Louisville Slugger Catalyst (SB105) Softball Bat Replacement Bat Issue

[49er]

What about?

"I also like the bat version of warranties. Purchase a one-time, lifetime, replacement separately and it's completely transferable with the bat, you just need to inform the owner to update his system. It makes complete sense to me, no need to try and break a bat before the warranty expires to get a new one, keep swinging a bat you love that is hot for as long as you can, knowing when it finally does explode, you're still good to go."

This sounds like the warranty I get on tires. I buy a set for "X" dollars and pay and additional approx. $16 per tire for a warranty. If I get a flat that can't be repaired, I pay another $16 for a new tire with a new road hazard plan.

Also ran into this with my worn out 6-year old mattress. We bought a high quality mattress with a ten year warranty for around $1600. They sent out an adjuster to examine the mattress and he verified it was damaged. We were given a credit for the full purchase price. The company then delivered our new mattress and took the old one for free. The whole process took a week, not 6 months! Obviously this cost that company a lot more profit than what a bat would profit for LS, but they now have a happy customer!

Almost forgot, the new bed has a new full 10-year warranty, no NR stamp from them!

 

[hacker72]

Ok, I'll start by I am not a huge LS fan to start with but how can you as a company mess up (sending out the catty's when they shouldn't have been) then expect the customer to eat it. How does that even make sense.

You're mistake you eat it, plain and simple!!

There are many way for LS to fix it. Do a call back with all vendors and mark them NR or honor them until there are no more. I mean you openly admitted the mistake so you guys as a company should fix it. JMO!!

 

[rhound50]

Ok, I'll start by I am not a huge LS fan to start with but how can you as a company mess up (sending out the catty's when they shouldn't have been) then expect the customer to eat it. How does that even make sense.

You're mistake you eat it, plain and simple!!

There are many way for LS to fix it. Do a call back with all vendors and mark them NR or honor them until there are no more. I mean you openly admitted the mistake so you guys as a company should fix it. JMO!!

Why do the right thing when you can make more money screwing over your customers and all the LS fan boys defend you no matter how ****ed up your policies are or how ****ty your customer service is.

 

[TXOutlaws]

Why do the right thing when you can make more money screwing over your customers and all the LS fan boys defend you no matter how ****ed up your policies are or how ****ty your customer service is.

Exactly...too many fan boys who are not getting screwed to defend them.

Or a guy who got a return comes on here saying well LS did good for me!

Well that's great they did good for you but screwing over ONE customer is bad business much less multiples.

 

[rhound50]

Who pays MSRP? And be lucky they even give a warranty. Bunch of cry babys all over the softball world. An option is to get a cheaper bat if you want one right away, or wait. And get a bat that is worth what the Catalyst is worth. Enough with the crying.

Who pays msrp for a bat. Well LS is offering it as one of the options for the return of the catalyst, so appernetly LS expects people to. Lucky they offer a warranty. Trust me if LS could get away with just making them NR they would have. The problem is the warranty was part of the purchase agreement. If LS refuses warranty on all Cattys they risk getting sued.

This comes down to a very simple point. LS screwed up, instead of eating their mistake or trying to stop the individual people commiting fraud they decided to do this and not care what their customers think. Great customer service especially for a company who's products have been notorious for durability issues.

 

[SwinginDemon]

What did they do? They are offering you a RETURNABLE Sonic+, brand new in wrapper for your broken Catalyst when they are released. How is this not fixing the situation? Forget the Warrior option, you can get a brand new Sonic+ model with a full one year warranty as a replacement for your Catalyst when it breaks assuming you have a valid receipt. How are you being screwed over?

 

[SwinginDemon]

And also how are they not "eating" the cost? Do the freaking math.

The customer AT MOST in the recent months paid around $85-$110 for a brand new Catalyst. That means Louisville Slugger sold the bat with the intention of the bat being a NO WARRANTY for probably about $75 to the dealer. The mistake was made and they were sold as returnable SOOO...

They sold a composite bat at $75 which wasn't supposed to be returnable and NOW they are giving as a replacement to customers that are effected a BRAND NEW $250 retail bat with a full one year warranty! If the Sonic+ fails in that year time it will ALSO be replaced! They are in essence supplying THREE damn bats for a bat that they sold to a dealer for under $100. You show me how they aren't eating the cost and they are coming out ahead here and I bet management will hire you to restructure the company.

 

[rhound50]

What did they do? They are offering you a RETURNABLE Sonic+, brand new in wrapper for your broken Catalyst when they are released. How is this not fixing the situation? Forget the Warrior option, you can get a brand new Sonic+ model with a full one year warranty as a replacement for your Catalyst when it breaks assuming you have a valid receipt. How are you being screwed over?

Well you get the Sonic+ is what 4 months and that is IF LS is able to release them on time which they haven't been good about. Some people have been waiting for returns for months already. Waiting 6+ months to get a return on a bat is NG2G, especially when they have a comparable bat in stock and have been giving them out. The offer of getting a Warrior or paying full MSRP for a Z2K is nothing but a slap in the face.

And also how are they not "eating" the cost? Do the freaking math.

The customer AT MOST in the recent months paid around $85-$110 for a brand new Catalyst. That means Louisville Slugger sold the bat with the intention of the bat being a NO WARRANTY for probably about $75 to the dealer. The mistake was made and they were sold as returnable SOOO...

They sold a composite bat at $75 which wasn't supposed to be returnable and NOW they are giving as a replacement to customers that are effected a BRAND NEW $250 retail bat with a full one year warranty! If the Sonic+ fails in that year time it will ALSO be replaced! They are in essence supplying THREE damn bats for a bat that they sold to a dealer for under $100. You show me how they aren't eating the cost and they are coming out ahead here and I bet management will hire you to restructure the company.

I don't care about the math that is not my concern. Maybe the Catty was supposed to be sold as a NR but it wasn't, who's fault is this? Why are they punishing their customers for THEIR MISTAKE. And you can say whatever you want about the Sonic+ but waiting 6 months for a bat that could turn out to be a POS is not making things right. Let me guess if the Sonic+ turns out to be a POS and they sell for cheap and they break I can get a warrior as a return.

 

[SwinginDemon]

The math is your concern of you're going to accuse then of ripping people off. They are eating costs on this mistake. Sure, there's a wait but you're getting a composite, identical price point (Actually HIGHER...) bat as a return for the Catalyst that failed. Nobody is bring scammed on this deal. I agree, the Warrior offer in my opinion as well shouldn't even have surfaced but I don't make those decisions. Regardless, you're getting a replacement bat that's equivalent to a Catalyst back WITH A FULL WARRANTY as a return for a bat you didn't pay over $125 for. There's no room to complain.

 

[SwinginDemon]

And HOW are they punishing customers? HOW DARE YOU BREAK A CATALYST! Now you get a brand new bat with a full warranty back as a return! Take that customer! They're are losing money on every single Catalyst return for this deal. The math that isn't your concern would show you that. The mistake was made and they are rectifying it yet no matter what, it just isn't good enough for you.

 

[rhound50]

And HOW are they punishing customers? HOW DARE YOU BREAK A CATALYST! Now you get a brand new bat with a full warranty back as a return! Take that customer! They're are losing money on every single Catalyst return for this deal. The math that isn't your concern would show you that. The mistake was made and they are rectifying it yet no matter what, it just isn't good enough for you.

Buying a bat with the knowledge that a Z2K is being offered as a return per LS. Then breaking said bat and being told that you don't get the Z2K you wanted instead you have to wait up to 6 months for a bat no one has swung sounds a lot like punishment to me. Yeah its nice that the Sonic+ is returnable but I'd be willing to bet that just about everyone on SBF would prefer the Z2K NR now.

 

[SwinginDemon]

Buying a bat with the knowledge that a Z2K is being offered as a return per LS. Then breaking said bat and being told that you don't get the Z2K you wanted instead you have to wait up to 6 months for a bat no one has swung sounds a lot like punishment to me. Yeah its nice that the Sonic+ is returnable but I'd be willing to bet that just about everyone on SBF would prefer the Z2K NR now.

Proves my point, they're being very fair and yet it's still not good enough. You should not be buying bats specifically because you know what the return is. That's half the problem. Guys find a cheap model, buy it, snap it intentionally and expect a higher value replacement. That thinking is exactly WHY we are in this situation. You buy a bat because it performs well and you like it, not as an upgrade loophole. People will always find something to complain about. You can't please everyone but break it down, the deal ain't that bad.

 

[TheRealNatural]

None of this makes a bit of difference to anyone not drinking the LS koolaid. The normal consumer that tried out LS because the cattys where inexpensive will not buy from LS again. On top of losing that customer, that customer will tell everyone they know not to buy from LS, effectively losing LS a lot of future earnings. I know that I will not use any of their products again and I will do everything in my control to help LS lose as many customers and as much money as I can. Maybe when they their sales are as bad as the treatment the give to those that spend money on their inferior products they will start to realize how important service is.

 

[gold_glove9]

Proves my point, they're being very fair and yet it's still not good enough. People will always find something to complain about. You can't please everyone but break it down, the deal ain't that bad.

What about the people who aren't getting their returns though?

 

[TXOutlaws]

Yea what about the several customers that LS decided to find some bs reason to deny our warranties? I bet they saw my receipt had like 6 catalysts on it and thought I was one of those abusing it for Zs..... But that's not the case. Hell, when my original red catty broke, I made a tribute video and even emailed ls the link... I loved those bats and prefer it over Zs

But since some break them intentionally for Zs... I get screwed.

 

[SwinginDemon]

Yea what about the several customers that LS decided to find some bs reason to deny our warranties? I bet they saw my receipt had like 6 catalysts on it and thought I was one of those abusing it for Zs..... But that's not the case. Hell, when my original red catty broke, I made a tribute video and even emailed ls the link... I loved those bats and prefer it over Zs

But since some break them intentionally for Zs... I get screwed.

By no means am I saying that this problem you're having is acceptable, at all. They might have generalized you into that group that was abusing the system. All I am saying is that the deal being offered to people for Catalyst returns in general isn't that bad, most that take advantage of it will come out far ahead on the return. I am not saying you aren't being done wrong here because in reality it sounds like you might very well be but once again, there isn't that many people that are having claims denied. A miniscule percentage compared to the claims that are being fulfilled. Let me send a couple emails, I am going to put you in touch with someone a little higher up the food chain. You can explain your situation and maybe they will reopen and reconsider your case. They are not purposely screwing anybody over, when you get a retrunable bat as a replacement with a full year warranty, those of you that are complaining and saying "We're getting screwed!", "They should eat the cost!", "They're punishing the customer!", if you look at the math and realize what you're getting for a bat that costs you around $100, you should realize it ain't that bad. You are NOT being screwed, Louisville Slugger is eating plenty of cost and they are losing money on the returns to supply you a Sonic+ with a FULL ONE YEAR WARRANTY as to NOT punish the customers. They are doing the opposite of what you are accusing them of. Is it the perfect fix? No, it isn't. But it's a solution that once people realize what they are getting in return more than 97% of them are happy with.

And for your guys information, I am not a FAN BOY drinking the Louisville Slugger Kool Aid as you might call it. I would never defend a company or an action by any company that I felt they were being dishonest or purposely trying to scam/rip off customers. I have spent years builiding my reputation on these boards, across the country and locally in my back yard to ever risk tarnishing it by defending anyone or any company that wasn't being ethical. People jumped to conclusions without really thinking about what was fully being offered. Once you thouroughly see what they will do to make the situation right, you'll quickly see they are not "getting over" on anybody. Since they barely broke even on the Catalysts in question that were supposed to be sold as No Return's for every person that takes them up on the Sonic+ offer, they'll lose the cost of the initial Sonic+ bat plus shipping AND the cost of the warranty replacement as well plus shipping when/if it's needed. If that isn't "EATING THE COST" of the mistake that was made...SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS!

 

[SwinginDemon]

Not that I care either way, But a composite bat cost anywhere from $30 to 50 bucks to make MAX!!!! to make…so they aren't taking the bath that they claim to be!!!!

That's a horrible generalization. Let's say you are correct. That $40 roughly is material costs only and you are grossly underestimating. There's still the logistics that are involved getting the bats from the factories to the warehouse. The labor, utilities, the warehouse staff, shipping costs. There is import taxes and tariffs. There is engineering and design costs that need to be recuperated. Daily operating costs of the softball operations business etc. Just because a bat is $40 - $60 in MATERIAL doesn't mean that's all is "COSTS" to make them. You worked for a shirt company...

To make a full sub dye shirt it's $3 of material and $2 in ink. That shirt only cost you $5 to make right? Huge profit! WRONG. There is the art design, the equipment cost that has to be recuperated, the labor, sewing, paper, electricity...we can continue but you get my drift.

 

[knut 10]

People shouldn't abuse the system it wrecks it for everyone else. I could of broken a couple of bats be fore they were banned. But I didn't now I can't use them. Like my 28 once nemy and 28 combat assault

 

[TXOutlaws]

Thanks swingin.. I agree the sonic deal is not a bad deal at all.

I'd have been happy to jump in line for one when they release. The fact it'll be returnable is even better. I just have to get on the list...