Shocking from Titleist, not at all HAPPY!

[Ethan]

I am going to hazard a guess that the place at Kings Acre is not owned by Titleist but is a franchise which sets its own prices.

The same happens with Mizuno. National Fitting Centres are owned and operated by Mizuno and fitting is free, but the Regional Centres are not part of Mizuno and set their own prices and terms.

 

[Tommo21]

It’s the way it’s going these days, having to pay for the fitting/machine thingy. Just had a word with a guy who bought new AP2s and the driver with RIP at KA, still had to pay the 40 squid but got a doz provees.

Scott Gourlay at Craigmillar park GC is one of the best club fitters in the uk with the latest machinery, lots of people from around East Lothian go to Scott…it now costs you for the fitting and it never used to.

Dunbar Golf club have the new Titlist drivers for members to try with all kinds of shafts..they charge 265 if you buy.

 

[Region3]

I knew said you were going to try the 910 and when I saw the title my heart sank a little because I thought you were going to say you hated it.

Glad you loved it though, makes me look forward to trying it even more.
Did you try the D2 as well or just the D3?

It sounds a little odd to me that wherever you tried it didn't have a couple of alternative shafts for you to try, considering they'll eventually be able to sell them and only takes a minute to change.

When I went to Brampton 18 months ago the charge was £25. I think this was charged to my pro whether or not I ordered any clubs, but I could be wrong on that.
My pro didn't pass the charge on to me as I ordered a bags worth from him.

 

[MikeH]

Hi Crawford (and all) Ive had a personal reponse back from Titleist's European Marketing Manager regarding the fitting and here's what he says. I hope that clarifies the situation.

* The key point here is that we don't sell or take bookings direct from consumers.
* Consumers have to make a booking through an Authorised Titleist account and we charge the account £40 for the fitting.
* Each fitting allows for a 1.5 hr session, provides access to Trackman launch data, access to a vast variety of test clubs and fitting options, as well as the expertise of the fitting technicians employed by Titleist.
* What our account holder charges the consumer is entirely up to them - some take the £40 off the purchase price, but some don't.
* It is our experience that most pros charge for a fitting at their home club if they do it themselves - the same time as a lesson.
* Additionally, every consumer attending a fitting at one of the three Titleist National Fitting Centres is ball fit as well. If they place a club order as a result of their fitting, they also receive a sleeve of each of the two ball recommendations that were made for them during the ball fit

 

[thecraw]

To be honest with you Mike I still think its shocking service, in today's market to charge for what should be (in my opinion) a free service.

Why offer a selection of stock shafts if you then have to pay for the privilege of trying them?

I'm baulking at spending £250 for a new big dog and to thereafter add another £40 onto that it just becomes silly silly money. Maybe its in my head but to me there seems a huge difference between £250 and £290, what ultimately am I getting for that extra £40? Its the same head and all I want to do is try the different shafts to ensure I get the best fit.

Titleist for me are just chasing the buck here, they're banking on Joe Public just accepting the cost. Add in my fuel to get to Edinburgh and back and its suddenly over £300 for a new driver, that's a nice long weekend away for me, the wife and kids!

Ball fitting, I can do that online and know I'll be Pro V1 or Pro V1x!

Its a sad excuse for them to make money as far as I can see. Titleist have employed fitters, they decided to offer it then decided to charge. Why do they charge a club professional or shop £40 to take a booking? Why???

 

[StrangelyBrown]

It would put me off Titleist stuff also knowing that you can get the service 'free' from Mizuno/Ping et al.

 

[fundy]

Was planning a trip to get fitted for the 910D3 in spring at Cambs, but have to be honest and say this puts me off. If history is anything to go by, the shaft I end up with will be an upgrade so its gonna be £250 + £40 + anywhere between £50 and £100 for the shaft upgrade, so I could end up being close to £400, and just can't justify spending that when a 6 mths old version of last yrs model (909) has just sold on ebay with an upgraded shaft for less than £100.

 

[Ethan]

I am not sure what everybody is getting so worked up about. So Titleist make a charge for fitting. Big deal. You are free to pay it or not go for the fitting. No obligations to get fitted. Mizuno (which I use and am a fan of) do not make a charge, but the costs of providing the service will be covered somewhere in their pricing model, presumably factored into the retail prices of clubs.

£40 is the price of a dozen premium balls, or a couple of lessons, and for that you get a professional detailed fitting for a set of clubs which give you the best chance of improving your game. Sounds like decent value to me.

 

[thecraw]

I am not sure what everybody is getting so worked up about. So Titleist make a charge for fitting. Big deal. You are free to pay it or not go for the fitting. No obligations to get fitted. Mizuno (which I use and am a fan of) do not make a charge, but the costs of providing the service will be covered somewhere in their pricing model, presumably factored into the retail prices of clubs.

£40 is the price of a dozen premium balls, or a couple of lessons, and for that you get a professional detailed fitting for a set of clubs which give you the best chance of improving your game. Sounds like decent value to me.

Do you honestly believe that Titleist wont have the costs factored into their pricing model as well?

 

[chrisd]

A proper club fitting is really a great 1.5 hours spent, Trackman is awesome. The whole thing is worth £40 in my opinion. I did a Mizuno fitting at New Malden just before Christmas and they made fundamental errors in that fitting, but as I didn't have to pay and didn't buy their clubs all is well.

I am considering a Titleist driver and possibly a fitting session for it but I would rather pay the £40 myself because, armed with the data I could hawk round to get the best priced driver in my spec, rather than the pro who intoduces me and pays, then charging full wack for the driver.


Chris

 

[Tommo21]

Why offer a selection of stock shafts if you then have to pay for the privilege of trying them?

Fair point. When I last got fitted it cost me nowt and that was with all the latest gubins.

 

[Region3]

To be fair, it probably IS worth the money to get fitted properly and have the more suitable club as well as peace of mind.

But...

Others do it for free, so that is what everything else will be measured against.

 

[Oddsocks]

the fact they are charging more for the shaft should cover the cost of the fitting, i very much doubt the option shaft at £40.00 costs titleist £40.00 to buy.

Free fitting with rrp mark up would be better, instead as chris posted with the data that the customer (in this case craw) will have, he can create a price war between dealers for the best price.

Im sorry but the " two free sleeves of balls" is rubbish, i doubt the balls cost 50p each to manufacture, so they charge £40.00 for a session and give you three quids worth of balls.

 

[SyR]

the fact they are charging more for the shaft should cover the cost of the fitting, i very much doubt the option shaft at £40.00 costs titleist £40.00 to buy.

Free fitting with rrp mark up would be better, instead as chris posted with the data that the customer (in this case craw) will have, he can create a price war between dealers for the best price.

Im sorry but the " two free sleeves of balls" is rubbish, i doubt the balls cost 50p each to manufacture, so they charge £40.00 for a session and give you three quids worth of balls.

Surely it's better that those that have custom fitting pay the cost of custom fitting service? That way, those that have stock clubs don't have the rrp pushed up for them.

I think it's up to the fitting centres/retailers to decide if they want the business or not and if they can offer a discount to secure the sale.

 

[Macster]

I'm with Ethan on this, - so you've found a Club that is absolutely awesome, and that you hit very well, and want, - so go buy it ?

I dont think another £40 is unreasonable for a Full Custom Fitting, which may or may not prove anything further.

Or, go thru your Pro, maybe he'll absorb it, maybe he wont.
My guess is that he will if you are paying RRP, but if you want him to match the Online retailers who are shifting it out for £250, he wont, and neither would I.

You want it all, and its unreasonable.

I'm in the Travel business, and if you book with me, I'll work all you want as long as I have a decent commission, - but want me to match a crappy Thomson Holiday, or even discount something, and I'll walk away disinterested.

*Simples.*

 

[Bacardibatman]

I today had a Nice reply form titleist Customer service earlier with reagrds to my problem

but i thought id better post they have taken the time to look into it and reply..
end/


tbh fair enough charge for a fitting (ppl who do it have to be paid)

but then this should be factored into the costing of a fitted purchase and offset if a purchase made

 

[Oddsocks]

macster, id love to be in your line of work. Im in online sales and simple fact is if we are uncompetitived byt a noticable margin, i lose the sale. I losy an order for £2.50 on a £200 helmet before dispite me already discounting it to £165, because the customer found it £2.50 cheaper. he seemed to forget the amount of times ive popped back to my warehouse saturday because he had forgot to order items and needed them for sunday.

I can totally appriciate every one has over heads etc and appriciate that we all need to make money, but the fact is £250 + £40.00 for a optional shaft is big money. If titleist want the sale there should be in incentive for customer satisfaction, afteral the item in question isnt an entry level £100 item, but more a top spec new release model.

If we put it into a different context, you wouldnt want to walk into BMW and now be able to test drive a car that has for example a 1.8 engine, then be told if you want to order the 2.0 size engine model (which is more) there is going to be a 15-20% additional surcharge to your car for testing 2 to make sure your satisfied. While £40.00 isnt a lot, in respect of the cost against the end item it is, transfer that on the same ratio and a car could cost 3k more (if its a 20k car) because you wanted to try different options?

 

[thecraw]

I'm with Ethan on this, - so you've found a Club that is absolutely awesome, and that you hit very well, and want, - so go buy it ?

I dont think another £40 is unreasonable for a Full Custom Fitting, which may or may not prove anything further.

Or, go thru your Pro, maybe he'll absorb it, maybe he wont.
My guess is that he will if you are paying RRP, but if you want him to match the Online retailers who are shifting it out for £250, he wont, and neither would I.

You want it all, and its unreasonable.

I'm in the Travel business, and if you book with me, I'll work all you want as long as I have a decent commission, - but want me to match a crappy Thomson Holiday, or even discount something, and I'll walk away disinterested.

*Simples.*

Simples my arse!

Ping who are the biggest and best custom fitter of golf clubs can do it free of charge, Ping can also offer free after service which includes free alteration of said C/F clubs. Ping are not as big a company but can do this for nothing using the same fitting techniques, same trackman, paying "experts" to fit you etc etc.

Mizuno don't charge you, why are Titleist?

Please explain how I want it all? I want the club set up to my specs, Titleist offer four top end shaft options as standard, I would like to have the opportunity to try these before committing. The £40 fitting in my opinion is excessive and an unwarranted expense. Its not rocket science. Titleist are huge, they can absorb that cost without the blink of an eye.

 

[Ethan]

Anyone who wants to try the standard 4 or 5 shafts need only go to their local pro shop which has a fitting cart. I was at one today, and you can try a number of standard and custom shafts free of charge.

There is no £40 charge is not a supplement for an exotic shaft, but that fee covers a 90 minute fitting session. If you don't think it is worth it, don't book it. Have a quicker fitting at a local shop with a cart.

And Ping are not a big company? Seriously? Ping? Isn't that the company which used to have the most expensive clubs bought by well off people who wanted to buy a status bag?

Titleist is actually a golf ball company which just happens to do clubs too.

 

[Adi2Dassler]

That'll be why everytime I'm across at the range at Kings Acre the Custom Fit Guys ar twiddling their thumbs and their bays are empty ! Now surely that doesn't make business sense !

None of the pro's (or assistants) at KA do the custom fit for Titleist (or Cobra) they are teaching pro's along with the day to day running of the club/course.Titlest send someone along to KA for any custom fit, I think the only benefit (excluding kudos) is the potential sales from CF's.
I think the range is busy enough, it's easily the best in Edinburgh and there's usually 1/4 of the bays taken when i'm there...which is quite often