Thank you DFP, and I could use afavor!

Greenmonsters said:

Sorry, not feeling the corporate megaliths' pain, if they made the bats in the US they wouldn't be able to make the 100% profit they do now.

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Absolutely...its cheaper to make the bats there, plain and simple and FACT.

Also a reason why they couldn't control backorders and sometimes replacements
would take a while. When you sublet production of your bats overseas for maximum
profits, you are on their schedule and at their mercy on production and shipping.

Another nice treatment of a customer from Wilson by dbag Mike O'Brien. Had a customer who ordered a custom LXT
before Wilson screwed the little guys over. Well, my customer had to finish the deal with this arrogant liar at Wilson.

We were charging him well under what they did. Well, I got to see the bill to my customer. On top of the price, they charged him over 67 dollars
to ship. Are you serious, that cost like 10 bucks. But amazingly, that brought the cost to almost retail total.
Over 67 dollars to ship...unreal.

CoreSoftball20 said:

Another nice treatment of a customer from Wilson ......

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Not bat related,

but I just had the most ridiculous conversation with someone from Wilson. I am trying to facilitate an order of softball pants. I go on DeMarini's website and they have the color we need (which is hard to find). So I see they have sizes XS-2XL...but no size chart anywhere to be found. I call Customer service, get transferred around a little bit. Finally get someone in "apparel". He doesn't have a size chart in front of him. Has to put me on hold again to look. Comes back and asks me what the inseam measurements of the girls are. I (confused) ask him why he needs the inseam? for softball pants? He proceeds to tell me that the pants are all sized according to inseam. Then I (still confused), explain that I need the waist and hip measurements that correspond the the size grading listed on the website. He, again and sounding very sure of himself, tells me the pants sizes only go by inseam. So I ask him to try and explain to me what "inseam" size pant a 5'6" 135 pound girl would wear. Then he "has to to ask a manager". After 5 more minutes on hold he comes back and tries to tell me that the softball pants are "very stretchy" and "have a drawstring in the waist so they can fit a variety of girls" then starts talking about inseams again. To which I reply that most girls couldn't care less what the softball pant inseam is as long as the pants come somewhere below the knee and above the ankle. But what girls REALLY care about is if the pants fit in the waist and hips. And that I find it hard to believe that a 5' 100lb girl and a 5'10 165lb girl on the same team are going to wear the same pants and one is just going to "stretch" more. And then why list a size range of XS-2XL? why not one size fits all but measure your inseam?
<silence>.
we got nowhere. He had to "escalate" my question and "have someone email me with an answer later"...... FOR A SIZE CHART.

So, this is the exceptional customer service that Wilson is now offering by not letting us go through a small business and actually work with someone who knows the product and what they are talking about.

what a joke.

oh, and I ended up ordering pants from somewhere else. As nice as those DeMarini would have been I just could't do it.

Some companies have noticed that when they cut customer service to increase profit, the sales dropped so much the profits disappeared.

BobInMadison said:

Some companies have noticed that when they cut customer service to increase profit, the sales dropped so much the profits disappeared.

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The big fish in the pond calls all the shots. Until another company comes along or people make them take notice by not buying.

collinspc said:

If you utilize twitter @WilsonSportingG @DeMarini are two places I tweeted to and about the injustice to Core. Twitter can be a very powerful forum.

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Twitter War! I think you'll get more traction if the company gets mud on its face. it's too easy to ignore emails *(IMHO). #coresoftball

Twitter. Worked for Trump....
On it...

I'm not big on the whole "Ignore him...he'll go away" tactic. Below is the latest (of about 10 emails) that I have not gotten any response from.

To:heikki.takala@amersports.com, bill.kirchner@amersports.com, joe.dudy@amersports.com, Tom.Burns@wilson.com, James Hackett <Jim.Hackett@wilson.com>, alan.davenport@wilson.com, tom.gruger@wilson.com, rob.piscetta@wilson.com, rafal.gancarczyk@amersports.com, stefanie.siam@wilson.com, amer.communications@amersports.com, ITCWilson@amersports.com, ITCPrecor@amersports.com

Message:
All,

As I mentioned in previous emails, I'm not going to let this drop because I'm not getting a response. I started this conversation nearly a month ago and have received no response whatsoever. Even if your response is "Go away. We don't care about your opinion", that's fine; just respond. This is horrendous customer service.

With my business, I'm at a ball tournament every weekend, somewhere throughout the country. I talk to thousands of travel ball parents, coaches, and directors on a regular basis. Invariably, the conversation always leads to equipment and, specifically, bats. I never miss an opportunity to express my personal feelings to them regarding this issue. And based on your lack of response, in conjunction with horrible business decisions leading up to this, how could I possibly tell them anything different?

Focusing on the mass quantities at box stores is going to harm your bottom line in the end. Big box stores are not designed to speak intelligently about the products they sell. Taking the expertise out of your distribution and sales channels is going to drive your most profitable demographic (travel ball) to your competitors. They (travel ball customers) are the only group willing to buy your high margin product on, at least, an annual basis, but already know more about your product than anyone in the box store. Your box stores are going to sell your low margin items to customers who don't know any better. But they are going to hang on to that cheap bat for years. So you are going to lose on the margin, and the return.

These business practices are shortsighted and a clear sign of profit focus before customer focus. I'm a very conservative business owner. I recognize that the purpose of a business is to make money, so I'm certainly not advocating that profits are evil. But if you focus solely on the profit with no concern for the customer, you will lose both in the end.

Sincerely,

Josh Greer
LynkSpyder - Chain Link Fence Sports Camera Mount
Baseball * Softball * Tennis * Pickleball
LynkSpyder - Chain Link Fence Sports Camera (GoPro) Mount
www.facebook.com/lynkspyder

And that's exactly what they are doing Josh, and I appreciate what you are doing. You are a straight up guy. They have completely lost focus
of business because they feel they are the only game in town so they can treat people like sh!t. And honestly, they probably
can. I don't know the amount of texts I have gotten for bats and 95% couldn't care less about the situation, they are
just going elsewhere. So, if people are willing to take it, it proves their point. I have stopped wanting to help people because I'm sick
of the, "oh, guess I will buy somewhere else, but can you help me pick the bat I need" response. I was just
a piece in their puzzle to get bigger, and once POS stores like Justbats and such got pissed they were losing business, then
it was ok to ruin the middle class, middle tier guys who bust their azz. They want their 150 buck per bat profit.
I really wish all these customers could trade places with the people that got screwed by Wilson, and see how we were treated.
The lack of respect and pure lack of consideration from them. Maybe then people would want to make a change.

And that is the problem with monopolies.

Technically, Wilson is not a monopoly, but they are pretty close to it.

When you have a monopoly, you charge whatever you want, treat people however you want to treat people, and their choices are the same that Hobson gave.


For those who don't know Hobson:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Hobson's choice