Almost every day we get a call from someone who has had an issue with other bat doctor companies and the stories we hear are baffling.  This blog is not to bad mouth anyone of our competitors specifically, but rather an attempt to open your eyes to the reality of this industry in general and what you are about to get yourself into. 

Nearly all of the people we speak to on this topic, we ask “why did you go with that company to start”?  The #1 answer by a mile is because they were the first company who popped up on a Google search.  I cannot remember a time where a person said, “after doing research I went with XYZ”, “I spoke to multiple companies and decided on them” or “I was referred by”, etc.  Basically, impulse buyers trusting the system assuming they are getting what they are paying for.  Companies pay for page ranking just like we are now for the landing page you are on and assume because these companies are ranked high in a search, they are reputable. 

Well don’t let me be the one to tell you what to think, just go ahead and find out for yourself if you don't want to believe what I have to say.  What you are going to read below is no secret and if you paused for a minute to ask these questions or paid attention to the what you are looking at, you will see potential red flags that you are dealing with BS artists and to stay away. 

1) Of the complaint calls we get, it is 99% around 2 companies.  I will not say who these companies are but they advertise heavily on Google and usually land at the top of the page, but outside of ads, have poor organic ranking which is not paid for.

2) There is actually a bat shaving review site where some “random” guy annually reviews bat doctor websites and ranks them from best to worst on what he reads from the site itself.  Let me be clear on what I just said, what he READ, not what these places produce or can document.  It is literally a review of website content or supposedly the case. 

So why am I saying all this?  The question you should ask yourself is why would anyone waste time and money building a website reviewing bat doctor websites?  I mean really..........is there some incentive for this person?  Is he that bored with no ambition in life so he spends time reviewing bat doctor websites of all things, sets up a domain, spends countless hours building out pages and updates it routinely out of good faith?  Why is there nothing tangible he is reviewing because isnt that what the reviews should be about? 

Hmmmmm…….or maybe the review website is really published by a bat doctor using the guise of some fake person leading you to think this guy is the bat doctor authority trying to steer you into the "best" company to go with.  Honestly, this is an absolute joke and can see through it from a mile away.  I am not going to tell you what the review site is and I am not going to tell you what bat doctor publishes this site, but I don’t think it is hard to figure who that is if you find it online. 

To be clear, there is no central source for bat doctor reviews.  If you come across any central review site or forum, it is sponsored and / or created by a bat doctor themselves.  No one is going to put their name out there saying hey, I swing shaved bats and no sane person is going to waste time and money sponsoring a review site not many care about or even get clicks to start.........seriously!!!

3) Refusal to provide a video of the shaving.  I can tell you for certain, there are 2 bat doctor companies out there who decline videos and sell you on compression scores as “proof”.  1 of these companies has all kinds of still pics of bats in lathes but for some reason still cant find a way to provide you a video.  Interesting........And these are actually not the same 2 companies I mentioned above earlier where 99% of the complaints calls we get are from.  Goes to show how irrelevant these companies are in our industry, but they do exist and they do still get business as we get the calls afterwards. 

I cannot stress it enough, if the company you are wanting to use makes excuses, refuses to document the shave or pushes compression scores on you as proof of service, find another place to make your purchase.  These are BS artists!!!

4) As a segway off #3 above……compression scores.  I have a few blogs on the topic documenting this which is full of detail, but let me briefly tell you again.  Any place advertising compression scores as proof of service are companies you should avoid.  Read my other blogs as to why

5) I have seen social media posts of a company literally rolling bats at 5000rpm which is beyond laughable.  And its laughable because no human being that is using any pressure in a roller can crank a roller to the point where the labels are literally a blur in the video.  This is smoke and mirror social media BS to capture your attention, nothing more. 

6) If you see any company showing off their process and the order number they post skips by the 1000s in days, you are witnessing someone trying to make themselves appear to be in huge demand by boosting the order number count.  If this was really the case, these companies could pay off the national debt in no time!  On top of this order count jump, this company also advertises same day turnaround on all bats received.  I cant even imagine the number of people working at this shop.  Has to be 25+ people just cranking out bats.  Jokes….

7) If you see companies advertising distance gains off rolling, these are also companies selling you a pile of BS because rolling doesn’t add a foot of distance over what the bat would produce on its own if you broke it in yourself.  Don’t believe me, go buy one of those 40ft distance gains rolled bats and call me a few days after to let me know how many lights you have blown out on the light pole since you started using it. 

8) If you see rolling or shaving of alloy products, these are BS artists as well.  Rolling is for composite bats, not alloy bats (see my other blogs).  Shaving an alloy bat is not even possible as there isn’t a way to get lubricating oil inside the bat to cool down the cutting tool.  With in seconds of the cutting tool touching the wall, it will begin to smoke and chatter ruining the bat.  Tried it and know.  But lets just say these places have found a way to get a stream of lubicating oil into the bat while shaving.  The amout of debris, meaning all the alloy shavings, will stick to the oil inside your bat and will sound a maraca within swings.  There is no getting this out of the inside of your bat.  Additionally, all that "oil" will slide down to the end cap eventually ruining the bond of any kind of glue they used to reattach the cap opening the chances of the cap flying off in use.  But hey, if you still dont believe me, go ahead and order one from one of these places.  Be sure to ask for a video of the shave.  Let me know how that goes for for you.....

The only reason why you see these services offered is because these companies know there is a large market for customers who want an “altered” alloy bat and most likely, you will never know the difference from a stock bat to a supposed "altered" one.  What you are paying for is literally a bat pulled out the wrapper, dropped in a box and shipped to you “shaved and rolled”.  But they provided me compression scores.......go ahead and drink that kool-aide as well.  None of these places have any proprietary process, rather, proprietary BS'ing skills

9) There is a bat doctor company, not lying here, who literally takes 2-3 months to turnaround your bat mailed in or purchased new.  I have had 100s of this company’s customers leave and share their horror stories.  This same company blasts social media with posts of 100s of bats touting “look how busy I am today” and the post hits at 3am.  The reality of this post is let me not do a thing for days or even weeks, gather up all the work I am sitting on and make a social media post of how awesome I am by the number of bats in the video.  And it’s really 5pm but let me schedule the post to hit in the middle of the night giving the “illusion” I am here late working like a dog keeping my customers happy.  Jokes again…….

10) There is a bat doctor who grinds off all association stamps on shaved bats.  Yes you read that right, they use a grinder on the outside of your bat and literally remove all stamps AND they dont even bother trying to make it look like it didnt happen.  So imagine getting your bat and seeing this type of hack work done AFTER they got your money.  Did you notice the mention of stamp grinding removal on their website, no you didnt, I wonder why??  

Bottom line, if this is your first time getting into a shaved bat, pay attention and pick up the phone and call these places before you make a decision.  See who actually answers for starters and if they do, ask the basic questions to get a feel of who you are dealing with.  I am not saying we are the best and the one and only, but I can tell you we are the only bat doctor out there who will tell you the truth and say it how it really is.  I can also tell you there is not a single thing we do here anyone can hang over our head of what we offer nor is any of the above what we put forward.  We are not in the business of selling you a pile of garbage to get a sale knowingly you will most likely never come back.  We actually want you to have a positive experience, want you to be informed and aware of all risks and possibilities so you make an informed decision vs opening a package and saying WTF or WTF after swinging the bat.  That treatment is what keeps the door open for you to want to come back again should you chose.  It’s plain and simple with us, not smoke and mirrors. 

Hopefully you found this blog useful in your purchase making decision.  If you settle on us you do, if you don’t, then you don’t......best of luck!