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[dcullen8]

The new stickers aren't appealing to me, however the sovereigns & other ranges i really do enjoy. Im not quite sold on pauls attitude, but if you make a mean bat, you make a mean bat.

[smilley792]

Paul makes a great cricket bat, unfortunately his customer service and attitude I'm not a fan off.

The bat I bought was no good for me, but the guy I moved it on to loved it last I heard and it's going well for him.


His finishing is top notch. Not sure that can be questioned.

His stickers in my opinion are on the good side out there, the previous ones were superb, and I personally don't mind his new ones.

Yes they look like lavers retro range and chances paul took some inspiration from them, but look into the world of cricket bats, hundreds of times stickers have been copied. Names re used etc.
Unfortunately there isn't a finite style to make the stickers and a few ideas will be rehashed. Hell if it works and looks nice do it!



Is the forum hyper critical? Yes. Hell how boring would this place be if we just liked everything and praised constantly.
And I presume that's why paul is no longer on here, he doesn't take critism well, and does not like being questioned.

[roco]

The forum has never been a hippie fest but it has got to mob mentality on here and if you can take criticism or not I know of 4-5 brands that have stopped coming on here as too many people not willing to discuss only criticise

people cannot have cake and eat it too

Can't attack the way it does then moan that brands don't post anymore or contribute

[Cow_corner]

Bought a bat from Paul, when I visited him the UK in the spring, a Gold sovereign with no stickers. Haven't used it yet. Seems like a no none sense type of bloke. Extremely well made bat, stickers personally no matter the brand don't really hold much appeal for me, but then I'm an old git.

[Vitas Cricket]

I'm having an interesting conversation with someone on the Aldred Facebook page about fake grain sheets. He reckons Gray Nicss use them in the same way that those con artists at CX do. I've never seen a GN with a fake grain sheet except cheap Kashmir ones but I'm open to what he's got to say. Having seen hundreds, probably thousands of GN bats, I'm pretty confident I'm right but we'll see where it goes.

All seems to be quite civil and amicable, I'm sure it's the sort of chat that could have taken place on the forum, a shame Aldred felt the need to leave.

[springbok45]

I personally think the old supreme stickers were the nicest he's done, these new ones don't quite work for me.

[skip1973]

I'm having an interesting conversation with someone on the Aldred Facebook page about fake grain sheets. He reckons Gray Nicss use them in the same way that those con artists at CX do. I've never seen a GN with a fake grain sheet except cheap Kashmir ones but I'm open to what he's got to say. Having seen hundreds, probably thousands of GN bats, I'm pretty confident I'm right but we'll see where it goes.

All seems to be quite civil and amicable, I'm sure it's the sort of chat that could have taken place on the forum, a shame Aldred felt the need to leave.

GN have used fake grain sheets at times, the plastic type though not being deceptive like CX and only on very entry level bats.

[Sivlar13]

I've been reading the recent FB posts where Pauls having a whinge about the CBF. He fails to mention or address the claims of poor customer service and attitude that caused this drama in the first place.

He clearly doesn't handle criticism well, whenever one person says they don't like something on here he immediately posts on FB about how much everyone in that group likes them. The only reason the opinions have been more positive since he left the forum is because that FB group is for fans of his bats, and they won't say a bad word abut them, reckon if someone did they'd get blocked and removed from the group.

[Mel Jessop]

He clearly doesn't handle criticism well, whenever one person says they don't like something on here he immediately posts on FB about how much everyone in that group likes them. The only reason the opinions have been more positive since he left the forum is because that FB group is for fans of his bats, and they won't say a bad word abut them, reckon if someone did they'd get blocked and removed from the group.

I had a poor experience with Aldred bats but didn't have chance to post on FB (not that I would have TBH) he deleted me straight away...   Paul does not deal with criticism well as others have said.

[skip1973]

No one enjoys criticism but he dose  come across overly defensive and aggressive instead of explaining his reasoning, the whole dead weight vs scale weight argument did me. His attitude seems to be because he played a reasonable level of cricket as a bowler that averaged 11 with the bat his opinion on what feels right for you should be up to him. Still, it's his business and he is entitled to run it how he sees fit, a little bit like IJC in terms of like hanging it out there for praise but don't like it the other way.

[roco]

All this surprises me as I had a problem with a bat but it was fixed no quibble really

Paul did say give it a try as he thinks it will be fine, it wasn't then he fixed it no quibble

Both my match bats are aldreds and I must have been lucky I guess as had 4 off him and all great bats and great service

I just hope we don't scare off all the brands and makers with our "hyper critical" we are kings attitude as it will be a boring place without them

[Mel Jessop]

It was the debate over dead weight and pick up that I had with him, agreed a 2.10 bat which came just over 2.13, to cut a fairly long story short it eventually went back to him for some weight reduction when it arrived back to me the bat was approx 2oz lighter but also an inch shorter!!

Can I add that the spectre I got looked amazing and tapped up really really well, I would have loved one but couldn't accept it under the circumstances, maybe another time in the future but I would visit to get it that's for sure.

[potzy248]

All this surprises me as I had a problem with a bat but it was fixed no quibble really

Paul did say give it a try as he thinks it will be fine, it wasn't then he fixed it no quibble

Both my match bats are aldreds and I must have been lucky I guess as had 4 off him and all great bats and great service

I just hope we don't scare off all the brands and makers with our "hyper critical" we are kings attitude as it will be a boring place without them

I don't think anyone was questioning his bat making ability.

[skip1973]

All this surprises me as I had a problem with a bat but it was fixed no quibble really

Paul did say give it a try as he thinks it will be fine, it wasn't then he fixed it no quibble

Both my match bats are aldreds and I must have been lucky I guess as had 4 off him and all great bats and great service

I just hope we don't scare off all the brands and makers with our "hyper critical" we are kings attitude as it will be a boring place without them

I am not doubting his quality but the attitude did turn me off trying one. I agree with the hyper critical thing, all the "experts" out there can wear you down.

[roco]

Its potato potaato to me as some rave about certain brands on here and I can't stand them due to crap service or crap product

I think people find their fit with people and brands but maybe people expect too much from customer service but maybe some brands need to have more patience

oh well it seems the forum hasn't exploded and Paul is doing great business so all good