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Broken racquet

Q: I have a situation that has never happened to me in all of my years stringing: A customer’s racquet broke while I was restringing it. The customer has been using it about four years, and it had been strung before, but not by me. It looked as if it had been hit on the shoulders several times. The racquet is no longer made, but I was able to find one for him online. The total cost was $59.35, but I don’t know if I should pay for all or part of it. What’s the rule of thumb for something like this?

A: There’s no rule of thumb in these situations, but you can certainly limit your exposure to the problems that arise from broken customer racquets by inspecting each racquet prior to stringing so that any visible damage can be brought to the customer’s attention before work begins. (This means you’ll either have to perform the inspection while the customer is still in front of you, or get contact information so the customer doesn’t learn of the problem when he comes to pick up his racquet right before playing.) Depending on your clientele, you may wish to have the customer sign a waiver when such damage is noted, so you are indemnified if the frame breaks during stringing. You may also wish to have the customer pre-pay for the string and even the labor.

If you don’t spot the damage or see damage but fail to notify the customer, it’s up to your skills as a salesman to get the customer to pay for the replacement racquet.

Finally, if the damage was the result of the racquet not being mounted properly, or the result of improper stringing technique, then it is up to you to replace the customer’s racquet.

From the May 2005 issue
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