Graf Canada runs a shady business

[djinferno 2]

Yeah I know a feeling... leaving a skate that fits your foot like a glove and is your favorite skate by personal preference for the sole reason that the company that makes them has bad customer service.

untill it's you who is stuck with the problem ;)

[gavin 0]

Yeah I know a feeling... leaving a skate that fits your foot like a glove and is your favorite skate by personal preference for the sole reason that the company that makes them has bad customer service.

untill it's you who is stuck with the problem ;)

My friend I was stuck with the problem and that's exactly why I'm not buy from the retailer or the manufacturer anymore! Je n'en peux plus!

[sdh 0]

wow, this is an awesome thread.

I wonder how many current and future customers graf canada lost from this one thread. I need some new skates and was seriously considering getting grafs before I read this. Now, unless they are swiss, there is no way.

And, heads up move by mission!

The best thing about this thread is that it shows how internet savvy businesses will thrive in the future. In the past, a company could treat a customer with disgregard and indifference without fear of repercussion, but now this type of thing goes straight to the web for everyone to read. love it!

[johnpace2 0]

I was seriously considering Grafs at the time, but this thread scared me off. I bought Kor's and couldn't be happier.

[djinferno 2]

To me, if this removed even one Graf sale, it served it's purpose, i don't care how great you think your product is, customers make you the money so you should respect them...

Mission understands that

[mew1838 0]

MISSION ROCKS !!!

[hl1435 0]

Just curious, is Mission still owned by the guy who owns the Minnesota Wild?

[Justin 1933 134]

yes...We are also co-owned by an owner of the San Jose Sharks

[chippa13 1844]

Just another affirmation. Mission has been the best customer service I've dealt with. Replaced my first faulty fuse point M-1 (noticed in the first game used) super quick, and when the replacement broke a couple months later they replaced that one, as well.

[hyprlte 0]

i had the same problem with my g3's, the boot was not put together properly, and i brought them to my LHS. After 3 weeks i heard nothing so i spoke to graf, they said that they would ship me out a new pair, but never did. I spoke to my friend at my LHS and he just gave me a pair of the stores grafs, and said that they would just keep the ones that they send in for me whenever thay arrived. Horrible customer service, would not want to buy another pair again

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

Just curious, is Mission still owned by the guy who owns the Minnesota Wild?

Yep, same guy who owns Athletica. (Dasher board systems)

[hl1435 0]

curious then, how many of the Wild wear Mission product? Not much of it is visible on their players from the few games i've seen with them, same with the Sharks?

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

Just because their owners own Mission doesn't mean that they are a sponsored team.

[Oberon 0]

curious then, how many of the Wild wear Mission product? Not much of it is visible on their players from the few games i've seen with them, same with the Sharks?

Former Wild players Antti Laaksonen and Willie Mitchell used Mission sticks (and may still?) while they were in MN, as did future former Wild winger Marion Gaborik until he switched to Easton. There's probably more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

[hl1435 0]

Just because their owners own Mission doesn't mean that they are a sponsored team.

no, but you would think that if the guy owns the team, some of the players would use the product no? just generalizing on the product itself, i know the inline stuff is great, but I persoanlly have had little success with Mission hockey products

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

And there are guys who use it. Leopold is a Mission guy and several Sharks use Mission as well.

[hl1435 0]

Just because their owners own Mission doesn't mean that they are a sponsored team.

no, but you would think that if the guy owns the team, some of the players would use the product no? just generalizing on the product itself, i know the inline stuff is great, but I persoanlly have had little success with Mission hockey products

I need to correct and clarify myself. The skates I have tried I don't like at all, gloves same thing. Some of the protective is alright. The new helmet, though I haven't used it yet, just tried it on in store, seems to be the cats asse.

[chippa13 1844]

And there are guys who use it. Leopold is a Mission guy and several Sharks use Mission as well.

Leopold was spied using Rbk sticks most of the year. I remember finding that odd since he'd been a Mission boy for so long.

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

Is he wearing the skates and gloves and helmet as well?

[chippa13 1844]

Is he wearing the skates and gloves and helmet as well?

As I recall, it was just the stick that was Rbk.

[Taoism 0]

Glad i saw this thread.

a question. is the quality not being up to par still a problem with Graf? I was really thinking about buying some graf skates as they seem to be able to fit the widest range of feet.

they also have skates with t-blades stock. there is nobody within 3 hrs drive from me to do any sharpening, much less a good sharpening apparently.

[tjdangles 0]

haha. this is funny. you are not the first to complain. especially if you ordered custom skates. supposidly they fired some guy a couple of months ago who was stealing skates, equipment, money, ect. rep explained that he was good but a crook. milked his projects as long as he could. build faulty equipment. who really knows. the word on the street was that he was fired and the new guy they hired is pretty good at making skates and is a real nice guy. who really knows the true story but this is just what i heard

[docar15 1]

"Isolated incident" is a very strong statement when describing the 2006-2007 Graf Canada hockey skates product line. I am coming from two pairs of Swiss Graff skates, each lasting at least 4 years or more. This season I got a pir of Graf 709s with the old white outsole. I was told that 709 were built on the same last I use, etc.

Problem with the first pair, they used a size 8 outsole on a 8.5 last. As a result, I could not fit in the box, at least 2-3mm difference all around. The skates went back after 1 day.

Second skate had no outsole issues; they came with the new carbon laminated whatever it's called outsole. No fit issues so far. Tried skating in them only to find out that a left tongue was stitched at least 4-5mm off. This made the tongue try to go all the way on the left in a matter of minutes. Since skates were sharpened, I tried contacting Graf Canada via email.

Their first response was that it is a part of the standard break-in process.

When I explained to them that I no longer need help cutting my own food and going to the potty, they recommended that I should tape the tongues in so it does not slide.

The HS (not local, I bought on-line thinking I had an idea of what I need after years of using the same skate) did the unthinkable and took the sharpened skates back when I showed them the tongue. When I explained that I do not want any more melons from Graf, they were extremely kind again to refund my money. I can only wish them luck in dealing with Graf Canada.

I did speak with a barrister in UK who deals with EU related issues. He said that without going into details of the sale contract between Carl Graf Swiss Company and whoever bought the label rights and now calls themselves Graf Canada it is difficult to say what can be done. Not seeing any Swiss Graf products on the shelves in US, I am thinking that the terms of sale may have included some kind of non-compete or other territory agreement, i.e. 'Product Can not be sold outside of Timbuktu, etc.".

As a result of giving up on Graf, I have now gone through at least 5 models of different manufacturers trying to find a pair of skates that fit, CCM Externo being the latest experiment. They seem to work somehow, except not nearly deep enough as 739 or 709.

Sorry for the long runt. The 'isolated incident' comment pissed me off.

Not knowing Canadian or Crown laws, how hard is it to find who owns the Graf Canada? If they are a publicly trading company, there may be other ways to deal with them.

To be fair, this seems to be a fairly isolated incident with Graf. Generally they've been pretty good about fixing or replacing defective merchandise.

[djinferno 2]

that comment pissed me off too, people always seem to believe that the situation is isolated until it happens to them...

Funny thing is all lhs in my area dumped Graf as a result of my experience...

[flyweightphantom 1]

Got the skates...Sending out the replacements today...

Justin

One reason I keep coming back to mission products for roller and some ice. Great products, amazing customer service can't say enough great things about those guys.