Jeff Olney, What a stand up guy. NOT!!!!!!!!!!

Luck1st · Oct 20, 2014

Still trying to wrap my head around this............

I ordered a cue from Jeff about 3-4 years ago. 4pt 4veneer with some ivory inlays and a hoppe ring. The price was set and down payment was made.
While I was at his shop he offered me a couple other cues he had in the works for a price, but he gets to finish them how he wants. (Sure why not). Down payment made on them also. The extra cues were supposed to take about 1 month a piece to finish.
6-8 months later I get the first of 3 cues.
The whole idea of HIS was to buy and sell these cues to pay for my High End cue I designed.
Anyway,,,,, 8-12 months later I get the next 2 cues. I Pay the remaining balance on the 2 Extra cues. He offered since it took so long he would use the down payment from my High End Cue to put towards the balance of the 2 Extra cues, but still was making my High End Cue...... Sure Jeff why not.
A 8-12 months go buy and I need some work done on one of my cues, so I head up to Jeff's. Only a 45 minute drive.
While I am there I figure I would ask about my HIGH END CUE?
response I get is........ just need to put the cue together. FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!
I ask Jeff if he wants some cash, His response is....... Nah, he would call me when it gets close to being finished.
Couple months go by and I get the call. Its about done, just needs to be painted (clear coated I'm guessing).
Sweet.
Couple weeks go by another call, What wrap do I want? whatever you think looks good. Deal.
OK OK hears the kicker.

I get the call last Wednesday, Jeff wants to know if I was going to make it up Thursday night to pick up MY NEW CUE? Shit, I can't I tell him. Family shit going on. I tell him it would have to be the weekend sometime. He said ok, just let him know before I come up.
I get a call Saturday around 2pm and I let Jeff know that it would be Sunday night before I could make it up.
Sunday comes and almost goes, busy weekend for me. My sons 11th birthday party was Saturday, the inLaws have another Birthday Dinner for him on Sunday, then its family night so we start watching a movie.

Opps I better call Jeff.
8:19pm I call and leave him a message--- Hey Jeff, got busy and forgot. I can make it tomorrow night for sure. let me know if that works.
9:09pm I missed his call and get a voicemail----- The cue is GONE, I had a guy here that wanted it. I told him I would give you until 8:00pm to get here. I sold the cue, Sorry.

OMFG Was he serious?????????

I call him back. Jeff are you serious?? he said yeah, the guy offered me 4 times what we agreed on and I wasn't going to wait 8 months to sell the cue so I sold it.
I say WHAT???? no phone call or nothing......... His response was. I called you 5 ****ing times you stupid ****er and then HUNG UP ON ME!?!?!????!?!?!???!!

Yes this just happend last night.

I wait years for him to build me a cue. Shit comes up and it takes longer then what he originally said. OH WELL........

I have a busy weekend and I Lose out on the Custom Cue that I ordered 4 years ago.

Life lesson #975. A cue is only worth what someone is willing to pay right now.

Lonestar_jim · Oct 20, 2014

You shouldn't have been so rude and hang up on him 5 times.
J/K. That's some unreal way to do business. I guess if you were to ask he'd say you had zero bucks invested in the cue. Sorry bud.

rtbbf · Oct 20, 2014

Thanks he is off my rasar.........................

poolhustler · Oct 20, 2014

Wow.... if true, that is pretty F'd up. I would be so pissed I couldn't see straight.

Be curious to hear Jeff's side of the story too!!

Getting my popcorn out......

Luck1st · Oct 20, 2014

poolhustler said:
Wow.... if true, that is pretty F'd up. I would be so pissed I couldn't see straight.

Be curious to hear Jeff's side of the story too!!

Getting my popcorn out......

I can't wait to here what he has to say.
He wouldn't answer the phone after he hung up on me.

DallasHopps · Oct 20, 2014

Whether it was the case or not, it doesn't sound like it was a priority to pick up the cue. If you knew the schedule of your busy weekend it may have been prudent to communicate that.
Selling to a serious buyer with cash in hand is hard to pass up if you've been stalled a few times.

ShootingArts · Oct 20, 2014

sounds like he got a bit quick on the trigger . . .

I'm going to reserve judgment until I hear both sides of the story though. There has been more than one long thread on here bashing hell out of somebody then we found the other side of the story was quite a bit different.

A one off custom cue to a customer's design can sometimes be very hard to sell if it is really unusual. Customers with little or no money tied up in a cue are known to get cold feet at the last moment too and not buy a cue. Having a buyer that is passing through dancing around like a second grader that has to whizz while waving large chunks of cash and a now or never offer may have led to a mistake in judgment. The other delays and then no contact when you were supposed to come, he might have thought he was seeing the same old rodeo one more time. Not a deal like this but selling vehicles and expensive machinery I learned long ago that the first one to come with the cash or a large deposit got the deal. I would hold for hours for someone driving a long ways, no longer than that.

I'm not saying this is what happened, just one scenario. Most custom cue builders can tell the story about buyers that were red hot to get a cue until it came time to pay the cash and then they were nowhere to be found.

No idea what happened in this case, it might be exactly as OP stated. Just hoping to head off a lynching until we at least get the facts. There is always time to hang somebody later. Hard to unhang them!

Hu

Spimp13 · Oct 20, 2014

DallasHopps said:
Whether it was the case or not, it doesn't sound like it was a priority to pick up the cue. If you knew the schedule of your busy weekend it may have been prudent to communicate that.
Selling to a serious buyer with cash in hand is hard to pass up if you've been stalled a few times.

I know the OP and he has dealt with Jeff for years so he is not just a random un paying customer. If Jeff made this cue specifically on an order that was placed, and then sold it to someone else for paying 4x higher within only a few days after it's completion...that is just wrong.

Its different if it was just a cue that he saw in the shop that he might have wanted to "possibly buy" and said he would get back to Jeff...it was an order and the OP has bought cues in the past...

Luck1st · Oct 20, 2014

DallasHopps said:
Whether it was the case or not, it doesn't sound like it was a priority to pick up the cue. If you knew the schedule of your busy weekend it may have been prudent to communicate that.
Selling to a serious buyer with cash in hand is hard to pass up if you've been stalled a few times.

It would be different if I hadn't bought other cues from him in the past??

Stalling over weeks I could understand. But Stalling wasn't the case.
Its called Life. And I communicated that.

My opinion of the whole thing is....... He had someone willing to pay more than our agreed price and all he could see was GREEN.

Maybe a Phone call telling me that I had until 8:00pm to bring the cash or else???

poQet trainer · Oct 20, 2014

i feel for you, but if someone offers him 4 TIMES:yikes: the money, i don't blame him. its a scumbag move though, plus his only talent is ripping off southwest. I always say that a contract should be made and signed for these thousand plus dollar cues, if we contract to get a bathroom redone for a couple grand, why not do it for a cue that is a couple grand?? hmmm. that's messed up.

Kickin' Chicken · Oct 20, 2014

poQet trainer said:
i feel for you, but if someone offers him 4 TIMES:yikes: the money, i don't blame him. its a scumbag move though, plus his only talent is ripping off southwest. I always say that a contract should be made and signed for these thousand plus dollar cues, if we contract to get a bathroom redone for a couple grand, why not do it for a cue that is a couple grand?? hmmm. that's messed up.

there are so many things wrong with this post but the one that really stands out to me is:

where the heck can you get a bathroom remodel for $2k?

:grin-square:

best,
brian kc

Luck1st · Oct 20, 2014

He even sent me progress pics I asked for.

poQet trainer · Oct 20, 2014

Kickin' Chicken said:
there are so many things wrong with this post but the one that really stands out to me is:

where the heck can you get a bathroom remodel for $2k? :grin-square:

best,
brian kc

whats wrong with the post?? google olney cues images and you think you got southwest cues. as for the bathroom, it was an example for my NYC sized bathroom. and it is a scuabag move.

nobcitypool · Oct 20, 2014

poQet trainer said:
i feel for you, but if someone offers him 4 TIMES:yikes: the money, i don't blame him. its a scumbag move though, plus his only talent is ripping off southwest. I always say that a contract should be made and signed for these thousand plus dollar cues, if we contract to get a bathroom redone for a couple grand, why not do it for a cue that is a couple grand?? hmmm. that's messed up.

A verbal agreement is a contract. What happened to the time when someone's word was sufficient? The guy waits years then the cue maker decides it is justified to sell the cue out from under him because he wasn't there within 72 hours of being advised? Really?

This appears to be real simple. Olney had a chance to quadruple his money and leaped at it then made up an excuse to the OP in order to justify his actions. Assuming what the OP posted is accurate, Olney has made it clear his integrity is worth somewhere between zero and whatever 3x the price he quoted the cue to the OP is.

alstl · Oct 20, 2014

ShootingArts said:
I'm going to reserve judgment until I hear both sides of the story though. There has been more than one long thread on here bashing hell out of somebody then we found the other side of the story was quite a bit different.

A one off custom cue to a customer's design can sometimes be very hard to sell if it is really unusual. Customers with little or no money tied up in a cue are known to get cold feet at the last moment too and not buy a cue. Having a buyer that is passing through dancing around like a second grader that has to whizz while waving large chunks of cash and a now or never offer may have led to a mistake in judgment. The other delays and then no contact when you were supposed to come, he might have thought he was seeing the same old rodeo one more time. Not a deal like this but selling vehicles and expensive machinery I learned long ago that the first one to come with the cash or a large deposit got the deal. I would hold for hours for someone driving a long ways, no longer than that.

I'm not saying this is what happened, just one scenario. Most custom cue builders can tell the story about buyers that were red hot to get a cue until it came time to pay the cash and then they were nowhere to be found.

No idea what happened in this case, it might be exactly as OP stated. Just hoping to head off a lynching until we at least get the facts. There is always time to hang somebody later. Hard to unhang them!

Hu

That's what I'm thinking. op didn't show up to get the cue, builder had a guy with cash standing there, took the cash before the guy changed his mind.

But, the op had already bought 2 cues from him so maybe he should have known the guy would come through with the cash.

I understand why the op is upset but I also understand why the builder sold it after the op didn't show up.

nobcitypool · Oct 20, 2014

alstl said:
That's what I'm thinking. op didn't show up to get the cue, builder had a guy with cash standing there, took the cash before the guy changed his mind.

But, the op had already bought 2 cues from him so maybe he should have known the guy would come through with the cash.

I understand why the op is upset but I also understand why the builder sold it after the op didn't show up.

You think Olney couldn't have told the buyer that he had to wait until he made contact with the original buyer? If the guy was willing to pay 4x for it (which I seriously doubt), he would have been willing to wait a couple of days and Olney could have shipped it to him. This is just common courtesy and common sense but unfortunately, neither seem that common these days.

Kickin' Chicken · Oct 20, 2014

poQet trainer said:
whats wrong with the post?? google olney cues images and you think you got southwest cues. as for the bathroom, it was an example for my NYC sized bathroom. and it is a scuabag move.

first of all, I was mostly just messing with you.

But, although Jeff does make a fair amount of SW style cues, I assure you he is one talented son-of-a-gun. His cues hit amazingly and are probably the best bang for the buck anyone can get in a custom cue. Also, please not the pic the op posted here that shows a gorgeous bushka style cue. Jeff isn't one dimensional.

And there is a reason his wait list is years long.

What the op described doesn't sound like the straight-shooting JO I have dealt with many times. We'll see if Jeff comes on to explain his side of it.

Hope there is a satisfying resolution though if the cue was sold, there may not be one.

best,
brian kc <---- still wants a cheap bathroom redo.

Luck1st · Oct 20, 2014

alstl said:
That's what I'm thinking. op didn't show up to get the cue, builder had a guy with cash standing there, took the cash before the guy changed his mind.

But, the op had already bought 2 cues from him so maybe he should have known the guy would come through with the cash.

I understand why the op is upset but I also understand why the builder sold it after the op didn't show up.

I have bought around 8-10 cues from Jeff. And have always " came through with the cash".

Spimp13 · Oct 20, 2014

alstl said:
I understand why the op is upset but I also understand why the builder sold it after the op didn't show up.

Put the crack pipe down buddy

Re read what the OP has said about what happened as well as his history with Jeff.

HawaiianEye · Oct 20, 2014

If there NEVER was a mention of a DEADLINE for payment and the story is 100% ACCURATE, this is a BS move by Olney to get MORE cash for the cue.

If it was a CUSTOM cue DESIGNED by the ORIGINAL CUSTOMER, then why in the hell was Olney even showing off the cue to OTHER potential customers BEFORE he even KNEW that the RIGHTFUL customer WOULDN'T be able to pick up the cue?

Jeff Olney, What a stand up guy. NOT!!!!!!!!!!

AzB Silver Member

Two & Out

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!

O8 Specialist

AzB Silver Member

hahahahahahahahahahahahah

Kick Shot Aficionado

AzB Silver Member

hahahahahahahahahahahahah

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

Kick Shot Aficionado

AzB Silver Member

O8 Specialist

AzB Silver Member