With the First Edition /All Black Taylor Made Super Quad R7/TP driver sold out in my area, I turned to E Bay to see if I could find one with the right shaft for me. Little did I know that this adventure should be titled "Pirates of the E Bay Carribean".
Large numbers of these 'heads only' are being advertised, and pictured in plastic shrink wrap, yet TAYLOR MADE DOES NOT SELL THIS, OR ANY OTHER HEAD UNSHAFTED. Removing the shaft requires heating the hosel, which would melt the shrink wrap- obviously, these things are cheap, under performing Chinese knockoffs.
An email I received from Taylor Made Consumer Feedback, which I can't seem to post here due to 'HTML tags' verfies that Taylor does not ship 'heads only'- PERIOD.
Any ad showing the head in plastic shrink wrap must be suspected, in addition, the First Editions , as well as the new TP Burners, have a metallic sticker with TP logo holograms on the face of the club,which are conspicously absent from the counterfeits.
In addition, those listings with low buy it now prices must be suspected as fraudulent, and even excellent feedback ratings are no guarantee - one seller with 100% feedback, and over 190 ratings had several First Edition/All Black R7 Super Quad TP's listed with a buy it now of under $300 (less than 1/2 retail, and well under dealer cost) - and the ad was identical to one for a First Edition R7 SuperQuad TP that had just sold for over $ 500, except for obvious omission of the photos of the actual club, as opposed to the stock photos that can be downloaded from anywhere.
It is possible that the account was hi jacked, however the listing lacked the tell tale signs of a hi jacked account, which are as follows: (1) Item miscatagorized- for example, the driver listed under 'dolls' ; (2) a bold email address in the ad saying contact me at SCAMMER@GMAIL. (or other ISP) COM. for low buy it now price .. with a lame excuse as to why the regular 'yellow button' E Bay contact seller does not work, and (3) short auction duration and (4) Western Union Payment after the 'seller' contacts E Bay to verify you as the mark or 'mugu' and/or directs you to a fake escrow or spoof E Bay site.
A list of known EBay scammer addresses can be found at an excellent blog- www.thenekkidtruth.com.
The ratings for this driver are very low, because of the incredible amount of fraudulent listings- more than any other item I've seen. It's a shame because the club is awesome - but be sure you get fit for the right shaft, because that is the key to driver performance.
The only way to be safe is to ask for the seriel number and check it with Taylor Made. They will tell you that clubs bought off of EBay have no warranty, but can verify authenticity: Here is an example of an email I received on 5/23:
Unfortunately, the other serial number you have provided us
is not
authentic. The serial number appears to be "Unknown". The serial
number
that you are trying to obtain is counterfeit. If there is any further
questions please contact us at 1-800-888-2582.
Thank you again and we wish you continued success with your golf game.
I also recommend trying to call the seller- if you are bidding you find the seller's phone number via 'advanced search' - in my experience you can tell who is legit and who may be scamming.
Caveat Emptor applies times 7 on this otherwise great product- hit em pure.
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