Customer didn't like the "feeling" of strings

[scrappydoo]

I strung a racquet for a client on the 20th of January. He had requested syn gut at 58 lbs. I strung the racquet with Babolat syn gut at 58 pounds. Three weeks later he dropped off the racquet to be restrung, claiming he didn't like how the string felt and wanted to try Xcel. I contacted the client and explained he would have to pay full price for the Xcel and stringing. He felt like he should only have to pay for the price difference in the strings for the upgrade. The quality of the string job was not in question, but rather the "feeling" of the strings.

What would you guys do in this situation?

The situation has already been resolved, but it would be interesting to hear what some of the other stringers do.

Thanks!

[lionel_101]

I would have told him the same thing. No reason for you to lose out, when you gave him exactly what he asked for and he didn't like the feel of the string at that tension.

Also inform him it can be very very expensive to find the right combination of string and tension that fits his game and to his liking. You might knock off a couple of bucks, if he has you restringing his racquets often.

[themitchmann]

No discount. You have him what he asked for. Had you made the recommendation, you might give him some latitude.

[Woolybugger]

Charge him much higher for the "upgrade". Problem solved.

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by themitchmann

No discount. You have him what he asked for. Had you made the recommendation, you might give him some latitude.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Woolybugger

Charge him much higher for the "upgrade". Problem solved.

Funny.

[Irvin]

When he asked for syn gut what was in the racket? If it was not a syn gut you carried you should have tried to put in something similar to what he had unless he didn't like the strings. Sounds to me you didn't do anything to see what the customer really wanted unless you are leaving something out. To me you're both to blame and should both share the cost. I would offer 1/2 price on the service and full price for the strings.

Now when he asked for Xcel that's a different story? Did he mentioned a specific tension? Did you talk to him about what he likes? You don't want him back in 2-3 weeks unsatisfied again do you?

[themitchmann]

^^^what if they were new, unstrung frames.

If someone tells me exactly what they want, I'm going to believe they know exactly what they want, even if there is something else in the racquet. I'm not going to try to persuade then otherwise, unless I know the player and believe it is not an ideal choice.

[zapvor]

yea in this case he pays. unless theres more to teh story

[tbuggle]

tell him you don't have Xcel.

[zapvor]

lol. thats happened before

[beernutz]

Originally Posted by scrappydoo

I strung a racquet for a client on the 20th of January. He had requested syn gut at 58 lbs. I strung the racquet with Babolat syn gut at 58 pounds. Three weeks later he dropped off the racquet to be restrung, claiming he didn't like how the string felt and wanted to try Xcel. I contacted the client and explained he would have to pay full price for the Xcel and stringing. He felt like he should only have to pay for the price difference in the strings for the upgrade. The quality of the string job was not in question, but rather the "feeling" of the strings.

What would you guys do in this situation?

The situation has already been resolved, but it would be interesting to hear what some of the other stringers do.

Thanks!

So how did you resolve the situation?

[Lakers4Life]

I agree with everyone else. I've had a similar situation last month. A client gave me a Prince EXO3 Black to string with NXT 17 for a friend. I always ask new clients where they previously had the racket strung. This racket was strung at a shop that exclusively on Neos 1000 machines. Since I have Sensor, I wanted to match his previous tension. It was previously strung at 61 lbs. So I strung it at 55.5 lbs on my machine. A few days after stringing my client calls me up saying his friend did not like the tension. They had played on a cold night. His friend was not happy with his play and blamed the recent string job. His friend complained that he needed hit it harder. I told him to keep playing with it, because it could be a caused by a bunch of factors. His friend insisted that the tension was not high enough. I quickly replied, If I had strung it at 61 lbs on my machine it would lose even more power. This went back and forth, he had 61 lbs in his head. My client agreed with me. My Client brought the racket back to me after some discussion with his friend, and some internet research. He now asks for 54 lbs, on my Sensor. I told him since it's been sitting for a week, it's probably at that tension right now. But hi insisted it be restrung at 54 lbs. He never tried playing with the racket after the first time. Finally I relented and re-strung the racket for the price of string. I've heard no complaints since then.

The cleint I string for had no complaints about he previous re-string, his friend had the problem.

[Irvin]

Originally Posted by themitchmann

^^^what if they were new, unstrung frames.

If someone tells me exactly what they want, I'm going to believe they know exactly what they want, even if there is something else in the racquet. I'm not going to try to persuade then otherwise, unless I know the player and believe it is not an ideal choice.

Not too many people bring in new unstrung frames, but possible. There is a big difference between syn gut and Xcel. There are many syn guts even Xcel could be considered synthetic gut but there is only one Xcel.

[themitchmann]

Originally Posted by Irvin

Not too many people bring in new unstrung frames, but possible. There is a big difference between syn gut and Xcel. There are many syn guts even Xcel could be considered synthetic gut but there is only one Xcel.

I string new, unstrung frames fairly often.

Yes there is a big difference between the two strings mentioned, but if the customer didn't say anything besides "synthetic gut," I'm going to string with a standard syn gut. If the customer wants to have a conversation or ask for a recommendation, I'm happy to do that.

[Irvin]

Originally Posted by themitchmann

I string new, unstrung frames fairly often.

Yes there is a big difference between the two strings mentioned, but if the customer didn't say anything besides "synthetic gut," I'm going to string with a standard syn gut. If the customer wants to have a conversation or ask for a recommendation, I'm happy to do that.

I string a lot of new unstrung frames too, but not that often. Scrappydoo was the racket strung or not, and how did you handle it?

[tbuggle]

Originally Posted by scrappydoo

I strung a racquet for a client on the 20th of January. He had requested syn gut at 58 lbs. I strung the racquet with Babolat syn gut at 58 pounds. Three weeks later he dropped off the racquet to be restrung, claiming he didn't like how the string felt and wanted to try Xcel. I contacted the client and explained he would have to pay full price for the Xcel and stringing. He felt like he should only have to pay for the price difference in the strings for the upgrade. The quality of the string job was not in question, but rather the "feeling" of the strings.

What would you guys do in this situation?

The situation has already been resolved, but it would be interesting to hear what some of the other stringers do.

Thanks!

you did your job. dude needs to go pound sand or pay up for another stringjob. if i was so inclined to re-string his racket at a "deal" i'd likely
inform him that his business was not needed at my "shop" (machine) again.

ask him what he does for a living and if he'll do you a job for free.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by scrappydoo

I strung a racquet for a client on the 20th of January. He had requested syn gut at 58 lbs. I strung the racquet with Babolat syn gut at 58 pounds. Three weeks later he dropped off the racquet to be restrung, claiming he didn't like how the string felt and wanted to try Xcel. I contacted the client and explained he would have to pay full price for the Xcel and stringing. He felt like he should only have to pay for the price difference in the strings for the upgrade. The quality of the string job was not in question, but rather the "feeling" of the strings.

What would you guys do in this situation?

The situation has already been resolved, but it would be interesting to hear what some of the other stringers do.

Thanks!

So, he played with the original strings for three weeks and then wanted another string .. paying only for the difference in string cost?

If he's a repeat customer, charge him full price for the X-cel string and knock $5 off the stringing portion. Explain to him that you only did that because he's a great customer and you can only do it once.

[Steve Huff]

I get a lot of new, unstrung frames. Anyone can string a racket. What makes a person a good stringer is matching the string to the customer's preference. So, like Irvin, I believe that not enough information was exchanged to find out what the customer really wanted. If the customer said, "just put some synthetic gut in it", then yes, he needs to pay for his mistake. But, if you talked about it and came to the understanding that synthetic gut was what he needed, maybe you should give him a little break on the price. You don't need to lose money, but maybe give him some on the labor.

[scrappydoo]

Originally Posted by Irvin

When he asked for syn gut what was in the racket? If it was not a syn gut you carried you should have tried to put in something similar to what he had unless he didn't like the strings. Sounds to me you didn't do anything to see what the customer really wanted unless you are leaving something out. To me you're both to blame and should both share the cost. I would offer 1/2 price on the service and full price for the strings.

Now when he asked for Xcel that's a different story? Did he mentioned a specific tension? Did you talk to him about what he likes? You don't want him back in 2-3 weeks unsatisfied again do you?

The customers racquet was prestrung with syn gut. This was the first time that I had strung his racquet so I didn't have any information on the previous string/tension. I do have the tag which reads "syn gut 58 lbs". I am racking my brain trying to remember what brand of syn gut was originally in the racquet, but I always try to string with the same brand syn gut that was previously in the racquet.

Typically I will not contact the customer prior to stringing unless they have questions, if I have questions, or if I do not have the string they requested.

I agree this situation could have been avoided if I had taken the order and talked to the customer prior to stringing. In this case the tennis desk staff took the order and the racquet was waiting to be strung when I got in later that day.

[scrappydoo]

Originally Posted by beernutz

So how did you resolve the situation?

My boss decided to give him what he wanted, charging him the difference in the price of the two strings. My boss donated a personal packet of xcel to use.