the item sells he prints a Pitney Bowes label , tapes it up neatly and off it goes!

its a crap shoot

[Bob Cat]

NEVER buy from

swingjuice.com

NEVER. EVER.

Did not ship so I had to get a refund from my CC company.

Lots of folks here have experienced the same.

[Shipwreck]

I will also give a thumbs up to Callaway Pre-Owned. So far every club I purchased from them was an absolute steal. A 9/10 Jailbird Mini for $70 on their eBay site when plenty of members here wanted $40-50+ more. I even got 2 Epic sub zero woods the year they came out I wanna say for around $140 a piece when they had their big time sale they always do. Both of them easily 8-9/10 as well condition wise.

[SubaruWRX]

WORST = foundgolfballs.com & halfpricegolfballs.com - I ordered some mint condition balls and they offered a free logo which I used since I’d done it through Srixon before. What I received were a mix of odd balls that were completely repainted with an incorrect Srixon logo and alignment mark. They refused to do anything for me and I’m still dealing with the mess.

 

BEST = CPO

[roughhater]

At Christmas, my wife nearly ordered a bunch of Pro V1s from foundgolfballs,com. I just asked why she didn't and she said she had a bad feeling at the checkout screen. Whew...that was close!