
Beware of Counterfeit Big Bertha Fusion Wide Sole Irons
Review created: 05/28/07(updated 05/30/07)
22 of 22 people found this review helpful.
My brother and I are avid golfers, and very recently (late last week), I purchased for him a set of Callaway Fusion Wide-Sole irons through eBay. At a cost of $630.00 U.S. or $680.00 Cdn., I thought it was a good deal, considering the fact that they are around $1300.00 in the golf stores. After purchasing, my brother read the reviews in this forum and saw that there was a lot of counterfeit clubs going around on eBay, so he asked me to check with the seller. I did, and the seller (who has a 100% all positive feedback) told me that they are genuine, and I asked if he was sure and he said that's what the rep told him, who sold him the clubs. Thankfully, I read some good tips on here to prepare me for what to do when the clubs arrived. But it appears as if that was not necessary.
The seller emailed me yesterday and said after his own golf outing, he tested his own set of Fusion Wide Sole irons that he got from the sales rep, and found that his club failed the magnet test (magnets will stick to clubface of the fake clubs, whereas the real clubs are made of tungsten/titanium and magnets will not stick ot the clubface. The seller was quite upset that he was had, and offered me a full refund + shipping. I guess I'm not terribly upset since I figured it may have been a possibility, but still, the whole thing was a bit of a waste of time. My brother is now buying the clubs at full price at Golf Town, and I get the sense that he may not have me buy any more clubs for him on eBay, and I can't blame him (though I still buy clubs individually from certain reputable eBay golf stores that have been in operation for a while now and I've dealt with them before). After this experience, I want to offer some suggestions to anyone who buys Fusion Wide Sold irons on eBay (especially brand new ones, as these were - they were all sealed and even came in a Callaway box). The seller told me that when he brought the fakes to Golftown, they had a hard time distingushing the fakes from the real ones - but the magnet test is the big giveaway.
1) Try to find out where they came from, especially if they are brand new, sealed in the box. If they did not come from Callaway or an authorized dealer, I'd be a bit suspicious.
2) Have the seller do the magnet test on the clubface. If it sticks, don't buy the clubs - they are fake. This is the number one thing you should have the seller do before you buy the clubs. If the seller will not perform this test, that's probably not a good sign and I'd recommend that you avoid the transaction.
3) Golftown and other retail stores sells the Fusion wide-sole irons as a 3 - PW set. The brand new ones you see on eBay are generally 3 - SW. That's probably a giveaway as well that it may not be a legit set.
4) If someone is selling multiple fusion wide-sold iron sets for very cheap, it's probably a tell-tale sign that they are fake. Callaway is known to enforce their retail prices, so if someone is selling sets over and over again like that for really cheap, they are either fake or stolen.
5) Having a serial number doesn't mean anything. But in any event, Callaways have 10 digit serial numbers. Fakes may have 9 or 11. Beware.
Hope that helps.
Review ID: 10000000003643203

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