We sold and knocked the bat in question in. It is due back for an assessment today, most likely a straight-forward repair as the damage looks relatively minor looking at the pictures i have been sent. But if necessary it will be replaced.
Many bats nowadays come with some form of pre-preparation, and require less knocking in than many people think. Many people still hold the view that you must hammer away for hours and hours and hours. This was once the case and still is for some bats, but nowadays I would rarely find myself spending 4-6 hours of actual man hours on one.
Each bat is individual also, some are softer meaning they can be manipulated more easily (toe compressed, edges rounded off) whereas a harder bat will 'feel' knocked in quite quickly but will need a bit of time and brute force to get the edges and toe sorted.
The bat is question is very grainy so is statistically more prone to damage (almost instant performance at the cost of durability) compared to a bat with less grains (performance will come in time, but the bat is more likely to last)
The one thing we can never rely on is the willow itself. It is a natural product and failures can happen at any time during a bats life, i've seen £300 bats shatter when they face their first ball (the customers dad bowled it, making it all the more painful for the lad in question) and equally i've seen them last season after season. That's where great customer service comes in to help the distraught customer who's pride and joy has let them down early into its life.
We like to think we offer some of the best customer service around. Hopefully in a few days Kev (and his mate Ben, who owns the bat in question) will be happy with the outcome, and will be back to scoring runs on the weekends.
I'm far from an expert though, despite selling the things, knocking them in and repairing them every day.
We would never tell a customer to go forth and multiply
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Topic: bats from sportdirect (Read 5241 times)