This is Part Two in a four-part series. Catch up with Part One here.
FieldTurf USA turned failure into opportunity when dozens of its
artificial turf fields quickly fell apart at the region’s public schools
in recent years.
Though customers paid $450,000 to $800,000 per field for “the best”
and “the next generation of engineering excellence,” certain FieldTurf
fields frayed, faded and shed after only a few football seasons, years
before the eight-year warranty ran out.
The field failures – caused by a defect in the turf grass blades in
the company’s popular Duraspine field – raised safety concerns for some
schools and spurred districts to seek free warranty replacements from
the Canadian turf manufacturer.
FieldTurf’s response came with fewer apologies than “offers” and
“opportunities” for schools to upgrade their turf field to the latest
and greatest for another $25,000 to $300,000, records show.
Some school districts took that offer to avoid getting more defective
turf and to finally get a quality product. Schools like Carlsbad High,
Fallbrook High, Valley Center High and Mesa College all paid FieldTurf a
second time to replace defective fields that were still under warranty.
No one held the turf company line and wrung more money from local customers than regional FieldTurf salesman Tim Coury.
Coury also employed legally questionable methods to get new fields built, public records obtained by Voice of San Diego show.
The worst example was found in emails produced by Oceanside Unified...
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/the-consummate-salesman/
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