Having sold many sticks and shafts while a pro/retail sales rep at TPS, it blew my mind to know that consumers could call up customer service because their stick had broken during use to get an Return Authorization. They would then send their broken stick back to us and within a couple of days, a new stick would be in return.
Our "warranty" policy at TPS back in 2002 was the same as what all the majors (Bauer, CCM, Easton, Reebok, Warrior) are using today. Each basically states they will replace any stick in which "the product broke during normal use as a result of manufacturers defect."
Reading many Internet bulletin boards, you can find thread after thread and post after post about sticks breaking. Consumers are returning these broken sticks and getting a replacement in return. What is this "warranty against manufacturers defect" saying to consumers if nearly 70+% of sticks broken within the first 30 days of ownership get replaced? Are the manufacturers, by virtue of these high replacement quantities, telling consumers that they are selling defective product from the outset? Furthermore, how pissed off are you if you are part of the 30% whose stick broke and you didn't get a replacement stick?
Yes, I understand that revisions are made to the sticks that create running changes in production, however, by taking broken sticks back that AREN'T broken due to a manufacturers defect and replacing them out of "good faith", the manufacturers are essentially saying "our sticks are defective from the time they leave our hands and to make up for that, we're going to send you a replacement IF it breaks within the 30 day warranty period." If the manufacturers don't enforce their own warranty policies, are these manufacturers putting themselves in a position to have to defend selling a defective product to begin with? The bigger question is how can it be that Bauer, CCM/Reebok, Easton, and Warrior ALL have what would be considered a high amount of "manufacturers defects" with their sticks?
The majority of broken stick returns comes from the higher end, "high-performance" sticks. These sticks are your top of the line sticks, higher priced to give the user the best performance, similar in many ways to a Ferrari if you will. The mid-line sticks seem to be the more durable sticks, not performing quite as high as the higher end, but, has very nice durability and a fair amount of performance, similar in many ways to a Honda Accord if you will.
When we think of a Ferrari, we think fast car. We don't think of a Ferrari as a car that will have great gas mileage or outstanding durability. An Accord on the other hand is a car that we think of being a work horse. It is going to comfortably get us to and from work, shopping around town, without a problem and with great gas mileage.
Going back to hockey sticks...Bauer TotalONE/X60, CCM CL U+, Easton Stealth RS/S19/EQ50, Reebok 11k, Warrior Widow/Diablo...these are the Ferrari's, made to be the high performance sticks in the marketplace. These are the sticks the pro's use. They aren't using a TRUE mid end, lower performing stick like the Bauer One80, Easton EQ40/S15, Warrior Dolomite, etc. The oddity and not previously mentioned stick in this mix is Easton's ST, which by virtue of price at $169USD, has fallen more into the mid end price range, and, is known to be a durable yet performing stick on many of the hockey bulletin boards.
So where does this leave us? Well, I don't believe that the hockey companies should warranty their sticks. Why? Well, as stated, "buyer beware." You buy a Warrior Widow KNOWING it is a high-performance stick. The person buying this stick is typically a "gear whore", the guy who is on his iPhone at school or work, cruising modsquadhockey.com or any other hockey bulletin board on the low down, and, is at home watching every NHL game on NHL Center Ice trying to see what every player is using, and, if Tomas Holmstrom is really using a Warrior Widow stick or if it is just a Dolomite painted as a Widow. You buy it knowing and seeing almost daily, that this stick and/or other high-performance sticks like it BREAK! I see it every night in my 30 minutes of viewing on the NHL Network.
On the other hand, we have Oliver Klosov, who enjoys playing hockey 2-3 times a week, buys an Easton ST, and uses it 6-8 months, 2-3 times a week without a problem. Sure, he isn't thrilled when his stick finally breaks, but, he got 6 months or so of usage out of it at $169, instead of MAYBE 60 days out of two high-end sticks (1 purchase + 1 replacement). I'd certainly take a stick that outlasts another by 4-5 months! Hockey is an expensive sport to play; why make it more expensive?
If the manufacturers choose to not offer a warranty, I'd expect them to keep the price of the sticks the same as they are now. Speaking for myself, I see no problem with this as it accomplishes several things for the manufacturers:
1) The market price has been set and lowering the pricing isn't an option.
2) The mid end segment, which is each companies largest in every category from skates to protective, would grow, and thus, so would their margins and profits.
3) The high end segment would get smaller in terms of production quantity. However, it would allow manufacturers to raise the price in order to make better margins on such technology driven products.
Would this solve the ills of the hockey industry? NO. However, it would get the manufacturers back on the right foot and treating hockey as a business, not running their companies with their hearts and passion that fills hockey fans and players.
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