Fake Babolat Pure Drive GT

[downs_chris]

I think I was sold a fake Babolat Pure Drive GT on **** -- I don't have any pictures, but the 2 other ones that I have -- the text on those are all in the same exact places. On this one I received today, some of the stringing info text is not on the proper side, the buttcap is a different color of red and smaller, and the plastic grommet doesn't come all the way down to wear the reals come down to. Plus it's pre-strung. Does anyone have any picture of some fake Babolat Pure Drive GT? Should I report the guy? Is there anyway to know for sure? Help?

 

[hondas2k]

post pictures...then i can compare with mine

 

[callen3615]

If its prestrung it cant be real.

 

[LafayetteHitter]

Were you concerned about getting a fake when you bought it?

 

[downs_chris]

i was a little concerned, after the guy didn't respond to me for weeks...it took about a months time, from when i won the auction to when it actually arrived...his responses to my emails seemed like "canned" responses to people who were complaining about shipping times...it also doesn't have the word "babolat" on the plastic covering the grip, like all other new babolats have...i'll try to post pictures of it soon...

do i contact ****? or paypal? i'd hate to just email the guy and say i'm shipping the racquet back -- then he'd have my racquet and my money...hmm?

 

[quest01]

If you think its fake contact the seller and see if he will accept a refund.

 

[grimmbomb21]

Don't bother posting pictures here. Your frames are fake. File a claim with paypal, and report the issue to ****. Since you paid through paypal, you should be able to get your money back. Good luck.

Anyone selling new babolat racquets on **** for 100.00 is selling fakes. End of story.:-|

 

[downs_chris]

Yeah, it's 100% fake. I started the refund process with paypal -- the one he had pictured in his auction wasn't strung. The one I received is strung. I wasn't really sure what a fake even looked like, but it's kind of obvious when it's sitting next to the real thing. Annoyed...

 

[Tigerballs]

Just check the balance with the real ones. That's an easy giveaway.

 

[Mick]

wow. that place now has a bad reputation due to the sellers of fake racquets.

 

[Hotrocks]

Fake Babolat

Another way to tell it's fake is to take off the butt cap. Poorly constructed compared to the real one. You should come outt okay...since you went through Paypal.

 

[downs_chris]

Hopefully it works out! I can't even get the buttcap off -- it's almost like it's glued shut.

 

[Dave M]

If its prestrung it cant be real.

Yes, it could be real.

 

[FedererForehand]

Unreal... people will never learn. You get what you pay for... end of story.

 

[downs_chris]

i've bought other babolat pure drives on eb@y...legit ones for a similar price...it's not like the item was dirt cheap -- i didn't even get the same one that was pictured (picture showed an unstrung racquet -- what was sent was a strung racquet)...you pretty much can't trust people selling "new" pure drives on eb@y...

 

[hondas2k]

i wouldnt never buy tennis rackets in BAY...cannot trust any of seller there PERIOD

 

[Zielmann]

If you used paypal, go through them. I believe they have a built-in protection for this very sort of thing.

 

[Richie Rich]

Unreal... people will never learn. You get what you pay for... end of story.

amen. as the old saying goes, there is a sucker born every minute

 

[phishua]

i wouldnt never buy tennis rackets in BAY...cannot trust any of seller there PERIOD

I don't know...I've bought a racquet on the 'bay and it was a genuine Head used Prestige. I contacted the buyer beforehand, asked for extra pictures, asked why he was selling, etc. It's easy to tell if a seller is for real or not.

That being said, I do think you can get screwed on that site if you're not careful. But I use the 'bay a lot and can spot fake racquets pretty easily...

 

[mrtrinh]

I don't know...I've bought a racquet on the 'bay and it was a genuine Head used Prestige. I contacted the buyer beforehand, asked for extra pictures, asked why he was selling, etc. It's easy to tell if a seller is for real or not.

That being said, I do think you can get screwed on that site if you're not careful. But I use the 'bay a lot and can spot fake racquets pretty easily...

That's always a good idea, if a seller is selling something authentic he would not be hesitant to provide any sort of proof. But compared to head prestiges, there are a lot more fake babolats out there

 

[jazzyfunkybluesy]

That stinks man hopefully you will get your money back and buy it from TW or your local shop.

 

[Ten_nuts]

You truely got the faked one, buddy!

i was a little concerned, after the guy didn't respond to me for weeks...it took about a months time, from when i won the auction to when it actually arrived...his responses to my emails seemed like "canned" responses to people who were complaining about shipping times...it also doesn't have the word "babolat" on the plastic covering the grip, like all other new babolats have...i'll try to post pictures of it soon...

do i contact ****? or paypal? i'd hate to just email the guy and say i'm shipping the racquet back -- then he'd have my racquet and my money...hmm?

It happened to me as well. I bought one from my local tennis shop for 160 without string (that means it costed me 22 bucks for the string job), so the total i paid was 182 plus tax. I found a great deal on the big Ibay auction site with a brand new one, strung for only 115 shipped, and i bought it. It took a long time for the racquet to arrive at my door (for a good reason that seller got my money, transferred money from P@ypal to his bank, took his money from his bank account, and then he shipped the racquet). I compared and found out right away it was a faked racquet: grip 4 3/8 but feels like 4 1/4, the length is like 27.4 inches, grommet is totally different comparing with the real one, Babolat serial # sticker was sticked to the other side of the throat, the butt cap is different... I right away filed a claim with P@ypal and notified the seller at the same time. Seller refused to refund because he said that his racquet is 100% authentic. I told P@ypal the difference between my racquet and seller's racquet and accused seller to sell faked racquet. Luckily seller still had money in his account, so he had to accept the racquet back and refunded money for me. One more thing, i told seller that if he doesn't refund my shipping cost to return the racquet for him, i'll leave him negative feedback saying that he sold faked racquets, so he agreed to refund shipping cost for me too. So if you want to get your money back, act quickly.

 

[grimmbomb21]

It happened to me as well. I bought one from my local tennis shop for 160 without string (that means it costed me 22 bucks for the string job), so the total i paid was 182 plus tax. I found a great deal on the big Ibay auction site with a brand new one, strung for only 115 shipped, and i bought it. It took a long time for the racquet to arrive at my door (for a good reason that seller got my money, transferred money from P@ypal to his bank, took his money from his bank account, and then he shipped the racquet). I compared and found out right away it was a faked racquet: grip 4 3/8 but feels like 4 1/4, the length is like 27.4 inches, grommet is totally different comparing with the real one, Babolat serial # sticker was sticked to the other side of the throat, the butt cap is different... I right away filed a claim with P@ypal and notified the seller at the same time. Seller refused to refund because he said that his racquet is 100% authentic. I told P@ypal the difference between my racquet and seller's racquet and accused seller to sell faked racquet. Luckily seller still had money in his account, so he had to accept the racquet back and refunded money for me. One more thing, i told seller that if he doesn't refund my shipping cost to return the racquet for him, i'll leave him negative feedback saying that he sold faked racquets, so he agreed to refund shipping cost for me too. So if you want to get your money back, act quickly.

You should have left negative feedback anyway...

 

[hondas2k]

You should have left negative feedback anyway...

after that seller couldve wouldve left negative feedback as well which make grimmbomb21 look bad.

 

[grimmbomb21]

after that seller couldve wouldve left negative feedback as well which make grimmbomb21 look bad.

**** no longer let seller leave negative feedback for buyer. So grimmbomb21 no look bad. grimmbomb21 look good. grimmbomb21 hungry much. grimmbomb21 go eat now.

:neutral:

 

[downs_chris]

any "fe****" / paypal experts out there? so i escalated the situation to a "dispute" and said i wanted a refund...when i went onto paypal, i saw an automated message, that said "refund was denied by the user", but then he left me a message on the dispute chat board, that said, he would accept a refund. Does that mean, he officially denied it, so i can mail the racquet back to him without him giving me my money back too? is he trying to be sneaky? anyone ever dealt with this before? thanks!

 

[Ten_nuts]

I got the same problem because seller posted in his auction that "No return accepted. All sales are final). I logged in to P@ypal and clicked "contact us". I got 6 digits PIN number, and i called and told them that seller sold me a faked racquet. I also told them sellers who sell faked racquet are violating @bay's rules, and they must be banned. I also told them that I used P@aypal because i thought i am protected by using that. They, P@ypal guy, agreed to open a dispute for me. I explained clearly the differences between the real one and the faked one. Seller couldn't refuse to accept my request. He told me to ship it back and would refund my money right after he got the racquet. He got the racquet and did refund promptly. My case was closed right after he refunded the money. I then sent seller a short message saying that he should refund my shipping cost (almost 15 bucks) because, I trusted him to buy his racquet, and it turned out he sold me a faked one. I told him that he wasted my time, and i don't want lose money for trusting him. I said if you don't refund the shipping cost, i'd leave negative feedback for you to let people know that you are selling faked racquets and won't refund money no matter what. Who will dare to buy from you again? and your business is done. Over. He did refund the shipping cost to me.
Remember when you talk to the P@ypal guy, tell him that seller has violated @bay's rules: selling faked ones. Also tell him that you use P@ypal because it says everywhere that P@aypal protect their users, and selling the faked one is absolutely, obviously, definitely, 110%ly WRONG.

 

[downs_chris]

an update -- so I did call paypal today -- since the user sent me a message "agreeing" to refund me, then the paypal representative just put my case into "claim" mode...so once i send the racquet back to him, and my tracking number confirms that he got it, i will get my money back! basically if you want to buy pure drives, just get them from tennis warehouse...lesson learned!

 

[Ten_nuts]

Huuuuuuuuu...ray, Downs Chris, you'll get your money back. You'll get the great feeling about getting your money back. Mine, i didn't even want to touch the racquet when you knew it was faked. Cheers, buddy.

 

[jazzyfunkybluesy]

Are these fake racquets sold from the US or outside?

 

[ace0001a]

Are these fake racquets sold from the US or outside?

They're sold directly from Chinese retail stores in China. They may be cheap to buy for the racquet itself, but from what I heard the charge alot for shipping because they will only ship them via EMS. That's why I made the comment that if you happen to be over there and shopping, they'd be worth it to get as cheapo beater or loaner racquets for when you have those moments when you're around friends and family that don't have their own racquets and want to go out for some extremely casual tennis fun. If it were up to me, racquet manufacturers would sell cheap versions of their performance racquets themselves at big box stores...use the same molds, cheaper materials, slighty different paintjob and different name varients, but sold at Walmart or Target...that way cheap people would be less inclined to buy a fake when they can just get a similar real racquet that is cheaper. If I'm remembering right, department store racquets used to be alot more similar to the performance models then they are now.

 

[Ten_nuts]

Hi Ace0001a and JazzyFunkyBluesy, you are wrong. If you buy from your local tennis shop or, good source, Tennis-warehouse here, the real ones were made in China. The faked one that i got from @bay, it says Made in Taiwan. So make sure you know this before buying.

 

[jazzyfunkybluesy]

Hi Ace0001a and JazzyFunkyBluesy, you are wrong. If you buy from your local tennis shop or, good source, Tennis-warehouse here, the real ones were made in China. The faked one that i got from @bay, it says Made in Taiwan. So make sure you know this before buying.

How about make sure you don't buy anything from Ebizay?

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

Just buy it from a trusted and well referenced seller on these forums. That's what I did.

 

[Ten_nuts]

Hi JazzyFunkyBluesy, There will be some sellers who will sell the real racquets. They played with them, didn't like them, and would sell them as used racquets. You can get this used, real ones with great saves. If you plan on buying a new one, make sure you ask seller 1st before buying. Trust me, if you buy a new one, find out it's a faked racquet, it's likely you can return and get your money back. But then your time will be wasted. Anyway, if you really like the Pure Drive GT and you think it's an excellent choice to improve your games, to me, i'd buy the real racquet from trusted, authorized dealers. This type of racquet will last for a long, long time. Besides, this racquet is, in my opinion, 1 of the most beautiful racquets out there for it's gorgeous paint job.

 

[Chicken Neck]

To say that you cannot trust any sellers on the big auction site is just silly. I have bought and sold frames on the site and I have never purchased or sold a fake. In fact I have four or five buddies that purchase gear on the site pretty often and none of them has ever had a problem. Before anyone asks, we have all compared our purchases from the big site to our purchases from online retailers such as TW and found that the items are legit. In fact, many of the sellers on the auction site are retailers with old or discontinued stock who cannot, due to manufacturer's restrictions, sell items in their retail outlets for below a set price. It seems that the main problems with fakes are Babolat and Wilson models. I have never heard of knockoff Volkl, Fischer, Pro Kennex, Avery, Becker, Dunlop or Prince racquets. The bottom line is that you have to know your equipment and make your purchases from a well reviewed seller.