Court-savvy Forum recovers costs of flaccid racket

Last week, we left Sarah Thurston and her dad standing on a tennis court in Cape Elizabeth with a “boingless” $129 Slazenger Pro X1 racket she had purchased online from Top Sports Limited of Burbank, Calif.

There was obviously something wrong with the new, never-used item. The strings lacked the tension essential for adequate play. So, certain the company would make good, Dad Thurston e-mailed Top Sports describing the problem. At first Top Sports did not reply at all. But after increasingly threatening e-mails from the angry dad, they answered. But it wasn’t the answer Sarah wanted.

“We are sorry,” wrote Top Spot, “but we have no idea how the racquet has been treated since it was shipped so you will have to deal with the manufacturer, they are responsible for honoring their warranty.”

So Mr. Thurston contacted Dunlop/Slazenger in South Carolina. The company told him to ship the racket to them for inspection. He did so, but three weeks later the racket was back on his doorstep. “The racquet,” Dunlop/Slazenger wrote, “has apparently been subjected to extremes of high temperature that partially melted the material, thus causing the webbing to lose its tension. This violates the terms of the warranty.”

Frustrated and angry, Dad Thurston began the all-too-familiar “consumer quest,” contacting attorneys general, better business bureaus, chambers of commerce, and others with no success. Now and again he heard the same phrase: “We do not customarily involve ourselves with Internet disputes.” He was about to give up when he was watching the morning talk show “So Goes The Nation,” which originates in Bangor and is broadcast on FOX TV in Bangor and Portland. Coincidentally, COMBAT’s executive director was the program’s guest host that morning.

Thurston immediately contacted COMBAT. “I am frustrated past belief and angered at my daughter’s disappointment. They say COMBAT does magic, let’s see. I have enclosed my $25 membership … go get ’em!”

Then something serendipitous occurred. In the course of COMBAT’s research on Top Sports Limited, we discovered that the company often trafficked in merchandise they had obtained from damaged stores after calamities such as earthquake, flood, or fire. FIRE? Didn’t Dunlop/Slazenger say the racket had been damaged by extremes of heat?

Armed with the speculation that Top Sports may have purchased tennis equipment from a fire-damaged store, the COMBAT mediation volunteer contacted the unresponsive company with the following, knowing full well we hoped to bluff our way to success.

“We are convinced, after having the racket analyzed by Dunlop/Slazenger and following up on fires in sporting goods stores in California and Nevada, that it is likely you sold Sarah Thurston distressed merchandise while representing it to be new. We must, therefore, insist that you tender a full refund to our client, shipping and handling costs included. Failing that instruction, you will leave us no choice but to refer the matter to the California attorney general, Federal Trade Commission, and Interstate Commerce Commission for an examination of your questionable business practices and possible misrepresentations.”

Two weeks later, Sarah Thurston had her $136.29 back. “I am so impressed,” wrote Dad Thurston, “all this tax money spent on government agencies that couldn’t do anything, but a letter from COMBAT got it done!” He went on to report that, as a loving dad, he had already bought Sarah a replacement racket (in a local store) and told her to keep the refund for another tennis outfit.

A happy girl, a happy dad, a case closed, and a good story. Did COMBAT “ace” that service or what?

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast COMBAT-Maine Center for the Public Interest, Maine’s membership-funded nonprofit consumer organization. Individual membership $25, business rates start at $125 (0-10 employees). For help and information write: Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.