Fair point. The general quality control is poor on Pakistani bats (as is their customer service).
Just wondering how many of the ones your mention are top end models?
I can't deny that I would feel hard done by if I paid £300 for a bat only for the handle to break and there was no customer service.
That said I've never had any problems with CA bats I've owned. Some of which have been club level models. And whilst you get the odd dud by any manufacturer, all mine have performed.
Luck of the draw i suppose. I have no idea of the cost, intended market or indeed whether the bats i see are even genuine but many customers of Pakistani descent bring me CA (and Malik, and others) bats that have been sent over from friends or family back home and hand them to me still in the shrink wrapping. They always want me to 'fix' the handle. By this they mean sort out the usually badly applied binding (i once had a CA 10000 with no binding at all...)
I've seen plenty of horrors when fixing the binding situation. Filler used to plug gaps in an ill fitting handle due to poor work, uneven shoulders, mis-shaped handles, wonky splices, sometimes i can see daylight through the gaps where the rubber laminates running down the handle should be!
Oh interesting that. Is that possibly a reason why Vitas dont stock any Pakistani brands? Would be interesting to hear from Uzi Sports and IJC, as both stock Pakistani branded bats.
The original run of our branded bats were made in Pakistan. We now pay more for our bats (and probably get a lower grade) from a different supplier, tells you all you need to know i reckon.
Based on the grains/performance there are many brands from Pakistan (and India) that interest me. They don't have proper distribution setups in the UK though. Some have 'reps' (a loose term) but these negate the price advantages of stocking said brands, leading to a comment i see a lot; 'why is x brand £300 from you when i can get it from online stockist at less than £200?'
As a result i would only want to deal directly with said brands but this comes with it's own set of problems. Paying into overseas bank accounts is risky at the best of times, and also incurs fairly large fees. Returns/warranty claims would be a nightmare as well.
The exception here is TON (previously Boom Boom too until they went bust) who have a proper distribution setup in this country. We pay into a UK bank account in GBP's, we can handle returns very quickly and efficiently and pricing is fair in my opinion (OK maybe the top end Gladiators are a little pricey, but a Heritage at £145 is great value)
Trying not to tar everyone with the same brush, but it is difficult when you've seen some of things I have seen!