My bad experience with Troy Bumpers

[John Janecek]

Fellow Strength Coaches,

I know if any of you had a bad experience with a piece of equipment and told me about it I'd be grateful, well here's mine...

I was hired in June 2011 at my high school as a fulltime strength coach. A brand new weightroom was built and outfitted with almost 200 Troy bumper plates for 24 platforms before I was hired.

As of today all 48 of the 25lb bumpers have eroded to the point that the metal insert is barely hanging on and about to come out AND 89 of 96 45lb bumpers are starting to have similar issues-I can move the metal insert in the 45's around with my fingers already-never had that happen in my 22 years of strength coaching.

I understand every 2-3 years having to replace a few 25's but ALL of them in 10-12 months?? AND 35's/45's too...?

After 5 emails to a Troy rep starting last month, sending a video, making an exact count of every bumper during the past month I was told this:

Good morning John,

I would like to thank you for being helpful and providing all the
necessary information to move this claim along.

After extensive communication with our sales and quality departments, we
have come to a consensus.

A loose insert on a bumper plate does not constitute failure of the
product as the product remains functional in the manner as intended and
has not failed per the terms of the warranty. The plates have degraded
through continued use, but are still functional and capable of usage in
the way they were intended.

Unfortunately, I cannot issue credit or replacements for this warranty
claim at this time. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.

I hope you have a great day,

Jeannette Blood
Claims Representative
USA Sports & Troy Barbell

Collars are always used, I teach them to drop the bar straight to the platform, and they go to a 35 after the 25 has 10 extra lbs from metal plates on it.

Heres the video I sent them of my “functional plates”.

http://youtu.be/fC5kevwgZfM

Of course you’re free to buy whatever bumpers you choose but I know one bumper I'm never buying again. $15,000 is a little too much to spend for bumpers that only last a year in my opinion.

If you know of anyone thinking of bumper plates pass this along…

John Janecek

[Mark Rippetoe]

This is pretty funny:

A loose insert on a bumper plate does not constitute failure of the
product as the product remains functional in the manner as intended and
has not failed per the terms of the warranty. The plates have degraded
through continued use, but are still functional and capable of usage in
the way they were intended.

I'm glad I don't have any of these in my gym.

[WeightsAreHeavy]

"myself and my $15000 replacement budget have come to the consensus that your company makes inferior products for the purpose of making a quick buck, and will not be buying from you in the future."

[David1982]

You have strength coaches at high schools over there? All we had was a Physical Education teacher who also taught Mathematics! I guess you don't need to be that strong to play 'soccer'. At what age do kids start getting taught strength training?

[IronLion]

Thank you for this. I considered buying some of their bumpers for home use but if they are not willing to stand behind their product, I'm not willing to ever consider purchasing from them.

[John Janecek]

Head coach is pissed, as we all are...Just when I thought I had the wtroom setup the way I wanted the word "functional" comes back and bites me in the ass....We should ahve about 200 really nice doorstops for sale within the next year if anyone is interested...

This is pretty funny:

I'm glad I don't have any of these in my gym.

[John Janecek]

Some schools in Texas have them, some think they don't need them and some guy on staff does it.....I'm at a school where the football staff that came in 11 years ago negotiated for it and even gave up a football coaching position for it. We have athletic periods for all our teams and I have a beginers weight training program going on in our middle schools for the 7-8th graders to learn cleans, snatches, front squats before they get to me in 9th grade. We are planning on getting an athletic period for the 6th graders down the road to get them in the wtroom a few times a week also...My head coach/AD backs me %100 on all this and has helped me every step of the way to get it......Needless to say I'm in a great place and have no plans to leave....

All my kids learned the low back squat and love it, squats and cleans have went way up....

[xeromal]

You have strength coaches at high schools over there? All we had was a Physical Education teacher who also taught Mathematics! I guess you don't need to be that strong to play 'soccer'. At what age do kids start getting taught strength training?

It really depends are the area. I'm from GA and we are all big football fans. They had us in the gym every day lifting weights (powerlifting).

[The Emancipated Freak]

I'm glad I don't have any of these in my gym.

What bumpers do you use? I've been considering adding power cleans but I haven't been able to find decent bumpers yet.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I have about 6 different brands. Deal with Rogue and you'll be fine. They don't sell shitty plates.