Topic: Shabby service from Lekka (Read 6460 times)

scuudz · « **on:** May 01, 2014, 03:41:02 PM »

First, I'd like to apologize if this is not the right section to post this kind of thread in. If it is in the wrong place, I request the admins to move it as they see fit.

Just to give you all some background, a team-mate of mine came across Lekka online and first bought a bat from them at the start of last season. He was pretty happy with the bat, so this year he bought another one. Now, this season, his brother joined our club too, and needed to buy new gear. Naturally, Lekka was recommended to him, and he placed an order for a big heavy bat. He asked for something with big edges and over 3lbs. Lekka got back to him saying he had something for him, but it would be 2lbs 14oz, and sent him pictures of 'his' bat that he was going to ship. Please keep in mind the email said, "Here are some images of your bat". They agreed on a price of 220 GBP posted to Canada. The bat in the images looked quite nice, and it was definitely a meaty bat, and it didnt have any visible blemishes.

However, when he received his bat, he was shocked to discover that the back of the bat had a strange yellowish-greenish shade to it (never seen anything like it - any ideas on what this might be??), and SEVERAL knots and blemishes on the bat and sides. Now, these might not have any impact on the performance of the bat, but CLEARLY this was not the bat that my team-mate got images of. Still, he gave Lekka the benefit of the doubt since it looked like a powerful bat. Lekka said they had oiled it and knocked it in. Then he took a mallet to it to check out the ping and to his horror, the bat cracked right in the playing area....this was not a surface crack! So, he contacted Lekka and all they said was to play with it and that he would love the performance. My team-mate had never dealt with smaller bat companies before so he thought this guy would know what he is talking about since his brother had a good experience dealing with him, so he continued knocking it in with a mallet and within a couple of minutes, there were 3-4 separate crack on the playing surface and if the anti-scuff sheet wasn't on it, it seems like the top layer of the willow would be falling off the bat!

He contacted Lekka again and got the same response, i.e. to play with it because the bat will perform great. By this time, my team-mate has just said he doesn't even care if the bat performs, he doesn't want a bat that looks like it could fall apart at any time after spending more than $400 (CDN) on it. He has filed a formal dispute with Paypal and posted on Lekka World Wide's facebook page. The latest I've heard is that Lekka is now rattled by all this, and has asked him to return the bat for a refund. Hopefully, he gets all his money back, and he is said he is going to order a Laver & Wood now.

I've been a member of this forum for years, but haven't posted much. As such, I thought I should bring this to your attention. It should not take a Paypal dispute and posting things publicly for a bat brand to stand behind their product, especially when the customer has been referred to your brand by someone who has already bought two of your bats!

EDIT: I have images of the bat as well, but it didn't work when I tried to upload them. I can send someone the images if they'd like to upload them. Thanks!

smilley792 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 01, 2014, 03:52:44 PM »

Doesn't sound great, but tbh I don't expect anything else reading the majority of stories on him.

Even Rowan, an ex pro lekka guy got shafted eventually.

scuudz · « **Reply #2 on:** May 01, 2014, 04:30:04 PM »

That's shocking! I'm not sure how he is still in business.

ProCricketer1982 · « **Reply #3 on:** May 01, 2014, 04:35:33 PM »

As gets mentioned in other threads.. 90% of the normal cricket public just see cheap and jump on it

amritpremi · « **Reply #4 on:** May 01, 2014, 04:57:25 PM »

Bat which opens up with the first mallet hit has to be Pro/LE +++++++ bat, just kidding

. hope your friend gets his money back mate, service as usual from Lekka.

joeljonno · « **Reply #5 on:** May 01, 2014, 04:58:45 PM »

Obviously he used the wrong type of bat mallet which was anti-x6000

scuudz · « **Reply #6 on:** May 01, 2014, 05:10:56 PM »

Lekka emailed him 4 times yesterday asking him to lift the Paypal dispute. Apparently, he had initially asked him to gift the money to him via Paypal, but my friend wanted some protection against being conned so he sent it as a payment.

As of 30 minutes ago, he has shipped the bat back.

shoab68 · « **Reply #7 on:** May 01, 2014, 05:17:27 PM »

That's horrible experience.

viva · « **Reply #8 on:** May 01, 2014, 05:26:05 PM »

Nice write up scuuds. I'm the guy in the story. Here is some of the emails sent back and forth after i realized he sent me a bad bat.

Hi James,

After a lot of consideration I decided that I will be returning (at my expense) my bat to you for a refund or possibly a replacement. I will keep the gloves. I am not happy with the way face of this bat is lifting and breaking up. The bat has not even touched a ball yet and it looks worse than anything I've ever played with.
I wish that this bat didn't break and that I didn't have to return it, but I cannot afford to accept a bat in this condition. With my first game of our three month T20 season on Sunday I can not explain my feeling of disappointment knowing that best case scenario our season would be half over by the time I get a bat.

Tim

Hi Tim,

Thank you for your email.

Sending the bat back to me at your expense need not happen.

Again I suggest you use your bat this coming Sunday as I know your bat will perform.

Rgds,

James

Hi James.

Performance is besides the point right now. I have a brand new �220 broken bat. Did you not see the pictures? This thing looks like garbage. You will have to refund me my money or replace this bat and I can return this one to you. If you cannot agree to that I will go ahead and file a dispute through paypal and see if I can sort it out that way.

Thank You,

Tim

Sent from my iPhone

Hi Tim,

Thank you for your email.

I still suggest you use your cricket bat this Sunday and we shall discuss on Monday when you have gone large and scored a quick fire 50.

Rgds,

James

Hi James,

I have no doubt that this bat will perform well. But I not comfortable starting to use a bat that is broken before it even faced a ball. I'm confident this bat will not last more than a season, and for �220 i want a bat that will last a while.

Thanks,

Tim

Good evening Tim,

Please ask Jaco to remove his opened dispute with PayPal.

Rgds,

James

Hi james,

The dispute is there because you sent me an old broken bat and are not replacing the bat or refunding my money. If you decide to refund me my money he will resolve the dispute.

Thanks,

Tim

Sent from my iPhone

Thank you for your email Tim.

Please do return your bat as expressed , lift the dispute and we shall move on from there.

Rgds,

James

Hi James,

I will return the bat to you first thing in the morning and forward you the tracking number. Then once I have my money back I will lift the dispute.

Thanks,

Tim

Thank you for your email Tim.

Lift the dispute before you do return the bat.

Rgds,

James

Hi James,

I shipped the bat back to you. The tracking number is CC177665101CA and you can track it at www.canadapost.ca

As for the dispute. I will lift the dispute once you refunded my money back. You can wait till the bat gets there to refund me or you can do it now its up to you.

Just so you know, I'm not interested in getting a replacement for the bat anymore because I'm getting a bat made by another bat maker.

Thanks,

Tim

csnew · « **Reply #9 on:** May 01, 2014, 05:30:30 PM »

Sounds like he tried to pull a fast one asking your mate to pay as a gift. Wouldn't bother emailing any more.
Would escalate the case and then wait till the bat arrives and ring PayPal to close the case and refund the money.

smilley792 · « **Reply #10 on:** May 01, 2014, 05:32:39 PM »

Wow.

Wow indeed,

Do not close the pay pal dispute as I guarantee you'll never see your money.
Disgracefully attitude towards customers.

smokem · « **Reply #11 on:** May 01, 2014, 05:50:45 PM »

This is truly appalling... Hope it works out for you but Paypal has your back! Like others have said don't close the dispute until you see a refund.

iand123 · « **Reply #12 on:** May 01, 2014, 05:56:36 PM »

I've not dealt with him myself but have read many a horror story and seen many threads where his customer service has been far from exemplary

I would not close that dispute until you have your money back. Did you use the bat in the end? I hope not as I'm sure he'll say it was damaged in use..

I wouldn't even say you got that good a deal really, so can't even say you get what you pay for!

scuudz · « **Reply #13 on:** May 01, 2014, 06:08:10 PM »

Tim brought the bat to the nets last night so the rest of us could see what he was talking about, but he didn't use it at all. The bat was shipped back without it having ever faced a ball.

I've had one custom bat before (not from Lekka) so I've gone through the process of purchasing a bat without having held it in my hands before. That experience was very pleasant, courteous and I ended up with a fantastic piece of willow - completely the opposite of this experience.

i12breakfree · « **Reply #14 on:** May 01, 2014, 06:08:25 PM »

That is just poor customer service.. What does the fearless guy have to say about this ?
If it was a handle break i would have understood that can happen and seller would give a replacement in that case.

Must be an over-dried bat sitting somewhere in warm weather for long time.
Its during issues like this is when a reliable product owner should go above and beyond to help the buyer.

And paying 220 gbp....for Lekka ? recently there was an offer for 110 gbp for bat + gloves ...not sure how the pricing model works

Author Topic: Shabby service from Lekka (Read 6460 times)

scuudz

Shabby service from Lekka

smilley792

Re: Shabby service from Lekka

scuudz

Re: Shabby service from Lekka

ProCricketer1982

Re: Shabby service from Lekka

amritpremi

Re: Shabby service from Lekka

joeljonno

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scuudz

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shoab68

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viva

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csnew

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smilley792

Re: Shabby service from Lekka

smokem

Re: Shabby service from Lekka

iand123

Re: Shabby service from Lekka

scuudz

Re: Shabby service from Lekka

i12breakfree

Re: Shabby service from Lekka