Central Sports - www.centralsports.co.uk

I ordered £400 worth of rackets for next day delivery as I needed a replacement. It didn't get to me the next day so when I called to complain, I had to deal with an absolutely horrible and rude person on the phone. He was telling me they sent it on time and it is not their fault that it didn't get to me on time. Since it wasn't delivered, I asked him to recall it and give me a refund. Unfortunately, before I could speak to someone at home, it got delivered. So I called back and had to speak to the same person. His reply was, well you need to return it to us and I needed to bear the cost of the return. I just hung up on him as I would have lost my temper. This person needs lessons in customer service and I would suggest you to stay away from these people. This is the worst company to order from and I would suggest use anyone but this company. Disgusted!!!

I bought my most expensive badminton Yonex Racket for £156 in Feb 2015. I used this only for matches and kept it very carefully due to cost. In Apr 2015 the strings started to fray. I took very little notice and though because it was a new racket. During a game in May 2015, I saw a similar issue where the strings frayed again. eventually during a game in June the Strings finally broke.

I contacted them by email the response was "Thank you for your email and I am sorry that you have a string issue with your racket. Unfortunately strings on our Badminton Rackets are only guaranteed for the first 4 weeks after purchase as a string break after this period is is normally down to the player using the racket and either miss hitting the shuttle or catching the floor during a shot. A string failiure of this nature is not confined to rackets of a budget price or indeed of players of a high of low ability but due to the nature of the game and our policy is designed to be fair given that we are a Badminton Specialist with over 30 years experience in playing, coaching and retailing.

We do of course offer all our customers a full mail order restring service and prices for this are £18.99 per racket and £3.99 post and packing"

I contacted them by phone and the response was - what do you want us to do.

I have bought many rackets in my amateur life as an avid badminton player and have never broken strings in < 4 months. I have only played about 15-16 matches and this was a defect in the racket, but cannot get through to them

I would advice 1- do not buy an expensive racket from them and beware the racket could be faulty and even if you do not use the racket every day, the day you find the defect may be so late and the customer service is poor!!!! surprised Badminton UK subscribe!!!

I've been a customer of Central Sports for 5+ years. Sadly, in my most recent purchase of a £150+ badminton racquet they've really shown their true colours, lack of customer service and dishonesty.

The racquet itself broke 20 minutes into its first use while I made an overhead clear. I called Central Sports the next day to explain the situation and that I'd like to send it back, with a view of getting a replacement. You don't expect a 2 week old £150 racquet to break above the handle within 20 minutes of use.

Sadly, the customer service rep had zero understanding of customer service. The finger was pointed at me and no apology was offered for supplying me with a faulty racquet. I was told, coldly, that they would replace it at their discretion but this was made to sound unlikely. After much discussion, we agreed I would send it back, Central Sports would evaluate it / send the racquet back to Yonex and if found faulty, they would refund/replace the racquet plus my postage.

Fast forward a week or so. I get an email from Central Sports advising me that they've refunded me the cost of the racquet, they've closed my account and they no longer wish to do business with me. Their reason? My "rude and aggressive" phone call. This phone call was actually me, an upset customer, wanting confirmation that my racquet would be refunded/replaced if found faulty. So to Central Sports, this is "rude and aggressive".

I emailed back, enquiring about the status of my refund for the postage. Central Sports responded with some rubbish story that I was not eligible for a postage refund because my racquet was "discounted". I explained that discounted or not, I am still out of pocket as I returned the racquet to them at my cost and they only refunded what I paid for the racquet - not the full price.

They also suggested the postage I used (Royal Mail Parcels) was "too expensive". Perhaps they'd have prefer I didn't send the racquet tracked and insured so they could claim it was broken in transit?

A long review. To cut it short, avoid this disreputable, dishonest compan and go elsewhere.