Louisville Slugger Catalyst (SB105) Softball Bat Replacement Bat Issue

[Rega17]

These problems with their returns and customer service dept are nothing new. I was denied a z1000 return a couple years ago solely based on the fact my current address was different from the one on the receipt. Even after I explained to them I was at college when I purchased it and moved home for the summer I was just SOL.

 

[SouthSTLOF]

These problems with their returns and customer service dept are nothing new. I was denied a z1000 return a couple years ago solely based on the fact my current address was different from the one on the receipt. Even after I explained to them I was at college when I purchased it and moved home for the summer I was just SOL.

You shouldn't have moved, that invalidates a return as everyone knows.

 

[bird25]

you have the luxury of waiting. what about a guy that is trying to make ends meet, that only has 1 bat because he decided to go with LS and now he's either reduced to waiting until the season is more than half over, swinging a piece of **** metal, or ponying up the extra cash to get a Z.

it would leave a terrible taste in my mouth,..it should in yours.

I was actually thinking about the rec guy that only plays once or twice a week when I heard what was going on at bp yesterday .

 

[mattun]

Pony up for a Z? You mean pony $65 for another red catty, right? Or was that a freudian slip?

 

[TXOutlaws]

What about the people getting their claims rejected for no reason? There's a few that have posted in this thread. Sounds like they are getting NOTHING.

This right here...

I bought 6 cattys or so in one purchase...and no it wasn't to break them and return them for Zs.

I kept two for myself and sold the others to buddies.

I broke one of the two and sent it in NO problems, got a Z2K back and sold it. (I liked Cattys so why would I swing a z2K)
My other catty broke so I sent it in (SAME company, same receipt as the last return)

It got denied... they can't authorize it now.

Funny how that happened just when all this catalyst fraud BS came about.

I'm not one who bought 10 and tried to get 10 Z2Ks in return.

I'll gladly wait for a Sonic as a return when they're available, but I was denied my warranty claim... it was a good authorized receipt a few months ago, now it's not.

The bat was BROKEN legitly, in BP hitting on a nice warm day with regular balls, not stadium balls. I have a few board bros that were there when it happened.

:wtf2:

 

[mattun]

And you didn't send a credit card statement. Did you ever contact the dealer to verify the sale since you were unable to provide the statement as proof you didn't spent two minutes adjusting your excel receipt?

 

[TXOutlaws]

And you didn't send a credit card statement. Did you ever contact the dealer to verify the sale since you were unable to provide the statement as proof you didn't spent two minutes adjusting your excel receipt?

Proof I didn't doctor the receipt? Are you kidding me? You must be one of the guys in the returns department huh?

She asked for a credit card statement and I explained to her that I went through a divorce a few months back and I do not have the same credit card or bank anymore. I had to change unfortunately.... so going back in my records and popping up a CC statement is not so easy.

I did however send a copy of the paypal transaction which showed my credit card used and funds sent.

BTW: It's the SAME exact receipt that they said they had on file from my previous return. I bought multiple bats at once so it was all on one receipt. The SAME receipt that was sent in and I got approved for a return on.

Now all of a sudden you're telling me it's not a valid receipt but two months prior it was. (And no, it's not out of date - I think I still had a month left on my receipt from when I originally tried to make the claim)

Like I said, it doesn't piss me off we are not getting z2ks for a catalyst. Hell, I don't like the Z2Ks. If they could **** out a Red catalyst, I'd be okay with that but to offer us a $69 metal bat as a return, that's downright ridiculous.

I don't mind jumping on the waiting list for a Sonic but like I said above, my receipt out of no where became invalid somehow.

Funny how that works....

I've been a die hard Louisville fan since as long as I can remember... I was one of the few that jumped on the red catalyst band wagon and pushed them to the fullest. Then for LS to do some crap like this.... I'm not the only one they are finding BS reasons to just deny warranties.

I understand, LS messed up and since they did they are trying to fix it to where they don't take a massive hit money wise. That doesn't make it right to start denying warranty claims because it "looks like the bat was used in a cage" or whatever else they can think of.

My bat was broken in BP on a nice hot Texas day using normal softballs... I've had a bunch of red catalyst, some last a few thousand hits and some last 100. They are hit and miss. This one was a dud....


I'm done writing a book as I know they will do nothing to make my situation right.

 

[bonzer187]

Got 99 problems I feel bad for you son. I got 99 problems but returning a catty and denied receipt isn't one....

 

[Chrisklol]

And you didn't send a credit card statement. Did you ever contact the dealer to verify the sale since you were unable to provide the statement as proof you didn't spent two minutes adjusting your excel receipt?

You are on another level of stupidity.

 

[etnstudios]

john, i wonder if yours was denied because the fields you played on in Houston were too nice. turf field means less paint wear. and you know who's side i'm on

 

[gold_glove9]

john, i wonder if yours was denied because the fields you played on in Houston were too nice. turf field means less paint wear. and you know who's side i'm on

This is probably the reason. lol

 

[mattun]

Clearly it was because he didn't provide a credit card statement to backup an excel receipt. Paypal apparently wasn't enough. I sent one in with literally 25 swings last month paired up with another with maybe 800 (all BP) and they both went through. But, I didn't have a bunch of excuses for not meeting their harsher requirements due to people abusing the system. I thought it was common knowledge that TPS is rougher on receipts (name has to match for example). If any of this surprises you, swing Anderson or whatever.

 

[mcm21078]

you win the LS fan of the year award. Take a bow.

 

[TXOutlaws]

Dude the receipt was approved before and was still in their records. They can match them and see I did NO altering of it.

 

[EA Sports]

This thread has been a good read while at work.

 

[Chrisklol]

you win the LS fan of the year award. Take a bow.

Yea the guy is a complete retard... So loyal to a company who blatantly gives no ****s about their customers.

 

[mattun]

Dude the receipt was approved before and was still in their records. They can match them and see I did NO altering of it.

Completely irrelevant. Think of it from their perspective. I'm not saying you did, but let's say people have altered those excel receipts (which is beyond easy to do). Let's say the number of broken red Cattys have picked up recently since word got out Z's were the return. So now there's a mandate to verify these generic receipts with a credit card statement. That they accepted one before from you without the credit card statement has absolutely no influence on accepting one after that rule came down. They have to verify it now to process a return. Hell, maybe they're even being told to be more strict against with the people with the eight bats on a receipt that break in under 100 swings. That's obviously what happened here.

 

[hcarcrx]

Completely irrelevant. Think of it from their perspective. I'm not saying you did, but let's say people have altered those excel receipts (which is beyond easy to do). Let's say the number of broken red Cattys have picked up recently since word got out Z's were the return. So now there's a mandate to verify these generic receipts with a credit card statement. That they accepted one before from you without the credit card statement has absolutely no influence on accepting one after that rule came down. They have to verify it now to process a return. Hell, maybe they're even being told to be more strict against with the people with the eight bats on a receipt that break in under 100 swings. That's obviously what happened here.

Nice try, LS calls on every single receipt. They have done that well before this situation with the cattys being returned for Z's.

 

[mattun]

Then why bother requesting the CC statement? I didn't need the statement on my Z-2000 that broke in October, but I assumed that was because it had a SBF receipt. Are the Cattys the only ones needing that step or is it everything now?

 

[Mooselodge24]

i've been pretty loyal swinging my catty's and loved them bats. I even had one break a long time ago but just never got around to returning it. now this makes me wanna get rid of LS and swing something else if i'm going to get a crappy bat in return.

 

[bird25]

Completely irrelevant. Think of it from their perspective. I'm not saying you did, but let's say people have altered those excel receipts (which is beyond easy to do). Let's say the number of broken red Cattys have picked up recently since word got out Z's were the return. So now there's a mandate to verify these generic receipts with a credit card statement. That they accepted one before from you without the credit card statement has absolutely no influence on accepting one after that rule came down. They have to verify it now to process a return. Hell, maybe they're even being told to be more strict against with the people with the eight bats on a receipt that break in under 100 swings. That's obviously what happened here.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree here. If they accepted the receipt the first time they should accept it the second time. They can't have it both ways. They have been calling on all receipts for a while now, so if they screwed it up the first time then they need to own their mistake the second time. That is just good customer service, because without customers they don't have a company.

 

[TXOutlaws]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree here. If they accepted the receipt the first time they should accept it the second time. They can't have it both ways. They have been calling on all receipts for a while now, so if they screwed it up the first time then they need to own their mistake the second time. That is just good customer service, because without customers they don't have a company.

This right here... now if someone from LS would like to get with me and make this right., I'd really appreciate that.

I'll get in line for the Sonic + as a $75 metal bat just doesn't seem fair.

 

[SwinginDemon]

^^^ Some of you have made very valid points. That one there I don't agree with. ALWAYS Buy from an Authorized Retaier. It's worth the extra $20-$30 for the piece of mind and VALID receipt. Simple as that. They make it very clear, not just LS, so does Easton, Worth, DeMarini etc. If you buys from a NON authorized retailer your return will be denied. It protects their dealers and trying to cut down on fraudulant sales/receipts. That's something that is not just Louisville Slugger, it's industry wide.

 

[Mooselodge24]

I agree with ya Elijah, but the part I'm having a problem with is being someone who has hit the catty's and have been legal about it(unlike most that are screwing us over in returns) is that we have to send back a perfectly good bat for a metal bat... no justification in that at all. seems pretty unfair.

 

[dford42]

And there is no ASA option.

 

[SwinginDemon]

And there is no ASA option.

The Catty's weren't an ASA approved bat. That's another thing people try, buy a cheap, older bat with a different sanction stamp then call in with it broken and request the opposite sanction. More often than not most manufacturers will switch to the other sanction including Louisville. In this case, with the abuse I don't see that happening.

 

[SwinginDemon]

I agree with ya Elijah, but the part I'm having a problem with is being someone who has hit the catty's and have been legal about it(unlike most that are screwing us over in returns) is that we have to send back a perfectly good bat for a metal bat... no justification in that at all. seems pretty unfair.

Return it, request the Sonic+ for your return and jump on the waiting list. You'll get a returnable bat back for your broken Catalyst. It will make waiting hurt way less. You'll still be taken care of and get a high quality composite bat as your replacement.

 

[gold_glove9]

It sucks how TXOutlaws got treated. One bat was returned, then another on the same receipt wasn't. That's just messed up.

 

[jrod15]

Replacement issue.

Here is my take-

The problem is real and as everyone can tell is not liked by most people. I tend to agree with both sides on certain things but must say that the fault does not lie with the players who purchased a catalyst. The bat was very undervalued ant $75-$100 and worth more than that, but LS allowed there authorized dealers to sell them at that price. The fault for the price lies with LS and the dealers on that point. If the price would have stayed around $150 then people would not have bought them to just return as much and those that love to swing the catalyst would continue to buy them.

As far as returns are concerned, the fault has to go on someone. Whether it is Dennis Turner, the customer service rep, or the boss that told DT that they weren't returning them anymore, someone is at fault!!! Dennis is the softball face of the company and unfortunately will take the heat on this. The idea of offering a far less quality and performance bat was a joke! Does this mean that people who bought a Z1000 or Z2000 for $199.00 have to pay $50.00 to get a new one or accept the new Sonic+? That's a useless argument that people are making. Will this lead to next year when people are sending in the z2000 RI that were bought and are getting Z3000 back have to pay more?

Now the deal of getting a Sonic + is not a horrible thing, if I would be GUARENTEED a delivery date and if not then I get the a Z2000 or Z3000. All of us have seen that releasing a bat seems to be very difficult for LS and what happens if the sonic + is not approved at all or or pushed back until Feb 2015 for release??? This maybe something that needs to be discussed by DT!

I currently have a catalyst and love it and will continue to swing mine and hope it does not break soon. If it does then I will send it back for a sonic + and wait. I am fortunate player that has many other bats, ALL LS BATS, that I can swing.


HERE IS A QUESTION FOR ELIJAH-

Does this decision make you feel bad about selling, as a LS Rep, Catalysts to local players that will now be out of a bat for at least 6 months or receiving a bat that truthfully you would give to a child to hit dirt clods with in your back yard if they break the catalyst you sold to them? Especially bats that you sold towards the middle or beginning of last year and are still under warranty.

 

[rhound50]

This is such a joke, only LS would **** up and punish its customers for it. Yeah yeah all the LS fan boys are going to say LS didn't do anything wrong, it was the people abusing the system. I'm sorry that is a load of BS, as a company you have to know that there are always people who are going to try to game the system. The fact that they allowed these bats to be sold bats for cheap and didn't see this possibility ahead of time is their own fault for failing to understanding their users. Every business makes mistakes the difference is good business's take the hit for their mistakes, they don't screw over their customers as a punishment for something 99% their customers had nothing to do with. My opinion I don't think this has anything to do with people abusing the system. If that was the case all LS had to do if is figure out who the handful of people doing this is and refuse their returns. Hitting poles, rocks, violates the warranty and LS has legit reason to deny their returns. I think LS realizes that they are going to lose money even on the legit returns from SBFers who bought these for BP bats knowing they would eventually get a Z as a return.

I'm pretty sure Easton went through the same thing this year. 2 winters ago the 2012 Eastons were selling for dirt cheap, 100w and ST100s for $99 for almost a month. Come spring time the 2013s were super popular and for most of this summer Easton struggled to keep NRs in stock. I'd be willing to guess that the same thing happened to Easton that happened with LS. The difference is Easton realized that they made a mistake and instead of pissing off their customers and punishing a lot of people who didn't do anything wrong Easton came up with barcode system for 2014 bats to stop the issue from happening again. LS should take a page from Eastons book and realize they made their own bed now they have to sleep in it. As bad as LS treats their customers I'm amazed they still have a loyal customer base.