GolfWorks has really gone down hill?

[Coppertop1880]

I've done business with GolfWorks on and off for years. Can't say that I've had an issue with them until now.

Shipping turnaround has slowed a bit and now a headache with a return/exchange.

 

Bought a set of shafts for my Ping ISI irons. Decided to take a shortcut and let them prep the tips, noting what irons were going to be used.

Shafts delivered but prepped 1.5". ISI irons only need prepping an inch on the tip otherwise, the prepping extends beyond the hosel (ISI's don't use ferrules). 

I'm guessing either the person doing the prepping had no clue what a Ping ISI iron was or didn't care and went with a standard 1.5" sanding.

 

I got a return shipping label with no problem, shipped the irons out the same day and GolfWorks received them a week ago. 

Called today and they have no record of getting the shafts, no work order to send out replacements and they can't verify things until tomorrow because Receiving closes early.

Basically customer service is vapor locked and nothing can be done about things today.

Even told the lady that they didn't need to prep the replacement shafts to save time, but all I got was apologies and that there's nothing that can be done today.

 

Fast forward 24 hours and I get a call from GolfWorks to tell me that the shafts I am wanting come from the factory prepped (Areotech Steel Fiber) and that someone was supposed to call me about this earlier. I asked the CSR from GolfWorks why this wasn't noted on the website and why did they take my money to prep a shaft that was already prepped? No answer other than "I apologize for the inconvenience". I asked why wasn't this pointed out when I called to return the shafts. No answer other than "I apologize for the inconvenience"

 

They did recommend UST Mamiya Dart shafts as an alternative but they are cut a little longer. I told her that I can cut a little more off the end and to send those out today. Not to prep the tips, just send the shafts today. Oddly she had no offers to refund me the tip prep fee, offer expedited shipping or anything to make things right. I'll be glad to eat the $3 per shaft for the tip prep just to get the damn shafts headed my way. But still... why would GolfWorks offer tip prepping services for a shaft that is already sanded? 

 

I'm not going to hold my breath that it's this is resolved because it just feels that if there's a way to screw this up more, GolfWorks will find it. I'm guessing that I'll get a call to tell me that the UST shafts are currently out of stock or receive the replacement shafts prepped to 1.5". If either happen, I'll ask for a refund and find an alternative source for golf shafts. I hate to judge a business by one bad experience but this seems to be the nightmare that just won't go away. 

 

Thanks for letting me rant.

 

 

 

Edited March 27 by Coppertop1880

[blarkin97]

FWIW the Steelfiber shafts I bought from another retailer were NOT already prepped when I received them.  I have bought a bunch of stuff from Golfworks but mostly heads and building supplies and never had a bad experience though 🤷‍♂️

[goalie]

13 minutes ago, blarkin97 said:

I have bought a bunch of stuff from Golfworks but mostly heads and building supplies and never had a bad experience though 🤷‍♂️

Same here.  The custom clubs I've had made (two singles) recently took 10+ days to ship, but it's winter in  Minnesota, and they came exactly as ordered.  

 

I am planning on getting a few shafts, and would be doing the tip and butt trim when I order, so we'll see.

[03trdblack]

30 minutes ago, blarkin97 said:

FWIW the Steelfiber shafts I bought from another retailer were NOT already prepped when I received them.  I have bought a bunch of stuff from Golfworks but mostly heads and building supplies and never had a bad experience though 🤷‍♂️

 

If I recall, I do remember Steelfiber shafts already having shaft tip prep.  They've been around a LONG time so they might have changed this, especially after True Temper purchased them.  

[blarkin97]

4 minutes ago, 03trdblack said:

 

If I recall, I do remember Steelfiber shafts already having shaft tip prep.  They've been around a LONG time so they might have changed this, especially after True Temper purchased them.  

I purchased some last year from Amazon I believe that had no prep done but it could have changed since then?

[puresurfr]

I have purchased several sets from Aerotechs and all my shafts that were 0.355 were prepped ( it looks silver ) but none of the parallel tips are prepped ( because they need to be tipped )

[Golfrnut]

1 hour ago, puresurfr said:

I have purchased several sets from Aerotechs and all my shafts that were 0.355 were prepped ( it looks silver ) but none of the parallel tips are prepped ( because they need to be tipped )

Yep, this is how it has always been in my experience, which is probably 10 years or so now. 

[Coppertop1880]

2 hours ago, blarkin97 said:

FWIW the Steelfiber shafts I bought from another retailer were NOT already prepped when I received them.  I have bought a bunch of stuff from Golfworks but mostly heads and building supplies and never had a bad experience though 🤷‍♂️

 

And up until this purchase, that was my experience. 

 

Just baffling how this one fell through the cracks. If they know the Steel Fiber come from the factory prepped, why offer the services? When I called, why not let me know then so it can be fixed?

 

The staff has always been helpful and informative but it just felt as if they didn't care. I'd say I just called on a bad day but I've talked to them on four different days about this. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt but it sure would have been nice if the listing for Steel Fiber had have said these tips come prepped 1.5". Never would have ordered them and stuck with the UST Mamiyas.

[Stuart_G]

Golfworks is predominantly setup as a sales company that sells supplies to people who are supposed to know what they doing and know about the things they are ordering and how to use the tools that they sell.  Sure they offer some basic services as well but the work is going to be done by individuals who are likely trained for the specific service and not master club builders.  They are not going to check for your qualification before selling you anything - but don't expect them to point out any misunderstanding you might have when ordering.

 

First of all people are throwing the word "steelfiber" around without full contexts.   There are two basic types of steelfiber shafts and the answer is different for each.  The CW (taper tip) versions have always been factory prep'd.   The single length blanks (parallel tips) are not.

 

IMO....

 

I wouldn't expect any customer service rep - no matter how good the company trains them - to know things like which are factory prepped and which are not.  

 

To be honest, I wouldn't normally expect them keep track of things like bore depths of all the different model irons - past and present.    I don't know any club builder (no matter what the level of expertise and experience) who bothers to do that - because it isn't needed.   Once you have the head in hand, you can easily measure anything you need to know about it.   If they claim to keep track of that, to me that would be a big bonus - but not an expectation.

 

It would be nice if they clarified the "standard" tip trim amount/length in the "learn more" pop-up - or at least allow you to specify the prep length when making the selection for them to do the work.

 

They do offer butt trimming service and only because of that I'd expect them to know the BBGM of the various heads - but that's not the same as bore depth.

 

Same goes for any of the individuals doing the actual club work - like prepping the shafts for their customers.   A trained monkey can prep a shaft tip and they're not going to spend more money then they have to on a more well trained individual to do simple work like that.  

 

True Temper's web site doesn't even list the fact that they are pre-prepped - so it's hardly surprising the golfworks doesn't mention it.    The old Aerotech web site might have - but not sure about that.  Even if it was there it was buried pretty deep.

 

IMO 24 hours from the point you actually explicitly raised the point to get a confirmation that they are factory prepped isn't really unreasonable.   It means the need for some communication between the C.S. rep and the people at the warehouse to allow them to physically check the shafts and get an answer.

 

Also factory prep is so uncommon that I wouldn't expect them to have any special product web page templates to disallow the pre-prep option for a particular shaft.   It would be nice if they had a way for the tech services to be able to note it when the situation comes up and they actually get the shaft in hand to do the prep work - but I can't say it's surprising that they don't.

 

 

That said, I certainly would expect better record keeping about receiving returned packages and better tracking of CS issues.  All they need is a half way decent computer software to help manage that that required minimal training for anyone to access.   As well as expect an offer to refund the prep charge w/o asking.

 

Personally if it was me, I'd just tip trim them 1/2" and soft step them (sending one back to get the needed replacement) - I wouldn't go to a completely different shaft.  But that's me.

Edited March 27 by Stuart_G

[KGolfCT]

$3 to prep your tip, butt trimming...I'm pretty sure my company's IT guy is about to flag my comp

 

 

[ode]

No way I'm having someone else prep my tips for a build I'm doing .... and if I did you'd be damn sure I'm measuring the shafting depth and specifying to the mm how much to prep.....otherwise its a roll of the dice.  

[AmateurAmateur]

Steefiber 100% come prepped from factory on tapered irons. 

[Coppertop1880]

2 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

Golfworks is predominantly setup as a sales company that sells supplies to people who are supposed to know what they doing and know about the things they are ordering and how to use the tools that they sell.  Sure they offer some basic services as well but the work is going to be done by individuals who are likely trained for the specific service and not master club builders.  They are not going to check for your qualification before selling you anything - but don't expect them to point out any misunderstanding you might have when ordering....

 

To be honest, I wouldn't normally expect them keep track of things like bore depths of all the different model irons - past and present.    I don't know any club builder (no matter what the level of expertise and experience) who bothers to do that - because it isn't needed.   Once you have the head in hand, you can easily measure anything you need to know about it.   If they claim to keep track of that, to me that would be a big bonus - but not an expectation....

 

 

If this is someone's first time to purchase Areotech Steel Fiber shafts, how many will know the tapered .355" shafts come prepped from the factory? I'm no expert golfsmith but I can hold my own. Still learning and this has definitely been a learning experience. I'm not expecting them to check my qualifications but I do expect an accurate description and specs for the products they sell. I don't think that's an unreasonable ask.

 

And if they don't keep track of things like bore depths, why ask for the model of club heads when you check the box for tip prep? If Ping ISI irons aren't on their list, how hard is it to look up? And seeing that the shafts come from the factory prepped, why even offer that option?

 

Mistakes happen but this time it felt as if they made no effort to resolve it. Had I not called, I surely doubt that they would have called to let me know of the issue. Just a guess on my part based on how the discussions went. The entire experience has really surprised me based on my past experiences with GolfWorks. But then again, I've never asked them to do any prep work on anything I've purchased from them.

 

Shame on me for trying a shortcut and a new shaft. But shame on them for failing to properly describe the shafts and taking a week to share that there's nothing that could be done because the shafts are factory prepped. 

[Stuart_G]

23 minutes ago, Coppertop1880 said:

If this is someone's first time to purchase Areotech Steel Fiber shafts, how many will know the tapered .355" shafts come prepped from the factory?

 

That's really the main problem.  It's so rare that it's not something that anyone would really expect to need to ask.   Which also makes it something that golfworks would not be likely to have any protection in place for such an occurrence.  But that doesn't mean it's golfworks responsibility to correct that problem (again - IMO).

 

If anyone wants to complain to someone about it, Aerotech should be the target to that complaint.

 

23 minutes ago, Coppertop1880 said:

And if they don't keep track of things like bore depths, why ask for the model of club heads when you check the box for tip prep? If Ping ISI irons aren't on their list, how hard is it to look up?

 

It's really irrelevant since Golfworks doesn't have any control over the prep in this particular case.

 

23 minutes ago, Coppertop1880 said:

 

And seeing that the shafts come from the factory prepped, why even offer that option?

 

I already gave my opinion on that.

 

23 minutes ago, Coppertop1880 said:

Mistakes happen but this time it felt as if they made no effort to resolve it. Had I not called, I surely doubt that they would have called to let me know of the issue.

 

As I said before, I wouldn't expect them too.   The shaft goes to the tip prep tech who's directed to prep the shaft, they see it's already prepped so there is nothing they can do about the amount so no need to look up anything.   It's just a basic low-paid tech with a long list of jobs to get through, not a master club builder that's trained or has the time to look at the big picture.  

 

And to be honest, the vast majority of builders - once they learned that golfworks didn't do the prep - would find it much more important to get the specific shaft model they ordered than worry about the exact amount of prep that might be on it.  To me it's reasonable that they would assume that was the case.  It's the exact same way you'd have gotten the shaft if you ordered it w/o any prep work.  And as I said before, there are other ways to solve the problem.   Maybe not as convenient, but workable if it's important enough to use that particular shaft model.

 

But again - this is only my opinion I'm sharing.  It's not an implication that I'm making any judgement on your opinion or expectations.  There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with me or having different expectations.

 

Edited March 27 by Stuart_G

[bekgolf]

7 hours ago, Coppertop1880 said:

Shafts delivered but prepped 1.5". ISI irons only need prepping an inch on the tip otherwise, the prepping extends beyond the hosel (ISI's don't use ferrules). 

 

 

I'm following this and am very surprised that a tip would be prepped that much, especially from the manufacturer.

 

Is 1.5" tip prep from the factory what others have experienced?

[azgreg]

Golfworks has been nothing but great to me.

 

[NRJyzr]

10 hours ago, 03trdblack said:

 

If I recall, I do remember Steelfiber shafts already having shaft tip prep.  They've been around a LONG time so they might have changed this, especially after True Temper purchased them.  

 

10 hours ago, blarkin97 said:

I purchased some last year from Amazon I believe that had no prep done but it could have changed since then?

 

 

The tapered shafts I've seen come pre-prepped, the parallel do not.

[bekgolf]

2 minutes ago, NRJyzr said:

The tapered shafts I've seen come pre-prepped, the parallel do not.

 

Were they prepped 1.5"?

[AzRoger]

From what I recall the steelfiber tapered tip shafts aren't prepped by default, at least not my definition of prepped. They do leave 1.5" of the tip unpainted, you still need to sand the tip prior to epoxy. Did GolfWorks sand down the 1.5" unpainted tip?

[Coppertop1880]

9 minutes ago, AzRoger said:

From what I recall the steelfiber tapered tip shafts aren't prepped by default, at least not my definition of prepped. They do leave 1.5" of the tip unpainted, you still need to sand the tip prior to epoxy. Did GolfWorks sand down the 1.5" unpainted tip?

 

Not really certain. 

They were unpainted and rough.

Once I saw that they extended beyond the end of the hosel, I didn't pay much more attention to things. 

Live and learn. 

[Stuart_G]

12 hours ago, bekgolf said:

Is 1.5" tip prep from the factory what others have experienced?

 

9 hours ago, bekgolf said:

 

Were they prepped 1.5"?

 

Yes.  It really is 1.5"

 

And while it might be a bit more than I normally would prep (more lie ~1.25") - it's not really that extreme of an amount of prep work considering the large majority of heads have bore depths of at least 1.25" and use a ferrule.

Edited March 28 by Stuart_G

[NRJyzr]

9 hours ago, bekgolf said:

 

Were they prepped 1.5"?

 

About that much.  Remember dry fitting in TM TP MC clubheads, the unpainted tip section extended above the hosel.

 

I may still have one unused, I'll have to take a look...

 

[Stuart_G]

3 minutes ago, NRJyzr said:

I may still have one unused, I'll have to take a look...

 

You can if you want, but I already measured one I have on hand when this came up in the OP's original thread.

Edited March 28 by Stuart_G

[goalie]

On the flip side, my last two orders that did NOT involve assembly of clubs shipped in two days and arrived (as long as today's shows up as scheduled) in four (I'm in Minnesota).  

 

Considering the value to performance ratio that their Maltby clubs provide, I'll still keep shopping with them.  

 

 

[taki27]

I also just placed a generic order a couple of days ago and I should have the order by Sat

[j4663535]

So none of this is a Golfworks issue?

[goalie]

2 minutes ago, j4663535 said:

So none of this is a Golfworks issue?

I don't think anyone is saying that.  I'm sure not.  But many people have great experiences using them as a source of heads, clubs, and equipment without issues, and one person's experience isn't going to make those people take up pitchforks and boycott them as a retailer.  

[j4663535]

20 minutes ago, goalie said:

I don't think anyone is saying that.  I'm sure not.  But many people have great experiences using them as a source of heads, clubs, and equipment without issues, and one person's experience isn't going to make those people take up pitchforks and boycott them as a retailer.  

I'm pointing out that the OP was wrong to blame Golfworks and this whole thing is kinda pointless. 

[goalie]

Just now, j4663535 said:

I'm pointing out that the OP was wrong to blame Golfworks and this whole thing is kinda pointless. 

And I'm bad at reading comprehension...... 😁

[ode]

13 minutes ago, j4663535 said:

I'm pointing out that the OP was wrong to blame Golfworks and this whole thing is kinda pointless. 

These types of threads are in the multiples per day!  Why we need another is a bit perplexing to me.   End user should deal with the company direct, take a deep breath, and exercise patience!